366 Our Farming. 



you made your wife your partner in truth, and does she never 

 have to ask you for a little change when she wants any ? Are you 

 properly insured? Do you buy for cash and by the quantity, 

 as far as practicable? If not, what is the trouble? Am I 

 wrong in advising such things, or are you not giving earnest heed 

 to them ? 



But enough. I do not want to tire you all out. I once heard 

 my friend John Gould, tell of asking a farmer to subscribe for an 

 agricultural paper, "No, I thank you," says the farmer. "I 

 know a mighty sight better than I do now, and I don't care to 

 have it rubbed in every week." I have " rubbed in " this matter 

 enough. But read over this chapter oftener than you do the rest 

 of the book, because we all do know better than we do. 



Now, I know very well that times are rather hard, prices low, 

 and many farmers quite discouraged, but friends, try practicing bet- 

 ter the best you know. It is of little use to change from one busi- 

 ness to another. Stick where you are, but just do your best to 

 improve in every possible way. Get better stock. Take better 

 care of them. Get better seed. Prepare the ground better. 

 Study your business more. Work on in this line. Success must 

 come, or at least you can make it come. But, to do this, you 

 must push and pull with vim and grit, not stand back and say 

 there is no chance. I remember reading, once, something like 

 the following : A crowded street car goes by. You try to get on 

 and the crowd says there is no more room. But you grab hold 

 with one hand and get one foot on, and on they go. After a little 

 the crowd gives and you get both feet on the step. Soon you are 

 on the platform. One after another drops off, and then you can 

 get standing room inside. At the next stop you get a seat. This 

 is success and the way it is won. May I give you this little motto 

 at parting : Hereafter I will do the very best I know or can learn how. 



In conclusion, allow me to say that my work on this book is 

 hardly satisfactory to myself. If I could have had a year of 

 absolute freedom from all other work, I know I could have done 

 better. But this was not possible. While writing this I have 

 been constantly called off to see to my own farming. I have done 

 my usual work on the farm what I thought I could do a little 

 better than I could hire it done. Visitors have often interrupted 

 me just as I got to writing. Weekly articles have been written 

 for The Practical Farmer , and many private letters answered. It 

 has been necessary to work this job in between as best I could. 

 And, of course, you can see that it w r ould be utterly impossible 

 for me to carry in my head all that was w 7 ritten under the above 

 circumstances. So if you find something repeated, or not quite 

 clear, you must be kind enough to overlook the blunder. 



There are a good many figures in this book. The writer has 

 been over them and over them again, but still it will be almost 

 too much to hope that no mistake may be found. 



