112 HOW TO GET A FARM, 



&quot; I possess a thorough theoretical knowledge of agricul 

 ture, having at college made chemistry and botany my par 

 ticular studie^, and have, for years, been a constant reader 

 of the best agricultural books and periodicals, the Cultiva 

 tor included. I have had considerable experience in 

 gardening, and have been very successful. There my quali 

 fications end. I have never worked a whole day in the 

 field, and am too feeble in body to do much labor of any 

 kind. 



&quot; About five minutes walk from my house and from the 



town of B , there is a piece of land containing sixteen 



acres of good clayey loam, sloping toward the south about 

 one hundred feet down to the seashore, where marine weeds 

 are abundant for manure. It is well fenced, but the build 

 ings are worth nothing. It has been badly cultivated, with 

 out any kind of manuring. It rents for $50 a year, and 

 may be bought for $1,000, on easy terms, say $100 cash, 

 and the rest in eight years. My whole available funds are 

 about $200. Would it be prudent, then, to buy it ? I can 

 hire a good man for $80 a year and board. Produce brings 

 fair prices, and is readily bought up : barley, at $1 per 

 bushel ; oats, 60 cents ; potatoes, 60 cents ; Swede turnips, 

 about 40 cents; and hay $15 a ton, this year, and about 

 $9, in other years. Indian corn we rarely grow, being lia 

 ble to early frosts. Will you give me your advice ? It 

 would not be necessary to relinquish the law altogether ; I 

 could probably make $200 by it, and still work the land.&quot; 



The case is stated with lawyer-like precision, 

 whereupon the editor replies in the following lan 

 guage : 



&quot; In giving advice, in such a case as this, it should be 

 borne in mind that more depends on THE MAN than on the 

 nature of the business, provided the latter is such as to 



