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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16525-8.txt b/16525-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eab7cb2 --- /dev/null +++ b/16525-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10085 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fat of the Land, by John Williams Streeter + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Fat of the Land + The Story of an American Farm + +Author: John Williams Streeter + +Release Date: August 13, 2005 [EBook #16525] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FAT OF THE LAND *** + + + + +Produced by Bill Tozier, Barbara Tozier, Janet Blenkinship +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +THE FAT OF THE LAND + + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE FAT OF THE LAND + +The Story of an American Farm + +BY + +JOHN WILLIAMS STREETER + + + +New York + +THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + +LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. + +1904 + +_All rights reserved_ + +copyright, 1904. + +by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. + +Set up, electrotyped, and published February, 1904. Reprinted March, +April, May, 1904. + +Norwood Press + +J.S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. + + + +To POLLY + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + +I. MY EXCUSE 3 + +II. THE HUNTING OF THE LAND 11 + +III. THE FIRST VISIT TO THE FARM 14 + +IV. THE HIRED MAN 25 + +V. BORING FOR WATER 31 + +VI. WE TAKE POSSESSION 36 + +VII. THE HORSE-AND-BUGGY MAN 45 + +VIII. WE PLAT THE FARM 49 + +IX. HOUSE-CLEANING 54 + +X. FENCED IN 61 + +XI. THE BUILDING LINE 67 + +XII. CARPENTERS QUIT WORK 70 + +XIII. PLANNING FOR THE TREES 78 + +XIV. PLANTING OF THE TREES 88 + +XV. POLLY'S JUDGMENT HALL 94 + +XVI. WINTER WORK 101 + +XVII. WHAT SHALL WE ASK OF THE HEN? 103 + +XVIII. WHITE WYANDOTTES 110 + +XIX. FRIED PORK 116 + +XX. A RATION FOR PRODUCT 121 + +XXI. THE RAZORBACK 126 + +XXII. THE OLD ORCHARD 135 + +XXIII. THE FIRST HATCH 138 + +XXIV. THE HOLSTEIN MILK MACHINE 144 + +XXV. THE DAIRYMAID 150 + +XXVI. LITTLE PIGS 155 + +XXVII. WORK ON THE HOME FORTY 158 + +XXVIII. DISCOUNTING THE MARKET 164 + +XXIX. FROM CITY TO COUNTRY 169 + +XXX. AUTUMN RECKONING 174 + +XXXI. THE CHILDREN 178 + +XXXII. THE HOME-COMING 183 + +XXXIII. CHRISTMAS EVE 189 + +XXXIV. CHRISTMAS 194 + +XXXV. WE CLOSE THE BOOKS FOR '96 199 + +XXXVI. OUR FRIENDS 202 + +XXXVII. THE HEADMAN'S JOB 210 + +XXXVIII. SPRING OF '97 217 + +XXXIX. THE YOUNG ORCHARD 225 + +XL. THE TIMOTHY HARVEST 230 + +XLI. STRIKE AT GORDON'S MINE 236 + +XLII. THE RIOT 250 + +XLIII. THE RESULT 260 + +XLIV. DEEP WATERS 268 + +XLV. DOGS AND HORSES 274 + +XLVI. THE SKIM-MILK TRUST 282 + +XLVII. NABOTH'S VINEYARD 285 + +XLVIII. MAIDS AND MALLARDS 294 + +XLIX. THE SUNKEN GARDEN 298 + +L. THE HEADMAN GENERALIZES 303 + +LI. THE GRAND-GIRLS 308 + +LII. THE THIRD RECKONING 313 + +LIII. THE MILK MACHINE 317 + +LIV. BACON AND EGGS 328 + +LV. THE OLD TIME FARM-HAND 337 + +LVI. THE SYNDICATE 342 + +LVII. THE DEATH OF SIR TOM 346 + +LVIII. BACTERIA 352 + +LIX. MATCH-MAKING 355 + +LX. "I TOLD YOU SO" 362 + +LXI. THE BELGIAN FARMER 367 + +LXII. HOME-COMING 375 + +LXIII. AN HUNDRED FOLD 378 + +LXIV. COMFORT ME WITH APPLES 383 + +LXV. THE END OF THE THIRD YEAR 388 + +LXVI. LOOKING BACKWARD 394 + +LXVII. LOOKING FORWARD 402 + + +THE FAT OF THE LAND + + + + +CHAPTER I + +MY EXCUSE + + +My sixtieth birthday is a thing of yesterday, and I have, therefore, +more than half descended the western slope. I have no quarrel with life +or with time, for both have been polite to me; and I wish to give an +account of the past seven years to prove the politeness of life, and to +show how time has made amends to me for the forced resignation of my +professional ambitions. For twenty-five years, up to 1895, I practised +medicine and surgery in a large city. I loved my profession beyond the +love of most men, and it loved me; at least, it gave me all that a +reasonable man could desire in the way of honors and emoluments. The +thought that I should ever drop out of this attractive, satisfying life, +never seriously occurred to me, though I was conscious of a strong and +persistent force that urged me toward the soil. By choice and by +training I was a physician, and I gloried in my work; but by instinct I +was, am, and always shall be, a farmer. All my life I have had visions +of farms with flocks and herds, but I did not expect to realize my +visions until I came on earth a second time. + +I would never have given up my profession voluntarily; but when it gave +me up, I had to accept the dismissal, surrender my ambitions, and fall +back upon my primary instinct for diversion and happiness. The dismissal +came without warning, like the fall of a tree when no wind shakes the +forest, but it was imperative and peremptory. The doctors (and they were +among the best in the land) said, "No more of this kind of work for +years," and I had to accept their verdict, though I knew that "for +years" meant forever. + +My disappointment lasted longer than the acute attack; but, thanks to +the cheerful spirit of my wife, by early summer of that year I was able +to face the situation with courage that grew as strength increased. +Fortunately we were well to do, and the loss of professional income was +not a serious matter. We were not rich as wealth is counted nowadays; +but we were more than comfortable for ourselves and our children, though +I should never earn another dollar. This is not the common state of the +physician, who gives more and gets less than most other men; it was +simply a happy combination of circumstances. Polly was a small heiress +when we married; I had some money from my maternal grandfather; our +income was larger than our necessities, and our investments had been +fortunate. Fate had set no wolf to howl at our door. + +In June we decided to take to the woods, or rather to the country, to +see what it had in store for us. The more we thought of it, the better I +liked the plan, and Polly was no less happy over it. We talked of it +morning, noon, and night, and my half-smothered instinct grew by what it +fed on. Countless schemes at length resolved themselves into a factory +farm, which should be a source of pleasure as well as of income. It was +of all sizes, shapes, industries, and limits of expenditure, as the +hours passed and enthusiasm waxed or waned. I finally compromised on +from two hundred to three hundred acres of land, with a total +expenditure of not more than $60,000 for the building of my factory. It +was to produce butter, eggs, pork, and apples, all of best quality, and +they were to be sold at best prices. I discoursed at some length on +farms and farmers to Polly, who slept through most of the harangue. She +afterward said that she enjoyed it, but I never knew whether she +referred to my lecture or to her nap. + +If farming be the art of elimination, I want it not. If the farmer and +the farmer's family must, by the nature of the occupation, be deprived +of reasonable leisure and luxury, if the conveniences and amenities must +be shorn close, if comfort must be denied and life be reduced to the +elemental necessities of food and shelter, I want it not. But I do not +believe that this is the case. The wealth of the world comes from the +land, which produces all the direct and immediate essentials for the +preservation of life and the protection of the race. When people cease +to look to the land for support, they lose their independence and fall +under the tyranny of circumstances beyond their control. They are no +longer producers, but consumers; and their prosperity is contingent upon +the prosperity and good will of other people who are more or less alien. +Only when a considerable percentage of a nation is living close to the +land can the highest type of independence and prosperity be enjoyed. +This law applies to the mass and also to the individual. The farmer, who +produces all the necessities and many of the luxuries, and whose +products are in constant demand and never out of vogue, should be +independent in mode of life and prosperous in his fortunes. If this is +not the condition of the average farmer (and I am sorry to say it is +not), the fault is to be found, not in the land, but in the man who +tills it. + +Ninety-five per cent of those who engage in commercial and professional +occupations fail of large success; more than fifty per cent fail +utterly, and are doomed to miserable, dependent lives in the service of +the more fortunate. That farmers do not fail nearly so often is due to +the bounty of the land, the beneficence of Nature, and the +ever-recurring seed-time and harvest, which even the most thoughtless +cannot interrupt. + +The waking dream of my life had been to own and to work land; to own it +free of debt, and to work it with the same intelligence that has made me +successful in my profession. Brains always seemed to me as necessary to +success in farming as in law, or in medicine, or in business. I always +felt that mind should control events in agriculture as in commercial +life; that listlessness, carelessness, lack of thrift and energy, and +waste, were the factors most potent in keeping the farmer poor and +unreasonably harassed by the obligations of life. The men who cultivate +the soil create incalculable wealth; by rights they should be the +nation's healthiest, happiest, most comfortable, and most independent +citizens. Their lives should be long, free from care and distress, and +no more strenuous than is wholesome. That this condition is not general +is due to the fact that the average farmer puts muscle before mind and +brawn before brains, and follows, with unthinking persistence, the crude +and careless traditions of his forefathers. + +Conditions on the farm are gradually changing for the better. The +agricultural colleges, the experiment stations, the lecture courses +which are given all over the country, and the general diffusion of +agricultural and horticultural knowledge, are introducing among farming +communities a more intelligent and more liberal treatment of land. But +these changes are so slow, and there is so much to be done before even +a small percentage of our six millions of farmers begin to realize their +opportunities, that even the weakest effort in this direction may be of +use. This is my only excuse for going minutely into the details of my +experiment in the cultivation of land. The plain and circumstantial +narrative of how Four Oaks grew, in seven years, from a poor, +ill-paying, sadly neglected farm, into a beautiful home and a profitable +investment, must simply stand for what it is worth. It may give useful +hints, to be followed on a smaller or a larger scale, or it may arouse +criticisms which will work for good, both to the critic and to the +author. I do not claim experience, excepting the most limited; I do not +claim originality, except that most of this work was new to me; I do not +claim hardships or difficulties, for I had none; but I do claim that I +made good, that I arrived, that my experiment was physically and +financially a success, and, as such, I am proud of it, and wish to give +it to the world. + +I was fifty-three years old when I began this experiment, and I was +obliged to do quickly whatever I intended to do. I could devote any part +of $60,000 to the experiment without inconvenience. My desire was to +test the capacity of ordinary farm land, when properly treated, to +support an average family in luxury, paying good wages to more than the +usual number of people, keeping open house for many friends, and at the +same time not depleting my bank account. I wished to experiment in +_intensive farming_, using ordinary farm land as other men might do +under similar or modified circumstances. I believed that if I fed the +land, it would feed me. My plan was to sell nothing from the farm except +finished products, such as butter, fruit, eggs, chickens, and hogs. I +believed that best results would be attained by keeping only the best +stock, and, after feeding it liberally, selling it in the most favorable +market. To live on the fat of the land was what I proposed to do; and I +ask your indulgence while I dip into the details of this seven years' +experiment. + +You may say that few persons have the time, inclination, taste, or money +to carry out such an experiment; that the average farmer must make each +year pay, and that the exploiting of this matter is therefore of +interest to a very limited number. Admitting much of this, I still claim +that there is a lesson to every struggling farmer in this narrative. It +should teach the value of brain work on the farm, and the importance of +intelligent cultivation; also the advantages of good seed, good tilth, +good specimens of well-bred stock, good food, and good care. Feed the +land liberally, and it will return you much. Permit no waste in space, +product, time, tools, or strength. Do in a small way, if need be, what I +have done on a large scale, and you will quickly commence to get good +dividends. I have spent much more money than was really necessary on +the place, and in the ornamentation of Four Oaks. This, however, was +part of the experiment. I asked the land not only to supply immediate +necessities, but to minister to my every want, to gratify the eye, and +please the senses by a harmonious fusion of utility and beauty. I wanted +a fine country home and a profitable investment within the same ring +fence. + +Will you follow me through the search for the land, the purchase, and +the tremendous house-cleaning of the first year? After that we will take +up the years as they come, finding something of special interest +attaching naturally to each. I shall have to deal much with figures and +statistics, in a small way, and my pages may look like a school book, +but I cannot avoid this, for in these figures and statistics lies the +practical lesson. Theory alone is of no value. Practical application of +the theory is the test. I am not imaginative. I could not write a +romance if I tried. My strength lies in special detail, and I am willing +to spend a lot of time in working out a problem. I do not claim to have +spent this time and money without making serious mistakes; I have made +many, and I am willing to admit them, as you will see in the following +pages. I do claim, however, that, in spite of mistakes, I have solved +the problem, and have proved that an intelligent farmer can live in +luxury on the fat of the land. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE HUNTING OF THE LAND + + +The location of the farm for this experiment was of the utmost +importance. The land must be within reasonable distance of the city and +near a railroad, consequently within easy touch of the market; and if +possible it must be near a thriving village, to insure good train +service. As to size, I was somewhat uncertain; my minimum limit was 150 +acres and 400 the maximum. The land must be fertile, or capable of being +made so. + +I advertised for a farm of from two hundred to four hundred acres, +within thirty-five miles of town, and convenient to a good line of +transportation. Fifty-seven replies came, of which forty-six were +impossible, eleven worth a second reading, and five worth investigating. +My third trip carried me thirty miles southwest of the city, to a +village almost wholly made up of wealthy people who did business in +town, and who had their permanent or their summer homes in this village. +There were probably twenty-seven or twenty-eight hundred people in the +village, most of whom owned estates of from one to thirty acres, +varying in value from $10,000 to $100,000. These seemed ideal +surroundings. The farm was a trifle more than two miles from the +station, and 320 acres in extent. It lay to the west of a +north-and-south road, abutting on this road for half a mile, while on +the south it was bordered for a mile by a gravelled road, and the west +line was an ordinary country road. The lay of the land in general was a +gentle slope to the west and south from a rather high knoll, the highest +point of which was in the north half of the southeast forty. The land +stretched away to the west, gradually sloping to its lowest point, which +was about two-thirds of the distance to the western boundary. A +straggling brook at its lowest point was more or less rampant in +springtime, though during July and August it contained but little water. + +Westward from the brook the land sloped gradually upward, terminating in +a forest of forty to fifty acres. This forest was in good condition. The +trees were mostly varieties of oak and hickory, with a scattering of +wild cherry, a few maples, both hard and soft, and some lindens. It was +much overgrown with underbrush, weeds, and wild flowers. The land was +generally good, especially the lower parts of it. The soil of the higher +ground was thin, but it lay on top of a friable clay which is fertile +when properly worked and enriched. + +The farm belonged to an unsettled estate, and was much run down, as +little had been done to improve its fertility, and much to deplete it. +There were two sets of buildings, including a house of goodly +proportions, a cottage of no particular value, and some dilapidated +barns. The property could be bought at a bargain. It had been held at +$100 an acre; but as the estate was in process of settlement, and there +was an urgent desire to force a sale, I finally secured it for $71 per +acre. The two renters on the farm still had six months of occupancy +before their leases expired. They were willing to resign their leases if +I would pay a reasonable sum for the standing crops and their stock and +equipments. + +The crops comprised about forty acres of corn, fifty acres of oats, and +five acres of potatoes. The stock was composed of two herds of cows +(seven in one and nine in the other), eleven spring calves, about forty +hogs, and the usual assortment of domestic fowls. The equipment of the +farm in machinery and tools was meagre to the last degree. I offered the +renters $700 and $600, respectively, for their leasehold and other +property. This was more than their value, but I wanted to take +possession at once. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE FIRST VISIT TO THE FARM + + +It was the 8th of July, 1895, when I contracted for the farm; possession +was to be given August 1st. On July 9th, Polly and I boarded an early +train for Exeter, intending to make a day of it in every sense. We +wished to go over the property thoroughly, and to decide on a general +outline of treatment. Polly was as enthusiastic over the experiment as +I, and she is energetic, quick to see, and prompt to perform. She was to +have the planning of the home grounds--the house and the gardens; and +not only the planning, but also the full control. + +A ride of forty-five minutes brought us to Exeter. The service of this +railroad, by the way, is of the best; there is hardly a half-hour in the +day when one cannot make the trip either way, and the fare is moderate: +$8.75 for twenty-five rides,--thirty-five cents a ride. We hired an open +carriage and started for the farm. The first half-mile was over a +well-kept macadam road through that part of the village which lies west +of the railway. The homes bordering this street are of fine proportions, +and beautifully kept. They are the country places of well-to-do people +who love to get away from the noise and dirt of the city. Some of them +have ten or fifteen acres of ground, but this land is for breathing +space and beauty--not for serious cultivation. Beyond these homes we +followed a well-gravelled road leading directly west. This road is +bordered by small farms, most of them given over to dairying interests. + +Presently I called Polly's attention to the fact that the few apple +trees we saw were healthy and well grown, though quite independent of +the farmer's or the pruner's care. This thrifty condition of unkept +apple orchards delighted me. I intended to make apple-growing a +prominent feature in my experiment, and I reasoned that if these trees +did fairly well without cultivation or care, others would do excellently +well with both. + +As we approached the second section line and climbed a rather steep +hill, we got the first glimpse of our possession. At the bottom of the +western slope of this hill we could see the crossing of the +north-and-south road, which we knew to be the east boundary of our land; +while, stretching straight away before us until lost in the distant +wood, lay the well-kept road which for a good mile was our southern +boundary. Descending the hill, we stopped at the crossing of the roads +to take in the outline of the farm from this southeast corner. The +north-and-south road ran level for 150 yards, gradually rose for the +next 250, and then continued nearly level for a mile or more. We saw +what Jane Austen calls "a happy fall of land," with a southern exposure, +which included about two-thirds of the southeast forty, and high land +beyond for the balance of this forty and the forty lying north of it. +There was an irregular fringe of forest trees on this southern slope, +especially well defined along the eastern border. I saw that Polly was +pleased with the view. + +"We must enter the home lot from this level at the foot of the hill," +said she, "wind gracefully through the timber, and come out near those +four large trees on the very highest ground. That will be effective and +easily managed, and will give me a chance at landscape gardening, which +I am just aching to try." + +"All right," said I, "you shall have a free hand. Let's drive around the +boundaries of our land and behold its magnitude before we make other +plans." + +We drove westward, my eyes intent upon the fields, the fences, the +crops, and everything that pertained to the place. I had waited so many +years for the sense of ownership of land that I could hardly realize +that this was not another dream from which I would soon be awakened by +something real. I noticed that the land was fairly smooth except where +it was broken by half-rotted stumps or out-cropping boulders, that the +corn looked well and the oats fair, but the pasture lands were too well +seeded to dock, milkweed, and wild mustard to be attractive, and the +fences were cheap and much broken. + +The woodland near the western limit proved to be practically a virgin +forest, in which oak trees predominated. The undergrowth was dense, +except near the road; it was chiefly hazel, white thorn, dogwood, young +cherry, and second growth hickory and oak. We turned the corner and +followed the woods for half a mile to where a barbed wire fence +separated our forest from the woodland adjoining it. Coming back to the +starting-point we turned north and slowly climbed the hill to the east +of our home lot, silently developing plans. We drove the full half-mile +of our eastern boundary before turning back. + +I looked with special interest at the orchard, which was on the +northeast forty. I had seen it on my first visit, but had given it +little attention, noting merely that the trees were well grown. I now +counted the rows, and found that there were twelve; the trees in each +row had originally been twenty, and as these trees were about +thirty-five feet apart, it was easy to estimate that six acres had been +given to this orchard. The vicissitudes of seventeen years had not been +without effect, and there were irregular gaps in the rows,--here a sick +tree, there a dead one. A careless estimate placed these casualties at +fifty-five or sixty, which I later found was nearly correct. This left +180 trees in fair health; and in spite of the tight sod which covered +their roots and a lamentable lack of pruning, they were well covered +with young fruit. They had been headed high in the old-fashioned way, +which made them look more like forest trees than a modern orchard. They +had done well without a husbandman; what could not others do with one? + +The group of farm buildings on the north forty consisted of a one-story +cottage containing six rooms--sitting room, dining room, kitchen, and a +bedroom opening off each--with a lean-to shed in the rear, and some +woe-begone barns, sheds, and out-buildings that gave the impression of +not caring how they looked. The second group was better. It was south of +the orchard on the home forty, and quite near the road. + +Why does the universal farm-house hang its gable over the public road, +without tree or shrub to cover its boldness? It would look much better, +and give greater comfort to its inmates, if it were more remote. A lawn +leading up to a house, even though not beautiful or well kept, adds +dignity and character to a place out of all proportion to its waste or +expense. I know of nothing that would add so much to the beautification +of the country-side as a building line prohibiting houses and barns +within a hundred yards of a public road. A staring, glaring farm-house, +flanked by a red barn and a pigsty, all crowding the public road as +hard as the path-master will permit, is incongruous and unsightly. With +all outdoors to choose from, why ape the crowded city streets? With much +to apologize for in barn and pigsty, why place them in the seat of +honor? Moreover, many things which take place on the farm gain +enchantment from distance. It is best to leave some scope for the +imagination of the passer-by. These and other things will change as +farmers' lives grow more gracious, and more attention is given to +beautifying country houses. + +The house, whose gables looked up and down the street, was two stories +in height, twenty-five feet by forty in the main, with a one-story ell +running back. Without doubt there was a parlor, sitting room, and four +chambers in the main, with dining room and kitchen in the ell. + +"That will do for the head man's house, if we put it in the right place +and fix it up," said Polly. + +"My young lady, I propose to be the 'head man' on this farm, and I wish +it spelled with a capital H, but I do not expect to live in that house. +It will do first-rate for the farmer and his men, when you have placed +it where you want it, but I intend to live in the big house with you." + +"We'll not disagree about that, Mr. Headman." + +The barns were fairly good, but badly placed. They were not worth the +expense of moving, so I decided to let them stand as they were until we +could build better ones, and then tear them down. + +We drove in through a clump of trees behind the farm-house, and pushed +on about three hundred yards to the crest of the knoll. Here we got out +of the carriage and looked about, with keen interest, in every +direction. The views were wide toward three points of the compass. North +and northwest we could see pleasant lands for at least two miles; +directly west, our eyes could not reach beyond our own forest; to the +south and southwest, fruitful valleys stretched away to a range of +wooded hills four miles distant; but on the east our view was limited by +the fringe of woods which lay between us and the north-and-south road. + +"This is the exact spot for the house," said Polly. "It must face to the +south, with a broad piazza, and the chief entrance must be on the east. +The kitchens and fussy things will be out of sight on the northwest +corner; two stories, a high attic with rooms, and covered all over with +yellow-brown shingles." She had it all settled in a minute. + +"What will the paper on your bedroom wall be like?" I asked. + +"I know perfectly well, but I shan't tell you." + +Seating myself on an out-cropping boulder, I began to study the +geography of the farm. In imagination I stripped it of stock, crops, +buildings, and fences, and saw it as bald as the palm of my hand. I +recited the table of long measure: Sixteen and a half feet, one rod, +perch, or pole; forty rods, one furlong; eight furlongs, one mile. Eight +times 40 is 320; there are 320 rods in a mile, but how much is 16-1/2. +times 320? "Polly, how much is 16-1/2 times 320?" + +"Don't bother me now; I'm busy." + +(Just as if she could have told in her moment of greatest leisure!) I +resorted to paper and pencil, and learned that there are 5280 feet in +each and every mile. My land was, therefore, 5280 feet long and 2640 +feet wide. I must split it in some way, by a road or a lane, to make all +parts accessible. If I divided it by two lanes of twenty feet each, I +could have on either side of these lanes lots 650 feet deep, and these +would be quite manageable. I found that if these lots were 660 feet +long, they would contain ten acres minus the ten feet used for the lane. +This seemed a real discovery, as it simplified my calculations and +relieved me of much mental effort. + +"Polly, I am going to make a map of the place,--lay it out just as I +want it." + +"You may leave the home forty out of your map; I will look after that," +said the lady. + +In my pocket I found three envelopes somewhat the worse for wear. This +is how one of them looked when my map was finished. + +[Illustration:] + +I am not especially haughty about this map, but it settled a matter +which had been chaotic in my mind. My plan was to make the farm a +soiling one; to confine the stock within as limited a space as was +consistent with good health, and to feed cultivated forage and crops. In +drawing my map, the forty which Polly had segregated left the northeast +forty standing alone, and I had to cast about for some good way of +treating it. "Make it your feeding ground," said my good genius, and +thus the wrath of Polly was made to glorify my plans. + +This feeding lot of forty acres is all high land, naturally drained. It +was near the obvious building line, and it seemed suitable in every way. +I drew a line from north to south, cutting it in the middle. The east +twenty I devoted to cows and their belongings; the west twenty was +divided by right lines into lots of five acres each, the southwest one +for the hens and the other three for hogs. + +Looking around for Polly to show her my work, I found she had +disappeared; but soon I saw her white gown among the trees. Joining her, +I said,-- + +"I have mapped seven forties; have you finished one?" + +"I have not," she said. "Mine is of more importance than all of yours; I +will give you a sketch this evening. This bit of woods is better than I +thought. How much of it do you suppose there is?" + +"About seven acres, I reckon, by hook and by crook; enough to amuse you +and furnish a lot of wild-flower seed to be floated over the rest of the +farm." + +"You may plant what seeds you like on the rest of the farm, but I must +have wild flowers. Do you know how long it is since I have had them? Not +since I was a girl!" + +"That is not very long, Polly. You don't look much more than a girl +to-day. You shall have asters and goldenrod and black-eyed Susans to +your heart's content if you will always be as young." + +"I believe Time will turn backward for both of us out here, Mr. Headman. +But I'm as hungry as a wolf. Do you think we can get a glass of milk of +the 'farm lady'?" + +We tried, succeeded, and then started for home. Neither of us had much +to say on the return trip, for our minds were full of unsolved problems. +That evening Polly showed me this plat of the home forty. + +[Illustration:] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE HIRED MAN + + +Modern farming is greatly handicapped by the difficulty of getting good +help. I need not go into the causes which have operated to bring about +this condition; it exists, and it has to be met. I cannot hope to solve +the problem for others, but I can tell how I solved it for myself. I +determined that the men who worked for me should find in me a +considerate friend who would look after their interests in a reasonable +and neighborly fashion. They should be well housed and well fed, and +should have clean beds, clean table linen and an attractively set table, +papers, magazines, and books, and a comfortable room in which to read +them. There should be reasonable work hours and hours for recreation, +and abundant bathing facilities; and everything at Four Oaks should +proclaim the dignity of labor. + +From the men I expected cleanliness, sobriety, uniform kindness to all +animals, cheerful obedience, industry, and a disposition to save their +wages. These demands seemed to me reasonable, and I made up my mind to +adhere to them if I had to try a hundred men. + +The best way to get good farm hands who would be happy and contented, I +thought, was to go to the city and find men who had shot their bolts and +failed of the mark; men who had come up from the farm hoping for easier +or more ambitious lives, but who had failed to find what they sought and +had experienced the unrest of a hand-to-mouth struggle for a living in a +large city; men who were pining for the country, perhaps without knowing +it, and who saw no way to get back to it. I advertised my wants in a +morning paper, and asked my son, who was on vacation, to interview the +applicants. From noon until six o'clock my ante-room was invaded by a +motley procession--delicate boys of fifteen who wanted to go to the +country, old men who thought they could do farm work, clerks and +janitors out of employment, typical tramps and hoboes who diffused very +naughty smells, and a few--a very few--who seemed to know what they +could do and what they really wanted. + +Jack took the names of five promising men, and asked them to come again +the next day. In the morning I interviewed them, dismissed three, and +accepted two on the condition that their references proved satisfactory. +As these men are still at Four Oaks, after seven years of steady +employment, and as I hope they will stay twenty years longer, I feel +that the reader should know them. Much of the smooth sailing at the +farm is due to their personal interest, steadiness of purpose, and +cheerful optimism. + +William Thompson, forty-six years of age, tall, lean, wiry, had been a +farmer all his life. His wife had died three years before, and a year +later, he had lost his farm through an imperfect title. Understanding +machinery and being a fair carpenter, he then came to the city, with +$200 in his pocket, joined the Carpenter's Union, and tried to make a +living at that trade. Between dull business, lock-outs, tie-ups, and +strikes, he was reduced to fifty cents, and owed three dollars for room +rent. He was in dead earnest when he threw his union card on my table +and said:-- + +"I would rather work for fifty cents a day on a farm than take my +chances for six times as much in the union." + +This was the sort of man I wanted: one who had tried other things and +was glad of a chance to return to the land. Thompson said that after he +had spent one lonesome year in the city, he had married a sensible woman +of forty, who was now out at service on account of his hard luck. He +also told of a husky son of two-and-twenty who was at work on a farm +within fifty miles of the city. I liked the man from the first, for he +seemed direct and earnest. I told him to eat up the fifty cents he had +in his pocket and to see me at noon of the following day. Meantime I +looked up one of his references; and when he came, I engaged him, with +the understanding that his time should begin at once. + +The wage agreed upon was $20 a month for the first half-year. If he +proved satisfactory, he was to receive $21 a month for the next six +months, and there was to be a raise of $1 a month for each half-year +that he remained with me until his monthly wage should amount to +$40,--each to give or take a month's notice to quit. This seemed fair to +both. I would not pay more than $20 a month to an untried man, but a +good man is worth more. As I wanted permanent, steady help, I proposed +to offer a fair bonus to secure it. Other things being equal, the man +who has "gotten the hang" of a farm can do better work and get better +results than a stranger. + +The transient farm-hand is a delusion and a snare. He has no interest +except his wages, and he is a breeder of discontent. If the hundreds of +thousands of able-bodied men who are working for scant wages in cities, +or inanely tramping the country, could see the dignity of the labor +which is directly productive, what a change would come over the face of +the country! There are nearly six million farms in this nation, and four +millions of them would be greatly benefited by the addition of another +man to the working force. There is a comfortable living and a minimum of +$180 a year for each of four million men, if they will only seek it and +honestly earn it. Seven hundred millions in wages, and double or treble +that in product and added values, is a consideration not unworthy the +attention of social scientists. To favor an exodus to the land is, I +believe, the highest type of benevolence, and the surest and safest +solution of the labor problem. + +Besides engaging Thompson, I tentatively bespoke the services of his +wife and son. Mrs. Thompson was to come for $15 a month and a +half-dollar raise for each six months, the son on the same terms as the +father. + +The other man whom I engaged that day was William Johnson, a tall, blond +Swede about twenty-six years old. Johnson had learned gardening in the +old country, and had followed it two years in the new. He was then +employed in a market gardener's greenhouse; but he wanted to change from +under glass to out of doors, and to have charge of a lawn, shrubs, +flowers, and a kitchen garden. He spoke brokenly, but intelligently, had +an honest eye, and looked to me like a real "find." Polly, who was to be +his immediate boss, was pleased with him, and we took him with the +understanding that he was to make himself generally useful until the +time came for his special line of work. We now had two men engaged (with +a possible third) and one woman, and my _venire_ was exhausted. + +Two days later I again advertised, and out of a number of applicants +secured one man. Sam Jones was a sturdy-looking fellow of middle age, +with a suspiciously red nose. He had been bred on a farm, had learned +the carpenter's trade, and was especially good at taking care of +chickens. His ambition was to own and run a chicken plant. I hired him +on the same terms as the others, but with misgivings on account of the +florid nose. This was on the 19th or 20th of July, and there were still +ten days before I could enter into possession. The men were told to +report for duty the last day of the month. