Selecting the Farm 39 



His isolation is in these days artificial. The world 

 to-day lives in, by, and through its relationships. 

 He ignores them. In this he consults his own mind. 

 He pays the price of isolation precisely as another, 

 who has primacy of location for every convenience, 

 pays the price of his primacy. A home in the 

 woods, remote from the haunts of men, has its 

 price, and to many, a prohibitive price, just as to 

 many, corner lots on Broadway and best located 

 farms have a prohibitive price. So, after all, 

 valuation depends upon the man. In him we 

 come to the inconstant quantity. His tastes, 

 ideas, whims, theories, notions, desires, passions, 

 determine for him the value of any land. His 

 selection of a site is determined by his racial 

 instincts, his age, his education, his temperament, 

 his previous associations. If his motive be wholly 

 to buy and sell, his choice differs from that of him 

 who yields to sentiments of association. Men at 

 some time turn to the scenes of their childhood 

 and youth. Many never remove from these scenes. 

 Some select a farm within a region with which they 

 are familiar because there they feel at home and 

 know how to proceed. In other words, these 

 have most courage when on their native heath. 

 But thus to yield to sentiment may be to ignore 

 the laws of climate and location. 



Very few men proceed, as one may say, scien- 

 tifically in the selection of a farm. New Zealand 

 may, scientifically, be preferable to a township 

 in Pennsylvania, but you locate in the township 



