THE PROBLEM, THE PEOPLE, THE PLACE 15 



out the man, other expenses could only be kept 

 constant at the risk of further depletion of capital. 

 Tilth is a prime factor in rural real estate values. 

 We had already let thirty-two of our forty acres 

 backslide.To neglect the remaining eight would 

 have been to sacrifice some part of that proportion 

 of the basic investment. 



Now turn to glance at the aforementioned in- 

 ventory with me. As this is written we are close 

 on to Thanksgiving. In the barn are two milch 

 cows yielding a daily superabundance of tuber- 

 culin- and blood-tested whole raw milk. Beside 

 them are two bred heifers and two female calves. 

 In the next twelve months we can count on four 

 more calves, at least one of which will be a vealer 

 (its mother tossed her cap, not over the windmill 

 but the party-line fence) . Alongside these are three 

 sheep that will turn into lamb some time this win- 

 ter; and when I say lamb I mean lamb, not the 

 goat meat so frequently fobbed off on the innocent 

 public as lamb. There are nineteen pigs, four of 

 which will go to the butcher before Christmas, 

 while three will stay at home to provide us with 

 ham, bacon, lard, sparerib, sausage, scrapple, and 

 souse. There are one hundred and ten hens pro- 

 ducing more eggs than we can eat. Before next 

 spring we shall have culled out thirty or forty of 

 the low producers and salvaged them in potpies. 

 These, with the twenty ducks in excess of the brood 



