time in his life, he saw a girl dressed in man's clothes.
"What do you do first, Bob?" she asked, going over to the mixer and
pulling on the levers; "put in the water or the cement?"
"Neither," said Bob, still trying to decide whether he approved of her
manner of dress or not. "We've all the concrete mixed that we need
until we finish setting up the forms at the south end."
"Give me a hammer then, and I'll help drive the nails," she said,
coming round to where Bob was leveling up some of the forms. "All
right, drive a nail in there," he said, indicating the end of a brace
that leaned against the forms.
Ruth took the hammer and tapped the nail gently, succeeding in
starting it, then she raised the hammer and struck hard. The hammer
descended squarely on the nail, but not the nail in the brace, but the
nail on her left thumb. With a cry of pain she dropped the hammer and
tried hard to keep back the tears.
"You'll have--to--excuse--me, Bob, until--I go--to the house and tie
this up," she said, hesitatingly, "but as soon as Aunt Bettie puts
something on it, I'll be back," and as she disappeared Bob heard her
choking back her sobs.
His sympathy struggled for a few moments with his humor, but the
latter got the better of him, and as soon as Ruth got well out of
hearing, he couldn't refrain any longer from laughing at the funny
figure she cut in her new clothes and the abrupt ending to her
ambition to help build the hen house.
He found that he couldn't get along very well with the forms by
himself, so he decided to knock off until after dinner. He was
crossing over to the barn, where he met Ruth still dressed in her
overalls, her thumb tied up, coming into the barnyard with her cousin
Edith.
"We thought we'd like to look over the barn until my thumb quits
hurting," called Ruth.
"All right," said Bob, and he conducted them into the thrashing floor
where he explained how a barn was built and where the hay was kept and
how they fed the different horses and cattle from the thrashing floor.
Most of the mows were now almost empty and the barn had the appearance
of great size.
"I'm going to climb up into the hay mow," said Ruth, as she started
for the ladder.
"Why do you want to go up there, Ruth?" asked Edith.
"Oh, I want to see what the place looks like," replied Ruth, as she
nimbly climbed the ladder and stepped off into the mow.
"Come on up, it's fine up here," she called.
Bob quickly followed her and a moment later Edith joined them.
Pausing there for a few minutes, they climbed over into another mow
and looked out through a window on the side of the barn.
"Why, we can get on the roof from here," said Ruth.
"Yes," said Bob, "we can."
"Let's go out then," she said.
"But you might slide off," warned Bob.
"No danger of that," replied Ruth; "we've got our sneakers on."
So he crawled through the window and standing on the roof first helped
Ruth and then Edith through.
"It isn't as steep as it looks from the ground, and I'm going on up to
the top," said Ruth.
Bob helped Edith up and they sat on the ridge for several minutes
looking out over the farm, Bob pointing out to them the places of
interest, and telling them the story of how the new dam and ditch came
to be built. As they sat there, they noticed their uncle coming up the
lane and that he had already reached the foot of the hill.
"Why, there comes Uncle Joe," shouted Ruth, as she started running
down the side of the barn toward him, on which side a lean-to was
built, and beyond which stood last year's straw stack, the top about
even with the roof of the lean-to.
"Come on, Edith, I'm going to jump off the roof on to the straw
stack," she shouted, and before Bob could stop her she had jumped and
landed on the stack.
"It didn't seem so difficult, Bob," said Edith, and she also started
running down the side. "I guess I can make it, too," she called, and
leaped on to the stack, where Bob joined them a moment later.
The three stood waving their hands and shouting to their uncle.
Suddenly Ruth exclaimed: "I'm going to slide down the side of the
stack," and moved over to the side nearest to her uncle, who, seeing
her intention, stood up in the wagon and shook the whip at her,
warning her not to do so. Ruth only took his warning as a dare, and
throwing her arms high over her head with a loud shout started to
slide down the side of the stack. Now the stack had furnished feed for
the cattle all winter and they had eaten under the edges, so that it
was like a huge toadstool. From his position in the lane, her uncle
saw what Ruth could not see from the top--that there were cattle under
the edge. As Ruth came noisily down the side her shouting caused a cow
standing under the edge of the stack to come running out. The two met
just at the edge of the stack, Ruth landing squarely on the cow's
back, her back to her head.
