THE FIRST VISIT TO THE FAKM 15 



the country places of well-to-do people who love 

 to get away from the noise and dirt of the city. 

 Some of them have ten or fifteen acres of ground, 

 but this land is for breathing space and beauty 

 not for serious cultivation. Beyond these 

 homes we followed a well-gravelled road leading 

 directly west. This road is bordered by small 

 farms, most of them given over to dairying 

 interests. 



Presently I called Polly's attention to the fact 

 that the few apple trees we saw were healthy 

 and well grown, though quite independent of the 

 farmer's or the pruner's care. This thrifty con- 

 dition of unkept apple orchards delighted me. 

 I intended to make apple-growing a prominent 

 feature in my experiment, and I reasoned that if 

 these trees did fairly well without cultivation or 

 care, others would do excellently well with both. 



As we approached the second section line and 

 climbed a rather steep hill, we got the first 

 glimpse of our possession. At the bottom of the 

 western slope of this hill we could see the cross- 

 ing of the north-and-south road, which we knew 

 to be the east boundary of our land ; while, 

 stretching straight away before us until lost in 

 the distant wood, lay the well-kept road which 

 for a good mile was our southern boundary. 

 Descending the hill, we stopped at the crossing 

 of the roads to take in the outline of the farm 

 from this southeast corner. The north-and-south 

 road ran level for 150 yards, gradually rose for 



