20 THREE ACRES AND LIBERTY 



From the big farm agencies run for profit you can get lists 

 of thousands of properties for sale. Some State Agricultural 

 Departments cooperate with real estate men in their own 

 states, by referring inquiries for farms to them. Some states 

 issue from time to time lists of "abandoned farms," but these 

 change so constantly that they help but little except in the 

 way of suggestion. 



When you start farm-hunting take along a good map. 

 Then you will know a few things on your own account. 

 Verify railroad maps and " facts," as they are often biased. 

 Don't waste your time wandering around a strange 

 locality by yourself. The local real estate man knows more 

 about his community than you can learn in five years. In 

 trying to find out things for yourself you will waste in aim- 

 less journeys, undertaken in ignorance of real conditions, 

 more tune and money than a real estate man's commission 

 amounts to. 



The only way to form a correct idea of the production of 

 any given section is to examine a particular farm in detail. 

 Within well-recognized limits, all the farms thereabouts 

 will be found of similar character. Before spending money 

 to look at land, learn all you can by correspondence. Whether 

 it is more profitable in the long run to buy that good plot of 

 land in a high state of cultivation with good buildings on it, 

 at a high price, than to buy this exhausted piece of land with 

 poor buildings or none at all, is a question for the individual 

 to decide. It depends on your energy, grit, age, and how 

 much money you have. It is much easier to take advantage 

 of what the other fellow has done, than it is to build from 

 the stump. You must bear in mind, however, that well- 

 kept land in a high state of cultivation seldom goes begging 

 in the market. On the whole, if you have the capital to do 



