me, and they are well on
toward the wage limit. Johnson has the gardens and Lars the stables, and
Otto is chief swineherd. French and his wife act as though they were
fixtures on the place, as indeed I hope they are. They have saved a lot
of money, and they are the sort who are inclined to let well enough
alone. Judson is still at Four Oaks, doing as good service as ever; but
I fancy that he is minded to strike out for himself before long. He has
been fortunate in money matters since he gave up the horse and buggy; he
informed me six months ago that he was worth more than $5000.

"I shouldn't have had five thousand cents if I'd stuck to that darned
old buggy," said he, "and I guess I'll have to thank you for throwing
me down that day."

Zeb has married Lena, and a little cottage is to be built for them this
winter, just east of the farm-house; and Lena's place is to be filled by
her cousin, who has come from the old country.

Anderson and Sam both left in 1898,--poor, faithful Anderson because his
heart gave out, and Sam because his beacon called him.

Lars's boys, now sixteen and eighteen, have full charge of the poultry
plant, and are quite up to Sam in his best days. Of course I have had
all kinds of troubles with all sorts of men; but we have such a strong
force of "reliables" that the atmosphere is not suited to the idler or
the hobo, and we are, therefore, never seriously annoyed. Of one thing I
am certain: no man stays long at our farm-house without apprehending the
uses of napkin and bath-tub, and these are strong missionary forces.

Through careful tilth and the systematic return of all waste to the
land, the acres at Four Oaks have grown more fertile each year. The soil
was good seven years ago, and we have added fifty per cent to its crop
capacity. The amount of waste to return to the land on a farm like this
is enormous, and if it be handled with care, there will be no occasion
to spend much money for commercial fertilizers. I now buy fertilizers
only for the mid-summer dressing on my timothy and alfalfa fields. The
apple trees are very heavily mulched, even beyond the spread of their
branches, with waste fresh from the vats, and once a year a light
dressing of muriate of potash is applied. The trees have grown as fast
as could be desired, and all of them are now in bearing. The apples from
these young trees sold for enough last year to net ninety cents for each
tree, which is more than the trees have ev