Hidden Treasure: The Story of a Chore Boy Who Made the Old Farm PaySimpson, John Thomas
Science
Hidden Treasure: The Story of a Chore Boy Who Made the Old Farm Pay
Simpson, John Thomas
Farm life
"By the way, I met a friend of yours, Bob--John White, of the First
National Bank. He was telling me all about the things you've been
doing on the old place. He says you even have a name for it."
"Why, yes; didn't you see it on the exhibits? We're going to sell
everything under a trade name, just like thread and other things that
have names."
"How much do you weigh now, Bob?"
"I weight 137 pounds; that is 27 pounds more than when I went to the
farm, and I'm two inches taller."
"I should say you have been growing, Bob. Has your Uncle Joe paid you
yet for your year's work?
"No, he hasn't; but he will when he gets 'round to it. You see, he
hasn't sold his crops yet."
"How much do you think he will give you, Bob?"
"I don't know, but I think he'll be fair. Aunt Bettie will see to
that, if he should forget it himself. If you come along with me, I'll
show you how many prize winners we have," and he proudly took his
father from one exhibit to another, all the time telling him of the
permanent improvements they were making on the farm.
"You must come out to the farm to-night and see the place. You have no
idea what it looks like with the old barn gone and nearly all the
concrete buildings up. You can see the big silo ever so far away. Of
course, the biggest change is the taking away of the pond. Just look
at that corn standing there--that's what we got out of the old pond
where you taught me to swim. We got over 10 tons per acre of ensilage,
after leaving several hundred bushels from the field from which to
select our seed. You can see for yourself what fine-looking corn it
is. Just look at those big ears there, and all that fifteen acres
raised before was muskrats and turtles."
"You're right, Bob, it was a 'Hidden Treasure'."
After the speed trials were over Bob milked his cows again, and with
his father drove out to Brookside Farm.
"My, it certainly doesn't look like the old place, Bob," his father
remarked, when they came in sight of the farm. "What a fine fence; are
those stone posts, Bob?"
"No, dad, they're concrete, but will last just as long as stone."
Bob now stopped the car to give his father time to see all the
changes.
"Why, the sawmill's gone too, Bob."
"Yes," he replied, "we'll drive down that way and go in at the lower
gate."
It was hard for Bob's father to understand the reason for all the
buildings and what conditions had made them different sizes and
shapes.
He did not know until Bob explained to him that each building required
special designing to suit certain conditions.
That night they sang the "Happy Farmer" song for him, and his father
sat up long after the others had retired, talking to his brother Joe.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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