CHAPTER XXIV 



LOOKING BACKWARD 



[X years have passed since I bought 

 my farm, years that have brought 

 me hard work and but little more than 

 a comfortable living in my profession. 

 But the genuine pleasure I have experienced 

 and the physical benefit I have derived from the 

 cultivation of my tiny farm, have much more than 

 repaid me for the many annoyances and losses 

 in time and money my ill-directed but well- 

 meant efforts have cost me. 



True, I have not arrived at that point where 

 experienced farmers ask my advice in matters 

 pertaining to the cultivation of the soil, the breed- 

 ing of domestic animals, the relative advantage 

 of top-dressing and sub-soiling, or other disputed 

 questions in agricultural affairs. 



I have not even arrived at the distinguished 

 honor of being a recognized contributor to an 

 agricultural paper: my only contribution, which 

 was written in a jocose spirit, was sent back with 

 great promptness, with a note from the editor 

 expressing an opinion decidedly adverse to the 



