CAPITAL 99 



purchased a place for $4,000, paying down $500, 

 and arranged to pay off the balance in monthly 

 installments of $50. This was smaller than the rent 

 of $65 we had been accustomed to pay in the city 

 even when interest and taxes are included. After 

 paying for our place we found ourselves with hardly 

 enough cash on hand to move and get settled in 

 the new place. We did invest $75 in the electric range. 

 But all purchases of livestock, of tools, of labor-saving 

 comforts, had to come out of income. Two things, 

 however, made that income go farther in equipping 

 the homestead than might at first be anticipated. One 

 was that since we spent less than we had in the city 

 for rent and for food, even the first year, we had more 

 money with which to make investments in equipment 

 than we would ordinarily have saved out of salary. 

 The other was that the investments in the more ex- 

 pensive equipment could be made on the installment 

 plan. One month, for instance, we made all the pur- 

 chases for our poultry-yard incubator, eggs and set- 

 ting hens. The next month we purchased our steam 

 pressure cooker which cost $25 at that time. Such 

 purchases we made for cash out of what we saved 

 from week to week. When it came to installing our 

 automatic pumping system an investment which 

 ran into hundreds of dollars we purchased it on the 

 installment plan and had the satisfaction of seeing it 

 save us enough to pay for itself month by month. 



Yet in spite of the relatively small initial invest- 

 ment and the modest income in the beginning, and in 



