62 HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 



practically everything they ate. The only way 

 they had of paying their store bills was by 

 selling their corn and wheat which they had 

 grown at a considerable net loss. Only a few 

 of the farmers knew how to put up sugar-cured 

 ham and bacon. Gardening seemed to be a lost 

 art. Dairying on the farms, for the sake of se- 

 curing abundant home supplies of dairy prod- 

 ucts, was next to unknown. If there were hens 

 on a farm, the surplus eggs were exchanged 

 at the store for meat; or if there happened to 

 be a little "jag" of potatoes, this was swapped 

 for butter. In all our going about we didn't 

 run across one farm that was doing for itself, 

 at first hand, all it was able to do in feeding 

 the farmer's family. 



We intended to change that. No matter 

 how much of our land it would take, we meant 

 to make the farm furnish our table directly 

 with milk and cream and butter, the best of 

 meat, poultry and eggs, fruits and garden 

 stuff. Our land must do that for us in the end ; 

 so, we argued, why not let it be done directly? 

 In quality and cost we could do better for our- 

 selves in that way than if we got our food sec- 

 ond-handed. The largest item in the cost of 



