"What do you raise besides corn?" he asked.
"Wheat, oats, rye, and potatoes," said Frank. "Then we have the hay
fields and the pasture. The woods we drove through coming from town
belong to us too."
"The house faces east, doesn't it?" said Uncle Robert. "That would make
the woods north. Where are all these other fields?"
"Back of the barn and the other side of the orchard," said Donald.
"Can't some one show me on paper how it is?" asked Uncle Robert. "I
don't mean make a picture, but just a plan of it."
"Well, I can try," said Frank. "I know just how it is really, but I
don't know that I can get it right."
Frank found paper and pencil and set to work, while the rest gathered
eagerly around and looked on.
"This is the river," he said. "There's a big curve in it along our farm.
The road runs along the top of the slope, and this is where the house
is."
"What lies between the house and the river?" asked Uncle Robert.
"The big cornfield," said Frank. "That's where we are going to plant
to-morrow if it is a pleasant day. And right here, in the corner by the
woods, is the spring."
"The water comes right out of the ground," said Susie; "and it is as
cold as ice."
"Here," said Frank, "is the wood. You know we drove through it this
afternoon. The woods are on both sides of the creek."
"See the crooked line he makes for the creek," said Donald.
"That is where the violets and buttercups grow, uncle," said Susie,
pointing to the map.
"Where does the creek come from?" asked Uncle Robert.
"There's a pond away back in the woods," said Donald. "It comes from
that; but it is a swamp part of the year."
"The cat-tails grow there," said Susie.
"Well," said Uncle Robert, "the house, the cornfield, and the woods--is
that all of the farm?"
"Oh, no!" said Frank. "It is low along the river, but back of the
cornfield it gets higher, and that's where the grapes are. On this side
of the road is the orchard; and here, between the orchard and the woods,
come in the yard and garden."
"Don't leave out the barnyard," said Donald.
"What's back of the barn?" asked Uncle Robert.
"The field of timothy; and next to it is the clover field. That is as
far as the farm goes that way."
[Illustration: CLOVER TIMOTHY WHEAT OATS RYE]
"The wheat field is on the other side of the timothy, Frank," said
Donald, "and the oats between that and the road, beside the orchard."
"Put in the potatoes along the road," said Susie.
"Now all we have left is the rye field over in the corner," said Donald.
"That is the way it is this year," said Mr. Leonard, who sat with his
paper in his hand. But the paper was unread. He found the group around
the table much more interesting.
"Now it is all done," said Susie, hopping about on one foot. "Isn't it
fun? Let's draw the garden. I can do it."
"All right," said Uncle Robert, "you shall; but I think we'd better
finish the farm first. Who can tell how many acres there are in each of
these lots?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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