Later in the winter he sold one hundred heads of cabbage to the markets in a near-by city.  These he sold at two cents per head.  They kept fifty at home.

The boys tried long and hard to find out where the other fifty went.  But George would not tell.  There was an orphans’ home some few miles from the village.  It seems that at one time an appeal had been made at the school to the boys and girls to give whatever they could to this home.  At that time George had nothing to give.  No one knew how badly the boy felt, so as his cabbages grew the lad made a pledge with himself to give one quarter of his cabbage to this home.  One evening in late October, George had hitched up an old farm horse, loaded his cabbage in, and had driven over to the home.

The Chief learned of his kindness one December evening, when he visited the matron to see about Christmas gifts for the children.  She told him that one evening in the fall a bashful lad had brought a load of cabbage to her, but would not tell his name.  As the man walked home he thought of the really splendid ending of George’s cabbage experiment.  After all a garden reaches its real work when some of its product is given to those who are in need.

“Now I see,” said The Chief out loud, as he walked past George’s house on his homeward way, “why George made out of his garden so much less than the others.  I never could understand why he lost the prize.  I am glad there are boys who care less for money than for other things.”

XII

PETER, POTATOES, AND PROFIT

Peter had a mile to go to his garden, which was on his grandfather’s farm.  This farm land, you will remember, was especially good.

The ploughing, fertilizing and harrowing were done for Peter.  The soil was just the sort potatoes thrive on, a sandy loam.  After the furrows had been made about six inches deep and two feet apart, Peter put a sprinkling of chemical fertilizer into the bottom of each furrow.  This was sprinkled on as one puts salt on potato before eating it.  Over this he placed some dirt so the fertilizer would not burn the potato.

Early the morning of planting Peter cut his seed potatoes.  The date was the 1st of April, not a bit too soon to get in early potatoes.

The seed potatoes chosen were fair, smooth specimens of good size.  These he cut so that only one eye was left to a piece of potato the size of a hen’s egg.  These pieces were dropped into the furrows at distances of fifteen inches apart and four inches deep.  After covering, the man went over the potato patch with a harrow.  A boy might use a rake for this work, but as Peter’s patch was a small part of his grandfather’s field the harrowing of the whole was done by the man.

When the little potato plants were well up Peter sprayed them with Paris green.  This was wise because he thus got ahead of the potato bug.  Some one may like to know how to mix up Paris green.  The proportion used was one tablespoonful to a pail of water.  This was put on with a watering pot every two weeks, thus Peter kept his potatoes quite free from bugs.