CHAPTER V

WORN OUT FARMS





"WELL, you found some mighty poor land, I reckon," was the greeting
Percy received from Grandma West as he returned from his walk over
Westover and some neighboring farms.

"I found some land that produces very poor crops," he replied, "but
I don't know yet whether I should say that the land is poor."

"Well, I know it's about as poor as poor can be; but it was not
always poor, I can tell you. When I was a girl, if this farm did not
produce five or six thousands bushels of wheat, we thought it a poor
crop; but now, if we get five or six hundred bushels, we think we
are doing pretty well. My husband's father paid sixty-eight dollars
an acre for some of this land, and it was worth more than that a few
years later and, mind you, in those days wheat was worth less and
niggers a mighty sight more than they are nowadays; but, somehow,
the land has just grown poor. We don't know how. We have worked
hard, and we have kept as much stock as we could, but we could never