434 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



November, 1908 



tinkle down the mountain on every side, winding out of the 

 dense woods, to water a pasture, then turning again to enter 

 woods yet more dense, whose magnificent timbers are gain- 

 ing in value every day. 



Since the farm has passed out of his hands, the holders 

 have been content to cut what hay the land yielded, and plant 

 a few potatoes. Year by year the fertility, once in such a 



One Felt a Real Affection for this Gentle Creature 



high state, departed, the woods, little by little, encroached 

 on the fields, small seedlings grew to sturdy trees in the 

 pastures, fences began to sag and then to fall, buildings be- 

 gan to rot away, and by the time I came into possession moss 

 had grown over the sod, which once had yielded ton upon 

 ton of hay. 



But no one could take away the natural beauty of woods 



and meadow, the magnificent view with the lake in a forest- 

 encircled basin, the advantage of the southern slope of the 

 land which was always last to receive the frosts. At first 

 I planned to keep the old place as a summer home, but its 

 possibilities were too alluring, and with all the enthusiasm 

 and theories of a novice, I decided to farm it and see if it 

 could not produce an income. 



In the first place I made up my mind, and 

 still hold to it, that no owner can live in a 

 city and hire someone to run his farm for 

 him with any great satisfaction or profit. 

 Of course, in this I treat a farm merely as 

 a business proposition. So during the first 

 winter of ownership farming periodicals 

 and government reports were pored over 

 assiduously, sometimes to my profit, some- 

 times to my confusion. 



By early spring I had mapped out two 

 or three courses in stock raising and agri- 

 culture that were to have a fair trial. First, 

 sheep were to be raised, both for their profit 

 and to bring back the fertility to the worn- 

 out soil. With hundreds of acres of brook- 

 watered pastures there was summer feed 

 aplenty for a large flock. The wool should 

 pay for the winter's feed, leaving the lambs 

 for profit. The fact that farmers in the 

 neighborhood kept small flocks, if any, and 

 those of poor quality, worried me a little 

 as to the wisdom of my project. But when 

 I found that their sheep were of no name- 

 able breed, but, as they would tell me in 

 surprise when I asked them, "just sheep"; 

 that their rams were of the same stock, with 

 absolutely no pretensions to pure blood of 

 any kind; that their pastures were good, 

 bad or indifferent, as might chance, and that 

 their winter stable room was usually insuf- 

 ficient and badly ventilated, I began to see 

 why they were not enthusiastic over sheep. 

 Secondly, there was no reason why the 

 horse power should not be supplied by good 

 animals from which stock could be raised, 

 instead of scrub stock which returned only 

 their work for their feed and care. With 

 this end in view, two high-grade Percheron 

 mares were purchased for the heavy work, 

 and a lighter team, express size, for faster 

 work, both on the farm and road. Horses, 

 especially of the draft breeds, are very 

 heavy eaters as compared to other stock, 

 but if they can raise foals of first-class 

 breeding and of recognized types for which 

 there is a steady market, their position on 

 the farm is changed from one of expense to 

 one of profit. 



Thirdly, a flock of Angora goats was 

 purchased, to be turned on to land, once 

 cleared and tillable, but now sparsely over- 

 grown with sturdy young trees and brush. 

 Besides their wool, and work in clearing 

 brush, which they eat in preference to grass, 

 the young fat wethers make the best of eat- 

 ing, being easily mistaken for lamb. 



Another thing that struck me as remarkable, was that most 

 of the ready money of surrounding farmers went for corn, 

 oats and other grains, shipped out from the west by the car- 

 load. Was it really true, I asked myself, that it was cheaper 

 to buy grain than to raise it, when years ago each farmer 

 raised his own and put money in the bank? At any rate I 



