20 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



matter of personal taste and adaptation of farm to the particular 

 line of farming they wished to follow, and therefore located un- 

 wisely. Still another point which should receive careful consid- 

 eration in selecting a farm is the 



Condition of Soil and Improvements. Shall he pur- 

 chase a run-down farm and improve it, or one highly fertile and 

 with buildings, fences, etc., in good repair? Here is a matter 

 requiring the exercise of good judgment and thorough investiga- 

 tion. My own experience teaches that a poor, run-down farm 

 may often be bought so low that it will pay to make the neces- 

 sary improvement in soil and buildings. 



If the farm offered has the reputation of being unproductive, 

 examine carefully the causes. If the land is rolling and its 

 want of productiveness comes from the soil having been washed 

 away, or if the soil is thin and leachy, do not for a moment think 

 of settling down for life upon it. If, on the other hand, you 

 find a naturally strong, retentive soil, especially a clay on lime- 

 stone foundation, which has been exhausted by cropping without 

 rotation or manuring, or if the farm is cold and unproductive 

 from the want of drainage, and there is sufficient fall to thor- 

 oughly drain it, the question becomes simply one of price, and 

 a farm of this kind can often be bought so cheaply that it will 

 prove a profitable investment. The same is true of improve- 

 ments, and while, as a rule, it will cost more to put up new 

 buildings than to buy them, it is not always so, and new build- 

 ings will cost nothing for repairs for many years, and may be 

 planned and arranged to suit your taste. To take an unpro- 

 ductive farm with buildings dilapidated and make it productive 

 and sightly, is a work which pays in the pleasure it affords, and 

 which should entitle one to the gratitude of the community. 



As health of body is essential to comfort in life and to the 

 discharge of our duty, the matter of the healthfullness of the 

 locality should be carefully looked into. Fertility of soil is de- 

 sirable, but there are many localities where the very richness of 

 the soil gives proof of malaria, and to settle on these lands is 

 to invite fever and to endanger the life of your loved ones. 

 Even in healthy localities there are often local causes of dis- 



