396 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



perhaps at the beginning of winter, when family expenses are 

 largely increased, and untold suffering results. Under these cir- 

 cumstances those who depend on their labor for the support of 

 their families are too often ground to powder between the 

 "upper and nether millstones." 



Another matter of deep interest to parents is the influences 

 which surround their children during their early years, when 

 they are forming the habits which will go with them through 

 life and largely affect their future destiny. In this respect the 

 man who owns a few acres of land has a great advantage over 

 the laborer who must live in a tenement house. In the latter 

 case there are no pleasant local associations connected with child- 

 hood. The parents can not choose the associates for their chil- 

 dren, as the man who has no income but his daily wages and 

 must buy all that his family uses can not afford to be very par- 

 ticular about his location, and cheap rent must necessarily be 

 considered first, and not unfrequently he moves every year or 

 oftener. Still another evil. There is no work suited to the capac- 

 ity of his children during their earlier years, and when not in 

 -school they are idle, and so much more likely to form bad asso- 

 ciations and acquire bad habits. 



The condition of the man who owns a few acres of land and 

 knows how to cultivate them when contrasted with that of the 

 laborer seems to me to be enviable. He owns the soil which he 

 cultivates, and feels that he is independent. He pays no rent, 

 and though his home is humble, it is his own, and he is stimu- 

 lated to improve it. As soon as his children are old enough to 

 follow him, there is something for them to do suited to their 

 capacity, and they early acquire habits of industry. During a 

 a large part of the year every day in which good wages can not 

 be earned elsewhere can be profitably employed on his land, and 

 often all his time, summer and winter, can be put in at home. 

 He may not handle as many dollars in a year as he would if he 

 worked for wages; but the saving in rent, and the family sup- 

 plies which his land furnishes, will make it far more likely that 

 he will have something laid up at the end of the year. He will 

 be able to control the associates and form the habits of his 



