96 HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 



Who was the man that said figures can't 

 lie? They're the most shameless of liars. Lots 

 of other folks have found that out. You can 

 prove any proposition you are bent on proving, 

 if you'll only devise a complicated hard-and- 

 fast system of accounting. 



Here's one point the bookkeepers always 

 overlook in judging a venture like ours: The 

 operation of a farm home is radically different 

 from the mere cropping of a tract of land for 

 direct profit. If we had bought Happy Hol- 

 low as an investment pure and simple, intend- 

 ing to run it purely and simply as a business 

 that must pay profits in dollars and cents re- 

 alized from the sale of products, then the book- 

 keeper's arguments would be sensible enough 

 and worth heeding. The non-resident farm 

 owner who is cultivating his land by the tenant 

 system or with hired labor, growing the staples 

 for market, is in that case. He may consider 

 his land as he would consider a bond or a bunch 

 of bank stock. At the year's end his book- 

 keeper can show him to a nicety whether he has 

 had a satisfactory return upon his investment. 

 Whether it will pay to keep on at the business 

 is a question to be settled by plain, cold busi- 

 ness judgment. 



