ertilizer," I said, "and it ought to be
here this week. Sow four bags to the acre."

"Four bags,--eight hundred pounds; that's pretty expensive. Costs, I
suppose, $35 to $40 a ton."

"No; $24."

"How's that?"

"Friend at court; factory price; $120 for five tons; $5 freight, making
in all $125. We must use at least eight hundred pounds this fall and
five hundred in the spring. Alfalfa is an experiment, and we must give
it a show."

"Never saw anything done with alfalfa in this region, but they never
took no pains with it," said Thompson.

"I hope it will grow for us, for it is great forage if properly managed.
The seed will be out this week, and you had best sow it on Monday, the
2d."

"How are you going to seed the north forty?"

"Timothy, red top, and blue grass; heavy seeding, to get rid of the
weeds. These lots will all be used as stock lots. Small ones, you think,
but we will depend almost entirely upon soiling. I hope to keep a fair
sod on these lots, and they will be large enough to give the animals
exercise and keep them healthy. I hope the carpenter is pushing things
on the house. I want to get you into better quarters as soon as
possible, and I want the cottage moved out of the way before we seed the
lot."

"They're pushing things all right, I guess; that man Nelson is a
hustler."

When I reached the farm I found Johnson and Anderson tearing down the
old fence that was our eastern boundary. None of the posts were long
enough for my purpose, so all were consigned to the woodpile.

My neighbor on the north owned just as much land as I did. He inherited
it and a moderate bank account from his father, who in turn had it from
his. The farm was well kept and productive. The house and barns were
substantial and in good repair. The owner did general farming, raised
wheat, corn, and oats to sell, milked twenty cows and sent the milk to
the creamery, sold one or two cows and a dozen calves each year, and
fattened twenty or thirty pigs. He was pretty certain to add a few
hundred dollars to his bank account at the end of each season. He kept
one man all the time and two in summer. He was a bachelor of
twenty-eight, well liked and good to look upon: five feet ten inches in
height, broad of shoulder, deep of chest, and a very Hercules in
strength. His face was handsome, square-jawed and strong. He was
good-natured, but easily roused, and when angry was as fierce as fire.
He had the reputation of being the har