HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 223 



keting. He may have a few extra head of 

 pigs that can't be put in marketable condition 

 at a profit and that must be sold for what they 

 will bring close by. He may have a few extra 

 bushels of apples or potatoes. It's a pity to 

 let them waste; but there isn't enough of the 

 stuff to pay for hunting the best possible 

 market. Counting time, the only thing to do 

 is to peddle it out for what it will bring on the 

 local market and country town markets for 

 farm produce are almost invariably in the 

 hands of small middlemen who don't like to 

 pay profits to the farmer. Those little jags 

 of surplus almost inevitably spell loss to the 

 grower. That loss is the very thing that has 

 discouraged many and many a townsman in 

 his essay of farming. 



My own study of the matter has had the pig 

 for its object. I've settled it just this way in 

 my own mind: 



I'll breed no more pigs than the farm is able 

 to carry to maturity with its own pasture and 

 forage crops. I want to avoid a surplus that 

 must be fed at a loss or sold at a sacrifice. If 

 there's ever a surplus of pasture or feed on the 

 place it will be easy enough to get extra pigs 

 to consume it. According to that method my 



