The three had scarcely entered the great room of Cedar House that
evening, when the judge asked the boy to go on an errand to a
neighbor's. This was to take some seed wheat which the judge had
promised to send for the fall sowing. The growing of wheat was still an
interesting and important experiment which was exciting the whole
country. There had been good corn in abundance from the first; on those
deep, rich, river-bottom lands the grains had but to reach the fertile
earth to produce an hundred bushels to the acre. But the settlers were
tired of eating corn-bread; their wives and children were pining for the
delicate white loaves made from the sweet fine wheat which they had
eaten in their old Virginia homes. So that the culture of the best wheat
had lately become a vital question, and this new seed was making a stir
of eager interest throughout the region. Philip Alston had given it to
the judge, and he, in turn, was dividing it among the neighbors. Each
grain was accordingly treasured and valued like a grain of gold, and the
judge cautioned the boy to be careful in tying the bag; wheat in the
grain is a slippery thing to handle, and he wished none of this to be
lost.
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