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +BORING FOR WATER + + +The water supply was the next problem. I determined to have an abundant +and convenient supply of running water in the house, the barns, and the +feeding grounds, and also on the lawn and gardens. I would have no +carrying or hauling of water, and no lack of it. There were four wells +on the place, two of them near the houses and two stock wells in the +lower grounds. Near the well at the large house was a windmill that +pumped water into a small tank, from which it was piped to the barn-yard +and the lower story of the house. The supply was inadequate and not at +all to my liking. + +My plan involved not only finding, raising, and distributing water, but +also the care of waste water and sewage. Inquiring among those who had +deep wells in the village, I found that good water was usually reached +at from 180 to 210 feet. As my well-site was high, I expected to have to +bore deep. I contracted with a well man of good repute for a six-inch +well of 250 feet (or less), piped and finished to the surface, for $2 a +foot; any greater depth to be subject to further agreement. + +It took nearly three months to finish the water system, but it has +proved wonderfully convenient and satisfactory. During seven years I +have not spent more than $50 for changes and repairs. We struck bed-rock +at 197 feet, drilled 27 feet into this rock, and found water which rose +to within 50 feet of the surface and which could not be materially +lowered by the constant use of a three-inch power-pump. The water was +milky white for three days, in spite of much pumping; and then, and ever +after, it ran clear and sweet, with a temperature of 54° F. Well and +water being satisfactory, I cheerfully paid the well man $448 for the +job. + +Meantime I contracted for a tank twelve by twelve feet, to be raised +thirty feet above the well on eight timbers, each ten inches square, +well bolted and braced, for $430,--I to put in the foundation. This +consisted of eight concrete piers, each five feet deep in the clay, +three feet square, and capped at the level of the ground with a +limestone two feet square and eight inches thick. These piers were set +in octagon form around the well, with their centres seven feet from the +middle of the bore, making the spread of the framework fourteen feet at +the ground and ten at the platform. The foundation cost $32. A Rider +eight-inch, hot-air, wood-burning, pumping engine (with a two-inch pipe +leading to the tank, and a four-inch pipe from it), filled the tank +quickly; and it was surprising to see how little fuel it consumed. It +cost $215. + +I have now to confess to a small extravagance. I contracted with a +carpenter to build an ornamental tower, fifty-five feet high, twenty +feet across at the base, and fifteen feet at the top, sheeted and +shingled, with a series of small windows in spiral and a narrow stairway +leading to a balcony that surrounded the tower on a level with the top +of the tank. This tower cost $425; but it was not all extravagance, +because a third of the expense would have been incurred in protecting +the engine and making the tank frost-proof. + +To distribute the water, I had three lines of four-inch pipe leading +from the tank's out-flow pipe. One of these went 250 feet to the house, +with one-inch branches for the gardens and lawn; another led east 375 +feet, past the proposed sites of the cottage, the farm-house, the dairy, +and other buildings in that direction; while the third, about 400 feet +long, led to the horse barn and the other projected buildings. From near +the end of this west pipe a 1-1/2-inch pipe was carried due north +through the centre of the five-acre lot set apart for the hennery, and +into the fields beyond. This pipe was about 700 feet long. Altogether I +used 1100 feet of four-inch, and about 2200 feet of smaller pipe, at a +total cost of $803. All water pipes were placed 4-1/2 feet in the ground +to be out of the reach of frost, and to this day they have received no +further attention. + +The trenches for the pipes were opened by a party of five Italians whom +a railroad friend found for me. These men boarded themselves, slept in +the barn, and did the work for seventy-five cents a rod, the job costing +me $169. + +Opening the sewer trenches cost a little more, for they were as deep as +those for the water, and a little wider. Eight hundred feet of main +sewer, a three-hundred-foot branch to the house, and short branches from +barns, pens, and farm-houses, made in all about fourteen hundred feet, +which cost $83 to open. The sewer ended in the stable yard back of the +horse barn, in a ten-foot catch-basin near the manure pit. A few feet +from this catch-basin was a second, and beyond this a third, all of the +same size, with drain-pipes connecting them about two feet below the +ground. These basins were closely covered at all times, and in winter +they were protected from frost by a thick layer of coarse manure. They +were placed near the site of the manure pit for convenience in cleaning, +which had to be done every three months for the first one, once in six +months for the second and rarely for the third; indeed, the water +flowing from the third was always clear. This waste water was run +through a drain-pipe diagonally across the northwest corner of the big +orchard to an open ditch in the north lane. Opening this drain of forty +rods cost $30. Later I carried this closed drain to the creek, at an +additional expense of $67. The connecting of the water pipes and the +laying of the sewer was done by a local plumber for $50; the drain-pipe +and sewer-pipe cost $112; and the three catch-basins, bricked up and +covered with two-inch plank, cost $63. The filling in of all these +trenches was done by my own men with teams and scrapers, and should not +be figured into this expense account. It must be borne in mind that +while this elaborate water system was being installed, no buildings were +completed and but few were even begun; the big house was not finished +for more than a year. The sites of all the buildings had been decided +on, and the farm-house and the cottage had been moved and remodelled, by +the middle of October, at which date the water plant was completed. An +abundant supply of good water is essential to the comfort of man and +beast, and the money invested in securing it will pay a good interest in +the long run. My water plant cost me a lot of money, $2758; but it +hasn't cost me $10 a year since it was finished. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +WE TAKE POSSESSION + + +My barn was full of horses, but none of them was fit for farm work; so I +engaged a veterinary surgeon to find three suitable teams. By the 25th +of the month he had succeeded, and I inspected the animals and found +them satisfactory, though not so smooth and smart-looking as I had +pictured them. When I compared them, somewhat unfavorably, with the +teams used for city trucks and delivery wagons, he retorted by saying: +"I did not know that you wanted to pay $1200 a pair for your horses. +These six horses will cost you $750, and they are worth it." They were a +sturdy lot, young, well matched, not so large as to be unwieldy, but +heavy enough for almost any work. The lightest was said to weigh 1375 +pounds, and the heaviest not more than a hundred pounds more. Two of the +teams were bay with a sprinkling of white feet, while the other pair was +red roan, and, to my mind, the best looking. + +Four of these horses are still doing service on the farm, after more +than seven years. One of the bays died in the summer of '98, and one of +the roans broke his stifle during the following winter and had to be +shot. The bereaved relicts of these two pairs have taken kindly to each +other, and now walk soberly side by side in double harness. I sometimes +think, however, that I see a difference. The personal relation is not +just as it was in the old union,--no bickerings or disagreements, but +also no jokes and no caresses. The soft nose doesn't seek its neighbor's +neck, there is no resting of chin on friendly withers while half-closed +eyes see visions of cool shades, running brooks, and knee-deep clover; +and the urgent whinney which called one to the other and told of +loneliness when separated is no longer heard. It is pathetic to think +that these good creatures have been robbed of the one thing which gave +color to their lives and lifted them above the dreary treadmill of duty +for duty's sake. The kindly friendship of each for his yoke-fellow is +not the old sympathetic companionship, which will come again only when +the cooling breezes, running brooks, and knee-deep pastures of the good +horse's heaven are reached. + +A horse is wonderfully sensitive for an animal of his size and strength. +He is timid by nature and his courage comes only from his confidence in +man. His speed, strength, and endurance he will willingly give, and give +it to the utmost, if the hand that guides is strong and gentle, and the +voice that controls is firm, confident, and friendly. Lack of courage in +the master takes from the horse his only chance of being brave; lack of +steadiness makes him indirect and futile; lack of kindness frightens him +into actions which are the result of terror at first, and which become +vices only by mismanagement. By nature the horse is good. If he learns +bad manners by associating with bad men, we ought to lay the blame where +it belongs. A kind master will make a kind horse; and I have no respect +for a man who has had the privilege of training a horse from colt-hood +and has failed to turn out a good one. Lack of good sense, or cruelty, +is at the root of these failures. One can forgive lack of sense, for men +are as God made them; but there is no forgiveness for the cruel: cooling +shades and running brooks will not be prominent features in their +ultimate landscapes. + +For harness and farm equipments, tools and machinery, I went to a +reliable firm which made most and handled the rest of the things that +make a well-equipped farm. It is best to do much of one's business +through one house, provided, of course, that the house is dependable. +You become a valued customer whom it is important to please, you receive +discounts, rebates, and concessions that are worth something, and a +community of interest grows up that is worth much. + +My first order to this house was for three heavy wagons with four-inch +tires, three sets of heavy harness, two ploughs and a subsoiler, three +harrows (disk, spring tooth, and flat), a steel land-roller, two +wheelbarrows, an iron scraper, fly nets and other stable equipment, +shovels, spades, hay forks, posthole tools, a hand seeder, a chest of +tools, stock-pails, milk-pails and pans, axes, hatchets, saws of various +kinds, a maul and wedges, six kegs of nails, and three lanterns. The +total amount was $488; but as I received five per cent discount, I paid +only $464. The goods, except the wagons and harnesses, were to go by +freight to Exeter. Polly was to buy the necessary furnishings for the +men's house, the only stipulation I made being that the beds should be +good enough for me to sleep in. On the 25th of July she showed me a list +of the things which she had purchased. It seemed interminable; but she +assured me that she had bought nothing unnecessary, and that she had +been very careful in all her purchases. As I knew that Polly was in the +habit of getting the worth of her money, I paid the bills without more +ado. The list footed up to $495. + +Most of the housekeeping things were to be delivered at the station in +Exeter; the rest were to go on the wagons. On the afternoon of the 30th +the wagons and harnesses were sent to the stable where the horses had +been kept, and the articles to go in these wagons were loaded for an +early start the following morning. The distance from the station in the +city to the station at Exeter is thirty miles, but the stable is three +miles from the city station, the farm two and a half miles from Exeter +station, and the wagon road not so direct as the railroad. The trip to +the farm, therefore, could not be much less than forty miles, and would +require the best part of two days. The three men whom I had engaged +reported for duty, as also did Thompson's son, whom we are to know +hereafter as Zeb. + +Early on the last day of the month the men and teams were off, with +cooked provisions for three days. They were to break the journey +twenty-five miles out, and expected to reach the farm the next +afternoon. Polly and I wished to see them arrive, so we took the train +at 1 P.M. August 1st, and reached Four Oaks at 2.30, taking with us Mrs. +Thompson, who was to cook for the men. + +Before starting I had telephoned a local carpenter to meet me, and to +bring a mason if possible. I found both men on the ground, and explained +to them that there would be abundant work in their lines on the place +for the next year or two, that I was perfectly willing to pay a +reasonable profit on each job, but that I did not propose to make them +rich out of any single contract. + +The first thing to do, I told them, was to move the large farm-house to +the site already chosen, about two hundred yards distant, enlarge it, +and put a first-class cellar under the whole. The principal change +needed in the house was an additional story on the ell, which would give +a chamber eighteen by twenty-six, with closets five feet deep, to be +used as a sleeping room for the men. I intended to change the sitting +room, which ran across the main house, into a dining and reading room +twenty feet by twenty-five, and to improve the shape and convenience of +the kitchen by pantry and lavatory. There must also be a well-appointed +bathroom on the upper floor, and set tubs in the kitchen. My men would +dig the cellar, and the mason was to put in the foundation walls (twelve +inches thick and two feet above ground), the cross or division walls, +and the chimneys. He was also to put down a first-class cement floor +over the whole cellar and approach. The house was to be heated by a +hot-water system; and I afterward let this job to a city man, who put in +a satisfactory plant for $500. + +We had hardly finished with the carpenter and the mason when we saw our +wagons turning into the grounds. We left the contractors to their +measurements, plans, and figures, while we hastened to turn the teams +back, as they must go to the cottage on the north forty. The horses +looked a little done up by the heat and the unaccustomed journey, but +Thompson said: "They're all right,--stood it first-rate." + +The cottage and out-buildings furnished scanty accommodations for men +and beasts, but they were all that we could provide. I told the men to +make themselves and the horses as comfortable as they could, then to +milk the cows and feed the hogs, and call it a day. + +While the others were unloading and getting things into shape, I called +Thompson off for a talk. "Thompson," I said, "you are to have the +oversight of the work here for the present, and I want you to have some +idea of my general plan. This experiment at farming is to last years. We +won't look for results until we are ready to force them, but we are to +get ready as soon as possible. In the meantime, we will have to do +things in an awkward fashion, and not always for immediate effect. We +must build the factory before we can turn out the finished product. The +cows, for instance, must be cared for until we can dispose of them to +advantage. Half of them, I fancy, are 'robber cows,' not worth their +keep (if it costs anything to feed them), and we will certainly not +winter them. Keep your eye on the herd, and be able to tell me if any of +them will pay. Milk them carefully, and use what milk, cream, and butter +you can, but don't waste useful time carting milk to market--feed it to +the hogs rather. If a farmer or a milkman will call for it, sell what +you have to spare for what he will give, and have done with it quickly. +You are to manage the hogs on the same principle. Fatten those which are +ready for it, with anything you find on the place. We will get rid of +the whole bunch as soon as possible. You see, I must first clear the +ground before I can build my factory. Let the hens alone for the +present; you can eat them during the winter. + +"Now, about the crops. The hay in barns and stacks is all right; the +wheat is ready for threshing, but it can wait until the oats are also +ready; the corn is weedy, but it is too late to help it, and the +potatoes are probably covered with bugs. I will send out to-morrow some +Paris green and a couple of blow-guns. There is not much real farm work +to do just now, and you will have time for other things. The first and +most important thing is to dig a cellar to put your house over; your +comfort depends on that. Get the men and horses with plough and scraper +out as early as you can to-morrow morning, and hustle. You have nothing +to do but dig a big hole seven feet deep inside these lines. I count on +you to keep things moving, and I will be out the day after to-morrow." + +The mason had finished his estimate, which was $560. After some +explanations, I concluded that it was a fair price, and agreed to it, +provided the work could be done promptly. The carpenter was not ready to +give me figures; he said, however, that he could get a man to move the +house for $120, and that he would send me by mail that night an itemized +estimate of costs, and also one from a plumber. This seemed like doing a +lot of things in one afternoon, so Polly and I started for town content. + +"Those people can't be very luxurious out there," said Polly, "but they +can have good food and clean beds. They have all out-doors to breathe +in, and I do not see what more one can ask on a fine August evening, do +you, Mr. Headman?" + +I could think of a few things, but I did not mention them, for her first +words recalled some scenes of my early life on a backwoods farm: the log +cabin, with hardly ten nails in it, the latch-string, the wide-mouthed +stone-and-stick chimney, the spring-house with its deep crocks, the +smoke-house made of a hollow gum-tree log, the ladder to the loft where +I slept, and where the snows would drift on the floor through the rifts +in the split clapboards that roofed me over. I wondered if to-day was so +much better than yesterday as conditions would warrant us in expecting. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE HORSE-AND-BUGGY MAN + + +August 3 found me at Four Oaks in the early afternoon. A great hollow +had been dug for the cellar, and Thompson said that it would take but +one more full day to finish it. Piles of material gave evidence that the +mason was alert, and the house-mover had already dropped his long +timbers, winch, and chains by the side of the farm-house. + +While I was discussing matters with Thompson, a smart trap turned into +the lot, and a well-set-up young man sprang out of the stylish runabout +and said,-- + +"Dr. Williams, I hear you want more help on your farm." + +"I can use another man or two to advantage, if they are good ones." + +"Well, I don't want to brag, but I guess I am a good one, all right. I +ain't afraid of work, and there isn't much that I can't do on a farm. +What wages do you pay?" + +I told him my plan of an increasing wage scale, and he did not object. +"That includes horse keep, I suppose?" said he. + +"I do not know what you mean by 'horse keep.'" + +"Why, most of the men on farms around here own a horse and buggy, to use +nights, Sundays, and holidays, and we expect the boss to keep the horse. +This is my rig. It is about the best in the township; cost me $280 for +the outfit." + +"See here, young man, this is another specimen of farm economics, and it +is one of the worst in the lot. Let me do a small example in mental +arithmetic for you. The interest on $280 is $14; the yearly depreciation +of your property, without accidents, is at least $40; horse-shoeing and +repairs, $20; loss of wages (for no man will keep your horse for less +than $4 a month), $48. In addition to this, you will be tempted to spend +at least $5 a month more with a horse than without one; that is $60 +more. You are throwing away $182 every year without adding $1 to your +value as an employee, one ounce of dignity to your employment, or one +foot of gain in your social position, no matter from what point you view +it. + +"Taking it for granted that you receive $25 a month for every month of +the year (and this is admitting too much), you waste more than half on +that blessed rig, and you can make no provision for the future, for +sickness, or for old age. No, I will not keep your horse, nor will I +employ any man whose scheme of life doesn't run further than the +ownership of a horse and buggy." + +"But a fellow must keep up with the procession; he must have some +recreation, and all the men around here have rigs." + +"Not around Four Oaks. Recreation is all right, but find it in ways less +expensive. Read, study, cultivate the best of your kind, plan for the +future and save for it, and you will not lack for recreation. Sell your +horse and buggy for $200, if you cannot get more, put the money at +interest, save $200 out of your wages, and by the end of the year you +will be worth over $400 in hard cash and much more in self-respect. You +can easily add 1200 a year to your savings, without missing anything +worth while; and it will not be long before you can buy a farm, marry a +wife, and make an independent position. I will have no horse-and-buggy +men on my farm. It's up to you." + +"By Jove! I believe you may be right. It looks like a square deal, and +I'll play it, if you'll give me time to sell the outfit." + +"All right, come when you can. I'll find the work." + +That day being Saturday, I told Thompson that I would come out early +Monday morning, bringing with me a rough map of the place as I had +planned it, and we would go over it with a chain and drive some +outlining stakes. I then returned to Exeter, found the carpenter and the +plumber, and accepted their estimates,--$630 and $325, respectively. The +farm-house moved, finished, furnished, and heated, but not painted or +papered, would cost $2630. Painting, papering, window-shades, and odds +and ends cost $275, making a total of $2905. It proved a good +investment, for it was a comfortable and convenient home for the men and +women who afterward occupied it. It has certainly been appreciated by +its occupants, and few have left it without regret. We have always tried +to make it an object lesson of cleanliness and cheerfulness, and I don't +think a man has lived in it for six months without being bettered. It +seemed a good deal of money to put on an old farm-house for farm-hands, +but it proved one of the best investments at Four Oaks, for it kept the +men contented and cheerful workers. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +WE PLAT THE FARM + + +On Monday I was out by ten o'clock, armed with a surveyor's chain. +Thompson had provided a lot of stakes, and we ran the lines, more or +less straight, in general accord with my sketch plan. We walked, +measured, estimated, and drove stakes until noon. At one o'clock we were +at it again, and by four I was fit to drop from fatigue. Farm work was +new to me, and I was soft as soft. I had, however, got the general lay +of the land, and could, by the help of the plan, talk of its future +subdivisions by numerals,--an arrangement that afterward proved definite +and convenient. We adjourned to the shade of the big black oak on the +knoll, and discussed the work in hand. + +"You cannot finish the cellar before to-morrow night," I said, "because +it grows slower as it grows deeper; but that will be doing well enough. +I want you to start two teams ploughing Wednesday morning, and keep them +going every day until the frost stops them. Let Sam take the plough, and +have young Thompson follow with the subsoiler. Have them stick to this +as a regular diet until I call them off. They are to commence in the +wheat stubble where lots six and seven will be. I am going to try +alfalfa in that ground, though I am not at all sure that it will do +well, and the soil must be fitted as well as possible. After it has had +deep ploughing it is to be crossed with the disk harrow; then have it +rolled, disk it again, and then use the flat harrow until it feels as +near like an ash heap as time will permit. We must get the seed in +before September." + +"We will need another team if you keep two ploughing and one on the +harrow," said Thompson. + +"You are right, and that means another $400, but you shall have it. We +must not stop the ploughs for anything. Numbers 10, 11, 14, 1, 2, 3, 4, +5, and much of the home lot, ought to be ploughed before snow flies. +That means about 160 acres,--80 odd days of steady work for the +ploughmen and horses. You will probably find it best to change teams +from time to time. A little variety will make it easier for them. As +soon as 6 and 7 are finished, turn the ploughs into the 40 acres which +make lots 1 to 5. All that must be seeded to pasture grass, for it will +be our feeding-ground, and we'll be late with it if we don't look sharp. + +"We must have more help, by the way. That horse-and-buggy man, Judson, +is almost sure to come, and I will find another. Some of you will have +to bunk in the hay for the present, for I am going to send out a woman +to help your wife. Six men can do a lot of work, but there is a +tremendous lot of work to do. We must fit the ground and plant at least +three thousand apple trees before the end of November, and we ought to +fence this whole plantation. Speaking of fences reminds me that I must +order the cedar posts. Have you any idea how many posts it will take to +fence this farm as we have platted it? I suppose not. Well, I can tell +you. Twenty-two hundred and fifty at one rod apart, or 1850 at twenty +feet apart. These posts must be six feet above and three feet below +ground. They will cost eighteen cents each. That item will be $333, for +there are seven miles of fence, including the line fence between me and +my north neighbor. I am going to build that fence myself, and then I +shall know whose fault it is if his stock breaks through. Of course some +of the old posts are good, but I don't believe one in twenty is long +enough for my purpose." + +"What do you buy cedar posts for, when you have enough better ones on +the place?" asked Thompson. + +"I don't know what you mean." + +"Well, down in the wood yonder there's enough dead white oak, standing +or on the ground, to make three thousand, nine-foot posts, and one +seasoned white oak will outlast two cedars, and it is twice as strong." + +"Well, that's good! How much will it cost to get them out?" + +"About five cents apiece. A couple of smart fellows can make good wages +at that price." + +"Good. We will save thirteen cents each. They will cost $93 instead of +$333. I don't know everything yet, do I, Thompson?" + +"You learn easy, I reckon." + +"Keep your eyes and ears open, and if you find any one who can do this +job, let him have it, for we are going to be too busy with other things +at present. It's time for me to be off. I cannot be out again till +Thursday, for I must find a man, a woman, and a team of horses and all +that goes with them. I'll see you on the 8th at any rate." + +I was dead tired when I reached home; but there wasn't a grain of +depression in my fatigue,--rather a sense of elation. I felt that for +the first time in thirty years real things were doing and I was having a +hand in them. The fatigue was the same old tire that used to come after +a hard day on my father's farm, and the sense was so suggestive of youth +that I could not help feeling younger. I have never gotten away from the +faith that the real seed of life lies hidden in the soil; that the man +who gives it a chance to germinate is a benefactor, and that things done +in connection with land are about the only real things. I have grown +younger, stronger, happier, with each year of personal contact with the +soil. I am thankful for seven years of it, and look forward to twice +seven more. I have lost the softness which nearly wilted me that 5th day +of August, and with the softness has gone twenty or thirty pounds of +useless flesh. I am hard, active, and strong for a man of sixty, and I +can do a fair day's work. To tell the truth, I prefer the moderate work +that falls to the lot of the Headman, rather than the more strenuous +life of the husbandman; but I find an infinite deal to thank the farm +for in health and physical comfort. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +HOUSE-CLEANING + + +After dinner I telephoned the veterinary surgeon that I wanted another +team. He replied that he thought he knew of one that would suit, and +that he would let me know the next day. I also telephoned two "want +ads." to a morning paper, one for an experienced farm-hand, the other +for a woman to do general housework in the country. Polly was to +interview the women who applied, and I was to look after the men. That +night I slept like a hired man. + +Out of the dozen who applied the next day I accepted a Swede by the name +of Anderson. He was about thirty, tall, thin, and nervous. He did not +fit my idea of a stockman, but he looked like a worker, and as I could +furnish the work we soon came to terms. + +A few words more about Anderson. He proved a worker indeed. He had an +insatiable appetite for work, and never knew when to quit. He was not +popular at the farm, for he was too eager in the morning to start and +too loath in the evening to stop. His unbridled passion for work was a +thing to be deplored, as it kept him thin and nervous. I tried to +moderate this propensity, but with no result. Anderson could not be +trusted with horses, or, indeed, with animals of any kind, for he made +them as nervous as himself; but in all other kinds of work he was the +best man ever at Four Oaks. He worked for me nearly three years, and +then suddenly gave out from a pain in his left chest and shortness of +breath. I called a physician for poor Anderson, and the diagnosis was +dilatation of the heart from over-exercise. + +"A rare disease among farm-hands, Dr. Williams," said Dr. High, but my +conscience did not fully forgive me. I asked Anderson to stay at the +farm and see what could be done by rest and care. He declined this, as +well as my offer to send him to a hospital. He expressed the liveliest +gratitude for kindnesses received and others offered, but he said he +must be independent and free. He had nearly $1200 in a savings bank in +the city, and he proposed to use it, or such portion of it as was +necessary. I saw him two months later. He was better, but not able to +work. Hearing nothing from him for three years, a year ago I called at +the bank where I knew he had kept his savings. They had sent sums of +money to him, once to Rio Janeiro and once to Cape Town. For two years +he had not been heard from. Whether he is living or dead I do not know. +I only know that a valuable man and a unique farm-hand has disappeared. +I never think of Anderson without wishing I had been more severe with +him,--more persistent in my efforts to wean him from his real passion. +Peace to his ashes, if he be ashes. + +That same day I telephoned the Agricultural Implement Company to send me +another wagon, with harness and equipment for the team. The veterinary +surgeon reported that he had a span of mares for me to look at, but I +was too much engaged that day to inspect the team, and promised to do so +on the next. + +When I reached home, Polly said she had found nothing in the way of a +general housework girl for the country. She had seen nine women who +wished to do all other kinds of work, but none to fit her wants. + +"What do they come for if they don't want the place we described? Do +they expect we are to change our plans of life to suit their personal +notions?" she asked. + +"It's hard to say what they came for or what they want. Their ways are +past finding out. We will put in another 'ad.' and perhaps have better +luck." + +Wednesday, the 7th, I went to see the new team. I found a pair of +flea-bitten gray Flemish mares, weighing about twenty-eight hundred +pounds. They were four years old, short of leg and long of body, and +looked fit. The surgeon passed them sound, and said he considered them +well worth the price asked,--$300. I was pleased with the team, and +remembered a remark I had heard as a boy from an itinerant Methodist +minister at a time when the itinerant minister was supposed to know all +there was to know about horse-flesh. This was his remark: "There was +never a flea-bitten mare that was a poor horse." In spite of its +ambiguity, the saying made an impression from which I never recovered. I +always expected great things from flea-bitten grays. + +The team, wagon, harness, etc., added $395 to the debit account against +the farm. Polly secured her girl,--a green German who had not been long +enough in America to despise the country. + +"She doesn't know a thing about our ways," said Polly, "but Mrs. +Thompson can train her as she likes. If you can spend time enough with +green girls, they are apt to grow to your liking." + +On Thursday I saw Anderson and the new team safely started for the farm. +Then Polly, the new girl, and I took train for the most interesting spot +on earth. + +Soon after we arrived I lost sight of Polly, who seemed to have business +of her own. I found the mason and his men at work on the cellar wall, +which was almost to the top of the ground. The house was on wheels, and +had made most of its journey. The house mover was in a rage because he +had to put the house on a hole instead of on solid ground, as he had +expected. "I have sent for every stick of timber and every cobbling +block I own, to get this house over that hole; there's no money in this +job for me; you ought to have dug the cellar after the house was +placed," said he. + +I made friends with him by agreeing to pay $30 more for the job. The +house was safely placed, and by Saturday night the foundation walls were +finished. + +Sam and Zeb had made a good beginning on the ploughing, the teams were +doing well for green ones, and the men seemed to understand what good +ploughing meant. Thompson and Johnson had spent parts of two days in the +potato patches in deadly conflict with the bugs. + +"We've done for most of them this time," said Thompson, "but we'll have +to go over the ground again by Monday." + +The next piece of work was to clear the north forty (lots 1 to 5) of all +fences, stumps, stones, and rubbish, and all buildings except the +cottage. The barn was to be torn down, and the horses were to be +temporarily stabled in the old barn on the home lot. Useful timbers and +lumber were to be snugly piled, the manure around the barns was to be +spread under the old apple trees, which were in lot No. 1, and +everything not useful was to be burned. "Make a clean sweep, and leave +it as bare as your hand," I told Thompson. "It must be ready for the +plough as soon as possible." + +Judson, the man with the buggy, reported at noon. He came with bag and +baggage, but not with buggy, and said that he came to stay. + +"Thompson," said I, "you are to put Judson in charge of the roan team to +follow the boys when they are far enough ahead of him. In the meantime +he and the team will be with you and Johnson in this house-cleaning. By +to-morrow night Anderson and the new team will get in, and they, too, +will help on this job. I want you to take personal charge of the gray +team,--neither Johnson nor Anderson is the right sort to handle horses. +The new team will do the trucking about and the regular farm work, while +the other three are kept steadily at the ploughs and harrows." + +The cleaning of the north forty proved a long job. Four men and two +teams worked hard for ten days, and then it was not finished. By that +time the ploughmen had finished 6 and 7, and were ready to begin on No. +1. Judson, with the roans and harrows, was sent to the twenty acres of +ploughed ground, and Zeb and his team were put at the cleaning for three +days, while Sam ploughed the six acres of old orchard with a +_shallow-set_ plough. The feeding roots of these trees would have been +seriously injured if we had followed the deep ploughing practised in the +open. By August 24 about two hundred loads of manure from the +barn-yards, the accumulation of years, had been spread under the apple +trees, and I felt sure it was well bestowed. Manuring, turning the sod, +pruning, and spraying, ought to give a good crop of fruit next year. + +We had several days of rain during this time, which interfered somewhat +with the work, but the rains were gratefully received. I spent much of +my time at Four Oaks, often going every day, and never let more than two +days pass without spending some hours on the farm. To many of my friends +this seemed a waste of time. They said, "Williams is carrying this fad +too far,--spending too much time on it." + +Polly did not agree with them, neither did I. Time is precious only as +we make it so. To do the wholesome, satisfying thing, without direct or +indirect injury to others, is the privilege of every man. To the charge +of neglecting my profession I pleaded not guilty, for my profession had +dismissed me without so much as saying "By your leave." I was obliged to +change my mode of life, and I chose to be a producer rather than a +consumer of things produced by others. I was conserving my health, +pleasing my wife, and at the same time gratifying a desire which had +long possessed me. I have neither apology to make nor regret to record; +for as individuals and as a family we have lived healthier, happier, +more wholesome, and more natural lives on the farm than we ever did in +the city, and that is saying much. