276 HOW TO LIVE IN THE COUNTRY 



justice. It is for this reason that I have strongly 

 recommended that you do not plant yourself very 

 far from a town large enough to absorb your surplus. 

 I am aware that this cannot always be done; but in 

 every case you can adopt the principle that I have 

 urged, to grow first for home use and second for 

 market. 



Make sure that your gardens are up to date, giv- 

 ing you the very best products of modern discovery 

 and creation, and cutting off your expenses in every 

 direction. Expand slowly. Leave off frills. The 

 glory of the country is not the same as the glory of 

 the city, either as concerns a costly house and pre- 

 tentious grounds, or in the way of costly habits of 

 eating and clothing. The glory of the country is 

 simplicity and naturalness, under training. We need 

 not go to the extreme of Thoreau, of living in a self- 

 constructed hut in the wilderness, but we should leave 

 out everything that savors of city streets formality 

 and artificiality. Fit yourself into companionship 

 with the trees and keep your brains busy controlling, 

 but not defying, growth. 



Extensive farming does not come at all within the 

 reach of these chapters. I am considering only a 

 small country home, thoroughly cultivated. Nor 

 am I writing for those men of wealth who exploit 

 the country by buying up large tracts of farm land, 

 including farm houses, and then turning them into 

 chateaus. We have quite too much of this work 

 going on and while it creates false ideals of homes 



