Thompson, then, was a Joe Hooker on a reduced plane,--good only to
execute another man's plans. Thompson might have rebutted this by saying
that I too might prove a disastrous failure; that as yet I had shown
only ability to spend,--perhaps not always wisely. Such rebuttal would
have had weight seven years ago, but it would not be accepted to-day,
for I have made my campaign and won my battle. The record of the past
seven years shows that I can plan and also execute.

Thompson told me that he had found two woodsmen (by scouting around on
Sunday) who were glad to take the job of cutting the white-oak posts at
five cents each, and that they were even then at work; and that Nos. 6
and 7 would be fitted for alfalfa by the end of the week. He added that
the seed ought to be sown as soon thereafter as possible and that a
liberal dressing of commercial fertilizer should be sown before the seed
was harrowed in.

"I have ordered five tons of fertilizer," I said, "and it ought to be
here this week. Sow four bags to the acre."

"Four bags,--eight hundred pounds; that's pretty expensive. Costs, I
suppose, $35 to $40 a ton."

"No; $24."

"How's that?"

"Friend at court; factory price; $120 for five tons; $5 freight, making
in all $125. We must use at least eight hundred pounds this fall and
five hundred in the spring. Alfalfa is an experiment, and we must give