24 HOW TO LIVE IN THE COUNTRY 



market, in vehicles owned and loaded by the growers. 

 We shall see more of this, and I am not sure but that 

 the automobile will very soon become the country 

 man's market wagon. I am assuming that nearly all 

 country home-makers will soon have a surplus prod- 

 uct of some sort to dispose of and that nearly all 

 will need to find a convenient place of sale. I must 

 not make this an absolute rule, for there will be a 

 minority even in the country who will have no taste 

 for gardening and orcharding. 



How many acres does the country home-seeker re- 

 quire? That depends upon whether he is a skilled 

 horticulturist or an amateur. I should say that he 

 would require from five to twenty-five acres, accord- 

 ing to his bias and what he expects to grow. I have 

 only nine acres left, and half of that only is devoted 

 to fruit growing. It is quite enough, looking at the 

 amount of work to be done, but it is not enough when 

 one has gone so far as to be carrying on experiments 

 in cross-breeding. This requires the isolation of 

 new products in the vegetable line, to prevent sport- 

 ing and recrossing. In fact, I need at least twice as 

 many acres as I have. However, you can get a lot 

 of gardening done on five acres, or even on three; 

 only by and by when you wish that you had ten you 

 will find that your very success has run up the price 

 of land about you, and you would have done better to 

 have bought a little more at the outset. 



A country home must in some sense always be a 

 growing home, but do not start out with big ideas. 



