8o AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



about 1855, drain-pipe and horse-shoe tile became 

 available and the wettest parts of the land were 

 under-drained for the third time. Only a faint 

 idea can be given of the labor in clearing and drain- 

 ing necessary in those days to bring a farm up to 

 a high power of production. 



Meanwhile vast quantities of easily available 

 plant food were being removed through the crops 

 without any adequate consideration of the labor, 

 skill, investment and plant-food involved ; for such 

 profit as was apparently secured was only obtained 

 by selling the cream of the soil and our labor and 

 skill at too low a price. I hold that no profit 

 should be counted until a sufficient sinking fund 

 has been set apart to tide over misfortunes and 

 old age; for if parents have to be supported in 

 their age by their children, it is evident that they 

 have not earned, at least have not received, a life- 

 supply of food and clothing a pitiful result, in- 

 deed, for a life-time of industry, economy and 

 honest living. 



If a man is fortunate enough to fill out his three 

 score and five years, he should earn enough in forty 

 adult years to pay for the cost o'f his living during 

 the first twenty and for the last five, as well as for 

 the period of his active, productive life. Most 



