292 BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



old farm for all of us, where there are three or four, and we must 

 look for something else." 1 think that a mistake; for on every 

 side of me there are cases where two, three, and even four have 

 staid on the old homestead until the eldest wanted to settle in 

 life, and then provisions were made for them. About two miles 

 from where I live there is a good farmer, his wife, and two sons; 

 the daughter helps her mother in summer and teaches school in 

 winter, and the three men work together. One day the boys came 

 in from work, and after the frugal meal one of the boys said, 

 "Father, what are we boys going to do for ourselves ? This farm 

 only a little more than supports this family, and where is our reve- 

 nue coming from ? We must begin to look for ourselves." The 

 father replied, "You see that good, snug little farm adjoining ours 

 on the south ; the owner wants to sell it, and if you will both turn in 

 and work the same as you have done, I will go right down and buy 

 it." " We will do it," exclaimed the boys. The farm was bought, 

 the old and the new ones were brushed up a little, the milk of forty 

 cows went to the station every day. and both farms were made to 

 produce nearly double their former amount, and were soon paid for; 

 then money began to accumulate again. One of the boys taught 

 school in winter and boarded at home to help take good care of 

 the stock. One day the oldest son came home and said, " Father, 

 that large, nice farm on the north of us has to-day been offered 

 for sale. The only son has gone to the city or somewhere else to 

 seek his fortune, or more likely his ruin, and the old man says he 

 can do nothing with the farm alone, and has offered it for sale 

 to-day." 



The father says: "T/ia< is a good farm and good buildings. You go 

 up and buy it, and one of you can live there and see to the stock, and 

 we will all work together as we have done." The farm was bought; 

 the oldest son married a poor gii'l, and moved on to the place; the 

 three men worked together every day. They have now four hun- 

 dred acres of good land, and each a house near each other. They 

 have one hundred acres of good corn land ; they plant ten acres of 

 corn each year, and get around in the rotation once in ten years. 

 They cut one hundred acres of stout grass, and keep good pay- 

 ing stock to consume all the forage on the farm, while the milk- 

 can continues to go to the station every day, and last year they 

 told me that they had paid for the last acx'e, and owed no man a 

 dollar. And now, my young friends, does this look as if farming 

 was poor business ? Just look at what they can accomplish in 