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +FENCED IN + + +On the 26th, when I reached the station at Exeter, I found Thompson and +the gray team just starting for the farm with the second load of wire +fencing. I had ordered fifty-six rolls of Page's woven wire fence, forty +rods in each roll. This fence cost me seventy cents a rod, $224 a mile, +or $1568 for the seven miles. Add to this $37 for freight, and the total +amounted to $1605 for the wire to fence my land. I got this facer as I +climbed to the seat beside Thompson. I did not blink, however, for I had +resolved in the beginning to take no account of details until the 31st +day of December, and to spend as much on the farm in that time as I +could without being wasteful. I did not care much what others thought. I +felt that at my age time was precious, and that things must be rushed as +rapidly as possible. + +I was glad of this slow ride with Thompson, for it gave me an +opportunity to study him. I wondered then and afterward why a man of his +general intelligence, industry, and special knowledge of the details of +farming, should fail of success when working for himself. He knew ten +times as much about the business as I did, and yet he had not succeeded +in an independent position. Some quality, like broadness of mind or +directness of purpose, was lacking, which made him incapable of carrying +out a plan, no matter how well conceived. He was like Hooker at +Chancellorsville, whose plan of campaign was perfect, whose orders were +carried out with exactness, whose army fell into line as he wished, and +whose enemy did the obvious thing, yet who failed terribly because the +responsibility of the ultimate was greater than he could bear. As second +in command, or as corps leader, he was superb; in independent command he +was a disastrous failure. + +Thompson, then, was a Joe Hooker on a reduced plane,--good only to +execute another man's plans. Thompson might have rebutted this by saying +that I too might prove a disastrous failure; that as yet I had shown +only ability to spend,--perhaps not always wisely. Such rebuttal would +have had weight seven years ago, but it would not be accepted to-day, +for I have made my campaign and won my battle. The record of the past +seven years shows that I can plan and also execute. + +Thompson told me that he had found two woodsmen (by scouting around on +Sunday) who were glad to take the job of cutting the white-oak posts at +five cents each, and that they were even then at work; and that Nos. 6 +and 7 would be fitted for alfalfa by the end of the week. He added that +the seed ought to be sown as soon thereafter as possible and that a +liberal dressing of commercial fertilizer should be sown before the seed +was harrowed in. + +"I have ordered five tons of fertilizer," I said, "and it ought to be +here this week. Sow four bags to the acre." + +"Four bags,--eight hundred pounds; that's pretty expensive. Costs, I +suppose, $35 to $40 a ton." + +"No; $24." + +"How's that?" + +"Friend at court; factory price; $120 for five tons; $5 freight, making +in all $125. We must use at least eight hundred pounds this fall and +five hundred in the spring. Alfalfa is an experiment, and we must give +it a show." + +"Never saw anything done with alfalfa in this region, but they never +took no pains with it," said Thompson. + +"I hope it will grow for us, for it is great forage if properly managed. +The seed will be out this week, and you had best sow it on Monday, the +2d." + +"How are you going to seed the north forty?" + +"Timothy, red top, and blue grass; heavy seeding, to get rid of the +weeds. These lots will all be used as stock lots. Small ones, you think, +but we will depend almost entirely upon soiling. I hope to keep a fair +sod on these lots, and they will be large enough to give the animals +exercise and keep them healthy. I hope the carpenter is pushing things +on the house. I want to get you into better quarters as soon as +possible, and I want the cottage moved out of the way before we seed the +lot." + +"They're pushing things all right, I guess; that man Nelson is a +hustler." + +When I reached the farm I found Johnson and Anderson tearing down the +old fence that was our eastern boundary. None of the posts were long +enough for my purpose, so all were consigned to the woodpile. + +My neighbor on the north owned just as much land as I did. He inherited +it and a moderate bank account from his father, who in turn had it from +his. The farm was well kept and productive. The house and barns were +substantial and in good repair. The owner did general farming, raised +wheat, corn, and oats to sell, milked twenty cows and sent the milk to +the creamery, sold one or two cows and a dozen calves each year, and +fattened twenty or thirty pigs. He was pretty certain to add a few +hundred dollars to his bank account at the end of each season. He kept +one man all the time and two in summer. He was a bachelor of +twenty-eight, well liked and good to look upon: five feet ten inches in +height, broad of shoulder, deep of chest, and a very Hercules in +strength. His face was handsome, square-jawed and strong. He was +good-natured, but easily roused, and when angry was as fierce as fire. +He had the reputation of being the hardest fighter in the country. His +name was William Jackson, so he was called Bill. I had met Jackson +often, and we had taken kindly to each other. I admired his frank manner +and sturdy physique, and he looked upon me as a good-natured tenderfoot, +who might be companionable, and who would certainly stir up things in +the neighborhood. I went in search of him that afternoon to discuss the +line fence, a full mile of which divided our lands. + +"I want to put a fence along our line which nothing can get over or +under," I said. "I am willing to bear the expense of the new fence if +you will take away the old one and plough eight furrows,--four on your +land and four on mine,--to be seeded to grass before the wires are +stretched. We ought to get rid of the weeds and brush." + +"That is a liberal proposition, Dr. Williams, and of course I accept," +said Jackson; "but I ought to do more. I'll tell you what I'll do. You +are planning to put a ring fence around your land,--three miles in all. +I'll plough the whole business and fit it for the seed. I'll take one of +my men, four horses, and a grub plough, and do it whenever you are +ready." + +This settled the fence matter between Jackson and me. The men who cut +the posts took the job of setting them, stretching the wire, and hanging +the gates, for $400. This included the staples and also the stretching +of three strands of barbed wire above the woven wire; two at six-inch +intervals on the outside, and one inside, level with the top of the +post. Thus my ring fence was six feet high and hard to climb. I have a +serious dislike for trespass, from either man or beast, and my boundary +fence was made to discourage trespassers. I like to have those who enter +my property do so by the ways provided, for "whoso climbeth up any other +way, the same is a thief and a robber." + +The ring fence was finished by the middle of October. The interior +fences were built by my own men during soft weather in winter and +spring; and, as I had already paid for the wire and posts, nothing more +should be charged to the fence account. In round numbers these seven +miles of excellent fence cost me $2100. A lot of money! But the fence is +there to-day as serviceable as when it was set, and it will stand for +twice seven years more. One hundred dollars a year is not a great price +to pay for the security and seclusion which a good fence furnishes. +There was no need of putting up so much interior fence. I would save a +mile or two if I had it to do again; however, I do not dislike my +straight lanes and tightly fenced fields. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE BUILDING LINE + + +Before leaving Four Oaks that day I had a long conversation with Nelson, +the carpenter. I had taken his measure, by inquiry and observation, and +was willing to put work into his hands as fast as he could attend to it. +The first thing was to put him in possession of my plan of a building +line. + +Two hundred feet south of the north line of the home lot a street or +lane was to run due west from the gate on the main road. This was to be +the teaming or business entrance to the farm. Commencing three hundred +feet from the east end of this drive, the structures were to be as +follows: On the south side, first a cold-storage house, then the +farm-house, the cottage, the well, and finally the carriage barn for the +big house. On the north side of the line, opposite the ice-house, the +dairy-house; then a square with a small power-house for its centre, a +woodhouse, a horse barn for the farm horses, a granary and a forage barn +for its four corners. Beyond this square to the west was the fruit-house +and the tool-house--the latter large enough to house all the farm +machinery we should ever need. I have a horror of the economy that +leaves good tools to sky and clouds without protection. This sketch +would not be worked out for a long time, as few of the buildings were +needed at once. It was made for the sake of having a general design to +be carried out when required; and the water and sewer system had been +built with reference to it. + +I told Nelson that a barn to shelter the horses was the first thing to +build, after the house for the men, and that I saw no reason why two or +even three buildings should not be in process of construction at the +same time. He said there would be no difficulty in managing that if he +could get the men and I could get the money. I promised to do my part, +and we went into details. + +I wanted a horse barn for ten horses, with shed room for eight wagons in +front and a small stable yard in the rear; also a sunken manure vat, ten +feet by twenty, with cement walls and floor, the vat to be four feet +deep, two feet in the ground and two feet above it. A vat like this has +been built near each stable where stock is kept, and I find them +perfectly satisfactory. They save the liquid manure, and thus add fifty +per cent to the value of the whole. Open sheds protect from sun and +rain, and they are emptied as often as is necessary, regardless of +season, for I believe that the fields can care for manure better than a +compost heap. + +I also told Nelson to make plans and estimates for a large forage barn, +75 by 150 feet, 25 feet from floor to rafter plate, with a driving floor +through the length of it and mows on either side. A granary, with a +capacity of twenty thousand bushels, a large woodhouse, and a small +house in the centre of this group where the fifteen horse-power engine +could be installed, completed my commissions for that day. + +Plans for these structures were submitted in due time, and the work was +pushed forward as rapidly as possible. The horse barn made a comfortable +home for ten horses, if we should need so many, with food and water +close at hand and every convenience for the care of the animals and +their harness. The forage barn was not expensive,--it was simply to +shelter a large quantity of forage to be drawn upon when needed. The +woodhouse was also inexpensive, though large. Wood was to be the +principal fuel at Four Oaks, since it would cost nothing, and there must +be ample shelter for a large amount. The granary would have to be built +well and substantially, but it was not large. The power-house also was a +small affair. The whole cost of these five buildings was $8550. The +itemized amount is, horse barn, $2000, forage barn, $3400, granary, +$2200, woodhouse, $400, power-house, $550. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +CARPENTERS QUIT WORK + + +On Friday, August 30, I was obliged to go to a western city on business +that would keep me from four to ten days. I turned my face away from the +farm with regret. I could hardly realize that I had spent but one month +in my new life, the old interests had slipped so far behind. I was +reluctant to lose sight, even for a week, of the intensely interesting +things that were doing at Four Oaks. Polly said she would go to Four +Oaks every day, and keep so watchful an eye on the farm that it could +not possibly get away. + +"You're getting a little bit maudlin about that farm, Mr. Headman, and +it will do you good to get away for a few days. There are _some other_ +things in life, though I admit they are few, and we are not to forget +them. I am up to my ears in plans for the house and the home lot; but I +can't quite see what you find so interesting in tearing down old barns +and fences and turning over old sods." + +"Every heart knoweth its own sorrow, Polly, and I have my troubles." + +Friday evening, September 6, I returned from the west. My first +greeting was,-- + +"How's the farm, Polly?" + +"It's there, or was yesterday; I think you'll find things running +smoothly." + +"Have they sowed the alfalfa and cut the oats?" + +"Yes." + +"Finished the farm-house?" + +"No, not quite, but the painters are there, and Nelson has commenced +work on two other buildings." + +"What time can I breakfast? I must catch the 8.10 train, and spend a +long day where things are doing." + +Things were humming at Four Oaks when I arrived. Ten carpenters besides +Nelson and his son were pounding, sawing, and making confusion in all +sorts of ways peculiar to their kind. The ploughmen were busy. Thompson +and the other two men were shocking oats. I spent the day roaming around +the place, watching the work and building castles. I went to the alfalfa +field to see if the seed had sprouted. Disappointed in this, I wandered +down to the brook and planned some abridgment of its meanderings. It +could be straightened and kept within bounds without great expense if +the work were done in a dry season. Polly had asked for a winding brook +with a fringe of willows and dogwood, but I would not make this +concession to her esthetic taste. This farm land must be useful to the +sacrifice of everything else. A winding brook would be all right on the +home lot, if it could be found, but not on the farm. A straight ditch +for drainage was all that I would permit, and I begrudged even that. No +waste land in the cultivated fields, was my motto. I had threshed this +out with Polly and she had yielded, after stipulating that I must keep +my hands off the home forty. + +Over in the woods I found two men at work splitting fence posts. They +seemed expert, and I asked them how many they could make in a day. + +"From 90 to 125, according to the timber. But we must work hard to make +good wages." + +"That applies to other things besides post-splitting, doesn't it?" + +Closer inspection of the wood lot gratified me exceedingly. Little had +been done for it except by Nature, but she had worked with so prodigal a +hand that it showed all kinds of possibilities, both for beauty and for +utility. Before leaving the place, I had a little talk with Nelson. + +"Everything is going on nicely," he said. "I have ten carpenters, and +they are a busy lot. If I can only hold them on to the job, things will +go well." + +"What's the matter? Can't you hold them?" + +"I hope so, but there is a hoisters' strike on in the city, and the +carpenters threaten to go out in sympathy. I hope it won't reach us, +but I'm afraid it will." + +"What will you do if the men go out?" + +"Do the best I can. I can get two non-union men that I know of. They +would like to be on this job now, but these men won't permit it. My son +is a full hand, so there will be four of us; but it will be slow work." + +"See here, Nelson, I can't have this work slack up. We haven't time. +Cold weather will be on before we know it. I'm going to take this bull +by the horns. I'll advertise for carpenters in the Sunday papers. Some +of those who apply will be non-union men, and I'll hold them over for a +few days until we see how the cat jumps. If it comes to the worst, we +can get some men to take the place of Thompson and Sam, who are +carpenters, and set them at the tools. I will not let this work stop, +strike or no strike." + +"If you put non-union men on you will have to feed and sleep them on the +place. The union will make it hot for them." + +"I will take all kinds of care of every man who gives me honest work, +you may be sure." + +When I returned to town I sent this "ad." to two papers: "Wanted: Ten +good carpenters to go to the country." The Sunday papers gave a lurid +account of the sentiment of the Carpenters' Union and its sympathetic +attitude toward the striking hoisters. The forecast was that there would +not be a nail driven if the strike were not settled by Tuesday night. +It seemed that I had not moved a day too soon. On Monday thirty-seven +carpenters applied at my office. Most of them had union tickets and were +not considered. Thirteen, however, were not of the union, and they were +investigated. I hired seven on these conditions: wages to begin the next +day, Tuesday, and to continue through the week, work or no work. If the +strike was ordered, I would take the men to the country and give them +steady work until my jobs were finished. They agreed to these +conditions, and were requested to report at my office on Wednesday +morning to receive two days' pay, and perhaps to be set to work. + +I did not go to the farm until Tuesday afternoon. There was no change in +the strike, and no reason to expect one. The noon papers said that the +Carpenters' Union would declare a sympathetic strike to be on from +Wednesday noon. + +On reaching Four Oaks I called Nelson aside and told him how the land +lay and what I had done. + +"I want you to call the men together," said I, "and let me talk to them. +I must know just how we stand and how they feel." + +Nelson called the men, and I read the reports from two papers on the +impending strike order. + +"Now, men," said I, "we must look this matter in the face in a +businesslike fashion. You have done good work here; your boss is +satisfied, and so am I. It would suit us down to the ground if you +would continue on until all these jobs are finished. We can give you a +lot of work for the best part of the year. You are sure of work and sure +of pay if you stay with us. That is all I have to say until you have +decided for yourselves what you will do if the strike is ordered." + +I left the men for a short time, while they talked things over. It did +not take them long to decide. + +"We must stand by the union," said the spokesman, "but we'll be damned +sorry to quit this job. You see, sir, we can't do any other way. We have +to be in the union to get work, and we have to do as the union says or +we will be kicked out. It is hard, sir, not to do a hit of a hammer for +weeks or months with a family on one's hands and winter coming; but what +can a man do? We don't see our way clear in this matter, but we must do +as the union says." + +"I see how you are fixed," said I, "and I am mighty sorry for you. I am +not going to rail against unions, for they may have done some good; but +they work a serious wrong to the man with a family, for he cannot follow +them without bringing hardships upon his dependent ones. It is not fair +to yoke him up with a single man who has no natural claims to satisfy, +no mouth to feed except his own; but I will talk business. + +"You will be ordered out to-morrow or next day, and you say you will +obey the order. You have an undoubted right to do so. A man is not a +slave, to be made to work against his will; but, on the other hand, is +he not a slave if he is forced to quit against his will? Freedom of +action in personal matters is a right which wise men have fought for and +for which wise men will always fight. Do you find it in the union? What +shall I do when you quit work? How long are you going to stay out? What +will become of my interests while you are following the lead of your +bell-wethers? Shall my work stop because you have been called out for a +holiday? Shall the weeds grow over these walls and my lumber rot while +you sit idly by? Not by a long sight! You have a perfect right to quit +work, and I have a perfect right to continue. + +"The rights which we claim for ourselves we must grant to others. One +man certainly has as defensible a right to work as another man has to be +idle. In the legitimate exercise of personal freedom there is no effort +at coercion, and in this case there shall be none. If you choose to +quit, you will do so without let or hindrance from me; but if you quit, +others will take your places without let or hindrance from you. You will +be paid in full to-night. When you leave, you must take your tools with +you, that there may be no excuse for coming back. When you leave the +place, the incident will be closed so far as you and I are concerned, +and it will not be opened unless I find some of you trying to interfere +with the men I shall engage to take your places. I think you make a +serious mistake in following blind leaders who are doing you material +injury, for sentimental reasons; but you must decide this for +yourselves. If, after sober thought, any of you feel disposed to return, +you can get a job if there is a vacancy; but no man who works for me +during this strike will be displaced by a striker. You may put that in +your pipes and smoke it. Nelson will pay you off to-night." + +The strike was ordered for Wednesday. On the morning of that day the +seven carpenters whom I had engaged arrived at my office ready for work. +I took them to the station and started for Four Oaks. At a station five +miles from Exeter we quitted the train, hired two carriages, and were +driven to the farm without passing through the village. + +We arrived without incident, the men had their dinners, and at one +o'clock the hammers and saws were busy again. We had lost but one half +day. The two non-union men whom Nelson had spoken of were also at work, +and three days later the spokesman of the strikers threw up his card and +joined our force. We had no serious trouble. It was thought wise to keep +the new men on the place until the excitement had passed, and we had to +warn some of the old ones off two or three times, but nothing +disagreeable happened, and from that day to this Four Oaks has remained +non-unionized. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +PLANNING FOR THE TREES + + +The morning of September 17th a small frost fell,--just enough to curl +the leaves of the corn and show that it was time for it to be laid by. +Thompson, Johnson, Anderson, and the two men from the woods, who were +diverted from their post-splitting for the time being, went gayly to the +corn fields and attacked the standing grain in the old-fashioned way. +This was not economical; but I had no corn reaper, and there was none to +hire, for the frost had struck us all at the same time. The five men +were kept busy until the two patches--about forty-three acres--were in +shock. This brought us to the 24th. In the meantime the men and women +moved from the cottage to the more commodious farm-house. Polly had +found excuses for spending $100 more on the furnishings of this +house,--two beds and a lot of other things. Sunday gave the people a +chance to arrange their affairs; and they certainly appreciated their +improved surroundings. + +The cottage was moved to its place on the line, and the last of the +seeding on the north forty was done. Ten tons of fertilizer were sown on +this forty-acre tract (at a cost of $250), and it was then left to +itself, not to be trampled over by man or beast, except for the +stretching of fences or for work around some necessary buildings, until +the middle of the following May. + +We did not sow any wheat that year,--there was too much else to be done +of more importance. There is not much money in wheat-farming unless it +be done on a large scale, and I had no wish to raise more than I could +feed to advantage. Wheat was to be a change food for my fowls; but just +then I had no fowls to feed, and there were more than two hundred +bushels in stacks ready for the threshers, which I could hold for future +hens. + +The ploughmen were now directed to commence deep ploughing on No. +14,--the forty acres set apart for the commercial orchard. This tract of +land lay well for the purpose. Its surface was nearly smooth, with a +descent to the west and southwest that gave natural drainage. I have +been informed that an orchard would do better if the slope were to the +northeast. That may be true, but mine has done well enough thus far, +and, what is more to the point, I had no land with a northeast slope. +The surface soil was thin and somewhat impoverished, but the subsoil was +a friable clay in which almost anything would grow if it was properly +worked and fed. It was my desire to make this square block of forty +acres into a first-class apple orchard for profit. Seven years from +planting is almost too soon to decide how well I have succeeded, but the +results attained and the promises for the future lead me to believe that +there will be no failure in my plan. + +The three essentials for beginning such an orchard are: prepare the land +properly, get good stock (healthy and true to name), and plant it well. +I could do no more this year than to plough deep, smooth the surface, +and plant as well as I knew how. Increased fertility must come from +future cultivation and top dressing. The thing most prominent in my plan +was to get good trees well placed in the ground before cold weather set +in. At my time of life I could not afford to wait for another autumn, or +even until spring. I had, and still have, the opinion that a +fall-planted tree is nearly six months in advance of one planted the +following spring. Of course there can be no above-ground growth during +that time, but important things are being done below the surface. The +roots find time to heal their wounds and to send out small searchers +after food, which will be ready for energetic work as soon as the sun +begins to warm the soil. The earth settles comfortably about these roots +and is moulded to fit them by the autumn rains. If the stem is well +braced by a mound of earth, and if a thick mulch is placed around it, +much will be done below ground before deep frosts interrupt the work; +and if, in the early spring, the mulch and mound are drawn back, the +sun's influence will set the roots at work earlier by far than a spring +tree could be planted. + +Other reasons for fall planting are that the weather is more settled, +the ground is more manageable, help is more easily secured, and the +nurserymen have more time for filling your order. Any time from October +15 until December 10 will answer in our climate, but early November is +the best. I had decided to plant the trees in this orchard twenty-five +feet apart each way. In the forty acres there would be fifty-two rows, +with fifty-two trees in each row,--or twenty-seven hundred in all. I +also decided to have but four varieties of apples in this orchard, and +it was important that they should possess a number of virtues. They must +come into early bearing, for I was too old to wait patiently for +slow-growing trees; they must be of kinds most dependable for yearly +crops, for I had no respect for off years; and they must be good enough +in color, shape, and quality to tempt the most fastidious market. I +studied catalogues and talked with pomologists until my mind was nearly +unsettled, and finally decided upon Jonathan, Wealthy, Rome Beauty, and +Northwestern Greening,--all winter apples, and all red but the last. I +was helped in my decision, so far as the Jonathans and Rome Beauties +were concerned, by the discovery that more than half of the old orchard +was composed of these varieties. + +There is little question as to the wisdom of planting trees of kinds +known to have done well in your neighborhood. They are just as likely to +do well by you as by your neighbor. If the fruit be to your liking, you +can safely plant, for it is no longer an experiment; some one else has +broken that ground for you. + +In casting about for a reliable nurseryman to whom to trust the very +important business of supplying me with young trees, I could not long +keep my attention diverted from Rochester, New York. Perhaps the reason +was that as a child I had frequently ridden over the plank road from +Henrietta to Rochester, and my memory recalled distinctly but three +objects on that road,--the house of Frederick Douglass, Mount Hope +Cemetery, and a nursery of young trees. Everything else was obscure. I +fancy that in fifty years the Douglass house has disappeared, but Mount +Hope Cemetery and the tree nursery seem to mock at time. The soil and +climate near Rochester are especially favorable to the growing of young +trees, and my order went to one of the many reliable firms engaged in +this business. The order was for thirty-four hundred +trees,--twenty-seven hundred for the forty-acre orchard and seven +hundred for the ten acres farthest to the south on the home lot. Polly +had consented to this invasion of her domain, for reasons. She said:-- + +"It is a long way off, rather flat and uninteresting, and I do not see +exactly how to treat it. Apple trees are pretty at most times, and +picturesque when old. You can put them there, if you will seed the +ground and treat it as part of the lawn. I hate your old straight rows, +but I suppose you must have them." + +"Yes, I guess I shall have to have straight rows, but I will agree to +the lawn plan after the third year. You must give me a chance to +cultivate the land for three years." + +Your tree-man must be absolutely reliable. You have to trust him much +and long. Not only do you depend upon him to send you good and healthy +stock, but you must trust, for five years at least, that this stock will +prove true to name. The most discouraging thing which can befall a +horticulturist is to find his new fruit false to purchase labels. After +wait, worry, and work he finds that he has not what he expected, and +that he must begin over again. It is cold comfort for the tree-man to +make good his guarantee to replace all stock found untrue, for five +years of irreplaceable time has passed. When you have spent time, hope, +and expectation as well as money, looking for results which do not come, +your disappointment is out of all proportion to your financial loss, be +that never so great. In the best-managed nurseries there will be +mistakes, but the better the management the fewer the mistakes. Pay good +prices for young trees, and demand the best. There is no economy in +cheap stock, and the sooner the farmer or fruit-grower comprehends this +fact, the better it will be for him. I ordered trees of three years' +growth from the bud,--this would mean four-year-old roots. Perhaps it +would have been as well to buy smaller ones (many wise people have told +me so), but I was in such a hurry! I wanted to pick apples from these +trees at the first possible moment. I argued that a sturdy +three-year-old would have an advantage over its neighbor that was only +two. However small this advantage, I wanted it in my business--my +business being to make a profitable farm in quick time. The ten acres of +the home lot were to be planted with three hundred Yellow Transparent, +three hundred Duchess of Oldenburg, and one hundred mixed varieties for +home use. I selected the Transparent and the Duchess on account of their +disposition to bear early, and because they are good sellers in a near +market, and because a fruit-wise friend was making money from an +eight-year-old orchard of three thousand of these trees, and advised me +not to neglect them. + +My order called for thirty-four hundred three-year-old apple trees of +the highest grade, to be delivered in good condition on the platform at +Exeter for the lump sum of $550. The agreement had been made in August, +and the trees were to be delivered as near the 20th of October as +practicable. Apple trees comprised my entire planting for the autumn of +1895. I wanted to do much other work in that line, but it had to be left +for a more convenient season. Hundreds of fruit trees, shade trees, and +shrubs have since been planted at Four Oaks, but this first setting of +thirty-four hundred apple trees was the most important as well as the +most urgent. + +The orchard was to be a prominent feature in the factory I was building, +and as it would be slower in coming to perfection than any other part, +it was wise to start it betimes. I have kicked myself black and blue for +neglecting to plant an orchard ten years earlier. If I had done this, +and had spent two hours a month in the management of it, it would now be +a thing of beauty and an income-producing joy forever,--or, at least, as +long as my great-grandchildren will need it. + +There is no danger of overdoing orcharding. The demand for fruit +increases faster than the supply, and it is only poor quality or bad +handling that causes a slack market. If the general farmer will become +an expert orchardist, he will find that year by year his ten acres of +fruit will give him a larger profit than any forty acres of grain land; +but to get this result he must be faithful to his trees. Much of the +time they are caring for themselves, and for the owner, too; but there +are times when they require sharp attention, and if they do not get it +promptly and in the right way, they and the owner will suffer. Fruit +growing as a sole occupation requires favorable soil, climate, and +market, and also a considerable degree of aptitude on the part of the +manager, to make it highly profitable. A fruit-grower in our climate +must have other interests if he would make the most of his time. While +waiting for his fruit he can raise food for hens and hogs; and if he +feeds hens and hogs, he should keep as many cows as he can. He will then +use in his own factory all the raw material he can raise. This will +again be returned to the land as a by-product, which will not only +maintain the fertility of the farm, but even increase it. If his cows +are of the best, they will yield butter enough to pay for their food and +to give a profit; the skim milk, fed to the hogs and hens, will give +eggs and pork out of all proportion to its cost; and everything that +grows upon his land can thus be turned off as a finished product for a +liberal price, and yet the land will not be depleted. The orchard is +better for the hens and hogs and cows, and they are better for the +orchard. These industries fit into each other like the folding of hands; +they seem mutually dependent, and yet they are often divorced, or, at +best, only loosely related. This view may seem to be the result of _post +hoc_ reasoning, but I think it is not. I believe I imbibed these notions +with my mother's milk, for I can remember no time when they were not +mine. The psalmist said, "Comfort me with apples"; and the psalmist was +reputed a wise man. With only sufficient wisdom to plant an orchard, I +live in high expectation of finding the same comfort in my old age. