THREE ACRES AND LIBERTY 



CHAPTER I 



MAKING A LIVING WHERE AND HOW 



BY thought and courage, we can help ourselves to own 

 a home, surrounded by acres of fruit and vegetables, flowers 

 and poultry, and learn the best methods so as to insure 

 success. 



In olden times any one could "farm," but it is necessary 

 to-day to teach people to obtain a livelihood directly from 

 the earth. Scientific methods of agriculture have revealed 

 possibilities in the soil that make farming the most fascinat- 

 ing occupation known to man. People in every city are 

 longing for the freedom of country life, yet hesitate to enter 

 into its liberty because no one points the way. 



Most sociologists are agreed that the great problem of our 

 day is to stop the drift of population toward the cities. 

 Seeing the overcrowding, the want and misery of our great 

 towns, the philanthropist chimes in with "Get the people 

 to the country, that is the need." 



But there is no such need. Man is a social animal, he 

 naturally goes in flocks, he earns more and learns more in 

 crowds. To transport him to the country, even if he would 

 stay, which happily he won't, would be to doctor a symptom. 

 As in typhoid, what is needed is not to suppress the fever, 

 that is easy, but to remove the cause of it. 

 B 1 