With a snort and a plunge, the cow started to race across the
barnyard, and it was hard to tell which was the more surprised--Ruth
or the cow. In her eagerness to get rid of her unexpected burden, the
cow threw her hindquarters from side to side, as she ran--a motion
that seemed to be exactly timed with Ruth's endeavor to fall off on
that particular side, as each sudden change threw her into a vertical
position again.
So with her hands on the cow's back and rolling from side to side she
managed to maintain her seat, until the cow, seeing she was unable to
get rid of her burden, ran for a black walnut tree, which stood near
the old pump. She ran close against this tree and Ruth came shooting
from the cow's back, much like a big frog jumping into a pond, landing
unhurt on all fours on the soft litter of the barnyard.
Edith and Bob were still standing on top of the straw stack rocking
with laughter at the ridiculous figure cut by Ruth, while their uncle
stopped the team and hurried up the bank as fast as he could go. He
was the first to get to Ruth as she picked herself up and began
brushing off the dust.
Then Bob slid over the side of the stack to make sure there were no
more cattle in the way, and a few minutes later was joined by Edith.
They hurried forward together to where Ruth was standing and found,
with the exception of a bruise on her chin and a rent in one sleeve,
where it had rubbed along the ground, she was unhurt and laughing as
merrily as the rest.
"Say, Ruth," said her uncle, seeing she was uninjured, "next time you
want to ride one of the cows, let me know and I'll get you a saddle,
or maybe you'd rather try one of the horses."
"Oh, I didn't get hurt a bit, Uncle Joe," she laughed, "and it really
was lots of fun."
XV
NEW METHODS
The next week was a busy one on Brookside Farm. All were deeply
engaged with their several occupations. Saturday brought the first
interruption to the work when John White, the banker, paid them a
visit. He appeared in his large touring car, instead of his usual
runabout. Mrs. White, their daughter, a girl of fourteen, whom Bob had
seen in the bank talking to her father; and two young boys, about
Bob's own age, and whom Bob did not know, were with him.
They arrived shortly after three o'clock in the afternoon. Bob and
Tony were setting up the pre-cast concrete sections, forming the walls
and partitions of the hen house. The party alighted, and, led by Mr.
White, came over to the hen house to inspect the work. This was the
banker's custom on his visits to Brookside Farm.
"Hello, Bob!" he called. "Come over and meet Mrs. White," and Bob
stepped forward and was introduced.
"This is my daughter Alice, and this is my sister's son, Edward Brown,
and his friend, Herbert Potter--and this is Bob Williams, the boy I've
been telling you about."
Again Bob extended his hand in greeting, but it was accepted rather
indifferently, he thought, by the other two boys, which did not aid in
establishing friendly relations. In fact, Bob felt that they rather
held themselves above him.
Mrs. White was a large motherly woman. She had light hair and blue
eyes and had not talked long before Bob discovered that she had a deep
interest in her husband's business, for the questions she asked were
such that he knew the banker must have been explaining to her about
the work being done on Brookside Farm.
The banker now left them to go around the other side of the building
to speak to Tony, while Bob explained to Mrs. White and the boys how
they made the pre-cast slabs and set them in place on the wall and
braced them, to hold them in line, until the concrete studs were cast
to form the permanent supports for the roof.
"You know, Bob," said Mrs. White, "this is the most interesting thing
I've ever seen in my life. Just think of being able to dig your
buildings out of the side of the hill. I think it's all perfectly
wonderful the way you're making use of your 'Hidden Treasure,' as Mr.
White tells me you call the undeveloped resources of your farm."
Bob now got his drawing and explained to her the manner in which the
hen house was planned to get the southern exposure; also the
arrangements for feeding the chickens, gathering the eggs, the system
of ventilation adopted which would prevent draughts and keep the hen
house well ventilated in both winter and summer. Also the feed and
incubator house and how each could be extended from time to time by
simply building on to the ends.
Mrs. White asked a great many questions and Bob felt sure she was not
talking just to be polite, but was really interested in the work they
were doing. It gave him much pleasure to know that the time he had
spent in reading up on farm work was producing results.
