150 HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 



worth something some time. Its gain in value 

 from year to year is paying a fair interest on 

 our investment in the land. It would never 

 have been worth a cent if we'd left it as it was. 



Once that rough cleaning up was done, we 

 had ten acres that didn't look at all bad. It 

 was rather steep and stony in spots, but there 

 was a lot of good land in between. What to do 

 with it was the next question. A German or 

 an Italian would have set it straightway to 

 vineyard; slope and exposure and subsoil con- 

 ditions were all exactly right for that use. But 

 we weren't yet ready to attack commercial 

 grape-growing. I mean to get to that before 

 long; one of the things in the back of my head 

 is a plan for covering that hillside with Scup- 

 pernong vines. Meanwhile, that ten acres 

 ought to be doing something more than carry 

 its young timber. 



The puzzle solved itself without definite in- 

 tention of ours. We had been perplexed over 

 permanent pasture. Experience had shown 

 that the native grasses had almost no value for 

 milk cattle ; those that grew in the denser woods 

 were sparse and uncertain. As we had thought 

 it over, we had decided against using our culti- 

 vable land in made pastures or meadows. The 



