LOOKING FOKWAKD 403 



members of my family do much as they pleased 

 and have good things and good people around 

 them, and a somewhat luxurious temperament of 

 my own. 



Polly and I were too wise (not to say too old) 

 to adopt farming as a means of grace through 

 privations. We wanted the good there was in 

 it, and nothing else ; but as a secondary consid- 

 eration I wished to prove that it can be made to 

 pay well, even though one-third of the money 

 expended goes for comforts and kickshaws. 



It is not necessary to spend so much on a five- 

 hundred-acre farm, and a factory farm need not 

 contain so many acres. Any number of acres 

 from forty to five hundred, and any number of 

 dollars from 15000 to $100,000, will do, so long 

 as one holds fast to the rules : good clean fences 

 for security against trespass by beasts, or w r eeds ; 

 high tilth, and heavy cropping ; no waste or fal- 

 low land ; conscientious return to the land of 

 refuse, and a cover crop turned under every 

 second year ; the best stock that money can buy ; 

 feed for product, not simply to keep the animals 

 alive ; force product in every way not detrimental 

 to the product itself ; maintain a strict quaran- 

 tine around your animals, and then depend upon 

 pure food, water, air, sunlight, and good shelter 

 to keep them healthy ; sell as soon as the prod- 

 uct is finished, even though the market doesn't 

 please you ; sell only perfect product under your 

 own brand ; buy when tjie market pleases you 



