The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-09-13
By LAURA N. GULLEY

Let us take instance of two farmers One, living on a sandy loam farm in south Alabama, is interested in soil building. Inspired by articles in his farm paper as to remarkable results obtained along this line through growing bur clover, he decides to try it. Looking up an advertisement in his paper for sale of the seed he makes an order. He p;cws his land thoroughly, under favor able weather conditions, sows the seed and awaits with joyous expectation the reward of his labor.
 The other farmer lives in the commun- ity with his advertiser He has an old. worn-out piece of land which, in his own language, lis fit for nothing but to hold the world together" but in which the clover grower, through faith in the redeeining power of his seed, believs there is possibility; so he sees this far rner and suggests his buying few bushels with which to experiment on this piece of land. No replied the farmer, T have no faith in bur clover. have wit messed it's disappointing results when planted under the most favorable condi- tions I cannot afford to deal with the haphazard." Realizing that further arr gument would be futile, he ends by ask ing the farmer if he would try one bushel if he should send 1t to him gratis. "Oh, certainly" he replied If. you have one to throw away" "All right; now SOW this bushel to about quarter of an acre.
 Upon receiving the seed the farmer sens's his hired man out to broadcast them OF this piece of land with the ad monition, Don't cover too much ground with them say about three-quarters of an acre" He was conscious there was limitation, though in his indifference the exact amount escaped his notice. His conscience is easy, however for he has soWn the seed as promised, happy in re- membering the donor had not imposed upon him the further obligation of pre- pairing the soil, which he felt relieved him of all responsibility in the matter This was about the middle of Septem- Der. The latter part of November he leaves his store-he is also a merchant to ride over to the farm to see if the hands had finished the "scrapping' Ca term familiar to cotton planters) He had grown so accustomed to the un- slightly hillside,s which law en route to his farm. that 1t had ceased to attract his attention as he passed along So on this morning as he turned the curve coming within sight of this spot, it was no wonder that he became suddenly transfixed, for a phenomenon greeted his astonished gaze. The old hillside was transformed-a veritab1e carpet of green What could this mean this time of year? Suddenly he rememberssthe clover seed but that is impossible-fo had he not broadcasted them without blowing or otherwise preparing the ground? How ever, for the first time he felt a little reproach of conscience-a vague feeling of injustice to the seedman haunted him.
 At this juncture the principal of the village high schools rode up and, greet ing him, said: You seem to be lost in admiration or wonder" Agriculture, by the way, is an important factor in this school, and Is carried on under the di- rect supervision of the principaD The data collected by him and his pupils in the.r tramps over the surrounding coun- try is matter little known to our friend the farmer.l Both" he replied. "Why, this is nothing short of a miracle; this piece of land would not have sprouted cowpeas and behold, what stand of clover-for he had become convinced 1t was none other-and this, too, without any preparation of the soil" T have often heard" he continued. that bur clover was a tricky plant, disappointing one when he has every right to hope for success, but I had never heard that it would surprise one when he had every reason to know there would dsbe a fail- ure. I now begin to understand some thing of the term tricky as applied to it" Tn this, my good sir, you are mis- taken" replied the teacher; mature plays no tricks, neither does she perform mir