Bob's Aunt Bettie and the two girls now came out to greet their
guests. Introductions followed, and a few minutes later the party
adjourned to the house, all except Bob, Tony and the banker. No amount
of urging on the part of Bob's aunt could persuade the banker to leave
the hen house, the construction of which interested him so much.
"I like your idea, Bob," he said, "in making your buildings of pre-
cast standardized sections. I can see where this type of construction
would have great advantages in the winter, and, at odd times, when a
farmer isn't busy he can make up some sections and let them harden,
and, whenever he gets enough for a building, he can put them together
quickly. Where did you get the idea for this kind of work?"
"Well, partly from the bulletins and partly from Tony, and the rest I
just thought out myself. You see, Mr. White, the bulletins say a wall
of a building is always dryer, warmer in winter and cooler in summer,
if it's hollow, and besides it only takes about half the material.
Then, you see, there's an advantage when you want to put in
ventilation to use the hollow wall for that purpose. While Tony and I
have been working on the hen house, I've been turning over in my mind
the design for the cow barn. These hollow walls are going to be of
great service for ventilating that building?"
"Can you construct your cow barn with the same size units that you
made for the hen house?"
"Yes, Mr. White, we figured that all out before we started our dairy
building, and we expect to use the same construction on all our
buildings, even on the silo. Of course, in that case, we'll have to
make the sections curved, but Tony says that won't be a difficult
thing to do. You know, Mr. White, Tony understands drawings, and has
been able to give me some good suggestions--particularly on how to
handle and make forms. He says he started to learn the carpenter trade
when he was only ten years old, and he can file a saw or sharpen a
plane so they'll cut fine."
"Well, I'm very much interested, Bob, in the way you're getting along
with this work. As soon as you get this building up to the roof, I'm
going to ask your Uncle Joe to let me give a party at Brookside Farm
some Saturday, and have all the farmers around this section come and
see what you're doing. We'll probably have to wait until they get
their plowing done and their corn in. You know," he added, "they
didn't have a tractor to do their work for them like you did, but I've
a notion that I've made some of them jealous, and there'll be a number
of tractors running in the county next spring, if I don't miss my
guess. How'd you like to have a little help, Bob, when you go to put
up the cow barn?"
"What do you mean, Mr. White?"
"Well, I've been thinking for some time that the way to get the other
farmers around here interested in concrete work and get them buying
sand from your pit, Bob, would be to have them send some of their boys
over here to learn how cement work is done, for while anyone can
easily learn how to use cement, still it must be understood to use it
correctly. Of course, they'll have a good deal of work to do, but
after planting their oats and corn, they might be able to take a few
days off and come to help you."
"We won't be ready to start the cow barn that soon," said Bob.
"But couldn't they be making up these pre-cast sections, as you call
them, or dig out for the foundations and put in the concrete
footings."
"Oh, yes, we could do that, but Aunt Bettie and I haven't decided
definitely on our plans yet."
"Couldn't you hurry them up a little so we could get the cow barn
under way? It seems to me if we could get the farmers' sons here to
Brookside, and get them interested in concrete buildings, they could
then show their fathers how the work is done, for," he added laughing,
"it's easier to teach a young dog a new trick than an old one.
Besides, Bob, don't lose sight of the fact that it will be profitable
for you."
"How's that?" asked Bob.
"You agree to pay them for their labor in sand and gravel, and once
you get them using concrete, they'll come back for more. Since you
were in to see me last, I've been thinking the matter over and I
believe you can manage it so you can get what help you need in this
way, except, perhaps, one or two carpenters when you come to the heavy
work of the cow barn. It will be to their advantage to learn how to do
the work. I was talking to the two boys we brought out with us to-day
to see if I couldn't get them to help you, but they said they didn't
want to be mussing around with farm work. I told Edward, my nephew,
that he didn't understand enough about farms to know what was good for
him, or he'd be glad to help you. Well, I must go and see your Uncle
Joe. Think over what I've been telling you about having the farmers'
boys help you and I'll think it over too and see how it can be
managed. Of course, you wouldn't want them all here at one time. I
think if they came two or three at a time, it would be better. We
could work out a schedule of dates, and know when each boy would come
so there would be no break in the working force. You'd better see if
you'll have tools and forms enough to keep them all working, Bob, and
if you don't, your Uncle Joe ought to get you a few more."
