306 THE FAT OF THE LAND 



most I have paid for wages during the seven 

 years since this experiment was inaugurated. 



The food purchased for cows, hogs, and hens 

 may also be definitely estimated. It costs about 

 $30 a year for each cow, $ 1 for each hog, and thirty 

 cents for each hen. Everything else comes from 

 the land, and is covered by such fixed charges 

 as interest, wages, taxes, insurance, repairs, and 

 replenishments. The food for the colony at 

 Four Oaks, usually bought at wholesale, doesn't 

 cost more than $5 a month per capita. This 

 seems small to a man who is in the habit of 

 paying cash for everything that enters his doors ; 

 but it amply provides for comforts and even for 

 luxuries, not only for the household, but also for 

 the stranger within the gates. In the city, where 

 water and ice cost money and the daily purchase 

 of food is taxed by three or four middlemen, one 

 cannot realize the factory farmer's independence 

 of tradesmen. I do not mean that this sum will 

 furnish terrapin and champagne, but I do not 

 understand that terrapin and champagne are nec- 

 essary to comfort, health, or happiness. 



Let us look for a moment at some of the 

 things which the factory farmer does not buy, 

 and perhaps we shall see that a comfortable 

 existence need not demand much more. His 

 cows give him milk, cream, butter, and veal ; his 

 swine give roast pig, fresh pork, salt pork, ham, 

 bacon, sausages, and lard ; his hens give eggs and 

 poultry ; his fields yield hulled corn, samp, and 



