30 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



must be kept at work, and at the same time there are daily calls 

 for odd jobs, such as making garden, repairing fences, looking 

 after the stock, going on errands to town, etc., and the farmer 

 soon finds that both profit and comfort demand help. There 

 often comes a time when, from previous bad weather or other 

 causes, there is a large amount of work on hand which must be 

 done at once or loss will ensue. At such times it is usually 

 particularly difficult to obtain day labor, and the farmer who has 

 a regular hand has a great advantage. The man who in addition 

 to a full day's work in the field must attend to all the etceteras 

 will soon become a mere clodhopper. He will be too tired to 

 read, and will have no time to visit, and life will mean little 

 more to him than drudgery. 



On the other hand, if he hires a single man and boards him, 

 he often imposes a burden upon his wife that she is scarcely 

 able to bear. The duties of a mother who has the care of a 

 family of little children are heavy enough at the best. If the 

 boarding of a man in the family must involve the hiring of a 

 girl in the house, it will often be cheaper to hire a married man 

 who will board himself. If the man must be boarded and the 

 wife is likely to be overworked, her husband should furnish her 

 the assistance she needs. If he does not furnish a hired woman, 

 he can at least see that she has wood and water in the kitchen, 

 relieve her of the milking, churn, and carry the milk into and 

 out of the cellar. This work he will have leisure for if he has 

 a man to help him. I have usually found it as cheap, all things 

 considered, to hire a man who boarded himself as one who 

 boarded in the family. If you will give him a garden spot and 

 pasture a cow for him, or, if he does not keep a cow, furnish him 

 a few quarts of skim milk each day, and allow him the use of 

 a house rent free, a married man can often be hired at the same 

 wages that a single man will ask. A cheap, comfortable cottage 

 on the farm for a laborer will often prove a good investment. 



I believe that it is best for both parties to pay good wages. 

 Cheap help is generally dearest in the long run, and the man 

 who is jewed down to the lowest possible price in making a 

 bargain will not be likely to serve you with the interest and 



