The Bluegrass Claims Its Own 



southern boundary of the property. 

 Beyond this the line of a public 

 highway you catch glimpses of corn 

 and oat fields, distant woodlands, and 

 little farmsteads nestling among the 

 trees. Westward a well equipped and 

 privately conducted scientific agricul- 

 tural experiment station, operated by 

 one of our enthusiastic back-to-the- 

 landers, is revealed. Its great water 

 tower and the big, hospitable house 

 that crowns an elevation in the middle 

 foreground unite to make Maple Farm 

 a landmark dominating the entire 

 landscape in that direction. Guern- 

 seys, Chester Whites, fancy poultry, 

 silos, alfalfa fields and a hundred other 

 objects of interest to farm folk may 

 here be found. Back of this a partly- 

 wooded, broken country rolls away 

 towards a remote range of hills, behind 

 which the setting sun goes down into 

 the little valley of the Des Plaines 

 River. Originally covered entirely 

 with a forest growth, clearings here 



[43] 



