THE HOUSEHOLD CHORES 151 



the skilled occupations it is the one for which least 

 preparation is available, or expected. 



A poor servant is worse than none. Repeated 

 check-ups have convinced us that the total sum 

 of wages and maintenance for such a one should 

 at least be doubled to cover waste and breakage. 

 To hold these to a minimum a poor servant must 

 usually be watched like a cat: meaning that there 

 is little actual liberation of time involved in em- 

 ploying one. A first-rate house servant, one that 

 could get on with the work without constant in- 

 struction and supervision, would pay out at least 

 as well as an extra outside hand. Mrs. Tetlow 

 would have more time to devote to what for lack 

 of a better name must be called "constructive" ac- 

 tivities; the money spent on such a servant would 

 re-appear in a better farm balance sheet. But try 

 to find one . . . ! 



Of all servants the hardest to find is a good 

 cook. Here again Mrs. Tetlow and I are in perfect 

 accord: it is better to do without one altogether 

 than to submit to the gastronomic indignities of 

 a poor one. It is one of the most interesting side- 

 lights on farming for home-use that it greatly sim- 

 plifies the whole culinary problem; of the domes- 

 tic servants that we could use, the best of cooks 

 would contribute least. The simplification comes 

 of the superior quality of home-grown food. Any- 

 one who has ever gone fishing will understand 



