vi PREFACE 



count is the sure and proximate result of "raising 

 squabs for profit"; that a safe-deposit box is a 

 vital necessity after a year with one thousand 

 hens. 



But the cultivation of mushrooms by any per- 

 sons other than experts is too often attended with 

 loss of life in horrible agony on the part of those 

 purchasers relying on the quality of the goods; 

 squabs "go light," and pigeons do not always 

 breed; and without experienced and constant 

 care, a package of insect powder, a chattel mort- 

 gage, or the services of an auctioneer are of much 

 more importance and a far greater necessity 

 after a year with a thousand hens, than a safe- 

 deposit box. 



There is a " Jabberwock with eyes of flame" 

 lying in wait for every product of the farm and 

 garden, but in that I think lies one of the charms 

 of farming. Crops that will thrive without cul- 

 tivation are not very desirable. It is much better 

 fun to catch pickerel and trout than eels or pout, 

 although the baser fish are just as good to eat. 

 A boy of ten will throw back with disgust a six- 

 pound sucker he has caught, but will fancy him- 

 self a Croesus when, after unheard-of climbing 

 and walking and wading and sweating and mos- 

 quito-biting, he returns with a small string of 

 wary perch weighing four ounces each. 



The same care and the same amount of work 