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +PLANTING OF THE TREES + + +September proved as dry as August was wet,--only half an inch of water +fell; and the seedings would have been slow to start had they depended +for their moisture upon the clouds. By October 1, however, green had +taken the place of brown on nearly all the sixty acres we had tilled. +The threshers came and threshed the wheat and oats. Of wheat there were +311 bushels, of oats, 1272. We stored this grain in the cottage until +the granary should be ready, and stacked the straw until the forage barn +could receive it. My plan from the first has been to shelter all forage, +even the meanest, and bright oat straw is not low in the scale. + +On the 10th the horse stable was far enough advanced to permit the +horses to be moved, and the old barn was deserted. A neighbor who had +bought this barn at once pulled it down and carted it away. In this +transaction I held out several days for $50, but as my neighbor was +obdurate I finally accepted his offer. The first entry on the credit +side of my farm ledger is, By one old barn, $45. The receipts for +October, November, and December, were:-- + +By one old barn $45.00 + +By apples on trees (153 trees at $1.85 each) 283.00 + +By 480 bushels of potatoes at 30 cents per bushel 144.00 + +By five old sows, not fat 35.00 + +One cow 15.00 + +Three cows 70.00 + +Two cows 35.00 + +Three cows, two heifers, nine calves 187.00 + +Forty-three shoats and gilts, average 162 lb., at 2 cents +per lb 139.00 + +Total $953.00 + +The young hogs had eaten most of my small potatoes and some of my corn +before we parted with them in late November. These sales were made at +the farm, and at low prices, for I was afraid to send such stuff to +market lest some one should find out whence it came. The Four Oaks brand +was to stand for perfection in the future, and I was not willing to +handicap it in the least. Top prices for gilt-edged produce is what +intensive farming means; and if there is money in land, it will be found +close to this line. + +The potatoes had been dug and sold, or stored in the cellar of the +farm-house; the apples from the trees reserved for home use had been +gathered, and we were ready for the fall planting. While waiting for the +stock to arrive, we had time to get in all the hay and most of the straw +into the forage barn, which was now under roof. + +On Saturday, the 26th, word came that sixteen immense boxes had arrived +at Exeter for us. Three teams were sent at once, and each team brought +home two boxes. Three trips were made, and the entire prospective +orchard was safely landed. Monday saw our whole force at work planting +trees. Small stakes had been driven to give the exact centre for each +hole, so that the trees, viewed from any direction, would be in straight +lines. Sam, Zeb, and Judson were to dig the holes, putting the surface +dirt to the right, and the poor earth to the left; I was to prune the +roots and keep tab on the labels; Johnson and Anderson were to set the +trees,--Anderson using a shovel and Johnson his hands, feet, and eyes; +while Thompson was to puddle and distribute the trees. The puddling was +easily done. We sawed an oil barrel in halves, placed these halves on a +stone boat, filled them two-thirds full of water, and added a lot of +fine clay. Into this thin mud the roots of each tree were dipped before +planting. + +My duty was to shorten the roots that were too long, and to cut away the +bruised and broken ones. The top pruning was to be done after the trees +were all set and banked. The stock was fine in every respect,--fully up +to promise. Watching Johnson set his first tree convinced me that he +knew more about planting than I did. He lined and levelled it; he pawed +surface dirt into the hole, and churned the roots up and down; more +dirt, and he tamped it; still more dirt, and he tramped it; yet more +dirt, and he stamped it until the tree stood like a post; then loose +dirt, and he left it. I was sure Johnson knew his business too well to +need advice from a tenderfoot, so I went back to my root pruning. + +We were ten days planting these thirty-four hundred trees, but we did it +well, and the days were short. We finished on the 7th of November. The +trees were now to be top pruned. I told Johnson to cut every tree in the +big orchard back to a three-foot stub, unless there was very good reason +for leaving a few inches (never more than six), and I turned my back on +him and walked away as I said these cruel words. It seemed a shame to +cut these bushy, long-legged, handsome fellows back to dwarfish +insignificance and brutish ugliness, but it had to be done. I wanted +stocky, thrifty, low-headed business trees, and there was no other way +to get them. The trees in the lower, or ten-acre, orchard, were not +treated so severely. Their long legs were left, and their bushy tops +were only moderately curtailed. We would try both high and low heading. + +On the night of November 11 the shredders came and set up their great +machine on the floor of the forage barn, ready to commence work the next +morning. There were ten men in the shredding gang. I furnished six more, +and Bill Jackson came with two others to change work with me; that is, +my men were to help him when the machine reached his farm. We worked +nineteen men and four teams three and a half days on the forty-three +acres of corn, and as a result, had a tremendous mow of shredded corn +fodder and an immense pile of half-husked ears. For the use of the +machine and the wages of the ten men I paid $105. Poor economy! Before +next corn-shredding time I owned a machine,--smaller indeed, but it did +the work as well (though not as quickly), and it cost me only $215, and +was good for ten years. + +The weather had favored me thus far. The wet August had put the ground +into good condition for seeding, and the dry September and October had +permitted our buildings to be pushed forward, but now everything was to +change. A light rain began on the morning of the 15th (I did not permit +it to interrupt the shredding, which was finished by noon), and by night +it had developed into a steady downpour that continued, with +interruptions, for six weeks. November and December of 1895 gave us rain +and snow fall equal to twelve and a half inches of water. Plans at Four +Oaks had to be modified. There was no more use for the ploughs. Nos. 10 +and 11, and much of the home lot were left until spring. I had planned +to mulch heavily all the newly set trees, and for this purpose had +bought six carloads of manure (at a cost of $72); but this manure could +not be hauled across the sodden fields, and must needs be piled in a +great heap for use in the spring. The carpenters worked at disadvantage, +and the farm men could do little more than keep themselves and the +animals comfortable. They did, however, finish one good job between +showers. They tile-drained the routes for the two roads on the home +lot,--the straight one east and west through the building line, about +1000 feet, and the winding carriage drive to the site of the main house, +about 1850 feet. The tile pipe cost $123. They also set a lot of fence +posts in the soft ground. + +Building progressed slowly during the bad weather, but before the end of +December the horse barn, the woodshed, the granary, the forage barn, and +the power-house were completed, and most of the machinery was in place. +The machinery consisted of a fifteen horse-power engine, with shafting +running to the forage barn, the granary, and the woodshed. A power-saw +was set in the end of the shed, a grinding mill in the granary, and a +fodder-cutter in the forage barn. The cost of these items was:-- + +Engine and shafting $187.00 + +Saw 24.00 + +Mill 32.00 + +Feed-cutter and carrier 76.00 + +Total $319.00 + +I gave the services of my two carpenters, Thompson and Sam, during most +of this time to Nelson, for I had but little work for them, and he was +not making much out of his job. + +The last few days of 1895 turned clear and cold, and the barometer set +"fair." The change chirked us up, and we ended the year in good spirits. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +POLLY'S JUDGMENT HALL + + +Before closing the books, we should take account of stock, to see what +we had purchased with our money. Imprimis: 320 acres of good land, +satisfactory to the eye, well fenced and well groomed; 3400 apple trees, +so well planted as to warrant a profitable future; a water and sewer +system as good as a city could supply; farm buildings well planned and +sufficient for the day; an abundance of food for all stock, and to +spare; an intelligent and willing working force; machinery for more than +present necessity; eight excellent horses and their belongings; six +cows, moderately good; two pigs and two score fowls, to be eaten before +spring, and _a lot of fun_. What price I shall have to put against this +last item to make the account balance, I can tell better when I foot the +other side of the ledger. + +But first I must add a few items to the debit account. Moving the +cottage cost $30. I paid $134 for grass seed and seed rye. The wage +account for six men and two women for five months was $735. Their food +account was $277. Of course the farm furnished milk, cream, butter, +vegetables, some fruit, fresh pork, poultry, and eggs. There were also +some small freight bills, which had not been accounted for, amounting to +$31, and $8 had been spent in transportation for the men. Then the farm +must be charged with interest on all money advanced, when I had +completed my additions. The rate was to be five per cent, and the time +three months. + +On the last day of the year I went to the farm to pay up to date all +accounts. I wished to end the year with a clean score. I did not know +what the five months had cost me (I would know that evening), but I did +know that I had had "the time of my life" in the spending, and I would +not whine. I felt a little nervous when I thought of going over the +figures with Polly,--she was such a judicious spender of money. But I +knew her criticism would not be severe, for she was hand-in-glove with +me in the project. I tried to find fault with myself for wastefulness, +but some excellent excuse would always crop up. "Your water tower is +unnecessary." "Yes, but it adds to the landscape, and it has its use." +"You have put up too much fencing." "True, but I wanted to feel secure, +and the old fences were such nests of weeds and rubbish." "You have +spent too much money on the farm-house." "I think not, for the laborer +is worthy of his hire, and also of all reasonable creature comforts." +And thus it went on. I would not acknowledge myself in the wrong; nor, +arguing how I might, could I find aught but good in my labors. I +devoutly hoped to be able to put the matter in the same light when I +stood at the bar in Polly's judgment hall. + +The day was clear, cool, and stimulating. A fair fall of snow lay on the +ground, clean and wholesome, as country snow always is. I wished that +the house was finished (it was not begun), and that the family was with +me in it. "Another Christmas time will find us here, God willing, and +many a one thereafter." + +I spent three hours at the farm, doing a little business and a lot of +mooning, and then returned to town. The children were off directly after +dinner, intent on holiday festivities, so that Polly and I had the house +to ourselves. I felt that we needed it. I invited my partner into the +den, lighted a pipe for consolation, unlocked the drawer in which the +farm ledger is kept, gave a small deprecatory cough, and said:-- + +"My dear, I am afraid I have spent an awful lot of money in the last +five months. You see there is such a quantity of things to do at once, +and they run into no end of money. You know, I--" + +"Of course I know it, and I know that you have got the worth of it, +too." + +Wouldn't that console you! How was I to know that Polly would hail from +that quarter? I would have kissed her hand, if she would have permitted +such liberty; I kissed her lips, and was ready to defend any sum total +which the ledger dare show. + +"Do you know how much it is?" said Polly. + +"Not within a million!" I was reckless then, and hoped the total would +be great, for had not Polly said that she knew I had got the worth of my +money? And who was to gainsay her? "It is more than I planned for, I +know, but I do not see how I could use less without losing precious +time. We started into this thing with the theory that the more we put +into it, without waste, the more we would ultimately get out of it. Our +theory is just as sound to-day as it was five months ago." + +"We will win out all right in the end, Mr. Headman, for we will not put +the price-mark on health, freedom, happiness, or fun, until we have seen +the debit side of the ledger." + +"How much do you want to spend for the house?" said I. + +"Do you mean the house alone?" + +"No; the house and carriage barn. I'll pay for the trees, shrubs, and +kickshaws in the gardens and lawns." + +"You started out with a plan for a $10,000 house, didn't you? Well, I +don't think that's enough. You ought to give me $15,000 for the house +and barn and let me see what I can do with it; and you ought to give it +to me right away, so that you cannot spend it for pigs and foolish farm +things." + +"I'll do it within ten days, Polly; and I won't meddle in your affairs +if you will agree to keep within the limit." + +"It's a bargain," said Polly, "and the house will be much more livable +than this one. What do you think we could sell this one for?" + +"About $33,000 or $34,000, I think." + +"And will you sell it?" + +"Of course, if you don't object." + +"Sell, to be sure; it would be foolish to keep it, for we'll be country +folk in a year." + +"I have a theory," said I, "that when we live on the farm we ought to +credit the farm with what it costs us for food and shelter +here,--providing, of course, that the farm feeds and shelters us as +well." + +"It will do it a great deal better. We will have a better house, better +food, more company, more leisure, more life, and more everything that +counts, than we ever had before." + +"We'll fix the value of those things when we've had experience," said I. +"Now let's get at the figures. I tell you plainly that I don't know what +they foot up,--less than $40,000, I hope." + +"Don't let's worry about them, no matter what they say." + +This from prudent, provident Polly! + +"Certainly not," said I, as bold as a lion. + +"There are thirty-five items on the debit side of the ledger and a few +little ones on the credit side. Hold your breath while I add them. + +"I have spent $44,331 and have received $953, which leaves a debit +balance of $43,378." + +"That isn't so awfully bad, when you think of all the fun you've had." + +"Fun comes high at this time of the year, doesn't it, Polly?" + +"Much depends on what you call high. You have waited and worked a long +time for this. I won't say a word if you spend all you have in the +world. It's yours." + +"Mine and yours and the children's; but I won't spend it all. Seventy or +seventy-five thousand dollars, besides your house and barn money, shall +be my limit. There is still an item of interest to be added to this +account. + +"Interest! Why, John Williams, do you mean to tell me that you borrowed +this money? I thought it was your own to do as you liked with. Have you +got to pay interest on it?" + +"It was mine, but I loaned it to the farm. Before I made this loan I was +getting five per cent on the money. I must now look to the farm for my +five per cent. If it cannot pay this interest promptly, I shall add the +deferred payment to the principal, and it shall bear interest. This must +be done each year until the net income from the farm is greater than the +interest account. Whatever is over will then be used to reduce the +principal." + +"That's a long speech, but I don't think it's very clear. I don't see +why a man should pay interest on his own money. The farm is yours, isn't +it? You bought it with your own money, didn't you? What difference does +it make whether you charge interest or not?" + +"Not the least difference in the world to us, Polly, but a great deal to +the experiment." + +"Oh, yes, I forgot the experiment. And how much interest do you add?" + +"Five hundred and forty-two dollars. Also, $75 to the lawyer and $5 for +recording the deed, making the whole debt of the farm to me $44,000 +even." + +"Does it come out just even $44,000? I believe you've manipulated the +figures." + +"Not on your life! Add them yourself. They were put down at all sorts of +times during the past five months. My dear, I wish you a good-night and +a happy New Year. You have given me a very happy ending for the old +one." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +WINTER WORK + + +The new year opened full of all sorts of interests and new projects. +There were so many things to plan for and to commence at the farm that +we often got a good deal mixed up. I can hardly expect to make a +connected narrative of the various plans and events, so will follow each +one far enough to launch it and then leave it for future development. + +Little snow fell in January and February '96. The weather was average +winter weather, and a good deal of outdoor work was done. On the 2d I +went to the farm to plan with Thompson an outline for the two months. I +had decided to make Thompson the foreman, for I had watched him +carefully for five months and was satisfied that I might go farther and +fare a great deal worse. Indeed, I thought myself very fortunate to have +found such a dependable man. He was temperate and good-natured, and he +had a bluff, hearty way with the other men that made it easy for them to +accept his directions. He was thorough, too, in his work. He knew how a +job should be done, and he was not satisfied until it was finished +correctly. He was not a worker for work's sake, as was Anderson, but he +was willing to put his shoulder to the wheel for results. + +"Wait till I get my shoulder under it," was a favorite expression with +him, and I am frank to say that when this conjunction took place there +was apt to be something doing. Thompson is still at Four Oaks, and it +will be a bad day for the farm when he leaves. + +"Thompson," said I, "you are to be working foreman out here, and I want +you to put your mind on the business and keep it there. I cannot raise +your wages, for I have a system; but you shall have $50 as a Christmas +present if things go well. Will you stay on these terms?" + +"I will stay, all right, Dr. Williams, and I will give the best I've +got. I like the looks of this place, and I want to see how you are going +to work it out." + +That being settled, I told Thompson of some things that must be done +during January and February. + +"You must get out a great lot of wood, have it sawed, and store it in +the shed, more than enough for a year's use. The wood should be taken +from that which is already down. Don't cut any standing trees, even +though they are dead. Use all limbs that are large enough, but pile the +brushwood where it can be burned. We must do wise forestry in these +woods, and we will have an unlimited supply of fuel. I mean that the +wood lot shall grow better rather than worse as the years go by. We +cannot do much for it now, but more in time. You must see to it that the +men are not careless about young trees,--no breaking or knocking down +will be in order. Another thing to look after is the ice supply. I will +get Nelson to build an ice-house directly, and you must look around for +the ice. Have you any idea as to where it can be had?" + +"A big company is getting ice on Round Lake three miles west, and I +suppose they will sell you what you want," said Thompson, "and our teams +can haul it all right." + +"What do you suppose they will charge per ton on their platform?" + +"From twenty-five to forty cents, I reckon." + +"All right, make as good a bargain as you can, and attend to it at the +best time. When the teams are not hauling ice or wood, let them draw +gravel from French's pit. It will be hard to get it out in the winter, +but I guess it can be done, and we will need a lot of it on these roads. +Have it dumped at convenient places, and we will put it on the drives in +the spring. + +"Another thing,--we must have a bridge across the brook on each lane. +You will find timbers and planks enough in the piles from the old barns +to make good bridges, and the men can do the work. Then there is all +that wire for the inside fences to stretch and staple; but mind, no +barbed wire is to be put on top of inside fences. + +"These five jobs will keep you busy for the next two months, for +there'll be only four men besides yourself to do them. I am going to set +Sam at the chicken plant. I'll see you before long, and we'll go over +the cow and hog plans; but you have your work cut out for the next two +months. By the way, how much of an ice-house shall I need?" + +"How many cows are you going to milk?" + +"About forty when we run at full speed; perhaps half that number this +year." + +"Well, then you'd better build a house for four hundred tons. That won't +be too big when you are on full time, and it's a mighty bad thing to run +short of ice." + +I saw Nelson the same day and contracted with him for an ice-house +capable of holding four hundred tons, for $900. The walls of the house +to be of three thicknesses of lumber with two air spaces (one four +inches, the other two) without filling. As a result of the conference +with Thompson, I had, before the first of March, a wood-house full of +wood, which seemed a supply for two years at full steam; an ice-house +nearly full of ice; two serviceable bridges across the brook; the wire +fencing almost completed; and eighty loads of gravel,--about one-third +of what I needed. The whole cash outlay was,-- + +300 tons of ice at 30 cents per ton $90.00 +80 tons of gravel at 25 cents per load 20.00 +Fence staples 19.00 + ------ + Total $129.00 + +The conference with Sam Jones, the hen man, was deferred until my next +visit, and my plans for the cow barn, dairy-house, and hog-house were +left to Nelson for consideration, he promising to give me estimates +within a few days. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +WHAT SHALL WE ASK OF THE HEN? + + +Sam Jones, the chicken-loving man, was as pleased as a boy with a new +top when I began to talk of a hen plant. He had a lot of practical +knowledge of the business, for he had _failed_ in it twice; and I could +furnish any amount of theory, and enough money to prevent disaster. + +In his previous attempts he had invested nearly all his small capital in +a plant that might yield two hundred eggs a day; he had to buy all foods +in small quantities, and therefore at high prices; and he had to give +his whole time to a business which was too small and too much on the +hand-to-mouth order to give him a living profit. My theory of the +business was entirely different. I could plan for results, and, what was +more to the point, I could wait for them. Mistakes, accidents, even +disasters, were disarmed by a bank account; my bread and butter did not +depend upon the temper of a whimsical hen. The food would cost the +minimum. All grains and green food, and most of the animal food, in the +form of skim milk, would be furnished by the farm. I meant also to +develop a plant large enough to warrant the full attention of an +able-bodied man. I felt no hesitation about this venture, for I did not +intend to ask more of my hens than a well-disposed hen ought to be +willing to grant. + +I do not ask a hen to lay a double-yolk every day in the year. That is +too much to expect of a creature in whom the mother instinct is +prominent, and who wishes also to have a new dress for herself at least +once in that time. I do not wish a hen to work overtime for me. If she +will furnish me with eight dozen of her finished product per annum, I +will do the rest. Whatever she does more than that shall redound to her +credit. Two-hundred-eggs-a-year hens are scarcer than hens with teeth, +and I was not looking for the unusual. A hen can easily lay one hundred +eggs in three hundred and sixty-five days, and yet find time for +domestic and social affairs. She can feel that she is not a subject for +charity, while at the same time she retains her self-respect as a hen of +leisure. + +I have the highest regard for this domestic fowl, and I would not for a +great deal impose a too arduous task upon her. I feel like encouraging +her in her peculiar industry, for which she is so eminently fitted, but +not like forcing her into strenuous efforts that would rob her of +vivacity and dull her social and domestic impulses. No; if the hen will +politely present me with one hundred eggs a year, I will thank her and +ask no more. Some one will say: "How can you make hens pay if they don't +lay more than eight dozen eggs a year? Eggs sometimes sell as low as +twelve cents per dozen." + +Four Oaks hens never have laid one-cent eggs, and never will. They would +quit work if such a price were suggested. Ninety per cent of the eggs +from Four Oaks have sold for thirty cents or more per dozen, and the +demand is greater than the supply. The Four Oaks certificate that the +egg is not thirty-six hours old when it reaches the egg cup, makes two +and a half cents look small to those who can afford to pay for the best. +To lack confidence in the egg is a serious matter at the breakfast +table, and a person who can insure perfect trust will not lack +patronage. If, therefore, a hen will lay eight dozen eggs, she is +welcome to say to an acquaintance: "I have just handed the Headman a +two-dollar bill," for she knows that I have not paid fifty cents for her +food. + +Of course the wages of the hen man and his food and the interest on the +plant must be counted, but I do not propose to count them twice. Four +Oaks is a factory where several things are made, each in a measure +dependent on, and useful to, the others, and we cannot itemize costs of +single products because of this mutual dependence. I feel certain that I +could not drop one of the factory's industries without loss to each of +the others. For this reason I kept a very simple set of books. I charged +the farm with all money spent for it, and credited it with all moneys +received. Even now I have no very definite knowledge of what it costs +to keep a hen, a hog, or a cow; nor do I care. Such data are greatly +influenced by location, method of getting supplies, and market +fluctuations. I furnish most of my food, and my own market. My crops +have never entirely failed, and I take little heed whether they be large +or small. They are not for sale as crops, but as finished products. I am +not willing to sell them at any price, for I want them consumed on the +place for the sake of the land. + +Corn has sold for eighty cents a bushel since I began this experiment, +yet at that time I fed as much as ever and was not tempted to sell a +bushel, though I could easily have spared five thousand. When it went +down to twenty-eight cents, I did not care, for corn and oats to me are +simply in transition state,--not commodities to be bought or sold. They +cost me, one year with another, about the same. An abundant harvest +fills my granaries to overflowing; a bad harvest doesn't deplete them, +for I do not sell my surplus for fear that I, too, may have to buy out +of a high market. I have bought corn and oats a few times, but only when +the price was decidedly below my idea of the feeding value of these +grains. I can find more than twenty-eight cents in a bushel of corn, and +more than eighteen cents in thirty-two pounds of oats. But I am away off +my subject. I began to talk about the hen plant, and have wandered to my +favorite fad,--the factory farm. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +WHITE WYANDOTTES + + +"Sam," said I, "I am going to start this poultry plant from just as near +the beginning of things as possible. I want you to dispose of every hen +on the place within the next twenty days, and to burn everything that +has been used in connection with them. We've cleared this land of +disease germs, if there were germs in it, by turning it bottom-side up; +now let's start free from the pestiferous vermin that make a hen's life +unhappy. No stock, either old or young, shall be brought here. When we +want to change our breeding, we'll buy eggs from the best fanciers and +hatch them in our own incubators. It will then be our own fault if we +don't keep our chickens comfortable and free from their enemies. This is +sound theory, and we'll try how it works out in practice. Certainly it +will be easier to keep clean if we start clean. Not one board or piece +of lumber that has been used for any other purpose shall find place in +my hen-houses. Eternal vigilance makes a full egg basket; and a full egg +basket means a lot of money at the year's end. I will never find fault +with you for being too careful Attend to the details in such way as +suits you best, provided the result is thorough and everlasting +cleanliness. Nothing less will win out, and nothing less will meet the +requirements of our factory rules. + +"The first thing to do is to get the incubating cellar made. It ought to +be four feet in the ground and four feet out of it. Make it ten feet by +fifteen, inside measure, and you can easily run five two-hundred-egg +incubators. Build it near the south fence in No. 4,--that's the lot for +the hens. The walls are to be of brick, and we'll have a brick floor put +in, for it's too cold to concrete it now. Gables are to point east and +west, and each is to have a window; put the door in the middle of the +south wall, and shingle the roof. Digging through three feet of frost +will be hard, but it must be done, and done quickly. I want you to start +your incubator lamps before the 3d of February." + +"I can dig the hole without much trouble,--big fire on the ground for +two or three hours will help,--and I can put on the roof and do all the +carpenter work, but I can't lay the brick." + +"I'll look out for that part of the job, but I want you to see that +things are pushed, for I shall have a thousand eggs here by February 1st +and another thousand by the 25th, and these eggs mean money." + +"What do you have to pay for them?" + +"Ten cents apiece,--$200 for two thousand eggs." + +"Well, I should say! Are they hand-painted? I wouldn't have had to quit +business if I could have sold my eggs at a quarter of that price." + +"That's all right, Sam, but you didn't sell White Wyandotte eggs for +hatching. I've contracted with two of the best-known fanciers of +Wyandottes in the country to send me five hundred eggs apiece February +1st and 25th. I don't think the price is high for the stock." + +"Have you decided to keep 'dottes? I hoped you would try Leghorns; +they're great layers." + +"Yes, they're great summer layers, but the American birds will beat them +hollow in winter; and I must have as steady a supply of eggs as +possible. My customers don't stop eating eggs in winter, and they'll be +willing to pay more for them at that season. The Leghorn is too small to +make a good broiler, and as half the chicks come cockerels, we must look +out for that." + +"Why do you throw down the Plymouth Rocks? They're bigger than 'dottes, +and just as good layers." + +"I threw down the barred Plymouth Rocks on account of color; I like +white hens best. It was hard to decide between White Rocks and +Wyandottes, for there's mighty little difference between them as +all-around hens. I really think I chose the 'dottes because the first +reply to my letters was from a man who was breeding them." + +"They are 'beauts,' all of them, and I'll give them a good chance to +spread themselves," said Sam. + +"What percentage of hatch may we expect from purchased eggs?" + +"About sixty chicks out of every hundred eggs, I reckon." + +"That would be doing pretty well, wouldn't it? If we had good luck with +the sixty chicks, how many would grow up?" + +"Fifty ought to." + +"Of these fifty, can we count on twenty-five pullets?" + +"Yes." + +"That's what I was getting at. You think we might, by good luck, raise +twenty-five pullets from each hundred eggs. I'll cut that in the middle +and be satisfied with twelve, or even with ten. At that rate the two +thousand eggs that cost $200 will give me two hundred pullets to begin +the egg-making next November. That's not enough; we ought to raise just +twice that number. I'll spend as much more on eggs to be hatched by the +middle of April or the first of May, and then we can reasonably expect +to go into next winter with four hundred pullets. They will cost the +farm a dollar apiece, but the farm will have four hundred cockerels to +sell at fifty cents each, which will materially reduce the cost." + +"I think you put that pretty low, sir; we ought to raise more than four +hundred pullets out of four thousand eggs." + +"Everything more will be clear gain. I shall be satisfied with four +hundred. We must also get at the brooder house. This is the order in +which I want the buildings to stand in the chicken lot: first, the +incubating house, 10 feet from the south line; 40 feet north of this, +the brooder house; and 120 feet north of that, the first hen-house, with +runs 100 feet deep. We'll build other houses for the birds as we need +them. They are all to face to the south. If the brooder house is 50 feet +long and 15 feet wide, it can easily care for the eight hundred chicks, +and for half as many more, if we are lucky enough to get them. + +"We'll have a five-foot walk against the north wall of this house, and a +ten-foot space north and south through the centre for heating plant and +food. This will leave a space at each side ten by twenty feet, to be cut +into five pens four feet by ten, each of which will mother a hundred +chicks or more. There must be plenty of glass in the south wall, and +we'll use overhead water pipes in each hover. + +"There's no hurry about the poultry-houses. You can build one in the +early summer, and perhaps another in the fall. I expect you to do the +carpenter work on these houses. I'll see the mason at once and have him +ready by the time you've dug the hole. The incubators will be here in +good time, and we want everything ready for work as soon as the eggs +arrive." + +Sam was pleased with his job; it was exactly to his liking. He took real +delight in caring for fowls, and he was especially anxious to prove to +me that it was not so much lack of knowledge as lack of capital that had +caused the downfall of his previous efforts. Sam could not then +understand why one man could sell his eggs at thirty-six cents a dozen +when his neighbor could get only sixteen; he found out later. + +The mason's work for the incubator house and the foundation wall for the +brooder house cost $290. The lumber bill for these two, including doors +and windows, was $464. The five incubators, $65, and the hot-water +heater for the brooder house, $68, made the total $897. Add to this $400 +paid during two months for eggs, and we have $1297 as the cost of +starting the poultry plant. