Mr. Haney rents Bertram the rooster to Oliver for fifty cents a day. Unfortunately, he's a "pecker", not a "crower"; he also gets a hen named Alice. Oliver then sets about getting a phone installed in the kitchen (though the line won't be connected for three months), the plumbing and roof fixed, and electricity via a rickety power generator. Mr. Douglas also meets his county farm agent, the scatter-brained Hank Kimball, who takes some soil samples for analysis.
—Jay Phelps <jaynashvil@aol.com>