Corn-Farm Boy Read Online Free PDF

busily nursing its mother. He looked at Squeaky in the box in the alleyway. The runt was curled up in the straw, fast asleep. Dick smiled.
    When chores were done, he saw that Wilma and Mom had brought the cows in and were milking. Outside, it was raining. Dad did not get much corn planted, after all. Dad had shut off the tractor motor.
    â€œYou come and cover up the planter,” Dad shouted to Dick. “I’ve got to go back to the field and get that fertilizer off the truck. It’ll get spoiled if it gets wet.”
    Dick pulled the canvas over the planter. He saw the tractor cushion on the tractor seat. Dad rode on a cushion to ease the jolts. He started to put it under the tractor, but decided it was too hot. He tucked it under the canvas.
    A big clap of thunder hit and down came the rain. Dick and Wilma ran for the house. They stood on the back porch and watched. They saw Dad come back down the lane in the Hudson. Raymond came in from the west forty with the old tractor and the drag. It began to hail a little.
    â€œI’ll take a raincoat out to Mom,” said Wilma.

CHAPTER III
    Around in Circles
    â€œCan I help today?” Dick asked.
    â€œDo the chores first,” said Dad, “and then come out in the field.”
    It was Saturday and Dick was glad there was no school. He dashed out to the barnyard. The cattle were mooing in the feed lot and he heard the pigs squealing. He hurried as fast as he could.
    He brought a pail of water and the hogs rushed in and bumped him around. The biggest one whom he had named Mrs. Hog bumped against him and knocked him over. He jumped up quickly, only to see that the others had tipped the water over. Dick felt like kicking them, but he held his temper for he saw Mrs. Hog looking at him. She looked so innocent, he had to laugh out loud. Maybe Mrs. Hog did it on purpose. Under the sow’s big ears, he thought he saw mischief.
    â€œI don’t mind a pig playing jokes on me,” Dick said aloud, “but don’t let it go too far, Mrs. Hog!”
    Beside the hog lot stood the corncrib, a large building with double open doors at each end and an alleyway through the center. Dick went to a small door at one side, took a shovel and scooped corn out into a metal bushel basket. He lifted it to his shoulder, carried it to the lot and dumped the corn out on top of the hogs. Mrs. Hog got the most of it.
    â€œThere! That’ll fix you! ” Dick cried, laughing.
    The hogs bounced and bumped over each other in their eagerness to get to the food.
    Chores done, Dick started for the big eighty. The biggest cornfield had eighty acres in it. Dick ran out the lane with Buster galumphing along at his heels. After the cold damp days of March and April, May seemed like spring. The phoebes were singing. Dick saw two squirrels fighting over an ear of corn. He saws crows flying overhead. The oats field was already green. The corn was coming up. Beautiful fresh green V-shaped plants marked neat even rows in the rich black soil. They made a circling pattern over the rolling hill. Dick picked up a clod of dirt and broke it in his hand. He liked the feel of it. How glad he was not to be cooped up in the house any more.
    He hurried over to the field. Dad was there and so was Uncle Henry. Saturday was a holiday at the factory in town, so Uncle Henry had come out for the day. Raymond had taken the old tractor over to the west forty. Dad had the new tractor and was cultivating the corn for the first time. Dad slowed up.
    â€œDad,” yelled Dick, “can I drive for a while?”
    Dad could not hear. He stopped and Dick yelled again, “Can I drive?”
    â€œLet the boy drive,” said Uncle Henry. “He can’t learn any younger.”
    Dad seemed willing. At least he made no objections. Uncle Henry patted Dick on the back.
    â€œOf course you can drive the tractor, Dick,” he said. “You’ll be a big strong farmer one of these days.