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +FRIED PORK + + +I had given Nelson this sketch as a guide in working out the plan for +the cow barn: Length over all, 130 feet; width, 40 feet. This +parallelogram was to be divided lengthwise into three equal spaces, one +in the centre for a driveway, and one on each side for the cow platforms +and feeding mangers. Twenty feet at the west end of the barn was +partitioned off, one corner for a small granary, the other for a kitchen +in which the food was to be prepared. These rooms were each thirteen +feet by twenty. At the other end of the building, ten feet on each side +was given over to hospital purposes,--a lying-in ward ten feet by +thirteen being on each side of the driveway. + +The foundation for this building was to be of stone, and the entire +floor of cement; and the walls were to be sealed within and sheeted +without, and then covered with ship lap boards, making three thicknesses +of boards. It was to be one story high. An east-and-west passage, +cutting the main drive at right angles, divided the barn at its middle. +At the south end of this passage was a door leading to the dairy-house, +which was on the building line 150 feet away. The four spaces made by +these passages were each subdivided into ten stalls five feet wide. Two +doors on the north and two on the south gave exit for the cows. I had +placed my limit at forty milch cows, and I thought this stable would +furnish suitable quarters for that number. If I had to rebuild, I would +make some modifications. Experience is a good teacher; but the stable +has served its purpose, and I cannot quarrel with the results. The chief +defect is in the distribution of water. The supply is abundant, but it +is let on only in the kitchen, whence it is supplied to the cows by +means of a hose or a barrel swung between wheels. + +[Illustration] + +In the kitchen are appliances for mixing and cooking food, and for +warming the drinking water in winter. Nelson and I discussed the sketch +plan given below, and he found some fault with it. I would not be +dissuaded from my views, however, and Nelson had to yield. I was as +opinionated in those days as a theoretical amateur is apt to be; and it +was hard to give up my theories at the suggestion of a person who had +only experience to guide him. The best plan, as I have long since +learned, is to mix the two and use the solid substance that results from +their combination. + +We located the site of the building, and talked plans until the low sun +of January 8th disappeared in the west. Then we adjourned to the sitting +room of the farm-house to finish the matter so far as was possible. An +hour and a half passed, and we were in fair accord, when Mrs. Thompson +came into the room to say that supper was ready, and to ask us to join +the men at table before starting homeward. I was glad of the +opportunity, for I was curious to know if Mrs. Thompson set a good +table. We went into the dining room just as the farm family was ready to +sit down. There were ten of us,--two women, six men, Nelson, and myself; +and as we sat down, I noticed with pleasure that each had evidently +taken some thought of the obligations which a table ought to impose. The +table was clothed in clean white, and there was a napkin at each plate. +Nelson and I had the only perfectly fresh ones, and this I took as +evidence that napkins were usual. The food was all on the table, and was +very satisfactory to look at. Thompson sat at one end, and before him, +on a great platter, lay two dozen or more pieces of fried salt pork, +crisp in their shells of browned flour, and fit for a king. On one side +of the platter was a heaping dish of steaming potatoes. A knife had +been drawn once around each, just to give it a chance to expand and show +mealy white between the gaping circles that covered its bulk. At the +other side was a boat of milk gravy, which had followed the pork into +the frying-pan and had come forth fit company for the boiled potatoes. I +went back forty years at one jump, and said,-- + +"I now renew my youth. Is there anything better under the sun than fried +salt pork and milk gravy? If there is, don't tell me of it, for I have +worshipped at this shrine for forty years, and my faith must not be +shaken." + +Such a supper twice or thrice a week would warm the cockles of my old +heart; but Polly says, "No modern cook can make these things just right; +and if not just right, they are horrid." That is true; it takes an +artist or a mother to fry salt pork and make milk gravy. + +There were other things on the table,--quantities of bread and butter, +apple sauce (in a dish that would hold half a peck), stacks of fresh +ginger-bread, tea, and great pitchers of milk; but naught could distract +my attention from the _pièce de résistance_. Thrice I sent my plate +back, and then could do no more. That meal convinced me that I could +trust Mrs. Thompson. A woman who could fry salt pork as my mother did, +was a woman to be treasured. + +I left the farm-house at 7, and reached home by 8.45. Polly was not +quite pleased with my late hours; she said it did not worry her not to +know where I was, but it was annoying. + +"Can't you have a telephone put into the farm-house? It would be +convenient in a lot of ways." + +"Why, of course; I don't see why it can't be done at once. I'll make +application this very night." + +It was six weeks before we really got a wire to the farm, but after that +we wondered how we ever got along without it. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A RATION FOR PRODUCT + + +Nelson was to commence work on the cow-house at once; at least, the +mason was. I left the job as a whole to Nelson, and he made some sort of +contract with the mason. The agreement was that I should pay $4260 for +the barn complete. The machinery we put into it was very simple,--a +water heater and two cauldrons for cooking food. All three cost about +$60. + +Thompson had selected six cows, from those bought with the place, as +worth wintering. They were now giving from six to eight quarts each, and +were due to come in in April and May. An eight-quart-a-day cow was not +much to my liking, but Thompson said that with good care they would do +better in the spring. "Four of those cows ought to make fine milkers," +he said; "they are built for it,--long bodies, big bags, milk veins that +stand out like crooked welts, light shoulders, slender necks, and lean +heads. They are young, too; and if you'll dehorn them, I believe they'll +make your thoroughbreds hump themselves to keep up with them at the milk +pail. You see, these cows never had more than half a chance to show +what they could do. They have never been 'fed for milk.' Farmers don't +do that much. They think that if a cow doesn't bawl for food or drink +she has enough. I suppose she has enough to keep her from starving, and +perhaps enough to hold her in fair condition, but not enough to do this +and fill the milk pail, too. I read somewhere about a ration for +'maintenance' and one for 'product,' and there was a deal of difference. +Most farmers don't pay much attention to these things, and I guess +that's one reason why they don't get on faster." + +"You've got the whole matter down fine in that 'ration for product,' +Thompson, and that's what we want on this farm. A ration that will +simply keep a cow or a hen in good health leaves no margin for profit. +Cows and hens are machines, and we must treat them as such. Crowd in the +raw material, and you may look for large results in finished product. +The question ought always to be, How much can a cow eat and drink? not, +How little can she get on with? Grain and forage are to be turned into +milk, and the more of these foods our cows eat, the better we like it. +If these machines work imperfectly, we must get rid of them at once and +at any price. It will not pay to keep a cow that persistently falls +below a high standard. We waste time on her, and the smooth running of +the factory is interrupted. I'm going to place a standard on this farm +of nine thousand pounds a year for each matured cow; I don't think that +too high. If a cow falls much below that amount, she must give place to +a better one, for I'm not making this experiment entirely for my health. +The standard isn't too high, yet it's enough to give a fine profit. It +means at least three hundred and fifty pounds of butter a year, and in +this case the butter means at least thirty cents a pound, or more than +$100 a year for each cow. This is all profit, if one wishes to figure it +by itself, for the skimmed milk will more than pay for the food and +care. But why did you say dehorn the cows?" + +"Well, I notice that a man with a club is almost sure to find some use +for it. If he isn't pounding the fence or throwing it at a dog, he's +snipping daisies or knocking the heads off bull-thistles. He's always +doing something with it just because he has it in his hand. It's the +same way with a cow. If she has horns, she'll use them in some way, and +they take her mind off her business. No, sir; a cow will do a lot better +without horns. There's mighty little to distract her attention when her +clubs are gone." + +"What breeds of cows have you handled, Thompson?" + +"Not any thoroughbreds that I know of; mostly common kinds and grade +Jerseys or Holsteins." + +"I'm going to put a small herd of thorough bred Holsteins on the place." + +"Why don't you try thoroughbred Jerseys' They'll give as much butter, +and they won't eat more than half as much." + +"You don't quite catch my idea, Thompson. I want the cow that will eat +the most, if she is, at the same time, willing to pay for her food. I +mean to raise a lot of food, and I want a home market for it. What comes +from the land must go back to it, or it will grow thin. The Holstein +will eat more than the Jersey, and, while she may not make more butter, +she will give twice as much skimmed milk and furnish more fertilizer to +return to the land. Fresh skimmed milk is a food greatly to be prized by +the factory-farm man; and when we run at full speed, we shall have three +hundred thousand pounds of it to feed. + +"I have purchased twenty three-year-old Holstein cows, in calf to +advanced registry bulls, and they are to be delivered to me March 10. I +shall want you to go and fetch them. I also bought a young bull from the +same herd, but not from the same breeding. These twenty-one animals will +cost, by the time they get here, $2200. I shall give the bull to my +neighbor Jackson. He will be proud to have it, and I shall be relieved +of the care of it. Be good to your neighbor, Thompson, if by so doing +you can increase the effectiveness of the factory farm. We will start +the dairy with twenty thoroughbreds and six scrubs. I shall probably buy +and sell from time to time; but of one thing I am certain: if a cow +cannot make our standard, she goes to the butcher, be she mongrel or +thoroughbred. What do you think of Judson as a probable dairyman?" + +"I shouldn't wonder if he would do first-rate. He's a quiet fellow, and +cows like that. He has those roans tagging him all over the place; and +if a horse likes a man, it's because he's nice and quiet in his ways. I +notice that he can milk a cow quicker than the other men, and it ain't +because he don't milk dry--I sneaked after him twice. The cow just gives +down for him better than for the others." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE RAZORBACK + + +We have now launched three of the four principal industries of our +factory farm. The fourth is perhaps the most important of all, if a +single member of a group of mutually dependent industries can have this +distinction. There is no question that the farmer's best friend is the +hog. He will do more for him and ask less of him than any other animal. +All he asks is to be born. That is enough for this non-ruminant +quadruped, who can find his living in the earth, the roadside ditch, or +the forest, and who, out of a supply of grass, roots, or mast, can +furnish ham and bacon to the king's taste and the poor man's +maintenance. The half-wild razorback, with never a clutch of corn to his +back, gives abundant food to the mountaineer over whose forest he +ranges. The cropped or slit ear is the only evidence of human care or +human ownership. He lives the life of a wild beast, and in the autumn he +dies the death of a wild beast; while his flesh, made rich with juices +of acorns, beechnuts, and other sweet masts, nourishes a man whose only +exercise of ownership is slaughter. The hog that can make his own +living, run like a deer, and drink out of a jug, has done more for the +pioneer and the backwoodsman than any other animal. + +Take this semi-wild beast away from his wild haunts, give him food and +care, and he will double his gifts. Add a hundred generations of careful +selection, until his form is so changed that it is beyond recognition, +and again the product will be doubled. The spirit of swine is not +changed by civilization or good breeding; such as it was on that day +when the herd "ran down a steep place and was drowned in the sea," such +it is to-day. A fixed determination to have its own way dominated the +creature then, and a pig-headed desire to be the greatest food-producing +machine in the world is its ruling passion now. That the hog has +succeeded in this is beyond question; for no other food animal can +increase its own weight one hundred and fifty fold in the first eight +months of its life. + +All over the world there is a growing fondness for swine flesh, and the +ever increasing supply doesn't outrun the demand. Since the dispersion +of the tribes of Israel there has been no persistent effort to +depopularize this wonderful food maker. Pig has more often been the food +of the poor than of the rich, but now rich and poor alike do it honor. +Old Ben Jonson said:-- + +"Now pig is meat, and a meat that is nourishing and may be desired, and +consequently eaten: it may be eaten; yea, very exceedingly well eaten." + +Hundreds have praised the rasher of ham, and thousands the flitch of +bacon; it took the stroke of but one pen to make roast pig classical. + +The pig of to-day is so unlike his distant progenitor that he would not +be recognized; if by any chance he were recognized, it would be only +with a grunt of scorn for his unwieldy shape and his unenterprising +spirit. Gone are the fleet legs, great head, bulky snout, terrible jaws, +warlike tusks, open nostrils, flapping ears, gaunt flanks, and racing +sides; and with these has gone everything that told of strength, +freedom, and wild life. In their place has come a cuboidal mass, twice +as long as it is broad or high, with a place in front for mouth and +eyes, and a foolish-looking leg under each corner. A mighty fall from +"freedom's lofty heights," but a wonderfully improved machine. The +modern hog is to his progenitor as the man with the steam-hammer to the +man with the stone-hammer,--infinitely more useful, though not so free. + +It is not easy to overestimate the value of swine to the general farmer; +but to the factory farmer they are indispensable. They furnish a +profitable market for much that could not be sold, and they turn this +waste material into a surprising lot of money in a marvellously short +time. A pig should reach his market before he is nine months old. From +the time he is new-born until he is 250 days old, he should gain at +least one pound a day, which means five cents, in ordinary times. +During this time he has eaten, of things which might possibly have been +sold, perhaps five dollars' worth. At 250 days, with a gain of one pound +a day, he is worth, one year with another, $12.50. This is putting it +too low for my market, but it gives a profit of not less than $6 a head +after paying freight and commissions. It is, then, only a question of +how many to keep and how to keep them. To answer the first half of this +question I would say, Keep just as many as you can keep well. It never +pays to keep stock on half rations of food or care, and pigs are not +exceptions. In answering the other half of the question, how to keep +them, I shall have to go into details of the first building of a piggery +at Four Oaks. + +As in the case of the hens, I determined to start clean. Hogs had been +kept on the farm for years, and, so far as I could learn, there had been +no epizoötic disease. The swine had had free range most of the time, and +the specimens which I bought were healthy and as well grown as could be +expected. They were not what I wanted, either in breed or in +development, so they had been disposed of, all but two. These I now +consigned to the tender care of the butcher, and ordered the sty in +which they had been kept to be burned. + +I had planned to devote lot No. 2 to a piggery. There are five acres in +this lot, and I thought it large enough to keep four or five hundred +pigs of all sizes in good health and good condition for forcing. Some of +the swine, not intended for market, would have more liberty; but close +confinement in clean pens and small runs was to be the rule. To crowd +hogs in this way, and at the same time to keep them free from disease, +would require special vigilance. The ordinary diseases that come from +damp and draughts could be fended off by carefully constructed +buildings. Cleanliness and wholesome food ought to do much, and +isolation should accomplish the rest. I have established a perfect +quarantine about my hog lot, and it has never been broken. After the +first invoices of swine in the winter and spring of 1896, no hog, young +or old, has entered my piggery, save by the way of a sixty-day +quarantine in the wood lot, and very few by that way. + +My pigs are several hundred yards from the public roads, and my +neighbor, Jackson, has planted a young orchard on his land to the north +of my hog lots, and permits no hogs in this planting. I have thus +secured practical isolation. I have rarely sent swine to fairs or stock +shows. In the few instances in which I have broken this rule I have sold +the stock shown, never returning it to Four Oaks. + +Isolation, cleanliness, good food, good water, and a constant supply of +ashes, charcoal, and salt, have kept my herd (thus far) from those +dreadfully fatal diseases that destroy so many swine. If I can keep the +specific micro-organism that causes hog-cholera off my place, I need not +fear the disease. The same is true of swine plague. These diseases are +of bacterial origin, and are communicated by the transference of +bacteria from the infected to the non-infected. I propose to keep my +healthy herd as far removed as possible from all sources of infection. I +have carried these precautions so far that I am often scoffed at. I +require my swineherd, when returning from a fair or a stock show, to +take a full bath and to disinfect his clothing before stepping into the +pig-house. This may seem an unnecessary refinement in precautionary +measures, but I do not think so. It has served me well: no case of +cholera or plague has shown itself at Four Oaks. + +What would I do if disease should appear? I do not know. I think, +however, that I should fight it as hard as possible at close quarters, +killing the seriously ill, and burning all bodies. After the scourge had +passed I would dispose of all stock as best I could, and then burn the +entire plant (fences and all), plough deep, cover the land white as snow +with lime, leave it until spring, plough again, and sow to oats. During +the following summer I would rebuild my plant and start afresh. A whole +year would be lost, and some good buildings, but I think it would pay in +the end. There would be no safety for the herd while a single colony of +cholera or plague bacteria was harbored on the place; and while neither +might, for years, appear in virulent form, yet there would be constant +small losses and constant anxiety. One cannot afford either of these +annoyances, and it is usually wise to take radical measures. If we apply +sound business rules to farm management, we shall at least deserve +success. + +I chose to keep thoroughbred swine for the reason that all the standard +varieties are reasonably certain to breed true to a type which, in each +breed, is as near pork-making perfection as the widest experience can +make it. Most of our good hogs are bred from English or Chinese stock. +Modifications by climate, care, crossing, and wise selection have +procured a number of excellent varieties, which are distinct enough to +warrant separate names, but which are nearly equal as pork-makers. + +In color one could choose between black, black and white, and white and +red. I wanted white swine; not because they are better than swine of +other colors, for I do not think they are, but for æsthetic reasons. My +poultry was to be white, and white predominated in my cows; why should +not my swine be white also,--or as white as their habits would permit? I +am told on all sides that the black hog is the hardiest, that it fattens +easier, and that for these reasons it is a better all-round hog. This +may be true, but I am content with my white ones. When some neighbor +takes a better bunch of hogs to market, or gets a better price for them, +than I do, I may be persuaded to think as he talks. Thus far I have sold +close to the top of the market, and my hogs are never left over. + +Perhaps my hogs eat more than those of my neighbors. I hope they do, for +they weigh more, on a "weight for age" scale, and I do not think they +are "air crammed," for "you cannot fatten capons so." I am more than +satisfied with my Chester Whites. They have given me a fine profit each +year, and I should be ungrateful if I did not speak them fair. + +I wished to get the hog industry started on a liberal scale, and scoured +the country, by letter, for the necessary animals. I found it difficult +to get just what I wanted. Perhaps I wanted too much. This is what I +asked for: A registered young sow due to farrow her second litter in +March or April. By dint of much correspondence and a considerable outlay +of money, I finally secured nineteen animals that answered the +requirements. I got them in twos and threes from scattered sources, and +they cost an average price of $31 per head delivered at Four Oaks. A +young boar, bred in the purple, cost $27. My foundation herd of Chester +Whites thus cost me $614,--too much for an economical start; but, again, +I was in a hurry. + +The hogs began to arrive in February, and were put into temporary +quarters pending the building of the house for the brood sows, which +house must now be described. + +It was a low building, 150 by 30 feet, divided by a six-foot alley-way +into halves, each 150 by 12 feet. Each of these halves was again divided +into fifteen pens 10 by 12 feet, with a 10 by 30 run for each pen. This +was the general plan for the brood-house for thirty sows. At the east +end of this house was a room 15 by 30 feet for cooking food and storing +supplies for a few days. The building was of wood with plank floors. It +stands there yet, and has answered its purpose; but it was never quite +satisfactory. I wanted cement floors and a more sightly building. I +shall probably replace it next year. When it was built the weather was +unfavorable for laying cement, and I did not wish to wait for a more +clement season. The house and the fences for the runs cost $2100. + +On the 6th of March Thompson called me to one of the temporary pens and +showed me a family of the prettiest new-born animals in the world,--a +fine litter of no less than nine new-farrowed pigs. I felt that the +fourth industry was fairly launched, and that we could now work and +wait. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE OLD ORCHARD + + +March was unusually raw even for that uncooked month. The sun had to +cross the line before it could make much impression on the deep frost. +After the 15th, however, we began to find evidences that things were +stirring below ground. The red and yellow willows took on brighter +colors, the bark of the dogwood assumed a higher tone, and the catkins +and lilac buds began to swell with the pride of new sap. + +If our old orchard was to be pruned while dormant, it must be done at +once. Thompson and I spent five days of hard work among the trees, +cutting out all dead limbs, crossing branches, and suckers. We called +the orchard old, but it was so only by comparison, for it was not out of +its teens; and I did not wish to deal harshly with it. A good many +unusual things were being done for it in a short time, and it was not +wise to carry any one of them too far. It had been fertilized and +ploughed in the fall, and now it was to be pruned and sprayed,--all +innovations. The trees were well grown and thrifty. They had given a +fair crop of fruit last year, and they were well worth considerable +attention. They could not hereafter be cultivated, for they were all in +the soiling lot for the cows, but they could be pruned and sprayed. The +lack of cultivation would be compensated by the fertilization incident +to a feeding lot. The trees would give shade and comfort to the cows, +while the cows fed and nourished the trees,--a fair exchange. + +The crop of the year before, though half the apples were stung, had +brought nearly $300. With better care, and consequently better fruit, we +could count on still better results, for the varieties were excellent +(Baldwins, Jonathans, and Rome Beauties); so we trimmed carefully and +burned the rubbish. This precaution, especially in the case of dead +limbs, is important, for most dead wood in young trees is due to +disease, often infectious, and should be burned at once. + +I bought a spraying-pump (for $13), which was fitted to a sound oil +barrel, and we were ready to make the first attack on fungus disease +with the Bordeaux mixture. This was done by Johnson and Anderson late in +the month. Another vigorous spraying with the same mixture when the buds +were swelling, another when the flower petals were falling, and still +another when the fruit was as large as peas (the last two sprayings had +Paris green added to the Bordeaux mixture), and the fight against apple +enemies was ended for that year. + +Thompson had gone for the cows. He left March 9, and returned with the +beauties on Friday the 17th. They were all my fancy had painted +them,--large, gentle-eyed, with black and white hair over soft +butter-yellow skin, and all the points that distinguish these marvellous +milk-machines. They were bestowed as needs must until the cow barn was +completed. One of them had dropped a bull calf two days before leaving +the home farm. The calf had been left, and the mother was in an +uncomfortable condition, with a greatly distended udder and milk +streaming from her four teats, though Thompson had relieved her thrice +while _en route_. + +I was greatly pleased with the cows, but must not spend time on them +now, for things are happening in my factory faster than I can tell of +them. Johnson had built some primitive hotbeds for early vegetables out +of old lumber and oiled muslin. He had filled them with refuse from the +horse stable and had sown his seeds. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE FIRST HATCH + + +On February 3 the incubator lamps were lighted under the first invoice +of one thousand eggs. The incubating cellar was to Sam's liking, and he +felt confident that three weeks of strict attention to temperature, +moisture, and the turning of eggs, would bring results beyond my +expectations. + +After the seventh day, on which he had tested or candled the eggs, he +was willing to promise almost anything in the way of a hatch, up to +seventy-five or eighty per cent. In the intervals of attendance on the +incubators he was hard at work on the brooder-house, which must be ready +for its first occupants by the 25th. Everything went smoothly until the +18th. That morning Sam met me with a long face. + +"Something went wrong with one of my lamps last night," said he. "I +looked at them at ten o'clock and they were all right, but at six this +morning one of the thermometers was registering 122°, and the whole +batch was cooked." + +"Not the whole thousand, Sam!" + +"No, but 170 fertile eggs, and that spoils a twenty-dollar bill and a +lot of good time. What in the name of the black man ever got into that +lamp of mine is more than I know. It's just my luck!" + +"It's everybody's luck who tries to raise chickens by wholesale, and we +must copper it. Don't be downed by the first accident, Sam; keep +fighting and you'll win out." + +The brooder-house was ready when the first chicks picked the shells on +the 24th, and within thirty-six hours we had 503 little white balls of +fluff to transfer from the four incubators to the brooder-house. We put +about a hundred together in each of five brooders, fed them cut oats and +wheat with a little coarse corn meal and all the fresh milk they could +drink, and they throve mightily. + +The incubators were filled again on the 26th, and from that hatch we got +552 chicks. On the 21st of March they were again filled, and on the 13th +of April we had 477 more to add to the colony in the brooder-house. For +the last time we started the lamps April 15th, and on the 6th of May we +closed the incubating cellar and found that 2109 chicks had been hatched +from the 4000 eggs. The last hatch was the best of all, giving 607. I +don't think we have ever had as good results since, though to tell the +truth I have not attempted to keep an exact count of eggs incubated. My +opinion is that fifty per cent is a very good average hatch, and that +one should not expect more. + +In September, when the young birds were separated, the census report was +723 pullets and 764 cockerels, showing an infant mortality of 622, or +twenty-nine per cent. The accidents and vicissitudes of early +chickenhood are serious matters to the unmothered chick, and they must +not be overlooked by the breeder who figures his profits on paper. + +After the first year I kept no tabs on the chickens hatched; my desire +was to add each year 600 pullets to my flock, and after the third season +to dispose of as many hens. It doesn't pay to keep hens that are more +than two and a half years old. I have kept from 1200 to 1600 laying hens +for the past six years. I do not know what it costs to feed one or all +of them, but I do know what moneys I have received for eggs, young +cockerels, and old hens, and I am satisfied. + +There is a big profit in keeping hens for eggs if the conditions are +right and the industry is followed, in a businesslike way, in connection +with other lines of business; that is, in a factory farm. If one had to +devote his whole time to the care of his plant, and were obliged to buy +almost every morsel of food which the fowls ate, and if his market were +distant and not of the best, I doubt of great success; but with food at +the lowest and product at the highest, you cannot help making good +money. I do not think I have paid for food used for my fowls in any one +year more than $500; grits, shells, meat meal, and oil meal will cover +the list. I do not wish to induce any man or woman to enter this +business on account of the glowing statements which these pages contain. +I am ideally situated. I am near one of the best markets for fine food; +I can sell all the eggs my hens will lay at high prices; food costs the +minimum, for it comes from my own farm; I utilize skim-milk, the +by-product from another profitable industry, to great advantage; and I +had enough money to carry me safely to the time of product. In other +words, I could build my factory before I needed to look to it for +revenue. I do not claim that this is the only way, but I do claim that +it is the way for the fore-handed middle-aged man who wishes to change +from city to country life without financial loss. Younger people with +less means can accomplish the same results, but they must offset money +by time. The principle of the factory farm will hold as well with the +one as with the other. + +To intensify farming is the only way to get the fat of the land. The +nations of the old world have nearly reached their limit in food +production. They are purchasers in the open market. This country must be +that market; and it behooves us to look to it that the market be well +stocked. There is land enough now and to spare, but will it be so fifty +or a hundred years hence? Our arid lands will be made fertile by +irrigation, but they will add only a small percentage to the amount +already in quasi-cultivation. Our future food supplies must be drawn +largely from the six million farms now under fences. These farms must be +made to yield fourfold their present product, or they will fall short, +not only of the demands made upon them, but also of their possibilities. +That is why I preach the gospel of intensive farming, for grain, hay, +market, and factory farm alike. + +I will put the chickens out of the way for the present, referring to +them from time to time and indicating their general management, the cost +of their houses and food, and the amount of money received for eggs and +fowls. I do not think my plant would win the approval of fanciers, and +it is not in all ways up to date; but it is clean, healthy, and +commodious, and the birds attend as strictly to business as a reasonable +owner could wish. I shall be glad to show it to any one interested +enough to search it out, and to go into the details of the business and +show how I have been able to make it so remunerative. + +Sam is with me no longer. For three years he did good service and saved +money, and the lurid nose grew dim. There is, however, a limit to human +endurance. Like victims of other forms of circular insanity, the +dipsomaniac completes his cycle in an uncertain period and falls upon +bad times. For a month before we parted company I saw signs of relapse +in Sam. He was loquacious at times, at other times morose. He talked +about going into business for himself, and his nose took on new color. I +labored with him, but to no purpose; the spirit of unrest was upon him, +and it had to work its own. I held him firm long enough to secure +another man, and then we parted, he to do business for himself, I to get +on as best I could. Sam painted his nose and raised chickens and other +things until his savings had flown; then he got a position with a woman +who runs a broiler plant, and for two years he has given good service. +He will probably continue in ways of well-doing until the next cycle is +complete, when the beacon light will blaze afresh and he will follow it +on to the rocks. Such a man is more to be pitied than condemned, for his +anchor is sure to drag at times. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE HOLSTEIN MILK MACHINE + + +During the month of March the teams hauled more gravel. They also +distributed the manure that had been purchased in the fall for mulching +the trees. While the ground was still frozen this mulch was placed near +the trees, to be used as soon as the sun had warmed the earth. The mound +of dirt at the base of each tree was of course levelled down before this +dressing was applied. I never afterward purchased stable or stock-yard +manure, though I could often have used it to advantage; for I did not +think it safe to purchase this kind of fertilizer for a farm where large +numbers of animals are kept. The danger from infection is too great. +Large quantities of barnyard manure were furnished yearly out of my own +pits, and I supplemented it with a good deal of the commercial variety. +I try to turn back to the land each year more than I take from it, but I +do not dare to go to a stock-yard for any part of my supply. It was not +until I had mentally established a quarantine for my hogs that I +realized the danger from those six carloads of manure; and I promised +myself then that no such breach of quarantine should again occur. + +The cows arrived on St. Patrick's Day. Our herd was then composed of the +twenty Holstein heifers (coming three years old), and six of the best of +the common cows purchased with the farm. Within forty days the herd was +increased by the addition of twenty-three calves. Twenty-five were born, +but two were dead. Of this number, eighteen were Holsteins eligible for +registration, ten heifers, and eight bulls. Each calf was taken from its +mother on the third day and fed warm skim-milk from a patent feeder +three times a day, all it would drink. When three weeks old, seven of +the Holstein calves and the five from the common cows were sent to +market. They brought $5.25 each above the expense of selling, or $63 for +the bunch. The ten Holstein heifer calves were of course held; and one +bull calf, which had a double cross of Pieterje 2d and Pauline Paul, and +which seemed an unusually fair specimen, was kept for further +development. + +The cow barn was finished about April 1st, and shortly after that the +herd was established in permanent quarters. As the dairy-house was +unfinished, and there was no convenient way of disposing of the milk +which now flowed in abundance, I bought a separator (for $200) and sent +the cream to a factory, using the fresh skim-milk for the calves and +young pigs and chickens. + +From March 22, when I began to sell, until May 10, when my dairy-house +was in working order, I received $203 for cream. Thompson had sold milk +from the old cows, from August to December, 1895, to the amount of $132. +This item should have been entered on the credit side for the last year, +but as it was not, we will make a note of it here. These are the only +sales of milk and cream made from Four Oaks since I bought the land. + +The milk supply from my herd started out at a tremendous rate, +considering the age of the cows. It must be borne in mind that none of +the thoroughbreds was within three years of her (probable) best; yet +they were doing nobly, one going as high as fifty-two pounds of milk in +one day, and none falling below thirty-six as a maximum. The common cows +did nearly as well at first, four of them giving a maximum of thirty-two +pounds each in twenty-four hours. It was easy to see the difference +between the two sorts, however. The old ones had reached maturity and +were doing the best they could; the others were just beginning to +manufacture milk, and were building and regulating their machinery for +that purpose. The Holsteins, though young, were much larger than the old +cows, and were enormous feeders. A third or a half more food passed +their great, coarse mouths than their less aristocratic neighbors could +be coaxed to eat. Food, of course, is the one thing that will make +milk; other things being equal, then the cow that consumes the most food +will produce the most milk. This is the secret of the Holsteins' +wonderful capacity for assimilating enormous quantities of food without +retaining it under their hides in the shape of fat. They have been bred +for centuries with the milk product in view, and they have become +notable machines for that purpose. They are not the cows for people to +keep who have to buy feed in a high market, for they are not easy +keepers in any sense; but for the farmer who raises a lot of grain and +roughage which should be fed at his own door, they are ideal. They will +eat much and return much. + +As to feeding for milk, I have followed nearly the same plan through my +whole experiment. I keep an abundance of roughage, usually shredded +corn, before the cows all the time. When it has been picked over +moderately well, it is thrown out for bedding, and fresh fodder is put +in its place. The finer forages, timothy, red-top, clover, alfalfa, and +oat straw, are always cut fine, wetted, and mixed with grain before +feeding. This food is given three times a day in such quantities as will +be eaten in forty-five minutes. Green forage takes the place of dry in +season, and fresh vegetables are served three times a week in winter. +The grain ration is about as follows: By weight, corn and cob meal, +three parts; oatmeal, three parts; bran, three parts; gluten meal, two +parts; linseed meal, one part. The cash outlay for a ton of this mixture +is about $12; this price, of course, does not include corn and oats, +furnished by the farm. A Holstein cow can digest fifteen pounds of this +grain a day. This means about two and a half tons a year, with a cash +outlay of $30 per annum for each head. Fresh water is always given four +times a day, and much of the time the cows have ready access to it. In +cold weather the water is warmed to about 65° F. The cows are let out in +a twenty-acre field for exercise every day, except in case of severe +storms. They are fed forage in the open when the weather is fine and +insects are not troublesome, and they sometimes sleep in the open on hot +nights; but by far the largest part of their time is spent in their own +stalls away from chilling winds and biting flies. In their stables they +are treated much as fine horses are,--well bedded, well groomed, and +well cared for in all ways. + +A quiet, darkened stable conduces rumination. Loud talking, shouting, or +laughing are not looked upon with favor in our cow barn. On the other +hand, continuous sounds, if at all melodious, seem to soothe the animals +and increase the milk flow. Judson, who has proved to be our best +herdsman, has a low croon in his mouth all the time. It can hardly be +called a tune, though I believe he has faith in it, but it has a +fetching way with the herd. I have never known him to be quick, sharp, +or loud with the cows. When things go wrong, the crooning ceases. When +it is resumed, all is well in the cow world. The other man, French, who +is an excellent milker, and who stands well with the cows, has a half +hiss, half whistle, such as English stable-boys use, except that it runs +up and down five notes and is lost at each end. The cows like it and +seem to admire French for his accomplishment even more than Judson, for +they follow his movements with evident pleasure expressed in their great +ox eyes. + +Rigid rules of cleanliness are carried out in every detail with the +greatest exactness. The house and the animals are cared for all the time +as if on inspection. Before milking, the udders are carefully brushed +and washed, and the milker covers himself entirely with a clean apron. +As each cow is milked, the milker hangs the pail on a spring balance and +registers the exact weight on a blackboard. He then carries the milk +through the door that leads to the dairy-house, and pours it into a tank +on wheels. This ends his responsibility. The dairymaid is then in +charge. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE DAIRYMAID + + +Of course I had trouble in getting a dairymaid. I was not looking for +the bouncing, buxom, red-cheeked, arms-akimbo, butter-colored-hair sort. +I didn't care whether she were red-cheeked and bouncing or not, but for +obvious reasons I didn't want her hair to be butter-colored. What I did +want was a woman who understood creamery processes, and who could and +would make the very giltest of gilt-edged butter. + +I commenced looking for my paragon in January. I interviewed applicants +of both sexes and all nationalities, but there was none perfect; no, not +one. I was not exactly discouraged, but I certainly began to grow +anxious as the time approached when I should need my dairymaid, and need +her badly. One day, while looking over the _Rural New Yorker_ (I was +weaned on that paper), I saw the following advertisement. "Wanted: +Employment on a dairy-farm by a married couple who understand the +business." If this were true, these two persons were just what I needed; +but, was it true? I had tried a score of greater promise and had not +found one that would do. Was I to flush two at once, and would they +fall to my gun? + +A small town in one of the Middle Western states was given as the +address, and I wrote at once. My letter was strong in requirements, and +asked for particulars as to experience, age, references, and +nationality. The reply came promptly, and was more to my liking than any +I had received before. Name, French; Americans, newly married, +twenty-eight and twenty-six respectively; experience four and three +years in creamery and dairy work; references, good; the couple wished to +work together to save money to start a dairy of their own. I was pleased +with the letter, which was an unusual one to come from native-born +Americans. Our people do not often hunt in couples after this manner. I +telegraphed them to come to the city at once. + +It was late in April when I first saw the Frenches. The man was tall and +raw-boned, but good-looking, with a frank manner that inspired +confidence. He was a farmer's son with a fair education, who had saved a +little money, and had married his wife out of hand lest some one else +should carry her off while he was building the nest for her. + +"I took her when I could get her," he said, "and would have done it with +a two-dollar bill in my pocket rather than have taken chances." + +The woman was worthy of such an extreme measure, for she looked capable +of caring for both. She was a fine pattern of a country girl, with a +head full of good sense, and very useful-looking hands and arms. Her +face was good to look upon; it showed strength of character and a +definite object in life. She said she understood the creamery processes +in all their niceties, and that she could make butter good enough for +Queen Victoria. + +The proposition offered by this young couple was by far the best I had +received, and I closed with them at once. I agreed to pay each $25 a +month to start with, and explained my plan of an increasing wage of $1 a +month for each period of six months' service. They thought they ought to +have $30 level. I thought so, too, if they were as good as they +promised. But I had a fondness for my increasing scale, and I held to +it. These people were skilled laborers, and were worth more to begin +with than ordinary farm hands. That is why I gave them $25 a month from +the start. Six hundred dollars a year for a man and wife, with no +expense except for clothing, is good pay. They can easily put away $400 +out of it, and it doesn't take long to get fore-handed. I think the +Frenches have invested $500 a year, on an average, since they came to +Four Oaks. + +It is now time to get at the dairy-house, since the dairy and the +dairymaid are both in evidence. The house was to be on the building +line, and both Polly and I thought it should have attractive features. +We decided to make it of dark red paving brick. It was to be eighteen +feet by thirty, with two rooms on the ground. The first, or south room, +ten feet by eighteen, was fitted for storing fruit, and afforded a +stairway to the rooms above, which were four in number besides the bath. +The larger room was of course the butter factory, and was equipped with +up-to-date appliances,--aërator, Pasteurizer, cooler, separator, Babcock +tester, swing churn, butter-worker, and so on. The house was to have +steep gables and projecting eaves, with a window in each gable, and two +dormer windows in each roof. The walls were to be plastered, and the +ground floor was to be cement. It cost $1375. + +As motive power for the churn and separator, a two-sheep-power treadmill +has proved entirely satisfactory. It is worked by two sturdy wethers who +are harbored in a pleasant house and run, close to the power-house, and +who pay for their food by the sweat of their brows and the wool from +their backs. They do not appear to dislike the "demnition grind," which +lasts but an hour twice a day; they go without reluctance to the tramp +that leads nowhere, and the futile journey which would seem foolish to +anything wiser than a sheep. This sheep-power is one of the curios of +the place. My grand-girls never lose their interest in it, and it has +been photographed and sketched more times than there are fingers and +toes on the sheep. + +The expenditure for equipment, from separator to sheep, was $354. I +made an arrangement with a fancy grocer in the city to furnish him +thirty pounds, more or less, of fresh (unsalted) butter, six days in the +week, at thirty-three cents a pound, I to pay express charges. I bought +six butter-carriers with ice compartments for $3.75 each, $23 in all, +and arranged with the express company to deliver my packages to the +grocer for thirty cents each. The butter netted me thirty-two cents a +pound that year, or about $60 a week. + +In July I bought four thoroughbred Holsteins, four years old, in fresh +milk, and in October, six more, at an average price of $120 a +head,--$1200 in all. These reënforcements made it possible for me to +keep my contract with the middleman, and often to exceed it. + +The dairy industry was now fairly launched and in working order. It had +cost, not to be exact, $7000, and it was reasonably sure to bring back +to the farm about $60 a week in cash, besides furnishing butter for the +family and an immense amount of skim-milk and butter-milk to feed to the +young animals on the place. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +LITTLE PIGS + + +By April 1st all my sows had farrowed. There was much variation in the +number of pigs in these nineteen litters. One noble mother gave me +thirteen, two of which promptly died. Three others farrowed eleven each, +and so down to one ungrateful mother who contributed but five to the +industry at Four Oaks. The average, however, was good; 154 pigs on April +10th were all that a halfway reasonable factory man could expect. + +These youngsters were left with their mothers until eight weeks old; +then they were put, in bunches of thirty, into the real hog-house, which +was by that time completed. It was 200 feet long and 50 feet wide, with +a 10-foot passageway through the length of it. On either side were 10 +pens 20 feet by 20, each connected with a run 20 feet by 120. The house +stood on a platform or bed of cement 90 by 200 feet, which formed the +floor of the house and extended 20 feet outside of each wall, to secure +cleanliness and a dry feeding-place in the open. The cement floor was +expensive ($1120 as first cost), but I think it has paid for itself +several times over in health and comfort to the herd. The structure on +this floor was of the simplest; a double wall only five feet high at the +sides, shingled roof, broken at the ridge to admit windows, and strong +partitions. It cost $3100. As in the brood-sow house, there is a kitchen +at the west end. The 150 little pigs made but a small showing in this +great house, which was intended to shelter six hundred of all sizes, +from the eight-weeks-old baby pig to the nine-months-old +three-hundred-pounder ready for market. + +Pigs destined for market never leave this house until ripe for killing. +At six or seven months a few are chosen to remain on the farm and keep +up its traditions; but the great number live their ephemeral lives of +eight months luxuriously, even opulently, until they have made the ham +and bacon which, poor things, they cannot save, and then pass into the +pork barrel or the smoke-house without a sigh of regret. They toil not, +neither do they spin; but they have a place in the world's economy, and +they fit it perfectly. So long as one animal must eat another, the man +animal should thank the hog animal for his generosity. + +Now that my big hog-house seemed so empty, I would gladly have sent into +the highways and byways to buy young stock to fill it; but I dared not +break my quarantine. I could easily have picked up one hundred or even +two hundred new-weaned pigs, within six or eight miles of my place, at +about $1.50 each, and they would have grown into fat profit by fall; but +I would not take a risk that might bear ill fruit. I had slight +depressions of spirits when I visited my piggery during that summer; but +I chirked up a little in the fall, when the brood sows again made good. +But more of that anon. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +WORK ON THE HOME FORTY + + +April and May made amends for the rudeness of March, and the ploughs +were early afield. Thompson, Zeb, Johnson, and sometimes Anderson, +followed the furrows, first in 10 and 11, and lastly in 13. Number 9 had +a fair clover sod, and was not disturbed. We ploughed in all about 114 +acres, but we did not subsoil. We spent twenty days ploughing and as +many more in fitting the ground for seed. The weather was unusually warm +for the season, and there was plenty of rain. By the middle of May, oats +were showing green in Nos. 8, 10, 11, 12, and 13,--sixty-two acres. The +corn was well planted in 15 and the west three-quarters of +14,--eighty-two acres. The other ten acres in the young orchard was +planted to fodder corn, sown in drills so that it could be cultivated in +one direction. + +The ten-acre orchard on the south side of the home lot was used for +potatoes, sugar beets, cabbages, turnips, etc., to furnish a winter +supply of vegetables for the stock. + +The outlook for alfalfa was not bright. In the early spring we +fertilized it again, using five hundred pounds to the acre, though it +seemed like a conspicuous waste. The warm rains and days of April and +May brought a fine crop of weeds; and about the middle of May I turned +Anderson loose in the fields with a scythe, and he mowed down everything +in sight. + +After that things soon began to look better in the alfalfa fields. As +the season was favorable, we were able to cut a crop of over a ton to +the acre early in July, and nearly as much in the latter part of August. +We cut forty tons from these twenty acres within a year from seeding, +but I suspect that was unusual luck. I had used thirteen hundred pounds +of commercial fertilizer to the acre, and the season was very favorable +for the growth of the plant. I have since cut these fields three times +each year, with an average yield of five tons to the acre for the whole +crop. + +I like alfalfa, both as green and as dry forage. When we use it green, +we let it lie in swath for twenty-four hours, that it may wilt +thoroughly before feeding. It is then fit food for hens, hogs, and, in +limited quantities, for cows, and is much relished. When used dry, it is +always cut fine and mixed with ground grains. In this shape it is fed +liberally to hens and hogs, and also to milch cows; for the latter it +forms half of the cut-food ration. + +While the crops are growing, we will find time to note the changes on +the home lot. Nearly in front of the farm-house, and fifty yards +distant, was a space well fitted for the kitchen garden. We marked off a +plat two hundred feet by three hundred, about one and a half acres, +carted a lot of manure on it, and ploughed it as deep as the subsoiler +would reach. This was done as soon as the frost permitted. We expected +this garden to supply vegetables and small fruits for the whole colony +at Four Oaks. An acre and a half can be made exceedingly productive if +properly managed. + +Along the sides of this garden we planted two rows of currant and +gooseberry bushes, six feet between rows, and the plants four feet apart +in the rows. The ends of the plat were left open for convenience in +horse cultivation. Ten feet outside these rows of bush fruit was planted +a line of quince trees, thirty on each side, and twenty feet beyond +these a row of cherry trees, twenty in each row. + +Near the west boundary of the home lot, and north of the lane that +enters it, I planted two acres of dwarf pear trees--Bartlett and +Duchess,--three hundred trees to the acre. I also planted six hundred +plum trees--Abundance, Wickson, and Gold--in the chicken runs on lot 4. +After May 1, when he was relieved from his farm duties, Johnson had +charge of the planting and also of the gardening, and he took up his +special work with energy and pleasure. + +The drives on the home lot were slightly rounded with ploughs and +scraper, and then covered with gravel. The open slope intended for the +lawn was now to be treated. It comprised about ten acres, irregular in +form and surface, and would require a good deal of work to whip it into +shape. A lawn need not be perfectly graded,--in fact, natural +inequalities with dips and rises are much more attractive; but we had to +take out the asperities. We ploughed it thoroughly, removed all stumps +and stones, levelled and sloped it as much as pleased Polly, harrowed it +twice a week until late August, sowed it heavily to grass seed, rolled +it, and left it. + +Polly had the house in her mind's eye. She held repeated conversations +with Nelson, and was as full of plans and secrets as she could hold. By +agreement, she was to have a free hand to the extent of $15,000 for the +house and the carriage barn. I never really examined the plans, though I +saw the blue prints of what appeared to be a large house with a driving +entrance on the east and a great wide porch along the whole south side. +I did not know until it was nearly finished how large, convenient, and +comfortable it was to be. A hall, a great living-room, the dining room, +a small reception room, and an office, bedroom, and bath for me, were +all on the ground floor, besides a huge wing for the kitchen and other +useful offices. + +Above stairs there was room for the family and a goodly number of +friends. We had agreed that the house should be simple in all ways, with +no hard wood except floors, and no ornamentation except paint and paper. +It must be larger than our needs, for we looked forward to delightful +visits from many friends. We were to have more leisure than ever before +for social life, and we desired to make the most of our opportunities. + +A country house is by all odds the finest place to entertain friends and +to be entertained by them. They come on invitation, not as a matter of +form, and they stay long enough to put by questions of weather, clothes, +and servant-girls, and to get right down to good old-fashioned visiting. +Real heart-to-heart talks are everyday occurrences in country visits, +while they are exceptional in city calls. We meant to make much of our +friends at Four Oaks, and to have them make much of us. We have +discovered new values even in old friends, since we began to live with +them, weeks at a time, under the same roof. Their interests are ours, +and our plans are warmly taken up by them. There is nothing like it +among the turmoils and interruptions of town life, and the older we grow +the more we need this sort of rest among our friends. The guest book at +the farm will show very few weeks, in the past six years, when friends +haven't been with us, and Polly and I feel that the pleasure we have +received from this source ought to be placed on the credit side of the +farm ledger. + +Another reason for a company house was that Jack and Jane would shortly +be out of school. It was not at all in accord with our plan that they +should miss any pleasure by our change. Indeed, we hoped that the change +would be to their liking and to their advantage. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +DISCOUNTING THE MARKET + + +We broke ground for the house late in May, and Nelson said that we +should be in it by Thanksgiving Day. Soon after the plans were settled +Polly informed me that she should not spend much money on the stable. + +"Can't do it," she said, "and do what I ought to on the house. I will +give you room for six horses; the rest, if you have more, must go to the +farm barn. I cannot spend more than $1100 or $1200 on the barn." + +Polly was boss of this department, and I was content to let her have her +way. She had already mulcted me to the extent of $436 for trees, plants, +and shrubs which were even then grouped on the lawn after a fashion that +pleased her. I need not go into the details of the lawn planting, the +flower garden, the pergola, and so forth. I have a suspicion that Polly +has in mind a full account of the "fight for the home forty," in a form +greatly better than I could give it, and it is only fair that she should +tell her own story. I am not the only one who admires her landscape, her +flower gardens, and her woodcraft. Many others do honor to her tastes +and to the evidence of thought which the home lot shows. She disclaims +great credit, for she says, "One has only to live with a place to find +out what it needs." + +As I look back to the beginning of my experiment, I see only one bit of +good luck that attended it. Building material was cheap during the +months in which I had to build so much. Nothing else specially favored +me, while in one respect my experiment was poorly timed. The price of +pork was unusually low. For three years, from 1896, the price of hogs +never reached $5 per hundred pounds in our market,--a thing +unprecedented for thirty years. I never sold below three and a half +cents, but the showing would have been wonderfully bettered could I have +added another cent or two per pound for all the pork I fattened. The +average price for the past twenty-five years is well above five cents a +pound for choice lots. Corn and all other foods were also cheap; but +this made little difference with me, because I was not a seller of +grain. + +In 1896 I was, however, a buyer of both corn and oats. In September of +that year corn sold on 'Change at 19-1/2 cents a bushel, and oats at +14-3/4. These prices were so much below the food value of these grains +that I was tempted to buy. I sent a cash order to a commission house for +five thousand bushels of each. I stored this grain in my granary, +against the time of need, at a total expense of $1850,--21 cents a +bushel for corn and 16 for oats. I had storage room and to spare, and I +knew that I could get more than a third of a cent out of each pound of +corn, and more than half a cent out of each pound of oats. I recalled +the story of a man named Joseph who did some corn business in Egypt a +good many years ago, much in this line, and who did well in the +transaction. There was no dream of fat kine in my case; but I knew +something of the values of grains, and it did not take a reader of +riddles to show me that when I could buy cheaper than I could raise, it +was a good time to purchase. + +As I said once before, there have been no serious crop failures at Four +Oaks,--indeed, we can show better than an average yield each year; but +this extra corn in my cribs has given me confidence in following my plan +of very liberal feeding. With this grain on hand I was able to cut +twenty acres of oats in Nos. 10 and 11 for forage. This was done when +the grain was in the milk, and I secured about sixty tons of excellent +hay, much loved by horses. We got from No. 9 a little less than twelve +tons of clover,--alfalfa furnished forty tons; and there was nearly +twenty tons of old hay left over from that originally purchased. With +all this forage, good of its kind, there was, however, no timothy or red +top, which is by all odds the best hay for horses. I determined to +remedy this lack before another year. As soon as the oats were off lots +10 and 11, they were ploughed and crossed with the disk harrow. From +then until September 1, these fields were harrowed each week in half +lap, so that by the time we were ready to seed them they were in +excellent condition and free from weeds. About September 1 they were +sown to timothy and red top, fifteen pounds each to the acre, +top-dressed with five hundred pounds of fertilizer, harrowed once more, +rolled, and left until spring, when another dose of fertilizer was used. + +I wished to establish twenty acres of timothy and as much alfalfa, to +furnish the hay supply for the farm. With one hundred tons of alfalfa +and sixty of timothy, which I could reasonably expect, I could get on +splendidly. + +From the first I have practised feeding my hay crop for immediate +returns. The land receives five hundred pounds of fertilizer per acre +when it is sown, a like amount again in the spring, and, as soon as a +crop is cut, three hundred pounds an acre more. This usually gives a +second crop of timothy about September 1, if the season is at all +favorable. The alfalfa is cut at least three times, and for each cutting +it receives three hundred pounds of plant food per acre. In the course +of a year I spend from $10 to $12 an acre for my grass land. In return I +get from each acre of timothy, in two cuttings, about three and a half +tons; worth, at an average selling price, $12 a ton. The alfalfa yields +nearly five tons per acre, and has a feeding value of $10 a ton. I have +sold timothy hay a few times, but I feel half ashamed to say so, for it +is against my view of justice to the land. I find oat hay cheaper to +raise than timothy, and, as it is quite as well liked by the horses, I +have been tempted to turn a part of my timothy crop into money directly +from the field. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +FROM CITY TO COUNTRY + + +In early July I went through my young orchard, which had been cut back +so ruthlessly the previous autumn, and carefully planned a head for each +tree. Quite a bunch of sprouts had started from near the top of each +stub, and were growing luxuriantly. Out of each bunch I selected three +or four to form the head; the rest were rubbed off or cut out with a +sharp knife or pruning shears. It surprised me to see what a growth some +of these sprouts had made; sixteen or eighteen inches was not uncommon. +Big roots and big bodies were pushing great quantities of sap toward the +tops. + +Of course I bought farm machinery during this first season,--mower, +reaper, corn reaper, shredder, and so on. In October I took account of +expenditures for machinery, grass seed, and fertilizer, and found that I +had invested $833. I had also, at an expense of $850, built a large shed +or tool-house for farm implements. It is one of the rules at Four Oaks +to grease and house all tools when not in actual use. I believe the +observation of this rule has paid for the shed. + +In October 1896 I had a good offer for my town house, and accepted it. +I had purchased the property eleven years before for $22,000, but, as it +was in bad condition, I had at once spent $9000 on it and the stable. I +sold it for $34,000, with the understanding that I could occupy it for +the balance of the year if I wished. + +After selling the house, I calculated the cost of the elementary +necessities, food and shelter, which I had been willing to pay during +many years of residence in the city. The record ran about like this:-- + +Interest at 5% on house valued at $34,000 $1700.00 +Yearly taxes on same 340.00 +Insurance 80.00 +Fuel and light 250.00 +Wages for one man and three women 1200.00 +Street sprinkling, watchman, etc. 90.00 +Food, including water, ice, etc. 1550.00 + ________ + Making a total of $5210.00 + +It cost me $100 a week to shelter and feed my family in the city. This, +of course, took no account of personal expenses,--travel, sight-seeing, +clothing, books, gifts, or the thousand and one things which enter more +or less prominently into the everyday life of the family. + +If the farm was to furnish food and shelter for us in the future, it +would be no more than fair to credit it with some portion of this +expenditure, which was to cease when we left the city home. What portion +of it could be justly credited to the farm was to be decided by +comparative comforts after a year of experience. I did not plan our +exodus for the sake of economy, or because I found it necessary to +retrench; our rate of living was no higher than we were willing and able +to afford. Our object was to change occupation and mode of life without +financial loss, and without moulting a single comfort. We wished to end +our days close to the land, and we hoped to prove that this could be +done with both grace and profit. I had no desire to lose touch with the +city, and there was no necessity for doing so. Four Oaks is less than an +hour from the heart of town. I could leave it, spend two or three hours +in town, and be back in time for luncheon without special effort; and +Polly would think nothing of a shopping trip and friends home with her +to dinner. The people of Exeter were nearly all city people who were so +fortunate as not to be slaves to long hours. They were rich by work or +by inheritance, and they gracefully accepted the _otium cum dignitate_ +which this condition permitted. Social life was at its best in Exeter, +and many of its people were old acquaintances of ours. A noted country +club spread its broad acres within two miles of our door, and I had been +favorably posted for membership. It did not look as though we should be +thrust entirely upon our own resources in the country; but at the worst +we had resources within our own walls and fences that would fend off all +but the most violent attacks of ennui. + +We were both keenly interested in the experiment. Nothing that happened +on the farm went unchallenged. The milk product for the day was a thing +of interest; the egg count could not go unnoted; a hatch of chickens +must be seen before they left the incubator; a litter of new-born pigs +must be admired; horses and cows were forever doing things which they +should or should not do; men and maids had griefs and joys to share with +mistress or Headman; flowers were blooming, trees were leafing, a robin +had built in the black oak, a gopher was tunnelling the rose bed,--a +thousand things, full of interest, were happening every day. As a place +where things the most unexpected do happen, recommend me to a quiet +farm. + +But we were not to depend entirely upon outside things for diversion. +Books we had galore, and we both loved them. Many a charming evening +have I spent, sometimes alone, more often with two or three congenial +friends, listening to Polly's reading. This is one of her most +delightful accomplishments. Her friends never tire of her voice, and her +voice never tires of her friends. We all grow lazy when she is about; +but there are worse things than indolence. No, we did not mean to drop +out of anything worth while; but we were pretty well provisioned against +a siege, if inclement weather or some other accident should lock us up +at the farm. + +To keep still better hold of the city, I suggested to Tom and Kate that +they should keep open house for us, or any part of us, whenever we were +inclined to take advantage of their hospitality. This would give us city +refuge after late functions of all sorts. The plan has worked admirably. +I devote $1200 a year out of the $5200 of food-and-shelter money to the +support of our city shelter at Kate's house, and the balance, $4000, is +entered at the end of each year on the credit side of the farm ledger. +Nor do I think this in any way unjust. We do not expect to get things +for nothing, and we do not wish to. If the things we pay for now are as +valuable as those we paid for six or eight years ago, we ought not to +find fault with an equal price. I have repeatedly polled the family on +this question, and we all agree that we have lost nothing by the change, +and that we have gained a great deal in several ways. Our friends are of +like opinion; and I am therefore justified in crediting Four Oaks with a +considerable sum for food and shelter. We have bettered our condition +without foregoing anything, and without increasing our expenses. That is +enough. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +AUTUMN RECKONING + + +We harvested the crops in the autumn of 1896, and were thankful for the +bountiful yield. Nearly sixteen hundred bushels of oats and twenty-seven +hundred bushels of corn made a proud showing in the granary, when added +to its previous stock. The corn fodder, shredded by our own men and +machine, made the great forage barn look like an overflowing cornucopia, +and the only extra expense attending the harvest was $31 paid for +threshing the oats. + +Three important items of food are consumed on the farm that have to be +purchased each year, and as there is not much fluctuation in the price +paid, we may as well settle the per capita rate for the milch cows and +hogs for once and all. At each year's end we can then easily find the +cash outlay for the herds by multiplying the number of stock by the cost +of keeping one. + +My Holstein cows consume a trifle less than three tons of grain each per +year,--about fifteen pounds a day. Taking the ration for four cows as a +matter of convenience, we have: corn and cob meal, three tons, and +oatmeal, three tons, both kinds raised and ground on the farm, and not +charged in this account; wheat bran, three tons at $18, $54; gluten +meal, two tons at $24, $48; oil meal, one ton, $26; total cash outlay +for four cows, $128, or $32 per head. This estimate is, however, about +$2 too liberal. We will, hereafter, charge each milch cow $30, and will +also charge each hog fattened on the place $1 for shorts and middlings +consumed. This is not exact, but it is near enough, and it greatly +simplifies accounts. + +As I kept twenty-six cows ten months, and ten more for an average of +four and a half months, the feeding for 1896 would be equivalent to one +year for thirty cows, or $900. To this add $120 for swine food and $25 +for grits and oyster shells for the chickens, and we have $1045 paid for +food for stock. Shoeing the horses for the year and repairs to machinery +cost $157. The purchased food for eight employees for twelve months and +for two additional ones for eight months, amounted to $734. The wage +account, including $50 extra to Thompson, was $2358. + +A second hen-house, a duplicate of the first, was built before October. +It was intended that each house should accommodate four hundred laying +hens. We have now on the place five of these houses; but only two of +them, besides the incubator and the brooder-house, were built in 1896. +As offset to the heavy expenditure of this year, I had not much to show. +Seven hundred cockerels were sold in November for $342. In October the +pullets began laying in desultory fashion, and by November they had +settled down to business; and that quarter they gave me 703 dozen eggs +to sell. As these eggs were marketed within twenty-four hours, and under +a guarantee, I had no difficulty in getting thirty cents a dozen, net. +November eggs brought $211, and the December out-put, $252. I sold 600 +bushels of potatoes for $150, and the apples from 150 of the old trees +(which, by the way, were greatly improved this year) brought $450 on the +trees. + +The cows did well. In the thirty-three weeks from May 12 to December 31, +I sold a little more than 6600 pounds of butter, which netted me $2127. + +We had 122 young hogs to sell in December. They had been crowded as fast +as possible to make good weight, and they went to market at an average +of 290 pounds a head. The price was low, but I got the top of the +market,--$3.55 a hundred, which amounted to $1170 after paying charges. +I had reserved twenty-five of the most likely young sows to stay on the +farm, and had transferred eight to the village butcher, who was to +return them in the shape of two barrels of salt pork, thirty-two smoked +hams and shoulders, and a lot of bacon. + +The old sows farrowed again in September and early October, and we went +into the winter with 162 young pigs. I get these details out of the way +now in order to turn to the family and the social side of life at Four +Oaks. