CHAPTER V. 



WHAT WE HAVE DONE. 



N the last chapter you have the first beginning of 

 our special farming. You cannot help but see it 

 paid better than the regular diversified plan we 

 k a< ^ keen following the common way. If you 

 will excuse me for saying it of myself, I had put 

 a little study and thought into my work. Some- 

 one has said : ' ' Work is the engine which draws the car of suc- 

 cess." Well, that is a very good motto, but it can be improved 

 on. Work, hard work, early and late, plenty of it, did not of it- 

 self bring success to us. Let me draw a picture for you. Here 

 is a huge car labeled " Success." In front of it stands a power- 

 ful locomotive, and written over it is "Work." Is the picture 

 complete ? No. You want a skilled engineer in the cab with his 

 hand on the lever and his eye looking ahead. Over him we will 

 print in big letters "Thought." Then we have the corrected 

 motto : ' ' Thought is the skilled engineer who directs the engine 

 work which draws the car of success." In other words, well- 

 directed labor pays. This is just as true on the farm as else- 

 where. I am not claiming that my labor has been wonderfully 

 well directed, but rather the more we studied and thought the 

 better it paid. When we got up to an income of $1,000 or so a 

 year, we were not satisfied at all, but rather stimulated to study 

 harder. I knew then about what it cost me to raise each crop, 

 and it was easy to see what ones paid best. I remember very well 

 the first potatoes raised to sell. The first load was taken to town 

 and traded for a supply of flour. The profit on them was large, 

 even with our very crude methods of culture, and only growing 

 them in a small way. The quality was good. My soil seemed 

 well adapted to potato-growing. Akron, quite a good market, 

 was within driving distance (twelve miles). I decided that I 

 could make still more money by gradually working out of the 

 cattle wintering and feeding business and devoting my entire 

 strength and time to potatoes and wheat to sell. I first thought 

 to continue keeping some stock winters, but soon found that to 

 pay it must have my close personal attention, and if I grew pota- 

 toes largely and wheat there would not be hay or other feed 

 enough to make it worth my while, particularly as cattle-feeding 

 was not paying nearly as well as formerly. Now, do not imagine 

 for a moment that I made any hasty changes, or large ones. No, 

 I had done well so far, and every new move was made with the 



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