FOREWORD 



BY N. O. NELSON 



In writing a foreword to this book, I am spokes- 

 man for a multitude of readers, who join me in deep 

 gratitude to the author for the practical wisdom and 

 the joyful spirit he has put into his writings. He 

 speaks from his own experience, and he knows birds 

 as well as Burroughs, fruit as well as Burbank, in- 

 tensive farming better than Kropotkin, and more 

 than any other writer does he know the whole round 

 of farm life and country attractions. 



In exploiting the positive delights of country life 

 Mr. Powell has no rival. He takes them all in; the 

 beauty, the poetry, the health, independence, and 

 daily interests. There are pitfalls in farm life, not 

 the least of which are the exaggerated hopes, in- 

 spired by special crops, machinery, pedigreed ani- 

 mals, climate, and market; he leads us into none of 

 these. He advocates the farm as a home, not for 

 exploiting hobbies, but where one may live a full life, 

 round and rich. 



I go back to my boyhood when we had another 

 kind of farming, with more acres and ruder ways. 

 We raised our living, and had something to sell. 

 There was school in winter and work all the time. 