Left to himself, Bob began to turn over in his mind the possibilities
and advantages of having more assistance, and getting the cow barn
started earlier than he had anticipated. Now that it would only
require a little more than another week to complete the hen house, he
decided that with double the number of forms they were now using, and
keeping Duncan Wallace casting sections, instead of fence posts, as
they had originally planned, they could probably get enough made for a
good start on the cow barn by the time the excavations and footings
were in place.
At four-thirty Bob quit work as usual and went to the house and
cleaned up to do his milking. Just as he was finishing his last cow,
his Aunt Bettie and the girls, accompanied by their visitors, came
into the yard to see him milk. Bob explained that as soon as the new
cow barn was finished, the milking would no longer be done in the
barnyard, but in the barn, and instead of milking by hand, they would
install automatic milking machines. He could then take care of twenty
cows easier than he could now take care of ten milked by hand.
"How do you like the new Holsteins?" asked the banker, as he watched
Bob finish off the last cow.
"They're fine, Mr. White. This one's name is Spot. She's my favorite;
she's a three-year-old and gives twenty quarts of milk each day.
That's better than any of the others, although two of them come pretty
close to her. When we get the new barn and can, regulate their
feeding, they'll all do much better."
"Why, do you know how much milk each cow gives?" inquired Mrs. White,
surprised.
"Certainly," said Bob, "we not only know, but we set down every day
how much we get, so we can keep a record. If you'll come down to the
dairy house, I'll show you how it's done. Of course, we don't measure
each cow's milk separately every day, or weigh their cream every day,
but every time I milk, I keep the milk of one cow in a separate pail,
so it may be weighed. For instance, I'm taking note of Spot's yield
to-day."
"This is very interesting, Bob," said Mrs. White. "I didn't think you
went into farming so scientifically."
"They don't on some farms," replied Bob, "but Aunt Bettie and I keep
books here on Brookside Farm. We want to find out what pays the best."
"That's right," said the banker, "working and figuring go hand in
hand, and if you keep that up Brookside Farm will soon be paying a
good profit."
"Will you let me see your books after supper, Bob?" he asked. "Your
Aunt Bettie has invited us all to stay and have supper with you."
"Yes," said Bob. "I'll be glad to."
"Did that one cow give that much milk?" asked the banker's wife in
astonishment, as she saw the huge pail Bob had gotten from Spot.
"Yes," said Bob proudly.
"Why, I had no idea one cow could give so much milk," she replied.
[Illustration: EXTRA PROFITS ARE NOT THE ONLY THINGS A FARMER GETS
FROM A HERD OF WELL-BRED DAIRY COWS. THERE IS A SATISFACTION IN HAVING
SPENT HIS TIME CARING FOR ANIMALS THAT ARE WORTH WHILE]
"That's why," said Bob, "it doesn't pay to keep common cows. They eat
as much as a purebred and don't give nearly as much milk. Besides,
their milk isn't as rich as Holsteins. If you come along to the dairy
house, I'll show you how we separate the milk and get the cream."
"May I carry one of the pails, Bob?" asked Ruth.
"You'll have to be careful, Ruth, if you carry it," admonished her
aunt. "If you and Edith don't go racing, you may carry it between
you," she continued, as the two girls picked up one of the largest
pails and started off for the dairy house.
When they arrived, Bob weighed the milk given by Spot and made a note
of it in his record book, setting down the date and name of the cow;
then he weighed the balance of the milk, and under the heading of
"Herd of Ten Cows," he set down the total amount given by all. "You
see," said Bob, "in this way we have an individual record of milk
taken every ten days from each cow, and a daily record of the ten
taken together. It doesn't make so much bookkeeping and is close
enough for all practical purposes. When we get our electric lights in,
Mrs. White," he continued, as he started the separator, "we're going
to put an electric motor on the separator. Then I can be doing
something else while the milk's going through."
"Listen to that, Ida," said the banker, addressing his wife.
"Everything on Brookside is going to be run by power and every person
on the farm will be multiplied by two or five before Bob and his Aunt
Bettie get through, and besides it won't be such hard work."
"No," laughed Bob, "when the power does the work, you don't notice it
so much."
"That's so," said the banker's wife; "you must be tired, Bob, at the
end of a day, with all the activities you have around here."
