ns which
came with it, set the machine up as a seed-sower. Later, after the
bulk of the seeds were in the ground, he would take off the seeding
attachment and bolt on the hoe, or cultivator attachments, with which to
stir the soil between the narrower rows of vegetables.

As he made ready to plant seeds such as carrot, parsnip, onion, salsify,
and leaf-beet, as well as spring spinach, early turnips, radishes and
kohlrabi, Hiram worked that part of his plowed land over again and again
with the spike harrow, finally boarding the strips down smoothly as
he wished to plant them. The seedbed must be as level as a floor, and
compact, for good use to be made of the wheel-seeder.

When he had lined out one row with his garden line, from side to side of
the plowed strip, the marking arrangement attached to his seeder would
mark the following lines plainly, and at just the distance he desired.

Onions, carrots, and the like, he put in fifteen inches apart, intending
to do all the cultivating of those extremely small plants with the
wheel-hoe, after they were large enough. But he foresaw the many hours
of cultivating before him and marked the rows for the bulk of the
vegetables far enough apart, as he had first intended, to make possible
the use of the horse-hoe.

Meanwhile he spike-harrowed the potato patch, running cross-wise of the
rows to break the crust and keep down the quick-springing weed seeds.
The early peas were already above ground and when they were two inches
high Hiram ran his 14-tooth cultivator--or "seed harrow" as it is called
in some localities--close to the rows so as to throw the soil toward the
plants, almost burying them from sight again. This was to give the peas
deep rootage, which is a point necessary for the quick and stable growth
of this vegetable.

In odd moments Hiram had cut and set a few posts, bought poultry netting
in Scoville, and enclosed Mrs. Atterson's chicken-run. She had taken his
advice and sent for eggs, and already had four hens setting and expected
to set the remainder of the of the eggs in a few days.

Sister took an enormous interest in this poultry-raising venture. She
"counted chickens before they were hatched" with a vengeance, and after
reading a few of the poultry catalogs she figured out that, in three
years, from the increase of Mother Atterson's hundred eggs, the
eighty-acre farm would not be large enough to contain the flock.

"And all from five dollars!" gasped Sister