FINDING THE PLACE 25 



As some one has said: " Do not begin at the butt 

 end, but at the wedge end." Begin on a small scale, 

 and expand as conditions demand. Five acres will 

 give you a garden and a house lawn and will feed a 

 horse. Twenty acres will not only grow a good deal 

 for market, but if wisely handled will feed a horse 

 and two cows. Rightly managed, it will bring you 

 in over one thousand dollars surplus, as soon as your 

 gardens and orchards are in full bearing it may 

 turn over to you two thousand. 



As to price, I can take you to a locality where the 

 valuation of land is one thousand dollars per acre, 

 while half a mile away it is one hundred dollars or 

 less. The reasons are a combination of high im- 

 provement with splendid outlook, choice neighbors, 

 and some of the other advantages which I have 

 designated. You can get choice places generally 

 for from twenty to seventy-five dollars an acre, 

 but a great deal depends upon the surroundings 

 and certain accidental conditions. In Florida I 

 found excellent orange land selling at from ten to 

 twenty dollars per acre, but this was owing to the fact 

 that a great freeze destroyed millions of orange trees 

 in 1895. Those same lands are now at double that 

 valuation, and going up. 



In most of our Northern States good sites for a 

 country home can be purchased at from fifty to one 

 hundred dollars per acre. The question must be 

 settled by a thorough examination of the soil, relative 

 locality as to railroad and market, and all the other 



