News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1915-03-31
CHAPTER vi.

waited acre or irish pOtatOeS sur
prised the neighbors with the
- amount it produced. Two hun.
bred bushels were what he harvested
from the patch. and. selling them at
60 cents per bushe. he had $3.50 to
show for the first crop. 1t was only
the 1st of June, SO he Immediately pre-
pared the land and planted the acre
again in June corn
After that the work came thick and
fast The cane was ready to be cut
He moved it, let it cure and stacked
away two tons of fine hay in the barn
He could have gathered another crop
OF cane If he had let it remain, but the
pumpkin yams must be planted. So
he prepared and hedded the ground.
and one cloudy day just before rain
where he had grown them and planted
this acre also with second crop.
The cotton then had to be plowed.
and when that was finished the four
acre cornfield, in which he was also
growing a fourishing crop of pump
Kills, w DIS lOl HILL
The peach and plum crops were very
short this year. owing to a late frost,
but the Powell orchard never suffered
in this respect The old trees had a
bdmper crop. Prices being good. after
Mrs. Powell had preserved what she
wanted, Sam sold $40 worth of pums
and $40 worth of peaches. making Il
total of $3.50 income from the fruit,
not to mention the preservings for fam
lily use
Early In the winter. before the fam
fly moved. Sam had made arrange
ments with a breeder of a fine strain
of Plymouth Rock chickens to get ten
sittings of eggs. For these he was
to pay $3.50 sitting Mrs. Powell
already owned a mixed breed flock Of
fifty hens. but Sans plan. with which
his mother heartily agreed. was to re-
place the mongrel stock with the thor
oughbreds. The first Of these sittings
were hatched while it was yet cold.
and before summer came on, with it's
excessive heat and insect pests, the
more than 100 thrifty young Plymouth
Rocks were running about the farm.
The ample range and shade and the
rye sown in the orchard made the in
come from poultry almost clear profit.
Chickens require little feed when they
can get green stuff and insects. Be-
sides the Plymouth Rocks Mrs Powell
yaised six dozen common breed fryers.
which she sold at So per dozen. or $1S.
From the thoroughbred flock. after Sc
Letting seventy pullets and five roost-
ers to keep, she sold the culls for SIS.
ROSTERS at 81 and pullets at 50 cents.
The egg market was very low during
the summer months. but even at few
cents dozen 500 worth were sold this
year and the family had all they could
consume at home. Finally, in the fall.
the old flock of common chickens was
sold, bringing % cents each or $3.50 I
in all. Surplus milk and butter from
the two cows brought $50 for the year. |
But this wasn't all The acre of |
watermelons, cantaloupes and vegeta
piNo polb wa
termelons were a long white variety. |
with black seed and blood red meat. |
sweet as sugar. These melons always /
brought something above the regular |
market price. In all the young farmer |
sold $40 worth of melons and vegeta- !
bles.
The June corn made fair crop Sam
sold the roasting ears at one cent each. |
These brought him $50. Then he cut
and cured the stalks for feed The
ground being once more cleared, he
plowed, narrowed and planted it in
turnips.
Sam found that a little farm of fif-
teen acres can keep two or three people
very busy, especially when the farm is
made to hump itself, growing one crop
right after another. Hardly a day
passed that he or his sister didn't have
to drive to town to sell something.
Whenever it could be arranged Sam al
ways let Florence go, for then he could
be hurrying the heavy work forward.
September came and Florence enter.
ed the high school, but Sam, badly as
be wanted to begin. found it impossi-
BILE to do so until after Christmas.
However, he began studying at night.
and for all the hard work he did he
to keep pretty close up with
his classes.
Late in the fall be dug the acre of
sweet potatoes. after stripping off the
vines and feeding them to his hogs.
and found that he had $50 bushels of
'punkin yams." He stored twenty-five
bushels for home use and sold the
other l25 bushels at 81 per bushel.
Sam Powell never forgot what the
government agent told him about seed.
When bis contest acre was at maturity
be went down the rows and tied
strings to the stalks that bore the most
and the finest ears
In the same way. also. the young
farmer selected bis cotton seed. Here
Ind there in the rows be found stalks
hat were unusually large and perfect
n shape. These were generally in
some rich place where they had been
favored IL they were