CHAPTER VII 



"the most valuable of all arts" 



I believe in a spade and an acre of ground. Whoso cuts a 

 straight path to his own living by the help of God, in the sun 

 and rain and sprouting grain, seems to be a universal working 

 man. He solves the problem of life. 



Emerson. 



ELSEWHERE I have ventured the prediction 

 that the next great passion of mankind will 

 be for the soil. Now let me add that the next 

 great popular science, the next great popular art, will 

 be the science and the art employed by millions of 

 ambitious, energetic folk in building the peace garden 

 on the foundation of the war-garden experience, thus 

 raising the American standard of living higher than 

 ever before, and establishing the institutions of our 

 common life upon the enduring basis of landed pro- 

 prietorship and individual independence. 



Sixty-two years ago Abraham Lincoln, in a casual 

 speech, scarcely reported at the time, and the tre- 

 mendous import of which has not been sensed by the 

 people even now, used these prophetic words : 



"The most valuable of all arts will be the art of 

 deriving a comfortable subsistence from the smallest 

 area of soil." 



It is a good speaker who can put one big thought 

 into a single sentence of twenty-two words, but Lincoln 

 put three separate and distinct big thoughts into the 



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