"Oh, one gets used to it, Mrs. White. I've gained ten pounds since I
came here."
He put the cream he had gotten in a cream can and placed it in the
trough. He opened the icehouse door and put some more ice around the
cans.
"How'd you happen to get the old ice in the new dairy, Bob?" asked the
banker.
"Well, we figured if we left it in the old icehouse, over half of it
would melt during the summer and we wouldn't lose anything like that
much by transferring it, so we put it on the wagon and hauled it over.
Of course, when this ice was cut, the cakes were made all kinds of
sizes, which gave us some trouble in piling it up. Next year we're
going to cut the ice in twenty-two by twenty-two-inch sizes. I don't
know whether I told you or not, Mr. White, but the floor of the
icehouse slopes toward the center, so each cake helps to support the
other as we take them out."
"Just listen to that, Ida. See how Bob has figured out all these
things. Who would have thought of that?"
"I didn't," confessed Bob. "That was in one of the farm bulletins on
icehouse construction."
"Somebody else worked it out, but you used the idea," said the banker.
"Often a man who can utilize another's idea can develop it to greater
profit than the one who first created it. It's my opinion, Bob, that
it's the little things in life that are carefully managed that make a
success of the big things."
"What do you do with your skim milk, Bob?" asked Mrs. White. "We feed
that to the calves, and what's left over to the pigs, and some of it
occasionally to the chickens."
"Do you make butter, Bob?" asked Mr. White.
"We used to," said Bob, "but now we sell all our cream to the creamery
and buy our butter." "What, buy your own butter?"
"Yes, Aunt Bettie says it pays better to buy butter from those who
make it in a big way than try to make it ourselves. We get the butter
when we deliver the cream and in that way we don't have the extra work
to do. Of course, we could make our own butter, and would do so if
there was no creamery, but the money that goes for a pound of butter
is less than we get for a pound of butter fat, and we save the time
Aunt Betty would have to devote to it."
Bob now opened the refrigerator and showed them how they kept their
eggs, butter and fresh meat.
"My, what a nice-looking lot of things to eat," said Mrs. White
admiringly, as she looked into the white-enameled refrigerator. "See
the crates of nice white eggs and freshly-killed poultry."
"Of course, we aren't killing much poultry now," said Bob. "We won't
get started on that until the hen house is finished, but we're killing
off a lot of the common chickens to get rid of them. They're bringing
thirty cents per pound now."
"We'll wait supper till you get your shower and change your clothes,
Bob," whispered his aunt, as the party came to the house and Bob
disappeared. The favorable comments made by the banker and his wife on
his work raised his thoughts above the level of mere clothes. He cared
not that his ready-made suit compared rather poorly with the tailor-
made clothes of their boy visitors. He decided that as he was going to
be a farmer, he would wear the kind of clothes that belonged to
farmers, and wouldn't try to ape others in the matter of dress.
After supper was over, Bob and his uncle, with the banker, adjourned
to the sitting room, where they spent a half hour in going over their
system of cost-keeping.
"This is a fine system, Joe," said the banker. "I'm glad to know
you're taking such an intelligent interest in your farm."
"Well, it was pretty hard, John, for me at first to understand keeping
accounts and all that, but Bettie and Bob were so insistent that I
finally made up my mind that I was going to learn what it was all
about. I think now I've a pretty fair idea how to tell whether a
thing's paying or not; besides, since we got it started it don't take
over five minutes a day. Before the summer is over, we'll have our
work pretty well systematized. I'm beginning already to find out that
a lot of things we've been doing on this farm all our lives have been
unprofitable and also that many things we've neglected entirely can be
made to pay a good profit."
"Nothing like figures, Joe, to tell you where you're at," laughed the
banker. "Next thing for us to do, Joe, is to see that we get our
farmers all awake and in line for a new concrete road to town. We must
build that road this summer. I want you to be able to haul your
produce easily."
When Bob returned to the porch, he found that the boys and girls had
gone for a walk, from which they did not return until the banker and
his wife were ready to leave. It did not add to his pleasure to see
the easy manner in which they walked along, arm in arm, on their
return to the house, or the rather overlong hand-shaking when they
finally parted. He decided he didn't like those boys--especially
"Eddie" Brown.
XVI
RUTH AND JERRY