SOCIAL SIDE OF COUNTRY LIFE 297 



These dreams are likely to lead him into schemes 

 that are half thought out and to put him into the 

 power of heartless speculators. In bidding good- 

 bye to my readers I wish to remind them that I have 

 already warned them that they should rarely buy 

 land that they have not themselves inspected, and that 

 a large part of the speculative projects for country 

 home making in common are treacherous efforts to 

 get the money of the common people without any 

 adequate returns. 



As immigration comes to a final balance and there 

 is no longer a rush of the dissimilar and undigested 

 social element, we shall react to a nearer social equal- 

 ity. Many years ago our fathers were on a level; 

 we will be on another, but a higher level. Better 

 tools always mean better men and women ; and better 

 folk in turn mean better fruit and better animals 

 more intelligent cooperation between all that goes 

 to make up the country home, dogs, horses, bees, 

 birds, flowers, fruit, and human folk. Every relic of 

 barbarism tends naturally to drop off; thorns will be 

 eliminated from berries as well as roses ; strawberries 

 will be as large as pears, and blackberries will grow 

 without spines. Progress is not a chance achieve- 

 ment, but the law of Nature as applied to horti- 

 culture. 



We shall master even climate after awhile. We 

 are already reaching out in this direction, by the con- 

 servation of our forests and the drainage of our 

 swamps. Things have gone heretofore on this conti- 



