TAKING REINS IN HAND. 99 



ough reconstruction ; but only as one of those simple, 

 feasible improvements of the old conditions which 

 are met with everywhere ; improvements, moreover, 

 which involve little or no cost, beyond the farmer s 

 own labor, and no commitment to the theories of 

 Mechi or of Liebig. A ragged-coated man should be 

 grateful for a tight bit of linsey-wolsey to his back, 

 until such time as he conies to the dignity of broad 

 cloth. 



Four fifths of those who undertake farming, not 

 as an amusement or simply as an occupation, but as the 

 business of their life, and upon whom we are depend 

 ent for our potatoes, veal, and cider (to say nothing 

 more), are compelled to do the best they can with 

 existing buildings ; and Stephens plans of a farm- 

 steading are as much Greek to them, as the Works 

 and Days of Hesiod. A hint, therefore, of judicious 

 adaptation of old buildings, may be all they can digest 

 with that practical relish with which a man accepts 

 suggestions that are within the compass of his means 

 and necessities. 



Again, the British or Continental needs in the 

 matter of farm constructions, are totally different 

 from American need, in all northern latitudes. The 

 British farmer can graze his turnips into January; 

 and I have seen a pretty herd of Devon cows cropping 

 a fair bite of grass, under the lee of the Devon Tors, 



