238 HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 



Every farm in the country hereabouts is rich 

 in the poor fruits of such neglect. On the best 

 of them all a one-eyed man could find fifty 

 ragged signs of inattention to details. Have 

 you ever seen a farm anywhere that showed 

 none of them? I haven't. 



The root of the trouble seems to be that 

 there isn't any standard in the mind of the 

 farmer for thrift in such things. With most 

 of us thrift is nothing but an abstract notion 

 and not a clear rule of action. None of us is 

 able to say for sure that he's practicing real 

 thrift in the care of his acres or in any part 

 of his work that he can't improve upon his 

 methods while using no more than his present 

 working capital. We have no model to go by, 

 even in our mind's eye. 



I've set out to change that this year. I'm 

 fixing up a model patch right in the heart of 

 the farm that will serve for our guidance. I 

 believe the plan will work. 



This patch has always been a rough looker. 

 It includes about four acres lying between our 

 kitchen garden and the well-tended fields. The 

 land is stony, and there's a rain-washed gutter 

 running through the middle of it. A tight red 

 clay subsoil comes up close to the surface. A 



