HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 289 



ing feature of management, in all probability 

 our verdict as to the wisdom of kitchen-gar- 

 dening on the farm would be very unlike our 

 feeling of to-day. A neglected garden is 

 hardly better than none; yet care ought not be 

 given it regardless of cost. With that in mind 

 we've kept our truck patches clustered close 

 about the barn and stable, so they're handy to 

 get at with tools and beasts, and so it's always 

 possible to make good use of a chance load of 

 manure which might go to waste if we waited 

 to haul it to a far field. 



The dairy barn, too, is a constant invitation 

 to the study of many little economies whose 

 sum is large. There's the matter of late sum- 

 mer and early fall pasture, for instance. In 

 most parts of the South pasture for the cows 

 becomes a problem in July, August and Sep- 

 tember, which is our hot, dry season. Most 

 southern farmers are able to keep up milk yield 

 in those months only by a free use of mill feeds 

 at high cost. The cost is often so great as to 

 absorb all profits ; so it's not uncommon to see 

 the cows prematurely dried in summer and 

 turned out to pick a bare living on such weeds 

 and roughage as they're able to find for them- 

 selves. Then through the fall and winter 



