No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 231 



any better or smarter than lie is, has cows and sheep that produce 

 twice or thrice as much as his at the same cost. It is a revehitioa- 

 to him and would have remained a mystery had it not been for that 

 social call last winter, when for the first time in ten years he had 

 visited his neighbor's home and became acquainted with his family 

 and his methods. 



Another has been growing corn, oats and wheat in regular rota- 

 tion — nothing else — and doing his farming in the most careful and 

 scientific manner. For many years he had a profit each season and 

 was doing well, but of late the balance will come on the wrong side 

 and he has been steadily going back. He has worried and figured 

 and economized but all to no purpose. A friend out the valley who 

 started when he did is still doing well and keeping up with the times, 

 and he decides to go and see him. He takes his wife and they visit 

 for a day — the first time in years. They were received cordially, 

 spent a most enjoyable time, and returned home feeling like differ- 

 ent people. The wife talked of the comforts found here and there 

 in the home — all inexpensive but "so nice and convenient." If they 

 had been subscribers to the Rural New Yorker she would have re- 

 minded her husband of the "Home Comfort" item in the December 

 number under "Hope Farm Notes" where is so aptly told the story 

 of the old lady who visited the churchyard and viewed the elegant 

 monument to the memory of a friend of her youth and after contem- 

 plating its beauty and apparent fitness, solemnly remarked: "I 

 w^ould rather have m3' monument erected before I die." She prob- 

 ably could have induced the husband to read further and note that 

 the choice of a monument was "a good range and hot and cold 

 water in my kitchen." Then that farmer would push back his chair, 

 close his eyes, and picture his wife in such a kitchen, and finally ex- 

 claim with H. Ay. C: "Now there is some sense in the thought that 

 we should be permitted to enjoy our tombstone." Rousing himself 

 from his reverie, he would promise to inaugurate these comforts 

 at the house as fast as possible, then he would tell what he saw on 

 his visit. The stables full of young cattle, the pens crowded with 

 pigs, and the coops swarming with fowls — "all growing into money." 

 The friend had explained that with the changed conditions of the 

 markets he had found it necessary to convert his grain into stock, 

 pork, eggs and poultrj^ to make his farm pay. He declared the ex- 

 periment to be a success and that he had not only made more money 

 but it gave him ready cash at all times and he found it much more 

 pleasant and interesting than the old way. It brought him in con- 

 tact with the outside world and gave him a knowledge of and ac- 

 quaintance with business men and their methods and tactics. 



All this was new to our farmer but he found it interesting and 

 made a start at once along the same lines. The first visit was fol- 



