MY FARM OF EDGEWOOD 



and of surfaces, as one to be copied, or as the 

 one which I should have chosen to make, in the 

 event of a thorough reconstruction; but only 

 as one of those simple, feasible improvements 

 of the old conditions which are met with every- 

 where ; improvements, moreover, which involve 

 little or no cost, beyond the farmer's own labor, 

 and no commitment to the theories of Mechi 

 or of Liebig. A ragged-coated man should be 

 grateful for a tight bit of linsey-woolsey to 

 his back, until such time as he comes to the 

 dignity of broadcloth. 



Four-fifths of those who undertake farming, 

 —not as an amusement or simply as an occu- 

 pation, but as the business of their life, and 

 upon whom we are dependent for our potatoes, 

 veal, and cider (to say nothing more),— are 

 compelled to do the best they can with exist- 

 ing buildings ; and Stephens' plans of a "farm- 

 steading" are as much Greek to them, as the 

 "Works and Days" of Hesiod. A hint, there- 

 fore, of judicious adaptation of old buildings, 

 may be all they can digest with that practical 

 relish with which a man accepts suggestions 

 that are within the compass of his means and 

 necessities. 



Again, the British or Continental needs in 

 the matter of farm constructions, are totally 



no 



