Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-03-05

me. Some or these days II NOn De 80
easy to get fertilizer for nothing. They
don't know what it's worth now"
.Oh. I'm 50 anxious to get out to the
old home again. exclaimed Florence
when do you think Wen move. SamY'
u expect il viii be in March or the
LIST of April was the reply.
Il do hate for you and Florence to
miss any Of the school" said Mrs
Powell.
I'D forgotten to tell you, mother"
said her son. that school will be out
ln April. Wen miss only a week or
two. They lac to cut the session short
because they've run out of money to
pay the teachers"
We'll. that's not so bad" Mrs. Pow
ell reflected. although you miss
school, just the same. 1t really can't
be helped"
The next day being Friday, Sam
went down to the stable after school
hours and hauled the first load of ma
nure home so as to be in readiness to
drive to the farm next morning with
his companions, who were to be on
hand at the appointed hour.
Early Saturday morning the boys
fred, Joe and Andrew-were on hand
at the appointed hour. Sam soon had
the horse hitched to the loaded wagon,
and the four boys rolled away over the
gravelly road to the farm.
In an hours time they had reached
their destination, and the horse was
embarrassed and turned loose to Craze
in the field. Sam found the farm in a
worse condition than he had expected,
and he had expected 1t to be bad. Bril-
ers and bushes and tall grass grew
thick along the rail fence all around
the field. Here and there next to the
ground rails had rotted and allowed
hogs to come in or go out at will. The
last tenants hadn't taken any trouble
to mend these gaps, and the hogs that
ran outside had destroyed a part OF
the crops for two or three years
my! There's certainly some work
to do here" Sam remarked.
whats to DOR Fred Martin asked.
"For the first thing Sam replied.
this fence row Is to clean out, and
then I'll have to cut some poles to put
in the place of those rotten rails"
"Let me and Joe cut the poles," said
Fred, while you and Andrew clean
out the fence row. Where's the ak.
and how long must the poles beT'
go ahead, Fred. you and Joe" broke
In Andrew. smiling. I'VE know you
don't like the looks of these briers and
bushes. but well not kick"
you'll find the ak in the wagon
said Sam. "and you can cut the poles
the same length as the fence rails. I
think they're about ten feet long"
When Fred and Joe had gone down
in the woods Sam brought a Drier
hook and a sharp grubbing hoe with
which to begin work on the tangled
mass along the fence.
My" he exclaimed. but that's go
ing to be a woody job. Those boys
had an eye to business, Andrew. when
they tonk the chopping. 1t does seem
like there ought to le some easier and
quicker way OF doing it than this"
How long do you think II will take
us?' asked Andrew.
well. | did think at first rpniied
Sam. that il wouldn't TAXI ioue lsft
now, since I've Ind Il second ,unk nc
it, | think W. Won't more than get
started good today
IF we could turn II ant first sng-
gested Andrew. iii wouldn't he nearly
so bad"
mo, but we'd burn up the fence"
Couldn't we follow along with wa
ter and put out the rails when they
caught fire?"
Good for you. Andrew Sam ex-
claimed. That's the very idea. The
fire will burn up nearly all the bushes
and briers and kill all the boil weevils
and other insects that areawintering In
there at the same time. That's why
fence rows ought not to grow up like
this. insects live In there in winter
and come out to work on the crops in
summer"
well. let's get the water and start
our fire. I'm anxious to see how it
works." said Andrew.
Il have two barrels up at the house."
Sam explained Wen unload the
wagon and go up and haul them down
full of water"
The horse was harnessed again. the
manure scattered and the boys were
o o back with two barrels of water
and a bucket. The fire was started
and allowed to burn only in one direc-
tiOn-the way the wind carried it.
Sam followed close behind with the
bucket and poured water on the rails
that now and then tool fire. Andrew
drove the wagon alongside and refiIled
the bucket from the barrels for Sam.
Once the fire had got well started it
burned rapidly and in a very short
while it had gone entirely around the
field Nothing remained of the matted
tangle except a few charred bushes