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE CHILDREN + + +The house did not progress as fast as Nelson had promised, and it was +likely to be well toward Christmas before we could occupy it. As the +days shortened, Polly and I found them crowded with interests. Life at +Four Oaks was to mean such a radical change that we could not help +speculating about its influence upon us and upon the children. Would it +be satisfactory to us and to them? Or should we find after a year or two +of experiment that we had been mistaken in believing that we could live +happier lives in the country than in town? A year and a half of outdoor +life and freedom from professional responsibilities had wrought a great +change in me. I could now eat and sleep like a hired man, and it seemed +preposterous to claim that I was going to the country for my health. My +medical adviser, however, insisted that I had not gotten far enough away +from the cause of my breakdown, and that it would be unwise for me to +take up work again for at least another year. In my own mind there was a +fixed opinion that I should never take it up again. I loved it dearly; +but I had given long, hard service to it, and felt that I had earned the +right to freedom from its exacting demands. I have never lost interest +in this, the noblest of professions, but I had done my share, and was +now willing to watch the work of others. In my mind there was no doubt +about the desirability of the change. I have always loved the thought of +country life, and now that my thoughts were taking material shape, I was +keen to push on. Polly looked toward the untrammelled life we hoped to +lead with as great pleasure as I. + +But how about the children? Would it appeal to them with the same force +as to us? The children have thus far been kept in the background. I +wanted to start my factory farm and to get through with most of its dull +details before introducing them to the reader, lest I should be diverted +from the business to the domestic, or social, proposition. + +The farm is laid by for the winter, and most of the details needed for a +just comprehension of our experiment have been given. From this time on +we will deal chiefly with results. We will watch the out-put from the +factory, and commend or find fault as the case may deserve. + +The social side of life is quite as important as the commercial, for +though we gain money, if we lose happiness, what profit have we? Let us +study the children to see what chances for happiness and good fellowship +lie in them. + +Kate is our first-born. She is a bright, beautiful woman of +five-and-twenty, who has had a husband these six years, one daughter for +four years, and, wonderful to relate, another daughter for two years. +She is quick and practical, with strong opinions of her own, prompt with +advice and just as prompt with aid; a woman with a temper, but a friend +to tie to in time of stress. She has the education of a good school, and +what is infinitely better, the cultivation of an observing mind. She is +quick with tongue and pen, but her quickness is so tempered by +unquestioned friendliness that it fastens people to her as with a cord. +She overflows with interests of every description, but she is never too +busy to listen sympathetically to a child or a friend. She is the +practical member of the family, and we rarely do much out of the +ordinary without first talking it over with Kate. + +Tom Hamilton, her husband, is a young man who is getting on in the +world. He is clever in his profession, and sure to succeed beyond the +success of most men. He is quiet in manner, but he seems to have a way +of managing his quick, handsome wife, which is something of a surprise +to me, and to her also, I fancy. They are congenial and happy, and their +children are beings to adore. Tom and Kate are to live in town. They are +too young for the joys of country life, and must needs drag on as they +are, loved and admired by a host of friends. They can, and will, +however, spend much time at Four Oaks; and I need not say they approved +our plans. + +Jack is our second. He was a junior at Yale, and I am shy of saying much +about him lest I be accused of partiality. Enough to say that he is +tall, blond, handsome, and that he has gentle, winning ways that draw +the love of men and women. He is a dreamer of dreams, but he has a +sturdy drop of Puritan blood in his veins that makes him strong in +conviction and brave in action. Jack has never caused me an hour of +anxiety, and I was ever proud to see him in any company. + +Concerning Jane, I must be pardoned in advance for a father's +favoritism. She is my youngest, and to me she seems all that a father +could wish. Of fair height and well moulded, her physique is perfect. +Good health and a happy life had set the stamp of superb womanhood upon +her eighteen years. Any effort to describe her would be vain and +unsatisfactory. Suffice it to say that she is a pure blonde, with eyes, +hair, and skin just to my liking. She is quiet and shy in manner, +deliberate in speech, sensitive beyond measure, wise in intuitive +judgment, clever in history and literature, but always a little in doubt +as to the result of putting seven and eight together, and not +unreasonably dominated by the rules of orthography. She is fond of +outdoor life, in love with horses and dogs, and withal very much of a +home girl. Every one makes much of Jane, and she is not spoiled, but +rather improved by it. She was in her second year at Farmington, and, +like all Farmington students, she cared more for girls than for boys. + +These were the children whom I was to transport from the city, where +they were born, to the quiet life at Four Oaks. After carefully taking +their measures, I felt little hesitation about making the change. They, +of course, had known of the plan, and had often been to the farm; but +they were still to find out what it really meant to live there. A saddle +horse and dogs galore would square me with Jane, beyond question; but +what about Jack? Time must decide that. His plan of life was not yet +formed, and we could afford to wait. We did not have much time in which +to weigh these matters, for the Christmas holidays were near, and the +youngsters would soon be home. We planned to be settled in the new house +when they arrived. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +THE HOME-COMING + + +In arranging to move my establishment I was in a quandary as to what it +was best to do for a coachman. Lars had been with me fifteen years. He +came a green Swedish lad, developed into a first-class coachman, married +a nice girl--and for twelve years he and his wife lived happily in the +rooms above my stable. Two boys were born to them, and these lads were +now ten and twelve years of age. Shortly after I bought the farm Lars +was so unfortunate as to lose his good wife, and he and the boys were +left forlorn. A relative came and gave them such care as she could, but +the mother and wife was missed beyond remedy. In his depression Lars +took to drink, and things began to go wrong in the stable. He was not +often drunk, but he was much of the time under the influence of alcohol, +and consequently not reliable. I had done my best for the poor fellow, +and he took my lectures and chidings in the way they were intended, and, +indeed, he tried hard to break loose from the one bad habit, but with no +good results. His evil friends had such strong hold on him that they +could and would lead him astray whenever there was opportunity. Polly +and I had many talks about this matter. She was growing timid under his +driving, and yet she was attached to him for long and faithful service. + +"Let's chance it," she said. "If we get him away from these people who +lead him astray, he may brace up and become a man again." + +"But what about the boys, Polly?" said I. + +"We ought to be able to find something for the boys to do on the farm, +and they can go to school at Exeter. Can't they drive the butter-cart +out each morning and home after school? They're smart chaps, you know, +and used to doing things." + +Polly had found a way, and I was heartily glad of it, for I did not feel +like giving up my hold on the man and the boys. Lars was glad of the +chance to make good again, and he willingly agreed to go. He was to +receive $23 a month. This was less than he was getting in the city, but +it was the wage which we were paying that year at the farm, and he was +content; for the boys were each to receive $5 a month, and to be sent to +school eight months a year for three years. + +This matter arranged, we began to plan for the moving. I had five horses +in my stable,--a span of blacks for the carriage and three single +drivers. Besides the horses, harness, and equipment, there was a large +carriage, a brougham, a Goddard phæton, a runabout, and a cart. I +exchanged the brougham and the Goddard for a station wagon and a park +phæton, as more suitable for country use. + +The barn equipment was all sent in one caravan, Thompson and Zeb coming +into town to help Lars drive out. Our lares and penates were sent by +freight on December 17. Polly had managed to coax another thousand +dollars out of me for things for the house; and these, with the +furniture from our old home, made a brave showing when we gathered +around the big fire in the living room, December 22, for our first night +in the country. + +Tom, Kate, and the grand-girls were with us to spend the holidays, and +so, too, was the lady whom we call Laura. I shall not try to say much +about Laura. She was a somewhat recent friend. How we ever came to know +her well, was half a mystery; and how we ever got on before we knew her +well, was a whole one. + +Roaring fires and shaded lamps gave an air of homelike grace to our new +house, and we decided that we would never economize in either wood or +oil; they seemed to stir the home spirit more than ever did coal or +electricity. + +The day had been a busy one for the ladies, but they were pleased with +results as they looked around the well-ordered house and saw the work of +their hands. Before separating for the night, Kate said:-- + +"I'm going to town to-morrow, and I'll pick up Jane and Jack in time to +take the four o'clock train out. Papa will meet us at the station, and +Momee will greet us at the doorstep. Make an illumination, Momee, and we +will carry them by storm. Tom will have to take a later train, but he +will be here in time for dinner." + +The afternoon of the 23d, the children came, and there was no failure in +Kate's plan. The youngsters were delighted with everything. Jane said:-- + +"I always wanted to live on a farm. I can have a saddle horse now, and +keep as many dogs as I like, can't I, Dad?" + +"You shall have the horse, and the dogs, too, when you come to stay." + +"Daddy," said Jack, "this will be great for you. Let me finish at an +agricultural college, so that I can be of some practical help." + +"Not on your life, my son! What your daddy doesn't know about farming +wouldn't spoil a cup of tea! While you are at home I will give you daily +instruction in this most wholesome and independent business, which will +be of incalculable benefit to you, and which, I am frank to say, you +cannot get in any agricultural college. College, indeed! I have spent +thousands of hours in dreaming and planning what a farm should be like! +Do you suppose I am going to let these visions become contaminated by +practical knowledge? Not by a long way! I have, in the silent watches +of the night, reduced the art to mathematical exactness, and I can show +you the figures. Don't talk to me about colleges!" + +After supper we took the children through the house. Every part was +inspected, and many were the expressions of pleasure and admiration. +They were delighted with their rooms, and apparently with everything +else. We finally quieted down in front of the open fire and discussed +plans for the holidays. The children decided that it must be a house +party. + +"Florence Marcy is with an aunt for whom she doesn't particularly care, +and Minnie will just jump at the chance of spending a week in the +country," said Jane. + +"You can invite three girls, and Jack can have three men. Of course +Jessie Gordon will be here. We will drive over in the morning and make +sure of her." + +"Jack, whom will you ask? Get some good men out here, won't you?" + +"The best in the world, little sister, and you will have to keep a sharp +lookout or you will lose your heart to one of them. Frank Howard will +count it a lark. He has stuck to the "business" as faithfully as if he +were not heir to it, and he will come sure to-morrow night. Dear old +Phil--my many years' chum--will come because I ask him. These two are +all right, and we can count on them. The other one is Jim Jarvis,--the +finest man in college." + +"Tell us about him, Jack." + +"Jarvis's father lives in Montana, and has a lot of gold mines and other +things to keep him busy. He doesn't have time to pay much attention to +his son, who is growing up after his own fashion. Jim's mother is dead, +and he has neither brother nor sister,--nothing but money and beauty and +health and strength and courage and sense and the stanchest heart that +ever lifted waistcoat! He has been on the eleven three years. They want +him in the boat, but he'll not have it; says it's not good work for a +man. He's in the first division, well toward the front, too, and in the +best society. He's taken a fancy to me, and I'm dead gone on him. He's +the man for you to shun, little woman, unless you wish to be led +captive." + +"There are others, Jack, so don't worry about me. But do you think you +can secure this paragon?" + +"Not a doubt of it! I'll wire him in the morning, and he'll be here as +soon as steam can bring him; he's my best chum, you know." + +This would make our party complete. We were all happy and pleased, and +the evening passed before we knew it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +CHRISTMAS EVE + + +The next day was a busy one for all of us. Polly and Jane drove to the +Gordons and secured Miss Jessie, and then Jane went to town to fetch her +other friends. Jack went with her, after having telegraphed to Jim +Jarvis. They all came home by mid-afternoon, just as a message came from +Jarvis: "Will be on deck at six." + +Florence Marcy and Minnie Henderson were former neighbors and +schoolmates of Jane's. They were fine girls to look at and bright girls +to talk with; blondes, eighteen, high-headed, full of life, and great +girls for a house party. Phil and Frank were good specimens of their +kinds. Frank was a little below medium height, slight, blond, vivacious +to a degree, full of fun, and the most industrious talker within miles; +he would "stir things up" at a funeral. Phil Stone was tall, slender, +dark, quiet, well-dressed, a good dancer, and a very agreeable fellow in +the corner of the room, where his low musical voice was most effective. + +Jessie Gordon came at five o'clock. We were all very fond of Jessie, and +who could help it? She was tall (considerably above the average +height), slender, straight as an arrow, graceful in repose and in +motion. She carried herself like a queen, with a proud kind of shyness +that became her well. Her head was small and well set on a slender neck, +her hair dark, luxurious, wavy, and growing low over a broad forehead, +her eyes soft brown, shaded by heavy brows and lashes. She had a Grecian +nose, and her mouth was a shade too wide, but it was guarded by +singularly perfect and sensitive lips. Her chin was pronounced enough to +give the impression of firmness; indeed, save for the soft eyes and +sensitive mouth, firmness predominated. She was not a great talker, yet +every one loved to listen to her. She laughed with her eyes and lips, +but rarely with her voice. She enjoyed intensely, and could, therefore, +suffer intensely. She was a dear girl in every way. + +All was now ready for the début of Jack's paragon. Jack had driven to +the station to fetch him, and presently the sound of wheels on the +gravel drive announced the arrival of the last guest. I went into the +hall to meet the men. + +"Daddy, I want you to know my chum, Jim Jarvis,--the finest all-round +son of old Eli. Jarvis, this is my daddy,--the finest father that ever +had son!" + +"I'm right glad to meet you, Mr. Jarvis; your renown has preceded you." + +"I fear, Doctor, it has _exceeded_ me as well. Jack is not to be +trusted on all subjects. But, indeed, I thank you for your hospitality; +it was a godsend to me." + +As we entered the living room, Polly came forward and I presented Jarvis +to her. + +"You are more than welcome, Mr. Jarvis! Jack's 'best friend' is certain +of a warm corner at our fireside." + +"Madam, I find no word of thanks, but I _do_ thank you. I have envied +Jack his home letters and the evidences of mother care more than +anything else,--and God knows there are enough other things to envy him +for. I have no mother, and my father is too busy to pay much attention +to me. I wish you would adopt me; I'll try to rival Jack in all that is +dutiful." + +She did adopt him then and there, for who could refuse such a son! Brown +hair, brown eyes, brown skin, a frank, rugged, clean-shaven face, +features strong enough to excite criticism and good enough to bear it; +broad-shouldered, deep-chested, strong in arm and limb, he carried his +six feet of manhood like an Apollo in tweeds. He was introduced to the +girls,--the men he knew,--but he was not so quick in his speeches to +them. Our Hercules was only mildly conscious of his merits, and was +evidently relieved when Jack hurried him off to his room to dress for +dinner. When he was fairly out of hearing there was a chorus of +comments. The girls all declaimed him handsome, and the boys said:-- + +"That isn't the best of it,--he's a _trump_! Wait till you know him." + +Jane was too loyal to Jack to admit that his friend was any handsomer or +in any way a finer fellow than her brother. + +"Who said he was?" said Frank, "Jack Williams is out and out the finest +man I know. We were sizing him up by such fellows as Phil and me." + +"Jack's the most popular man at Yale," said Phil, "but he's too modest +to know it; Jarvis will tell you so. He thinks it's a great snap to have +Jack for his chum." + +These things were music in my ears, for I was quite willing to agree +with the boys, and the mother's eyes were full of joy as she led the way +to the dining room. That was a jolly meal. Nothing was said that could +be remembered, and yet we all talked a great deal and laughed a great +deal more. City, country, farm, college, and seminary were touched with +merry jests. Light wit provoked heavy laughter, and every one was the +better for it. It was nine o'clock before we left the table. I heard +Jarvis say:-- + +"Miss Jane, I count it very unkind of Jack not to have let me go to +Farmington with him last term. He used to talk of his 'little sister' as +though she were a miss in short dresses. Jack is a deep and treacherous +fellow!" + +"Rather say, a very prudent brother," said Jane. "However, you may come +to the Elm Tree Inn in the spring term, if Jack will let you." + +"I'll work him all winter," was Jarvis's reply. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +CHRISTMAS + + +Christmas light was slow in coming. There was a hush in the air as if +the earth were padded so that even the footsteps of Nature might not be +heard. Out of my window I saw that a great fall of snow had come in the +night. The whole landscape was covered by fleecy down--soft and white as +it used to be when I first saw it on the hills of New England. No wind +had moved it; it lay as it fell, like a white mantle thrown lightly over +the world. Great feathery flakes filled the air and gently descended +upon the earth, like that beautiful Spirit that made the plains of Judea +bright two thousand years ago. It seemed a fitting emblem of that nature +which covered the unloveliness of the world by His own beauty, and +changed the dark spots of earth to pure white. + +It was an ideal Christmas morning,--clean and beautiful. Such a wealth +of purity was in the air that all the world was clothed with it. The +earth accepted the beneficence of the skies, and the trees bent in +thankfulness for their beautiful covering. It was a morning to make one +thoughtful,--to make one thankful, too, for home and friends and +country, and a future that could be earned, where the white folds of +usefulness and purity would cover man's inheritance of selfishness and +passion. + +For an hour I watched the big flakes fall; and, as I watched, I dreamed +the dream of peace for all the world. The brazen trumpet of war was a +thing of the past. The white dove of peace had built her nest in the +cannon's mouth and stopped its awful roar. The federation of the world +was secured by universal intelligence and community of interest. Envy +and selfishness and hypocrisy, and evil doing and evil speaking, were +deeply covered by the snowy mantle that brought "peace on earth and good +will to men." + +My dream was not dispelled by any rude awakening. As the house threw off +the fetters of the night and gradually struggled into activity, it was +in such a fresh and loving manner and with such thoughtful solicitude +for each member of our world, that I walked in my dream all day. + +The snow fell rapidly till noon, and then the sun came forth from the +veil of clouds and cast its southern rays across the white expanse with +an effect that drew exclamations of delight from all who had eyes to +see. No wind stirred the air, but ever and anon a bright avalanche would +slide from bough or bush, sparkle and gleam as the sun caught it, and +then sink gently into the deep lap spread below. The bough would spring +as if to catch its beautiful load, and, failing in this, would throw up +its head and try to look unconcerned,--though quite evidently conscious +of its bereavement. + +The appearance of the sun brought signs of life and activity. The men +improvised a snow-plough, the strong horses floundering in front of it +made roads and paths through the two feet of feathers that hid the +world. + +After lunch, the young people went for a frolic in the snow. Two hours +later the shaking of garments and stamping of feet gave evidence of the +return of the party. Stepping into the hall I was at once surrounded by +the handsomest troupe of Esquimaux that ever invaded the temperate zone. +The snow clung lovingly to their wet clothing and would not be shaken +off; their cheeks were flushed, their eyes bright, and their voices +pitched at an out-of-doors key. + +"Away to your rooms, every one of you, and get into dry clothes," said +I. "Don't dare show yourselves until the dinner bell rings. I'll send +each of you a hot negus,--it's a prescription and must be taken; I'm a +tyrant when professional." + +We saw nothing more of them until dinner. The young ladies came in +white, with their maiden shoulders losing nothing by contact with their +snow-white gowns. All but Miss Jessie, whose dress was a pearl velvet, +buttoned close to her slender throat. I loved this style best, but I +could never believe that anything could be prettier than Jane's white +shoulders. + +The table was loaded, as Christmas tables should be, and, as I asked +God's blessing on it and us, the thought came that the answer had +preceded the request and that we were blessed in unusual degree. + +After dinner the rugs in the great room were rolled up, and the young +folks danced to Laura's music, which could inspire unwilling feet. But +there were none such that night. Tom and Kate led off in the newest and +most fantastic waltz, others followed, and Polly and I were the only +spectators. An hour of this, and then we gathered around the hearth to +hear Polly read "The Christmas Carol." No one reads like Polly. Her low, +soft voice seems never to know fatigue, but runs on like a musical +brook. When the reading was over, a hush of satisfied enjoyment had +taken possession of us all. It was not broken when Miss Jessie turned to +the piano and sang that glorious hymn, "Lead, Kindly Light." Jack was +close beside her, his blue eyes shining with an appreciation of which +any woman might be proud, and his baritone in perfect harmony with her +rich contralto. The young ladies took the higher part, Frank added his +tenor, and even Phil and I leaned heavily on Jarvis's deep bass. My +effort was of short duration; a lump gathered in my throat that caused +me to turn away. Polly was searching fruitlessly for something to dry +the tears that overran her eyes, and I was able to lend her aid, but the +accommodation was of the nature of a "call loan." + +As we separated for the night, Jarvis said: "Lady mother, this day has +been a revelation to me. If I live a hundred years, I shall never forget +it." I was slow in bringing it to a close. As I loitered in my room, I +heard the shuffling of slippered feet in the hall, and a timid knock at +Polly's door. It was quickly opened for Jane and Jessie, and I heard +sobbing voices say:-- + +"Momee, we want to cry on your bed," and, "Oh, Mrs. Williams, why can't +all days be like this!" + +Polly's voice was low and indistinct, but I know that it carried strong +and loving counsel; and, as I turned to my pillow, I was still dreaming +the dream of the morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +WE CLOSE THE BOOKS FOR '96 + + +The morning after Christmas broke clear, with a wind from the south that +promised to make quick work of the snow. The young people were engaged +for the evening, as indeed for most evenings, in the hospitable village, +and they spent the day on the farm as pleased them best. + +There were many things to interest city-bred folk on a place like Four +Oaks. Everything was new to them, and they wanted to see the workings of +the factory farm in all its detail. They made friends with the men who +had charge of the stock, and spent much time in the stables. Polly and I +saw them occasionally, but they did not need much attention from us. We +have never found it necessary to entertain our friends on the farm. They +seem to do that for themselves. We simply live our lives with them, and +they live theirs with us. This works well both for the guests and for +the hosts. + +The great event of the holiday week was a New Year Eve dance at the +Country Club. Every member was expected to appear in person or by proxy, +as this was the greatest of many functions of the year. + +Sunday was warm and sloppy, and little could be done out of doors. Part +of the household were for church, and the rest lounged until luncheon; +then Polly read "Sonny" until twilight, and Laura played strange music +in the half-dark. + +The next day the men went into town to look about, and to lunch with +some college chums. As they would not return until five, the ladies had +the day to themselves. They read a little, slept a little, and talked +much, and were glad when five o'clock and the men came. Tea was so hot +and fragrant, the house so cosey, and the girls so pretty, that Jack +said:-- + +"What chumps we men were to waste the whole day in town!" + +"And what do you expect of men, Mr. Jack?" said Jessie. + +"Yes, I know, the old story of pearls and swine, but there are pearls +and pearls." + +"Do you mean that there are more pearls than swine, Mr. Jack? For, if +you do, I will take issue with you." + +"If I am a swine, I will be an æsthetic one and wear the pearl that +comes my way," said Jack, looking steadily into the eyes of the +high-headed girl. + +"Will you have one lump or two?" + +"One," said Jack, as he took his cup. + +The last day of the year came all too quickly for both young and old at +Four Oaks. Polly and I went into hiding in the office in the afternoon +to make up the accounts for the year. As Polly had spent the larger +lump sum, I could face her with greater boldness than on the previous +occasion. Here is an excerpt from the farm ledger:-- + +Expended in 1896 $43,309 +Interest on previous account 2,200 + _______ + Total $45,509 +Receipts 5,105 + _______ +Net expense $40,404 +Previous account 44,000 + _______ + $84,404 + +The farm owes me a little more than $84,000. "Not so good as I hoped, +and not so bad as I feared," said Polly. "We will win out all right, Mr. +Headman, though it does seem a lot of money." + +"Like the Irishman's pig," quoth I. "Pat said, 'It didn't weigh nearly +as much as I expected, but I never thought it would.'" + +There was little to depress us in the past, and nothing in the present, +so we joined the young people for the dance at the Club. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +OUR FRIENDS + + +After our guests had departed, to college or school or home, the house +was left almost deserted. We did not shut it up, however. Fires were +bright on all hearths, and lamps were kept burning. We did not mean to +lose the cheeriness of the house, though much of the family had +departed. For a wonder, the days did not seem lonesome. After the fist +break was over, we did not find time to think of our solitude, and as +the weeks passed we wondered what new wings had caused them to fly so +swiftly. Each day had its interests of work or study or social function. +Stormy days and unbroken evenings were given to reading. We consumed +many books, both old and new, and we were not forgotten by our friends. +The dull days of winter did not drag; indeed, they were accepted with +real pleasure. Our lives had hitherto been too much filled with the +hurry and bustle inseparable from the fashionable existence-struggle of +a large city to permit us to settle down with quiet nerves to the real +happiness of home. So much of enjoyment accompanies and depends upon +tranquillity of mind, that we are apt to miss half of it in the turmoil +of work-strife and social-strife that fill the best years of most men +and women. + +It is a pity that all overwrought people cannot have a chance to relax +their nerves, and to learn the possibilities of happiness that are +within them. Most of the jars and bickerings of domestic life, most of +the mental and moral obliquities, depend upon threadbare nerves, either +inherited or uncovered by friction incident to getting on in the world. +I never understood the comforts that follow in the wake of a quiet, +unambitious life, until such a life was forced upon me. When you +discover these comforts for the first time, you marvel that you have +foregone them so long, and are fain to recommend them to all the world. + +Polly and I had gotten on reasonably well up to this time; but before we +became conscious of any change, we found ourselves drawn closer together +by a multitude of small interests common to both. After twenty-five +years of married life it will compensate any man to take a little time +from business and worry that he may become acquainted with his wife. A +few fortunate men do this early in life, and they draw compound interest +on the investment; but most of us feel the cares of life so keenly that +we take them home with us to show in our faces and to sit at our tables +and to blight the growth of that cheerful intercourse which perpetuates +love and cements friendship in the home as well as in the world. + +There were no serious cares nowadays, and time passed so smoothly at +Four Oaks that we wondered at the picnic life that had fallen to us. The +village of Exeter was alive in all things social. The city families who +had farms or country places near the village were so fond of them that +they rarely closed them for more than two or three months, and these +months were as likely to come in summer as in winter. + +Our friends the Gordons made Homestead Farm their permanent residence, +though they kept open house in town. Beyond the Gordons' was the modest +home of an Irish baronet, Sir Thomas O'Hara. Sir Tom was a bachelor of +sixty. He had run through two fortunes (as became an Irish baronet) in +the racing field and at Homburg, and as a young man he had lived ten +years at Limmer's tavern in London. When not in training to ride his own +steeple-chasers, he was putting up his hands against any man in England +who would face him for a few friendly rounds. He was not always +victorious, either in the field, before the green cloth, or in the ring; +but he was always a kind-hearted gentleman who would divide his last +crown with friend or foe, and who could accept a beating with grace and +unruffled spirit. + +He could never ride below the welter weight, and after a few years he +outgrew this weight and was forced to give up the least expensive of +his diversions. The green cloth now received more of his attention, +and, as a matter of course, of his money. Things went badly with him, +and he began to see the end of his second fortune before he called a +halt. Bad times in Ireland seriously reduced his rents, and he was +forced to dispose of his salable estates. Then he came to this country +in the hope of recouping himself, and to get away from the fast set that +surrounded him. + +"I can resist anything but temptation," this warm-hearted Irishman would +say; and that was the keynote of his character. + +Though Sir Tom was only sixty years old, he looked seventy. He was much +broken in health by gout and the fast pace of his early manhood. But his +spirit was untouched by misfortune, disease, or hardship. His courage +was as good as when he served as a subaltern of the Guards in the +trenches before Sebastopol, or presented his body as a mark for the +sledge-hammer blows of Tom Sayers, just for diversion. His constitution +must have been superb, for even in his decrepitude he was good to look +upon: five feet ten, fine body, slightly given to rotundity, legs a +little shrunken in the shanks, but giving unmistakable signs of what +they had been ("not lost, but gone before," as he would say of them), +hands and feet aristocratic in form and well cared for, and a fine head +set on broad shoulders. His hair was thin, and he parted it with great +exactness in the middle. His eyes were brown, large, and of exceeding +softness. His nose was straight in spite of many a contusion, and his +whole expression was that of a high-bred gentleman somewhat the worse +for wear. Sir Tom was perfectly groomed when he came forth from his +chamber, which was usually about ten in the morning. + +Those of us who had access to his rooms often wondered how he ever got +out of them looking so immaculate, for they were a perfectly impassable +jungle to the stranger. Such a tangle of trunks, hand-bags, rug bundles, +clothes, boots, pajamas, newspapers, scrap-books, B. & S. bottles, could +hardly be found anywhere else in the world. He had a fondness for +newspaper clippings, and had trunks of them, sorted into bundles or +pasted in scrap-books. Old volumes of Bell's _Life_ filled more than one +trunk, and on one occasion when he and I were spending a long evening +together, in celebration of his recent recovery from an attack of gout, +and when he had done more than usual justice to the B. & S. bottles and +less than usual justice to his gout, he showed me the record of a +long-gone year in which this same Bell's _Life_ called him the "first +among the gentlemen riders in the United Kingdom," and proved this +assertion by showing how he had won most of the great steeple-chases in +England and Ireland, riding his own horses. This was the nearest +approach to boasting that ever came to my knowledge in the years of our +close friendship, and I would never have thought of it as such had I +not seen that he regarded it as unwarrantable self-praise. + +I have never known a more simple, kind-hearted, agreeable, and lovable +gentleman than this broken-down sporting man and gambler. I loved him as +a brother; and though he has passed out of my life, I still love the +memory of his genial face, his courtesy, his unselfish friendship, more +than words can express. A tender heart and a gentle spirit found strange +housing in a body given over to reckless prodigality. The combination, +tempered by time and exhaustion, showed nothing that was not lovable; +and it is scant praise to say that Sir Thomas was much to me. + +He was just as acceptable to Polly. No woman could fail to appreciate +the homage which he never failed to show to the wife and mother. Many +winter evenings at Four Oaks were made brighter by his presence, and we +grew to expect him at least three nights each week. His plate was placed +on our round table these nights, and he rarely failed to use it; and the +B. & S. bottles were near at hand, and his favorite brand of cigars +within easy reach. + +"I light a 'baccy' by your permission, Mrs. Williams," and a courtly bow +accompanied the words. + +At 9.30 William came to bring Sir Tom home. The leave-taking was always +formal with Polly, but with me it was, "Ta-ta, Williams--see you +later," and our guest would hobble out on his poor crippled feet, waving +his hand gallantly, with a voice as cheery as a boy's. + +Another family whom I wish the reader to know well is the Kyrles. For +more than twenty-five years we have known no joys or sorrows which they +did not feel, and no interests that touched them have failed to leave a +mark on us. We could not have been more intimate or better friends had +the closest blood tie united us. The acquaintance of young married +couples had grown into a friendship that was bearing its best fruit at a +time when best fruit was most appreciated. We do not consider a pleasure +more than half complete until we have told it to Will and Frances Kyrle, +for their delight doubles our happiness. + +They were among the earliest of my patients, and they are easily first +among our friends. I have watched more than a half-dozen of their +children from infancy to adult life, and this alone would be a strong +bond; but in addition to this is the fact that the whole family, from +father to youngest child, possess in a wonderful degree that subtle +sense of true camaraderie which is as rare as it is charming. + +The Kyrles lived in the city, but they were foot-free, and we could +count on having them often. Four Oaks was to be, if we had our way, a +country home for them almost as much as for us. Indeed, one of the +rooms was called the Kyrles' room, and they came to it at will. Enough +about our friends. We must go back to the farm interests, which are, +indeed, the only excuse for this history. