FINDING THE PLACE 19 



the outset. It is going to make our whole farm 

 property suburban and enable every village to com- 

 municate almost as readily with the market as those 

 on railroad lines can do at present. It demands and 

 is securing a revolution in road-making. In fact, it 

 is going to boulevard the whole country. 



At present, however, you must take into account 

 the condition of the roadway very seriously when 

 selecting your site. The difference between good 

 roads and bad roads is at least one-third, often two- 

 thirds, in hauling. Then, if you are to consider your 

 personal comfort, there is hardly one thing that 

 affects it more than the kind of road you are allowed 

 to use. I have seen carriages dragged through mud 

 up to the hubs, and the owners soon grew sick of 

 country life. The art of road-making is not to be 

 commanded out of hand by an ordinary pathmaster, 

 but the control of our roads is so steadily passing over 

 to State and county commissioners that the change 

 for the better will assuredly go on much more rapidly. 



Select a location where you will not suffer from 

 primitive habits the moment you step off your prop- 

 erty. There are sections, as in Florida, where roads 

 are only trails under the pines, and this is a shady 

 and convenient way of going cross-woods to neigh- 

 bors or to market; but our Northern homes are 

 reached only by straight lines and square corners, 

 with fences on both sides " a right down wasteful 

 way, suh ! " says my negro plowman, " and right hot, 

 too, I reckon." 



