"You ought not to have done them," he chided as he slipped his arm around her and drew her to the sofa. "Tell me about the Institute," she said, stroking the hair from his forehead. He told her of the professors who were there from the University and briefly reported the addresses he had heard. "And I verily believe," he added, "that if Terry were to wake up some morning and find himself located on the "Barrens" of the Highland Rim of Tennessee, he would start out with the firm conviction that all he would need to do to become a successful farmer there would be to sow clover and then 'work the land for all that's in it.' But, after all, it is not so strange, perhaps, that one who has himself discovered and then utilized the power of clover and tillage to restore and increase the productive power of land rich in limestone, phosphorus and all other essential mineral plant food, should jump to the fixed and final conclusion that the same system of treatment is all that is needed to make any and all land productive. The fact that Terry's land (if equal to the nearby New York land) contained two thousand three hundred pounds of phosphorus in the plowed soil of an acre when he began to work it out, while the soil of the Tennessee "Barrens" contains only about one hundred pounds, does not disturb him or modify his opinion so long as his personal experience is limited to his own land. "Terry's problem was easier than Mr. West's on his Virginia farm, where the soil is acid and hence limestone must be used liberally in order that clover and other legumes may be grown successfully. Even the supply of phosphorus and other mineral elements is probably greater in Terry's farm in northeastern Ohio than in the soil of Westover. "Our problem is even more difficult, because we must not only increase the supply of active organic matter, although we have a reserve of old humus far above that contained in the Terry or West farms; but in addition we need more limestone than Mr. West and then we must add the phosphorus. Of course the surface washing is a serious factor on Westover, but perhaps our tight clay subsoil is worse. "But I learned at least two things that I shall try to profit by. One of these was from Governor Hoard's lecture on 'Cows Versus Cows, and the man behind the cow'; and the other is that we must do more work on the land." "Oh, Percy, I am so sorry you went. How can you possibly do more work than you have been doing?" "I may need to hire more," he replied; "and, of course, that will further increase our expenses, but, it will surely pay to do well what we try to do." "When does my boy expect to get married?" she asked, softly, as she gently stroked his hair. "I am married," he replied. She looked at him in wonder. "Mother mine, I thought that you knew I was married."