268 HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 



tain what you've got ; your income will be more 

 than you can possibly spend, provided you con- 

 tinue to give some of your time to a personal 

 attention to the business. Indeed, I shouldn't 

 wonder if you'd be willing to retire pretty soon 

 say by the end of your tenth year, and give 

 yourself up to a good time for the rest of your 

 days. 



Is that absurd? Where's the absurdity? 

 It's a matter of plain, simple arithmetic. 

 There are the figures, truth-telling, confidence- 

 compelling. Right on its face, that proposi- 

 tion is a lot more reasonable than some others 

 I've read in advertising addressed to back-to- 

 the-landers. 



No, there's no flaw at all in the logic of this 

 calculation until you run it out to its logical 

 conclusion. Then it's absurd enough to satisfy 

 anybody. 



What makes it hard to understand is the 

 fact that lots and lots of people hundreds and 

 thousands of them have actually started 

 chicken-raising with one hen as a beginning 

 and have actually come to the beginning of 

 their second year with fifty hens as increase. 

 But nobody on earth, since the beginning of 

 chicken-raising, has ever carried the matter 



