wing peas were a legume and hence fine
to put life into the soil. I excepted several small spots that I planted
in corn.

I got a fine stand of peas, and looked as if I would make worlds of pea
hay. When the peas were ripe I took my mower and rake to harvest my hay
crop. This was the first time I had undertaken to cultivate this class
of land. I prepared to house the hay and after the hay was cut and
raked, I only got one-tenth of the amount of hay I counted on. I
prepared the land that fall and sowed it down in clover. I got a fine
stand. The clover grew and did well. The next year I took two
four-horse wagons and hauled from the Allen farm large loads of
defective cotton seed. I turned all this under and planted the land the
next year in corn. I made and gathered a large corn crop that year.

I was at that time taking a farm paper and I would usually sit at night
and entertain my wife, while she was sewing. I read an article, where a
party in Illinois had claimed that he had gathered 900 bushels of
artichokes from one acre of land. That did not look reasonable to me at
that time. I said to my wife: "Listen to what a mistake this fellow has
made. He claims to have gathered 900 bushels of artichokes from one acre
of land." This seemed impossible to me.

In the next issue of this paper I read where another man claimed to have
raised 1,100 bushels to the acre. This put me at a further wonder as to
the artichoke crop. I decided to try a crop of artichokes. I had a very
nice spot of land that I thought would suit me for this purpose. I
prepared it as I would prepare land for Irish potatoes, knowing that
artichokes were, like the Irish potato, a tuber. I took a four-horse
wagon and hauled one and a half tons of rotten cotton seed, and of this
I put a double handful every 18 inches apart in the drill; I then
dropped the artichokes between the hills. I cultivated first as I would
Irish potatoes. The plants grew luxuriantly and were all the way from 8
to 12 feet tall.

About the 10th of August I noticed the plants were blooming and it
occurred to me that there must be artichokes on the roots. I got my
spade and began to dig. I could not find a single artichoke. I took my
spade back home and decided within myself that both parties were
mistaken when they claimed to have grown so many hundreds of bushels to
the acre. After a few days I went to my lower farm and started picking
cotton, and was as busy as busy could be all that