6 Our Farming. 



human if I did not. But after an article is written it is laid away 

 for some days. Then it is taken up in cool blood and toned down, 

 if necessary. My friend, A. I. Root, when visiting here, once 

 said to me in regard to an article written in answer to an attack 

 in the papers : "I don't see how you could reply so quietly to 

 that uncalled-for attack." Well, I had rewritten the answer 

 three times, each time toning it down. There was altogether too 

 much of the old Adam in the first answer written. 



At the second reading I say to myself, Now everything in this 

 article is strictly true, but is there anything that will be mislead- 

 ing ? Is part of the truth unconsciously withheld, or will anyone 

 be likely to draw a wrong conclusion ? Is every point so simple 

 and plain that there will be no excuse for the ordinary reader if 

 he does not fully understand ? At this reading a pencil goes 

 through any long or unusual words if there is a simpler one that 

 will do as well. By this time the manuscript is often so much 

 corrected that I rewrite it all, or perhaps some pages. For years 

 I rewrote every article that went from my desk. Now do you 

 think I am done ? No. After all this the article goes to my wife, 

 if I am at home, and she reads it and tells me if there is any 

 point that is not perfectly plain to her, or anything she thinks had 

 better be left out. To her excellent judgment I owe much. 

 Every chapter of this book will go through this entire process, 

 and we hope will be so revised that only good and no harm may 

 be done. 



But with all our care, readers must use their own judgment. 

 In telling of our farming , we are not laying out a path for others 

 to blindly follow. We would not encourage anyone to go into 

 potato growing, for example, although much of this work is de- 

 voted to that subject. If you do grow potatoes, however, we 

 would like to induce you to do your very best at it. If you do 

 not, we would like to so enthuse you that you will push your par- 

 ticular line to the very highest point that is practical. The suc- 

 cess of a man in a different line from what you follow may be 

 excellent reading for you in the way of inspiration. It will be 

 the one great aim of this book, all through, to encourage, enthuse 

 and inspire. We have heard too much on the discouraging side, 

 late years. True, there are some wrongs outside of the farm that 

 ought to be righted, and little by little they will be, if we do not 

 neglect our duty in this line. But during these years of depres- 

 sion in agriculture the writer has made money as fast or faster 

 than he could in any other business on the same capital, and so 

 have many farmers here and there. There is very much that most 

 of us can do towards helping ourselves out of hard times, as I 

 hope you will see from the following chapters. 



It has been thought best for convenience of reference to treat 

 the leading subjects, such as Potato Culture, Tillage, Clover, Tile 

 Draining, etc., etc., each one alone by itself. Thus one will not 



