THE COUNTRY HOME [chapter 



cold at night. In the spring or the autumn you will 

 escape frost, when your neighbors not far away will 

 lose their tomatoes and corn. 



Avoid homing near a swamp — certainly a 

 swamp that you cannot control and drain. We are 

 getting more light on the mosquito question; yet it 

 is not worth our while to select this kind of a battle- 

 field. A hillside is far better, or a slope that looks 

 over a valley, unless your culture is to be specifi- 

 cally that of plants that need a mucky soil — such 

 as celery. Our Eastern States afford a vastly 

 greater variety of locations than the prairie states, 

 where, however, the conditions are easily under- 

 stood, and where there is compensation in depth 

 of soil and easily cultivated crops. 



In this hunt of ours we shall find that there are 

 hundreds of old country places for sale. These 

 may be tolerably pleasant as they are — with 

 the single exception that they express other folk. 

 Most of them will, however, need, and are capable 

 of, transformation. If I were to take my choice I 

 should select one so far run down that little is left of 

 the old ownership. Then I would begin to study, 

 and to plan renovation — always a delight, if you 

 can see your way through. There will be piles of 



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