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +THE HEADMAN'S JOB + + +Our life at Four Oaks began in earnest in January, 1897. Even during the +winter months there was no lack of employment and interest for the +Headman. I breakfasted at seven, and from that time until noon I was as +busy as if I were working for $20 a month. The master's eye is worth +more than his hand in a factory like mine. My men were, and are, an +unusual lot,--intelligent, sober, and willing,--but they, like others, +are apt to fall into routine ways, and thereby to miss points which an +observing proprietor would not overlook. + +The cows, for instance, were all fed the same ration. Fifteen pounds of +mixed grains was none too much for the big Holstein milk-makers, who +were yielding well and looking in perfect health; but the common cows +were taking on too much flesh and falling off in milk. I at once changed +the ration for these six cows by leaving out the corn entirely and +substituting oat straw for alfalfa in the cut feed. The change brought +good results in five of the cows; the other one did not pick up in her +milk, and after a reasonable trial I sold her. + +The herd was doing excellently for mid-winter,--the yield amounted to a +daily average of 840 pounds throughout the month, and I was able to make +good my contract with the middleman. I could see breakers ahead, +however, and it behooved me to make ready for them. I decided to buy ten +more thoroughbreds in new milk, if I could find them. I wrote to the +people from whom I had purchased the first herd, and after a little +delay secured nine cows in fresh milk and about four years old. This +addition came in February, and kept my milk supply above the danger +point. Since then I have bought no cows. Thirty-four of these +thoroughbreds are still at Four Oaks--two of them have died, and three +have been sold for not keeping up to the standard--and are doing grand +service. Their numbers have been reënforced by twenty of their best +daughters, so there are at this writing fifty-four milch cows and five +yearling heifers in the herd. Most of the calves have been disposed of +as soon as weaned. I have no room for more stock on my place, and it +doesn't pay to keep them to sell as cows. Four Oaks is not a breeding +farm, but a factory farm, and everything has to be subordinated to the +factory idea. + +My thoroughbred calves have brought me an average price of $12 each at +four to six weeks, sold to dairymen, and I am satisfied to do business +in that way. The nine milch cows which I bought to complete the herd +cost, delivered at Four Oaks, $1012. + +All the grain fed to cows, horses, and hogs, and a portion of that fed +to chickens, is ground fine before feeding. The grinding is done in the +granary by a mill with a capacity of forty bushels an hour. We make corn +meal, corn and cob meal, and oatmeal enough for a week's supply in a few +hours. All hay and straw is cut fine, before being fed, by a power +cutter in the forage barn, and from thence is taken by teams in box +racks to the feeding rooms, where it is wetted with hot water and mixed +with the ground feed for the cows and horses, and steamed or cooked with +the ground feed for the hogs and hens. + +Alfalfa is the only hay used for the hens, and wonderfully good it is +for them. Besides feed for the hogs, we have to provide ashes, salt, and +charcoal for them. These three things are kept constantly before them in +narrow troughs set so near the wall that they cannot get their feet into +them. + +We carefully save all wood ashes for the hogs and hens, and we burn our +own charcoal in a pit in the wood lot. Five cords of sound wood make an +abundant supply for a year. I think this side dish constantly before +swine goes a long way toward keeping them healthy. Clean pens, +well-balanced and well-cooked food, pure water, and this medicine can +be counted on to keep a growing and fattening herd healthy during its +nine months of life. + +It is claimed that it is unnatural and artificial to confine these young +things within such narrow limits, and so it is; but the whole scheme is +unnatural, if you please. The pig is born to die, and to die quickly, +for the profit and maintenance of man. What could be more unnatural? +Would he be better reconciled to his fate after spending his nine months +between field and sty? I wot not. The Chester White is an indolent +fellow, and I suspect he loves his comfortable house, his cool stone +porch, his back yard to dig in, his neighbors across the wire fence to +gossip with, and his well-balanced, well-cooked food served under his +own nose three times a day. At least he looks content in his piggery, +and grows faster and puts on more flesh in his 250 days than does his +neighbor of the field. If the hog's profitable life were twice or thrice +as long, I would advocate a wider liberty for the early part of it; but +as it doesn't pay to keep the animal after he is nine months old, the +quickest way to bring him to perfection is the best. One cannot afford +to graze animals of any kind when one is trying to do intensive farming. +It is indirect, it is wasteful of space and energy, and it doesn't force +the highest product. Grazing, as compared with soiling, may be +economical of labor, but as I understand economics that is the one +thing in which we do not wish to economize. The multiplication of +well-paid and well-paying labor is a thing to be specially desired. If +the soiling farm will keep two or three more men employed at good wages, +and at the same time pay better interest than the grazing farm, it +should be looked upon as much the better method. The question of +furnishing landscape for hogs is one that borders too closely on the +æsthetic or the sentimental to gain the approval of the factory-farm +man. What is true of hogs is also true of cows. They are better off +under the constant care of intelligent and interested human beings than +when they follow the rippling brook or wind slowly o'er the lea at their +own sweet pleasure. + +The truth is, the rippling brook doesn't always furnish the best water, +and the lea furnishes very imperfect forage during nine months of the +year. A twenty-acre lot in good grass, in which to take the air, is all +that a well-regulated herd of fifty cows needs. The clean, cool, calm +stable is much to their liking, and the regular diet of a first-class +cow-kitchen insures a uniform flow of milk. + +What is true of hogs and cows is true also of hens. The common opinion +that the farm-raised hen that has free range is healthier or happier +than her sister in a well-ordered hennery is not based on facts. Freedom +to forage for one's self and pick up a precarious living does not always +mean health, happiness, or comfort. The strenuous life on the farm +cannot compare in comfort with the quiet house and the freedom from +anxiety of the well-tended hen. The vicissitudes of life are terrible +for the uncooped chicken. The occupants of air, earth, and water lie in +wait for it. It is fair game for the hawk and the owl; the fox, the +weasel, the rat, the wood pussy, the cat, and the dog are its sworn +enemies. The horse steps on it, the wheel crushes it; it falls into the +cistern or the swill barrel; it is drenched by showers or stiffened by +frosts, and, as the English say, it has a "rather indifferent time of +it." If it survive the summer, and some chickens do, it will roost and +shiver on the limb of an apple tree. Its nest will be accessible only to +the mink and the rat; and, like Rachel, it will mourn for its children, +which are not. + +No, the well-yarded hen has by all odds the best of it. The wonder is +that, with three-fourths of the poultry at large and making its own +living, hens still furnish a product, in this country alone, +$100,000,000 greater in value than the whole world's output of gold. Our +annual production of eggs and poultry foots up to $280,000,000,--$4 +apiece for every man, woman, and child,--and yet people say that hens do +not pay! + +Each flock of forty hens at Four Oaks has a house sixteen feet by +twenty, and a run twenty feet by one hundred. I hear no complaints of +close quarters or lack of freedom, but I do hear continually the song +of contentment, and I see results daily that are more satisfactory than +those of any oil well or mine in which I have ever been interested. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +SPRING OF '97 + + +Sam began to make up his breeding pens in January. He selected 150 of +his favorites, divided them into 10 flocks of 15, added a fine cockerel +to each pen (we do not allow cocks or cockerels to run with the laying +hens), and then began to set the incubator house in order. + +He filled the first incubator on Saturday, January 30, and from that day +until late in April he was able to start a fresh machine about every six +days. Sam reports the total hatch for the year as 1917 chicks, out of +which number he had, when he separated them in the early autumn, 678 +pullets to put in the runs for laying hens, and 653 cockerels to go to +the fattening pens. These figures show that Sam was a first-class +chicken man. + +We secured 300 tons of ice at the side of the lake for $98, having to +pay a little more that year than the last, on account of the heavy fall +of snow. + +The wood-house was replenished, although there was still a good deal of +last year's cut on hand. We did not fell any trees, for there was still +a considerable quantity of dead wood on the ground which should be used +first. I wanted to clear out much of the useless underbrush, but we had +only time to make a beginning in this effort at forestry. We went over +perhaps ten acres across the north line, removing briers and brush. +Everything that looked like a possible future tree was left. Around oak +and hickory stumps we found clumps of bushes springing from living +roots. These we cut away, except one or possibly two of the most +thrifty. We trimmed off the lower branches of those we saved, and left +them to make such trees as they could. I have been amazed to see what a +growth an oak-root sprout will make after its neighbors have been cut +away. There are some hundreds of these trees in the forest at Four Oaks, +from five to six inches in diameter, which did not measure more than one +or two inches five years ago. + +As the underbrush was cleared from the wood lot, I planned to set young +trees to fill vacant spaces. The European larch was used in the first +experiment. In the spring of 1897 I bought four thousand seedling +larches for $80, planted them in nursery rows in the orchard, cultivated +them for two years, and then transplanted them to the forest. The larch +is hardy and grows rapidly; and as it is a valuable tree for many +purposes, it is one of the best for forest planting. I have planted no +others thus far at Four Oaks, as the four thousand from my little +nursery seem to fill all unoccupied spaces. + +Fresh mulching was piled near all the young fruit trees, to be applied +as soon as the frost was out of the ground. Several hundreds of loads of +manure were hauled to the fields, to be spread as soon as the snow +disappeared. I always return manure to the land as soon as it can be +done conveniently. The manure from the hen-house was saved this year to +use on the alfalfa fields, to see how well it would take the place of +commercial fertilizer. I may as well give the result of the experiment +now. + +It was mixed with sand and applied at the rate of eight hundred pounds +an acre for the spring dressing over a portion of the alfalfa, against +four hundred pounds an acre of the fertilizer 3:8:8. After two years I +was convinced that, when used alone, it is not of more than half the +value of the fertilizer. + +My present practice is to use five hundred pounds of hen manure and two +hundred pounds of fertilizer on each acre for the spring dressing, and +two hundred pounds an acre of the fertilizer alone after each cutting +except the last. We have ten or twelve tons of hen manure each year, and +it is nearly all used on the alfalfa or the timothy as spring dressing. +It costs nothing, and it takes off a considerable sum from the +fertilizer account. I am not at all sure that the scientists would +approve this method of using it; I can only give my experience, and say +that it brings me satisfactory crops. + +There was much snow in January and February, and in March much rain. +When the spring opened, therefore, the ground was full of water. This +was fortunate, for April and May were unusually dry months,--only 1.16 +inches of water. + +The dry April brought the ploughs out early; but before we put our hands +to the plough we should make a note of what the first quarter of 1897 +brought into our strong box. + +Sold: + Butter . . . . $842.00 + Eggs . . . . 401.00 + Cow . . . . 35.00 + Two sows . . . 19.00 + Total . . . $1297.00 + +Fifteen of the young sows farrowed in March, and the other 9 in April, +as also did 18 old ones. The young sows gave us 147 pigs, and the old +ones 161, so that the spring opened with an addition to our stock of 300 +head of young swine. + +Between March 1 and May 10 were born 25 calves, which were all sold +before July 1. The population of our factory farm was increasing so +rapidly that it became necessary to have more help. We already had eight +men and three women, besides the help in the big house. One would think +that eight men could do the work on a farm of 320 acres, and so they +can, most of the time; but in seed-time and harvest they are not +sufficient at Four Oaks. We could not work the teams. + +Up to March, 1897, Sam had full charge of the chickens, and also looked +after the hogs, with the help of Anderson. Judson and French had their +hands full in the cow stables, and Lars was more than busy with the +carriage horses and the driving. Thompson was working foreman, and his +son Zeb and Johnson looked after the farm horses during the winter and +did the general work. From that time on Sam gave his entire time to the +chickens, Anderson his entire time to the hogs, and Johnson began +gardening in real earnest. This left only Thompson and Zeb for general +farm work. + +Again I advertised for two farm hands. I selected two of the most +promising applicants and brought them out to the farm. Thompson +discharged one of them at the end of the first day for persistently +jerking his team, and the other discharged himself at the week's end, to +continue his tramp. Once more I resorted to the city papers. This time I +was more fortunate, for I found a young Swede, square-built and +blond-headed, who said he had worked on his father's farm in the old +country, and had left it because it was too small for the five boys. +Otto was slow of speech and of motion, but he said he could work, and I +hired him. The other man whom I sent to the farm at the same time proved +of no use whatever. He stayed four days, and was dismissed for +innocuous desuetude. Still another man whom I tried did well for five +weeks, and then broke out in a most profound spree, from which he could +not be weaned. He ended up by an assault on Otto in the stable yard. The +Swede was taken by surprise, and was handsomely bowled over by the first +onslaught of his half-drunk, half-crazed antagonist. As soon, however, +as his slow mind took in the fact that he was being pounded, he gathered +his forces, and, with a grunt for a war-cry, rolled his enemy under him, +sat upon his stomach, and, flat-handed, slapped his face until he +shouted for aid. The man left the farm at once, and I commended the +Swede for having used the flat of his hand. + +In spite of bad luck with the new men we were able to plough and seed +144 acres by May 10. Lots Nos. 8, 12, 13, and 14 were planted to corn, +and No. 15 sowed to oats, and the 10 acres on the home lot were divided +between sweet fodder corn, potatoes, and cabbage. The abundant water in +the soil gave the crops a fair start, and June proved an excellent +growing month, a rainfall of nearly four inches putting them beyond +danger from the short water supply of July and August. Indeed, had it +not been for the generosity of June we should have been in a bad way, +for the next three months gave a scant four inches of rain. + +The oats made a good growth, though the straw was rather short, and the +corn did very well indeed,--due largely to thorough cultivation. Twelve +acres of oats were cut for forage, and the rest yielded 33 bushels to +the acre,--a little over 1300 bushels. + +The alfalfa and timothy made a good start. From the former we cut, late +in June, 2¼ tons to the acre, and from the timothy, in July, 2½ +tons,--50 tons of timothy and 45 of alfalfa. Each of these fields +received the usual top-dressing after the crop was cut; but the timothy +did not respond,--the late season was too dry. We cut two more crops +from the alfalfa field, which together made a yield of a little more +than 2 tons. The alfalfa in that dry summer gave me 95 tons of good hay, +proving its superiority as a dry-weather crop. + +Johnson started the one-and-one-half-acre vegetable and fruit garden in +April, and devoted much of his time to it. His primitive hotbeds +gradually emptied themselves into the garden, and we now began to taste +the fruit of our own soil, much to the pleasure of the whole colony. It +is surprising what a real gardener can do with a garden of this size. By +feeding soil and plants liberally, he is able to keep the ground +producing successive crops of vegetables, from the day the frost leaves +it in the spring until it again takes possession in the fall, without +doing any wrong to the land. Indeed, our garden grows better and more +prolific each year in spite of the immense crops that are taken from +it. This can be done only by a person who knows his business, and +Johnson is such a person. He gave much of his time to this practical +patch, but he also worked with Polly among the shrubs on the lawn, and +in her sunken flower garden, which is the pride of her life. We shall +hear more about this flower garden later on. + +The accounts for the second quarter of the year show these items on the +income side:-- + +Butter $1052.00 +Eggs 379.00 +Twenty-five calves 275.00 + -------- +Total $1706.00 + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +THE YOUNG ORCHARD + + +One of the most enjoyable occupations of a farmer's life is the care of +young trees. Until your experience in this work is of a personal and +proprietary nature, you will not realize the pleasure it can afford. The +intimate study of plant life, especially if that plant life is yours, is +a never failing source of pleasurable speculation, and a thing upon +which to hang dreams. You grow to know each tree, not only by its shape +and its habit of growth, but also by peculiarities that belong to it as +an individual. The erect, sturdy bearing of one bespeaks a frank, bold +nature, which makes it willing to accept its surroundings and make the +most of them; while the crooked, dwarfish nature of another requires the +utmost care of the husbandman to keep it within the bounds of good +behavior. And yet we often find that the slow-growing, ill-conditioned +young tree, if properly cared for, will bring forth the finest fruit at +maturity. + +To study the character and to watch the development of young trees is a +pleasing and useful occupation for the man who thinks of them as living +things with an inheritance that cannot be ignored. That seeds in all +appearance exactly alike should send forth shoots so unlike, is a wonder +of Nature; and that young shoots in the same soil and with the same care +should show such dissimilarity in development, is a riddle whose answer +is to be found only in the binding laws of heredity. That a tiny bud +inserted under the bark of a well-grown tree can change a sour root to a +sweet bough, ought to make one careful of the buds which one grafts on +the living trunk of one's tree of life. The young orchard can teach many +lessons to him who is willing to be taught; in the hands of him who is +not, the schoolmaster has a very sorry time of it, no matter how he sets +his lessons. + +The side pockets of my jacket are usually weighted down with +pruning-shears, a sharp knife, and a handled copper wire,--always, +indeed, in June, when I walk in my orchard. June is the month of all +months for the prudent orchardist to go thus armed, for the apple-tree +borer is abroad in the land. When the quick eye of the master sees a +little pile of sawdust at the base of a tree, he knows that it is time +for him to sit right down by that tree and kill its enemy. The sharp +knife enlarges the hole, which is the trail of the serpent, and the +sharp-pointed, flexible wire follows the route until it has reached and +transfixed the borer. + +This is the only way. It is the nature of the borer to maim or kill the +tree; it is for the interest of the owner that the tree should live. The +conflict is irrepressible, and the weakest must go to the wall. The +borer evil can be reduced to a minimum by keeping the young trees banked +three or four inches high with firm dirt or ashes; but borers must be +followed with the wire, once they enter the bark. + +The sharp knife and the pruning-shears have other uses in the June +orchard. Limbs and sprouts will come in irregular and improper places, +and they should be nipped out early and thus save labor and mutilation +later on. Sprouts that start from the eyes on the trunk can be removed +by a downward stroke of the gloved hand. All intersecting or crossing +boughs are removed by knife or scissors, and branches which are too +luxuriant in growth are cut or pinched back. Careful guidance of the +tree in June will avoid the necessity of severe correction later on. + +A man ought to plant an orchard, if for no other reason, that he may +have the pleasure of caring for it, and for the companionship of the +trees. This was the second year of growth for my orchard, and I was +gratified by the evidences of thrift and vigor. Fine, spreading heads +adorned the tops of the stubs of trees that had received such +(apparently) cruel treatment eighteen months before. The growth of these +two seasons convinced me that the four-year-old root and the +three-year-old stem, if properly managed, have greater possibilities of +rapid development than roots or stems of more tender age. I think I made +no mistake in planting three-year-old trees. + +As I worked in my orchard I could not help looking forward to the time +when the trees would return a hundred-fold for the care bestowed upon +them. They would begin to bring returns, in a small way, from the fourth +year, and after that the returns would increase rapidly. It is safe to +predict that from the tenth to the fortieth year a well-managed orchard +will give an average yearly income of $100 an acre above all expenses, +including interest on the original cost. A fifty-acre orchard of +well-selected apple trees, near a first-class market and in intelligent +hands, means a net income of $5000, taking one year with another, for +thirty or forty years. What kind of investment will pay better? What +sort of business will give larger returns in health and pleasure? + +I do not mean to convey the idea that forty years is the life of an +orchard; hundreds of years would be more correct. As trees die from +accident or decrepitude, others should take their places. Thus the lease +of life becomes perpetual in hands that are willing to keep adding to +the soil more than the trees and the fruit take from it. Comparatively +few owners of orchards do this, and those who belong to the majority +will find fault with my figures; but the thinking few, who do not expect +to enjoy the fat of the land without making a reasonable return, will +say that I am too conservative,--that a well-placed, well-cared-for, +well-selected, and well-marketed orchard will do much better than my +prophecy. Nature is a good husbandman so far as she goes, but her scheme +contemplates only the perpetuation of the tree, by seeds or by other +means. Nature's plan is to give to each specimen a nutritive ration. +Anything beyond this is thrown away on the individual, and had better be +used for the multiplying of specimens. When man comes to ask something +more than germinating seeds from a plant, he must remove it from the +crowded clump, give it more light and air, _and feed it for product_. In +other words, he must give it more nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash +than it can use for simple growth and maintenance, and thus make it +burst forth into flower-or fruit-product. Nature produces the apple +tree, but man must cultivate it and feed it if he would be fed and +comforted by it. People who neglect their orchards can get neither +pleasure nor profit from them, and such persons are not competent to sit +in judgment upon the value of an apple tree. Only those who love, +nourish, and profit by their orchards may come into the apple court and +speak with authority. + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +THE TIMOTHY HARVEST + + +On Friday, the 25th, the children came home from their schools, and with +them came Jim Jarvis to spend the summer holidays. Our invitation to +Jarvis had been unanimous when he bade us good-by in the winter. Jack +was his chum, Polly had adopted him, I took to him from the first, and +Jane, in her shy way, admired him greatly. The boys took to farm life +like ducks to water. They were hot for any kind of work, and hot, too, +from all kinds. I could not offer anything congenial until the timothy +harvest in July. When this was on, they were happy and useful at the +same time,--a rare combination for boys. + +The timothy harvest is attractive to all, and it would be hard to find a +form of labor which contributes more to the æsthetic sense than does the +gathering of this fragrant grass. At four o'clock on a fine morning, +with the barometer "set fair," Thompson started the mower, and kept it +humming until 6.30, when Zeb, with a fresh team, relieved him. Zeb tried +to cut a little faster than his father, but he was allowed no more +time. Promptly at nine he was called in, and there was to be no more +cutting that day. At eleven o'clock the tedder was started, and in two +hours the cut grass had been turned. At three o'clock the rake gathered +it into windrows, from which it was rolled and piled into heaps, or +cocks, of six hundred or eight hundred pounds each. The cutting of the +morning was in safe bunches before the dew fell, there to go through the +process of sweating until ten o'clock the next day. It was then opened +and fluffed out for four hours, after which all hands and all teams +turned to and hauled it into the forage barn. + +The grass that was cut one morning was safely housed as hay by the +second night, if the weather was favorable; if not, it took little harm +in the haycocks, even from foul weather. It is the sun-bleach that takes +the life out of hay. + +This year we had no trouble in getting fifty tons of as fine timothy hay +as horses could wish to eat or man could wish to see. We began to cut on +Tuesday, the 6th of July, and by Saturday evening the twenty-acre crop +was under cover. The boys blistered their hands with the fork handles, +and their faces, necks, and arms with the sun's rays, and claimed to +like the work and the blisters. Indeed, tossing clean, fragrant hay is +work fit for a prince; and a man never looks to better advantage or more +picturesque than when, redolent with its perfume, he slings a jug over +the crook in his elbow and listens to the gurgle of the home-made ginger +ale as it changes from jug to throat. There may be joys in other drinks, +but for solid comfort and refreshment give me a July hay-field at 3 +P.M., a jug of water at forty-eight degrees, with just the amount of +molasses, vinegar, and ginger that is Polly's secret, and I will give +cards and spades to the broadest goblet of bubbles that was ever poured, +and beat it to a standstill. Add to this a blond head under a broad hat, +a thin white gown, such as grasshoppers love, and you can see why the +emptying of the jug was a satisfying function in our field; for Jane was +the one who presided at these afternoon teas. Often Jane was not alone; +Florence or Jessie, or both, or others, made hay while the sun shone in +those July days, and many a load went to the barn capped with white and +laughter. The young people decided that a hay farm would be ideal--no +end better than a factory farm--and advised me to put all the land into +timothy and clover. I was not too old to see the beauties of +haying-time, with such voluntary labor; but I was too old and too much +interested with my experiment to be cajoled by a lot of youngsters. I +promised them a week of haying in each fifty-two, but that was all the +concession I would make. Laura said:-- + +"We are commanded to make hay while the sun shines; and the sun always +shines at Four Oaks, for me." + +It was pretty of her to say that; but what else would one expect from +Laura? + +The twelve acres from which the fodder oats had been cut were ploughed +and fitted for sugar beets and turnips. I was not at all certain that +the beets would do anything if sown so late, but I was going to try. Of +the turnips I could feel more certain, for doth not the poet say:-- + + "The 25th day of July, + Sow your turnips, wet or dry"? + +As the 25th fell on Sunday, I tried to placate the agricultural poet by +sowing half on the 24th and the other half on the 26th, but it was no +use. Whether the turnip god was offended by the fractured rule and +refused his blessing, or whether the dry August and September prevented +full returns, is more than I can say. Certain it is that I had but a +half crop of turnips and a beggarly batch of beets to comfort me and the +hogs. + +Some little consolation, however, was found in Polly's joy over a small +crop of currants which her yearling bushes produced. I also heard rumors +of a few cherries which turned their red cheeks to the sun for one happy +day, and then disappeared. Cock Robin's breast was red the next morning, +and on this circumstantial evidence Polly accused him. He pleaded "not +guilty," and strutted on the lawn with his thumbs in the armholes of his +waistcoat and his suspected breast as much in evidence as a pouter +pigeon's. A jury, mostly of blackbirds, found the charge "not proven," +and the case was dismissed. I was convinced by the result of this trial +that the only safe way would be to provide enough cherries for the birds +and for the people too, and ordered fifty more trees for fall planting. +I found by experience, that if one would have bird neighbors (and who +would not?), he must provide liberally for their wants and also for +their luxuries. I have stolen a march as to the cherries by planting +scores of mulberry trees, both native and Russian. Birds love mulberries +even better than they do cherries, and we now eat our pies in peace. To +make amends for this ruse, I have established a number of drinking +fountains and free baths; all of which have helped to make us friends. + +In August I sold, near the top of a low market, 156 young hogs. At $4.50 +per hundred, the bunch netted me $1807. They did not weigh quite as much +as those sold the previous autumn, and I found two ways of accounting +for this. The first and most probable was that fall pigs do not grow so +fast as those farrowed in the spring. This is sufficient to account for +the fact that the herd average was twenty pounds lighter than that of +its predecessor. I could not, however, get over the notion that +Anderson's nervousness had in some way taken possession of the swine (we +have Holy Writ for a similar case), and that they were wasted in growth +by his spirit of unrest. He was uniformly kind to them and faithful +with their food, but there was lacking that sense of cordial sympathy +which should exist between hog and man if both would appear at their +best. Even when Anderson came to their pens reeking with the rich savor +of the food they loved, their ears would prick up (as much as a Chester +White's ears can), and with a "woof!" they would shoot out the door, +only to return in a moment with the greatest confidence. I never heard +that "woof" and saw the stampede without looking around for the "steep +place" and the "sea," feeling sure that the incident lacked only these +accessories to make it a catastrophe. + +Anderson was good and faithful, and he would work his arms and legs off +for the pigs; but the spirit of unrest entered every herd which he kept, +though neither he nor I saw it clearly enough to go and "tell it in the +city." With other swineherds my hogs averaged from fifteen to eighteen +pounds better than with faithful Anderson, and I am, therefore, +competent to speak of the gross weight of the spirit of contentment. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +STRIKE AT GORDON'S MINE + + +Frank Gordon owned a coal mine about six miles west of the village of +Exeter, and four miles from Four Oaks. A village called Gordonville had +sprung up at the mouth of the mine. It was the home of the three hundred +miners and their families,--mostly Huns, but with a sprinkling of +Cornishmen. + +The houses were built by the owner of the mine, and were leased to the +miners at a small yearly rental. They were modest in structure, but they +could be made inviting and neat if the occupants were thrifty. No one +was allowed to sell liquor on the property owned by the Gordons, but +outside of this limit was a fringe of low saloons which did a thriving +business off the improvident miners. + +There had never been a strike at Gordonville, and such a thing seemed +improbable, for Gordon was a kind master, who paid his men promptly and +looked after their interests more than is usual for a capitalist. + +It was, therefore, a distinct surprise when the foreman of the mine +telephoned to Gordon one July morning that the men had struck work. +Gordon did not understand the reason of it, but he expressed himself as +being heartily glad, for financial reasons, that the men had gone out. +He had more than enough coal on the surface and in cars to supply the +demand for the next three months, and it would be money in his pocket to +dispose of his coal without having to pay for the labor of replacing it. + +During the day the reason for the strike was announced. From the +establishment of the mine it had been the custom for the miners to have +their tools sharpened at a shop built and run by the property. This was +done for the accommodation of the men, and the charge for keeping the +tools sharp was ten cents a week for each man, or $5 a year. For twenty +years no fault had been found with the arrangement; it had been looked +upon as satisfactory, especially by the men. A walking delegate, mousing +around the mine, and finding no other cause for complaint, had lighted +upon this practice, and he told the men it was a shame that they should +have to pay ten cents a week out of their hard-earned wages for keeping +their tools sharp. He said that it was the business of the property to +keep the tools sharp, and that the men should not be called upon to pay +for that service; that they ought, in justice to themselves and for the +dignity of associated labor, to demand that this onerous tax be removed; +and, to insure its removal, he declared a strike on. This was the +reason, and the only reason, for the strike at Gordon's mine. