Page:North Dakota Reports (vol. 48).pdf/620

 in 1915; he caused some 100 acres to be broken and put into flax; he paid for digging and removing the stone from the premises, for the breaking thereof, for the seed utilized, and in general paid all expenses incidental to putting the land under cultivation, putting in, caring for, harvesting, and threshing the crop. There was also some ground which had been cultivated in prior years (the testimony is in conflict as to the exact amount of such ground) which was put into oats. The evidence shows that the 1915 crop was not threshed in the fall of 1915, but that it lay out on the ground during the winter, and was threshed in the spring of 1916.

It is the contention of the plaintiff that a sufficient crop was produced in the year 1915 so that the proceeds thereof, in addition to paying all expenses advanced in preparing the land for crop, putting in, harvesting, and threshing the crop were sufficient to pay all of the $2,300 advanced by the defendant Hodge in 1912, together with interest on such sum and all taxes subsequently paid on the premises. The trial court made findings in favor of the plaintiff, finding, among other things, that the original arrangement was as testified to by the plaintiff, and that the contracts produced by the defendant Hodge upon the trial had never been executed by the plaintiff, and that his purported signatures thereto were forged. The trial court further found that the defendant Hodge forcibly took the contract for a deed away from the plaintiff; also that the agreement with respect to breaking and cropping the premises was made as testified to by the plaintiff. The trial court further found:

“That said (1915) crop of grains consisted of 1890 bushels of flax, of the value of $2.07 per bushel, and 600 bushels of oats of the value of 500 per bushel, making a total crop of $4,202.30. That the expense of the defendant Solomon Hodge in breaking, removing stone, and seeding said crop and threshing same were $954.15, leaving a balance to be credited to the plaintiff of $3,247.85. That the last of said crop was sold on August 5, 1916. That the indebtedness of plaintiff to said Hodge, in April, 1916, after deducting the costs of the 1915 crop, breaking, etc., was $2,900.04. That the defendant Solomon Hodge received from the proceeds of said 1915 crop the sum of $341.87 in excess of all demands against the plaintiff herein, and said plaintiff was, on April 1, 1916, entitled to a deed of said premises from said Solomon Hodge, clear of all incumbrancesencumbrances [sic], and the sum of $341.87, less the amount of taxes paid on said premises for the 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, and 1919