m the alfalfa field, which together made a yield of a little more
than 2 tons. The alfalfa in that dry summer gave me 95 tons of good hay,
proving its superiority as a dry-weather crop.

Johnson started the one-and-one-half-acre vegetable and fruit garden in
April, and devoted much of his time to it. His primitive hotbeds
gradually emptied themselves into the garden, and we now began to taste
the fruit of our own soil, much to the pleasure of the whole colony. It
is surprising what a real gardener can do with a garden of this size. By
feeding soil and plants liberally, he is able to keep the ground
producing successive crops of vegetables, from the day the frost leaves
it in the spring until it again takes possession in the fall, without
doing any wrong to the land. Indeed, our garden grows better and more
prolific each year in spite of the immense crops that are taken from
it. This can be done only by a person who knows his business, and
Johnson is such a person. He gave much of his time to this practical
patch, but he also worked with Polly among the shrubs on the lawn, and
in her sunken flower garden, which is the pride of her life. We shall
hear more about this flower garden later on.

The accounts for the second quarter of the year show these items on the
income side:--

Butter $1052.00
Eggs 379.00
Twenty-five calves 275.00
--------
Total $1706.00

CHAPTER XXXIX

THE YOUNG ORCHARD

One of the most enjoyable occupations of a farmer's life is the care of
young trees. Until your experience in this work is of a personal and
proprietary nature, you will not realize the pleasure it can afford. The
intimate study of plant life, especially if that plant life is yours, is
a never failing source of pleasurable speculation, and a thing upon
which to hang dreams. You grow to know each tree, not only by its shape
and its habit of growth, but also by peculiarities that belong to it as
an individual. The erect, sturdy bearing of one bespeaks a frank, bold
nature, which makes it willing to accept its surroundings and make the
most of them; while the crooked, dwarfish nature of another requires the
utmost care of the husbandman to keep it within the bounds of good
behavior. And yet we often find that the slow-growing, ill-conditioned
young tree, if properly cared for, will bring forth the finest fruit at
maturity.

To study the character and to watch t