Warren sheaf., 1915-03-31
CHAPTER VII.

Copyright, 1915. by American Press
Association

! :
/ AM met Mr. Burns in town one
day in September. The agents
district embraced several coun-
ties. and he had been absent
for some time. The two had not seen
each other for several weeks.
Hello, Samp' accosted the agent.
.'How's the corn?''
THAT corn is all right. Mr.. Burns"
replied Sam, land I'd like you to come
out one day this week to see it gath
cred and measured.
'Au right. I'll be out Friday and
bring along the committee that's going
to report on the contest acres in this
county. Will it take long to gather
the corn?''
Yes, it's going to take quite bit OF
time. for unless I'm mighty badly mis-
taken there's sure some corn on that
patch
well, you've tried farming for a
year. What do you think of it as
business?''
II think it's the finest business there
is. | like it better than anything else
can think Of and I'm going to- stick
to it and learn it,
Mr.. Burns smiled II see.' be said,
that you don't think you know all
about the business. Did you read those
books that told you aboutg'
mo, sir said Sam. replying to the
agents first remark. Il really don't
know much about farming. T need
more experience. Most. of what know
I've learned from reading. AS for
those books, Pve not only read them,
but I've studied them too. Tve,bOught
several more since then, and Pm go
ing to keep on buyingtin l get all the
best ones in my line. I don't believe
it pays to economiZe on books. do
you?"
mo. it doesn't t" saidsMr. Burns. IF
you know the science.o farming it is
easy enough to learn the rest. But you
never can farm mtezlgently without
learning the science Of 1t. What other
books did you buy"
Well l bought Bailey's Manual of
Gardening for mother. but I'm study
ing it myself There's a whole lot to
learn about gardening, and every farm
ought to have garden. Besides that
l bought Fletcher's 'Soi1s-How to
Handle and Improve Them and Dug
gar's Diseases of Cultivated Plants
and Weeds, Insects and insecticides.
They're just the books you needed,
said Mr.. Burns. my. If you keep on
reading and studying this way it won't
take you any time to finish the course
in the agricultural college when you 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
th-.-,z selected for seed and piled
them at the edge OF the patch. Before
8 o'clock they had one big load gath.
cred and were JUST driving out to un-
| load it in a bin thatsSam had prepared
when Mr.. Burns and, the Judging com.
mittee arrived
{ The men stood around. examined the
ears and watched them unload, then
{ went back to thespatch and helped to
gather the next load. which required
but very littlet time for all of them.
After that Sam brought out some mel
ons and cantaaoupes, and the men
feasted in the shade of a tree While
he and Bill Googe gathered the re-
mainder of the.corn.
By IL o'clocksthe last Of the corn had
been gathered and unloaded. Mr..
Burns and the committee then meas
ured the pile Of seed corn and calcu.
lated the contents of the bin.
"One hundred. and thirty nine bush.
els" announcedaMr. Burns. "Now for
the COST
Every item ofsexpense and labor con.
nected with the acre was put down
All this was added up and the result
divided by 139.
Zone hundred and thirty-nine bush
els; cost per bushel. IL cents" an
nounced the agent again. We'll, Sam,
you're 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 long. hard
task is finished This was Sans feel
ing as be watched the men drive off
i He had done his best and his work had
i been fairly mpaSurnd Ha fnlf mnrE