Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1915-02-24
sraveIIy road to the farm.

l#8s IN an hours time they had reached
ti -l'a destination. and the horse was
un maj a and turned loose to Craze
n the field Sam foundthe farm id a
worse. condition than he had expected,
and ne had expected it to be bad. 4 Bri-
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
hotgssto come in or go out at will. The
last tenants hadn't taken any trouble
to 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, z Sam remarked. 81 E. n.
What's to do?' 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 int 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 be?''
60 ahead. Fred, you and Joe" broke
IN Andrew. smiling. .'''We know vol,
don't like the looks of these briers and
bushes. but we'll not kick .S
you'll find the ak in the wagon. .
said Sam, "and you can cut the poles
the same length as the fence rails. /
think they're about ten feet long
When Fred and Joe had gone down
In the woods Sam brought brier
hook and a sharp grubbing hoe with
which to begin work on the tangled
mass along the fence.
N.Y. he exclaimed, ''but that's 90
Ing to be woolly job! Those boys
had an eye to business. Andrew, when
they took the chopping. 1t does seem
ike there ought to be some easier and
quicker way of doing it than this
How long do you think it will take
us?' asked Andrew.
well, did think at first" replied
Sam. that it wouldn't take long. But
now, since I've had second look at
It, ! think we won't more than get
started good today
IF we could burn it out first" sng-
gested Andrew. lit wouldn't be nearly
so bad"
NO, but we'd burn up the fence"
Couldn't we follow along with wa
ter and put out the rails when thew
caught fire?"
Good for you, Andrew Sam ex-
claimed aim 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 are wintering 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.
..I have two barrels up at the house, >
Sam explained. "We'll unload the
wagon and go up and haul them down
full of water
- horseTw harnessed again. fhe
manure scattered and the boys were
soon back with two barrels of water
and bucket. The fire was started
and allowed to burn only in one lirec-
ftlon-the way the wind carried it.
Sam followed close behind with the
bucket and poured water on the rails
that that now and then took fire Andrew
drove the wagon alongside and reflled
the bucket from the barrels for Sam.
Once the fire had got we'll 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
and coarse briers. Taking the brier
hook and the grubbing hoe, Sam and
Andrew had these all down in less than
an hour.
well. that jobs done,' Sam exclaim-
ed when they had finished, '.and it
wasn't half as hard as thought it
was going to be-"
If we hadn't figured out new way
to do it, though, it would have been
hard enough" said Andrew.
YES" Sam agreed, 1--WE saved a lot
Of work there by using our minds a
little. It doesn't pay to work without
thinking, and I'm going to mix little
Of it with my work from now on. Let's
drive down after q load Of poles and
see how the choppers are getting
along
Hello. therer' yelled Fred Martin
when he saw Sam and his companion
driving up. '.You haven't deserted
that job, have you r
'N0," the two replied in unison. .of
course we haven't deserted it. We fin
ished it, that's all, and now we're down
after some poles"
''Aw. get outy' the two choppers
scoffed. Don't tell us you've cleared
out that streak of briers. Why. rab-
bit couldn't get through it,
No admitted Sam, I'VE didn't clear
quite all Of it ourselves, but what we
didn't the fire did,
oh. you burned it out. did you?'
Sure, we put the fire to it. and the
rats and rabbits had to hunt new
ScOuntry.''