"Probably it would be much less expensive for you to buy ground limestone and then use good alfalfa hay for bedding," said Percy. "I mean exactly what I say," he continued. "Of course I do not advise you to use good alfalfa hay in that way, but it would be a cheap source of very valuable bedding, and it would make an extremely valuable manure. However, I should not hesitate to make liberal use of partially spoiled alfalfa hay for bedding, and you are quite likely to have more or less such hay; for under favorable conditions, such as you can easily have with your soil and climate, alfalfa comes on with a rush in the spring, and often the first crop should be cut before the weather is suitable for making hay. There should be very little or no delay at this time, because the first cutting should be removed in order that it may be out of the way of the second crop, which comes forward still more rapidly under normal conditions. "Some of our Illinois farmers make strenuous objection to taking care of an alfalfa field that produces $50 worth of the richest and most valuable hay, because it interferes too much with the proper care of a $25 corn crop, which they somehow feel requires and deserves all their time and attention. "Some of our Virginia farmers have sent to Illinois for their seed corn," said Mr. West; "and they report very good results as a rule, especially on land that has been kept up. On our poor land I think the native corn does better than the Western seed." "Perhaps that is because it is used to it," suggested Percy, "used to making the struggle for itself on poor land. Fighting for all it gets, so to speak. You know the high-bred animals cannot hold their own with the scrubs when it comes to pawing the snow off the dead wild grass for a living in the winter, as cattle must do sometimes on the plains of the Northwest. "Well, there may be something in that," responded Mr. West, "but the western seed corn certainly looks fine." "Yes, that is true," said Percy. "Our farmers have made marked improvement in seed corn; they also understand very well how to grow corn. They know how and when to prepare the ground, how and when to plant; and how and when to cultivate. When Illinois farmers go to Iowa to buy land, the Iowa real estate men usually take them to see a farm that is owned and operated by a former Illinoisan, and they insist that there are no other farmers who know how to raise corn quite so well as the Illinois farmer. Perhaps the Illinois real estate man would tell a similar story to the Iowa farmer if he ever came there to buy land, but 'Westward the Course of Empire takes its Way' and the man once gone west knows the east no more, except as a market for his surplus products or a good place in which to spend his surplus cash. "But, here. We must finish our study of the data that Miss Adelaide so kindly helped me to compute."