BUYING A FARM. 35 



I am not a believer that " Five Acres " or " Ten 

 Acres " suffice for a farm. I know where money is 

 made on even fewer than five acres ; but they who 

 do it are few, and men of exceptional capacity and 

 diligence. Their achievements are necessarily con- 

 fined to the vicinage of cities or manufacturing vil- 

 lages. The great majority of all who live by Agri- 

 culture want room to turn upon want to grow grass 

 and keep stock and, for such, no mere garden or 

 potato-patch will answer. They want genuine farms. 



Yet, go where you. may in this country, you will 

 hear a farmer saying of his neighbor, " He has too 

 much land," even where the criticism might justly 

 be reciprocated. "We cannot all be mistaken on this 

 head. 



There are men who can each manage thousands 

 of acres of tillage, just as there are those who can 

 skillfully wield an army of a hundred thousand men. 

 Napoleon said there were two of this class in the 

 Europe of his day. There are others who cannot 

 handle a hundred acres so that nothing is lost through 

 neglect or oversight. Rules must be adapted to 

 average capacities and circumstances. He who ex- 

 pects to live by cattle-rearing needs many more acres 

 than he who is intent on grain-growing ; while he 

 who contemplates vegetable, root, and fruit culture, 

 needs fewer acres still. As to the direction of his 

 efforts, each one will be a law unto himself. 



If I were asked, by a young man intent on farm- 

 ing, to indicate the proper area for him, I would 



