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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