CAN WE MAKE IT PAY? 271 



dred dollars from ten acres. As one travels about 

 the country he will be surprised at the amount of 

 money invested in tools that are left to the friction 

 of storms and the wear of the weather. From in- 

 sects alone we are losing one-fifth of the products 

 of the United States, while poor storage reduces our 

 properties another fifth. 



Every country school house should teach econom- 

 ics. There is nothing in country life that cannot 

 be overcome by application of thought and labor and 

 it is this overcoming that makes life worth the while. 

 A recent bulletin from an agricultural college reports, 

 from accurate tests, that over one-third the cows 

 that are kept for dairy purposes do not pay for their 

 feed and care. Recent discussion of high prices has 

 also brought out the fact that the bulk of country 

 homes do not produce their own food. " Not a few 

 farmers buy every vegetable that they eat, potatoes 

 excepted, and all their fruit as well as most of their 

 meat." They have a few hens straggling about, doing 

 more mischief than they do good. Yet it is just as 

 possible as ever to save in these lines. Potatoes, 

 beans, and peas are as nutritious as meat and should 

 be supplied abundantly by every garden. The 

 French farmer not only raises his own vegetables and 

 nearly all his food, but makes his own fertilizers. 

 We waste our soil-making stuff and buy fertilizers 

 not half as good. 



A country home with an orchard of ungrafted 

 fruit, or trees gone all to suckers and brush, does not 



