40 FLIGHT FROM THE CITY 



inexpensive piece of machinery reduced the labor to 

 a point where it demanded no more of my time and 

 strength than should be given to some form of exer- 

 cise regularly every day. The investment of $3.50 

 to $ 5 in this implement with its set of attachments of 

 plows, weeders, cultivators and rakes, pays for itself 

 over and over again in a single year. Except when 

 plowing and planting, it makes it possible to use our 

 "man" power without abusing it. In the spring and 

 the fall, when planting or harvesting is under way, the 

 whole family goes to the garden and the heavier labor 

 at that time is turned into a sort of family game. It is 

 an amusing fact that the garden has furnished me 

 exercise for which we had to pay money in the city. 

 There, to keep oneself fit, one has to turn to gym- 

 nasiums or to golf. 



We have experimented with the use of power in 

 farming. But power is really unnecessary on the scale 

 we have operated. We have a Fordson tractor on our 

 place, but it was purchased only because we had to 

 clear the land on which we built our new home. It 

 more than paid for itself in excavating, in road-mak- 

 ing, and in hauling timbers and stones at the "Dog- 

 woods." Even the small garden tractor, which repre- 

 sents an investment of around $200 today, is of 

 doubtful utility unless the homestead goes in for field 

 corn, wheat, and other grains. Then, of course, either 

 a horse or small tractor becomes a paying investment, 

 with the horse perhaps the better of the two under 

 present conditions. It takes money to buy gasoline and 



