Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-03-26

reading and studying this way II won
take you any time TO finish the course
in the agricultural college when yon go
down there"
Friday morning early Bill Googe
came over with his wagon and team.
and he and Sam started In TO gather
the contest acre. The day before Sam
had gone over the patch and gathered
the ears selected for seed and piled
them ut the edge OF the patch. Before
8 O'Clock they had one big load gath
cred and we're just driving ont to IN
load it In a bin thai Sam mad prepared
when Mr.. Burns and the judging com
mitfee arrived.
The men stood around. examined the
ears and watched them unload. then
vent back to the patch and helped to
gather the next load, which required
but a very little time for all of them.
After that Sam brought out some mel
ons and cantaloupes. and the men
Toasted in the shade of a tree while
he and Bill Googe gathered the re
mainder of the corn.
By IL o'clock the last OF the corn had
been gathered and unIoaded. Mr..
Burns and the committee then meas
ured the pile of. seed corr and calcu-
lated the contents of the bin.
"One hundred and thirty-nine bush
els. announced Mr.. Burns. Nov for
the cost"
Every item of expense and labor con-
nected with the acre was put down.
All this was added up and the result
divided by 1879
.One hundred and thirty nine BUSH
els; cost per Dushel, II cents" an
nounced the agent again We'll, Sam.
your sure going TO win some of those
prizes. Several of the boys are going
to beat you on production, but the cost
is where you come in. Your acre shows
a big profit. Well. gentlemen. let's go
down to the next place. You'll hear
from me later. sam.
One hundred and thirty nine bushels.
and Pagan had made twenty-five bush
els to the acre just opposite. One al
ways feels relieved when a long, hard
task is finished. This was Sans feel
ing as he watched the men drive of.
He II lone his best and his work had
been fairly measured. he felt more
free now to finish up the work on the
farm and turn his attention TO school
and study.
The young farmer removed the husks
from his seed corn. then went through
1t and made a second selection of the
finest ears. From these ears he re-
moved the defective grains at the ends
and then sbelled the rest into stout
sacks.
IN selecting seed cotton he pursued
pretty much the Same plan. After
picking the cotton from the finest
stalks and bolls he had it ginned and
saved the seed. These seeds he put in
a screen that LET the small and lintless
ones pass through.
This method gave Sam the finest seed
from the largest and most perfect
plants. both of cotton and corn. He
could have sold at high prices much
more than he had to spare of either
kind. One day. just after the seed had
been selected and was stored away,
Miles Pagan came over to buy.
Il want to buy some o. that cotton
and corn seed of yours" he said.
How much can you spare me and
whatll they he worth?"
I'm selling them at So per bushei
for either kind" Sam told him. and
| have only six bushels of corn and
twenty OF cotton seed 10 sell"
My. but that's a high price!' ex-
claimed Pagan. still. | reckon they're
worth 1t and I'll take the lot"
Cant let you nave them all" said
the boy farmer. .l've promised Bill
Googe half OF them. so you a have,
three bushels OF corn and ten of cot
ton seed
That amt as many as | need. but
I'll take 'em. said Mr.. Pagan.
Sans school chums gathered most of
bis cotton crop. for which ne paid them
at the rate Of 90 cents per hundred
pounds. Ten and sometimes twelve OF
them would come ont early Saturday
morning and pick until night. in which
time no less than a bale would be
gathered. When the last struggling
locks of the patch had been gathered
Sam found that his crop had yielded
one bale to the acre. The five bales he
sold for $3.50 and stored away 100
bushels of seed for feed.
The four acre tract of corn yielded
seventy bushels to the acre, or a total
Of $50 bushels. all of which Sam put
in the barn with that from the one
acre. He didn't intend to sell any OF
this crop. as he could make more by
feeding 1t to hogs.
The crops were now about all gath,
cred. There remained the peas and
the pumpkins that mad been sown
among the corn and the turnips. which
were not yet ready to be gathered.
Sam hauled out many loads of big
golden pumpkins with the n horse