The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1915-11-18

Mr.. Weston grinned derisively. Joe
was really too busy to notice him. Un-
| til noon the boys worked like beavers,
| and by that time a third Of an acre
| had been covered with leaves ver
| shoetop deep. Bright and early next
morning they resumed work after hav-
| ing put in a steady afternoons. and by
| the time dinner was ready one acre
! had been covered. Another day COW
cred another acre and CLEANED up
about all the leaves in the grove.
That night Mr.. Weston undertook to
have some fun at .JOe's expense.
"Goin' to tote leaves from that next
grover he inquired. The next grove
was nearly a mile away.
"No. too far-won't pay" This com
mon sense view stumped him for
awhile.
Daddy, I'll give you 10 cents a load
for what fertilizer there is in the barn.
yard"
"Ain't none there--not over a load or
so. You can have it for that price If
you get it up" Mr.. Weston had never
thought Of it as having any value at
all and never collected it or used it on
crops.
Next morning Joe and Link. each
with a hoe. began scraping the COW lot
and barn floor. going down after the
thick layer of well rotted humus form
ing material that had accumulated for
several years and which Mr.. Weston
had placed no value on whatever.
Eleven two horse wagon loads were Sc
cured. Joe borrowed his fathers wag-
on and scattered the entire lot on the
acre he proposed to plant corn upon.
THAT'S my corn acre, Link" he ex-
planned. I'm going to try to grow
some corr here like it ought to be.
What's the most corn you and Uncle
Jeff ever made to the acre?"
81 dunno 'zac'ly, but hit wuz in de
neighborhood of fifteen bushels"
Joe bought eight more loads of barn
yard fertilizer from a neighbor at 20
cents a load, delivered. and put that on
his cotton acre.
Then he made All arrangement with
another neighbor who had a plow suit
able for deep breaking and stipulated
that four mules were to be attached
to it.
"What'n the name of peace you want
that fer? Yer goin' ter tea the bottom
plumb outer this field. Coin ter plOw
plumb down ter Chiny?" inquired the
farmer.
Eyes. T'm going to tear the bottom
out. | want that land broke fourteen
inches deep. cross broke and then har-
rowed."
"All. right; you're the doctor on that.
I'll charge you So"
That's a trade: hitch up. l want to
get it broken as soon as possible"
The plowman was greatly astonished
at the amount of leaves on the two
acres and the amount of fertilizer
spread. Then he sank the heavy pillow
to the shank on the outer edge of the
measured lot: the four mules strain
ed, and a great heavy ribbon of dirt
rolled e from the pillow as it moved
forward. Eight inches below the sur
face the ground was sterile n poor.
Below that depth it was fairly good.
This was the dirt the light one horse
plows could never reach.
The great turning pillow reversed
things. The poor dirt was thrown to
the bottom. and the comparatively
good soil was by the operation brought
to the top. The leaves and fertilizer
were covered and we'll mixed in.
Then a crosswise blowing at the
same depth. to break up the packed
soil and immense hard flakes. and a
narrowing to further %pulverize it, and
Joe wrote his first check. The man
looked at the signature Weston & SON.
erville as though he thought Joe had
gone entirely crazy.
whats all this here foolishness p he
asked, holding the check gingerly.
you present that at the bank, and
If they don't pay it MI. Somerville will.
He's my partner" announced Joe
proudly.
"Well, I'm goin' to town now an see
about it, an if it amt paid there's 60
in to be trouble" said the man trucu-
lently.
"Oh. don't get excited about it. Wait
until it isn't paid before you start any
thing"
I'm goin' right now" repeated the
man.
All right: I'll just 60 with you. I
want to get some seed, and I'll get you
to haul them out for me-" said Joe. as
he climbed into the wagon.
CHAPTER ~. -
Joe Confers With His Partner.