38 Our Farming. 



trate them on others more important to me, and by so doing give 

 them all the attention they required and make them a success, and 

 in the end they paid me double the money they would have 

 given had I tried to keep all going along with the necessary 

 neglect I should have to give each. Of course," Mr. Dow says, 

 " my corn and potatoes were miserable failures, but I have made 

 up many times the loss by thorough care of the other crops. 

 I consider the mistake I made a serious one, and one that nine 

 out of every ten farmers make every year." 



Now, I am well aware that nine out of every ten farmers in 

 some sections will favor the old mixed farming, and think Mr. 

 Dow and myself are all wrong. " Why, holy horror," they will 

 say, " just think of a farmer buying his potatoes or fodder for his 

 cows! He ought to raise it, of course." So he had sometimes. 

 So he always needed to once. But should we not have a little 

 business sense? Which was best for Mr.. Dow to not have 

 planted that field of corn and potatoes, and thus saved time and 

 money, or to plant them and then let them go as he did, or to let 

 every crop suffer a little ? About the last two he decides wisely. 

 He did well to drop the two crops. But he would have done 

 better never to have put them in. This is essentially what we have 

 reduced our farming to doing less and doing it better ; to not 

 putting in crops that often must be neglected. So, now, kindly 

 turn to the next chapter and learn all about what we have done 

 in this line. Even if you do not believe in the doctrine, it can- 

 not harm you to hear the story. The man who has tried a matter 

 long and faithfully ought to know something about it. The most 

 bitter opponent the writer ever had in a late paper said there was 

 no question but what our farming had been a financial success. 

 Don't you want to succeed ? I will try and show you that it has 

 been more than that that it gives us far more time for the en- 

 joyment of life, far less worry. And you must remember that I 

 have no pecuniary interest in pushing this matter. It matters not 

 one cent to me how others do, only that I would like to be help- 

 ful to my brother farmers. I would like to help thousands of 

 them from the lowest depths which we have been in ourselves up 

 to ease and comfort and independence. Special farming will not 

 of itself do this for any one, only give him a better chance, if the 

 ambition and push are in him, to do it for himself. 



