Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1915-03-24
THE BOY
FARMER
Or a Member OF the
Corn Club
"
By ASA PATRICK
Copyright. 1915. by American Press
By ASA PATRICK
Copyright, 1915. by American Press
Association
CHAPTER vi.

AM well TefIlllZe0. we'll cult.
waited acre of Irish potatoes sur.
prised the neighbors with the
amount it produced. Two hun
dred bushels were what he harvested
from the patch, and, selling them at
60 cents per bushel. be had 500 to
show for the first crop. 1t was only
the 1st of June. SO be 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 be had let it remain but the
pumpkin yams must be planted. So
he prepared and bedded the ground.
and one cloudy day just before rain
be pulled the potato slips from the bed
where be had grown them and planted
this acre also with a second crop
The cotton then had to be plowed.
and when that was finished the four
acre cornfeld. in which he was also
growing a fourishing crop of pump.
kins, was calling for him.
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
bumper crop. Prices being good, after
Mrs. Powell had preserved what she
wanted, Sam sold $40 worth Of plums
and S11O worth of peaches. making a
total of $3.50 income from the fruit.
not to mention the presewings for fam
lily use
Early in the winter, before the fam
lily moved, Sam had made arrange
ments with breeder of fine strain
of Plymouth Rock chickens to get ten
sittings of eggs. For these be was
to pay S1.50 a sitting Mrs. Powell
Malready 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 patched while it was yet cold,
and before summer came on, with it's
excessive heat and insect pests. the
whole ten had been brought off and
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.
Z Chickens require little feed when they
can get green stuff and insects. Be-
sides the Plymouth Rocks Mrs Powell
raised six dozen common breed fryers.
which she sold at So per dozen. or S1S.
From the thoroughbred flock after Sc
lecting seventy pullets and five roost-
ers to keep. she sold the calls for SIS
ROSTERS at 81 and pullets at so cents.
The egg market was very low during
the summer months, but even at few
cents dozen 500 worth were sold this
sIyear and the family had all they could
: consume at home. Finally, in the fall,
the old flock Of common chickens was
sold, bringing 25 cents each or $3.50
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-
bles contributed it's share. Sans 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 be cut
and cured the stalks for feed The
ground being once more cleared, he
plowed, narrowed and planted it in
turnips
Sam found that little farm of f1f-
teen acres can keep two or three people
very busy. especially when the farm is
made to hump itself, growing one crop
J right after another Hardly day
passed that he or his sister didn't have
80 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, be began studying at night,
and for all the hard work be did be
managed to keep pretty close up with
his classes.
Late In the fall be dug the acre Of
sweet potatoes, after stripping of the
vines and feeding them to his hogs,
and found that he had $50 bushels of
spunkin yams." He stored twenty-five
bushels for home use and sold the
other 125 bushels at 81 per bushel.
Sam Powell! never forgot what the
government agent told him about seed.
When his contest acre was at maturity