222 MY FARM. 



great many Practical failures in the world, and the 

 number of Fanciful successes is unbounded. 



I have endeavored more especially to meet and to 

 guide, so far as I may, the mental drift of those who 

 think of rural life, either present or prospective, 

 not as a mere money-making career (like a dip into 

 mining) nor yet as the idle gratification of a caprice. 

 No sensible man who establishes himself in a country 

 home, desires that the acres about him should prove 

 wholly unremunerative, and simple conduits of his 

 money ; nor yet does he wish to drive such a sharp 

 bargain with his land as will cause his home to be 

 shorn of all the luxuries, and the legitimate charms 

 of a country life. It is needless to say that I hope 

 for sensible readers, and direct my observations ac- 

 cordingly. With this intent I propose, in this last 

 division of my book, to review all the helps and hin- 

 drances to the success and the rational enjoyment of 

 a farm-life. I shall not reason the matter so closely 

 as I might do, if I were addressing the attendants 

 upon a County-Fair, but shall scatter my hints and 

 experiences through a somewhat ample margin of 

 illustrative text, from which the practical man may 

 excerpt his little nuggets of information or sugges- 

 tion, as the case may be ; and the reader who is pas- 

 torally inclined, may find frequent dashes of country 

 perfume, that shall deftly cover the ammoniacal scents. 



