In 1905 No. 1 was rented for corn on shares and produced about six hundred bushels of which Percy received one-third.  No. 2 yielded four hundred and eighty-four bushels of oats.  No. 3 produced fourteen tons of poor hay.  No. 4 was “rested” and prepared for wheat, ground limestone having been applied.  No. 5 was fall-plowed from old meadow and well prepared and planted to corn in good time; but, after the second cultivation, heavy rains set in and continued until the corn was seriously damaged on the flat areas of the field, the more so as he had not fully understood the importance of keeping furrows open with outlets at the head-lands through which the excess surface water could pass off quickly under such weather conditions.  Patches of the field aggregating at least five acres were so poorly surface drained that the corn was “drowned out,” and fifteen acres more were so wet as to greatly injure the crop.  However, on the better drained parts of the field where the corn was given further cultivation the yield was good and about 1,000 bushels of sound corn were gathered from the forty acres.

A mixture of timothy, redtop and weeds was cut for hay on No. 6, the yield being better than half a ton per acre.

The apples were a fair crop, and the total sales from that crop amounted to $750, but about half of this had been expended for trimming and spraying the trees, a spraying outfit, barrels, picking, packing, freight and cold storage.  A good bunch of hogs were sold.

Another year passed.  Oats were grown on No. 1 and on part of No. 2, yielding eleven bushels per acre.

No. 3 yielded one-third of a ton of hay per acre.

Wheat was grown on No. 4, and clover, the first the land had known in many years, if ever, was seeded in the spring,—­twenty acres of red clover and twenty of alsike.

The fifty-four acres of wheat, including fourteen acres on No. 2, yielded seven and one-half bushels per acre.  Soy beans were planted on No. 5, but wet weather seriously interferred and only part of the field was cut for hay.  Limestone was applied, but heavy continued rains prevented the seeding of wheat.

No. 6 produced about twenty-seven bushels per acre of corn.

Two lots of hogs were sold for about $800, and some young steers increased the receipts by nearly $100.

Mrs. Johnston continued to buy the groceries with eggs and butter; but it was necessary to buy some hay, and the labor bill was heavy.

No. 5 joined the twenty-eight acre pasture and on two other sides it joined neighbors’ farms where line fences were up, and on the other side lay No. 4.

Percy was trying to get ready to pasture the clover on No. 4, and a mile of new fencing was required.  The materials were bought and the fence built, and when finished it also completed the fencing required to enclose No. 5.  The twenty-eight acre pasture was inadequate for sixteen head of cattle and the young stock was kept in a hired pasture.  Unless he could produce more feed, Percy saw that the farm would soon be overstocked, for some colts were growing and eight cows were now giving milk.