Hiram in the Middle West

by Burbank L. Todd

This was quick work and kept the crew at the shredder busy all the time. The ensilage was blown into the silo as rapidly as it was shredded, and at the end of the week the huge tank was filled.

Hiram at once had the twenty-acre piece broadcasted with stable manure, and as the heavy crop of corn and peas had kept the soil comparatively moist it was plowed much easier than might have been expected after the August drought. At wheat planting Hiram used a good fertilizer in the drill and set the sprouts to run about a bushel and a half rather than a bushel and a peck to the acre.

This he did save on the lower four acres next to Yancey Battick's place. This patch was considered by both Mr. Bronson and Battick the best soil for experiment with the new wheat, and Battick planted the wonderful new grain himself, using a hand-sower and sowing only three pecks to the acre.

The new wheat plant proved to stool so heavily that Battick claimed the field would be quite as well covered in the spring as the rest of the twenty acres. Hiram had observed the stooling property of the new wheat; but he had some doubt about its being well to sow the grain so thinly. He feared it would not furnish sufficient protection for the ground.

But as this crop was for seed rather than for bulk of grain, it might be all right. In any case the young farmer watched the experiment with much interest.

Long before Thanksgiving the farm work was pretty well cleared up. Hiram kept only Orrin and the boy, Jim Larry, to help him do the winter chores. The three of them could feed the cattle, draw out the stable manure and spread it on the corn land which he would first plow in the early spring, and do the other necessary winter work.

The house had been long since finished, although the interior had not been decorated, as Mr. Bronson wished to wait for the house to settle. It was otherwise ready for occupancy and there was a heating plant in the cellar. Hiram and the boys moved into the house when the weather became severe and started the furnace. Mr. Bronson furnished some necessities in the way of cots and warm blankets, and the three were very comfortable.

Miss Delia Pringle insisted upon coming over on frequent occasions and "ridding up" for them.

"For, talk as you will, men-folks ain't fitted by nature to be good housekeepers. For the land's sake! I remember once my mother and I went away from home for a time and left father alone, and when we came back we couldn't tell for the mess there was whether it was father or the dog that had lived in the kitchen. I am sure of one thing—the dog-kennel was a long sight the cleanest!"

Miss Pringle was anxious to have another dance in the new house at Sunnyside; but Hiram did not like to ask Mr. Bronson for permission. There were certain rough fellows in the neighborhood who Hiram believed had helped Adam Banks loose Turner's bull on the occasion of the former dance. Besides, Ad Banks himself was at home again for the winter.