^^MSilX. 



OLD AND NEW HOMES. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Cost of the Farm. — The Piggery. — Cleanliness. — Beautifying our Home. — Straw- 

 berry-picking. — Busy Times. — Profitable Crop. — Money-making for All. — Pease. — 

 Raspberries. — Plenty. — The Vegetables : their Luxuriance. — Comparisons with our 

 Neighbors. 



Our farm contained a little over twenty acres, and had cost my father 

 $3,500. A good barn of moderate size was on the premises ; but it con- 

 tained ample accommodations for a farm whose productions were sent im- 

 mediately to market. There was what is here called a " lean-to " shed 

 for our cow, with suitable arrangements for sundr}' pigs. My father took 

 great pride in this last establishment. It is a favorite idea with many intel- 

 ligent farmers, that pigs love dirt, and are never so well satisfied as when 

 they are wallowing in a mud-puddle : but my father's theory was that a pig 

 is as fond of being clean as any other animal ; and, if ordinary care be taken 

 of his quarters, they need never degenerate to the unsightly condition in 

 which some are always to be found. But when the latter state of things has 



