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Streeter, John Williams

"The Fat of the Land The Story of an American Farm"

I find oat hay cheaper to
raise than timothy, and, as it is quite as well liked by the horses, I
have been tempted to turn a part of my timothy crop into money directly
from the field.


CHAPTER XXIX
FROM CITY TO COUNTRY

In early July I went through my young orchard, which had been cut back
so ruthlessly the previous autumn, and carefully planned a head for each
tree. Quite a bunch of sprouts had started from near the top of each
stub, and were growing luxuriantly. Out of each bunch I selected three
or four to form the head; the rest were rubbed off or cut out with a
sharp knife or pruning shears. It surprised me to see what a growth some
of these sprouts had made; sixteen or eighteen inches was not uncommon.
Big roots and big bodies were pushing great quantities of sap toward the
tops.
Of course I bought farm machinery during this first season,--mower,
reaper, corn reaper, shredder, and so on. In October I took account of
expenditures for machinery, grass seed, and fertilizer, and found that I
had invested $833.


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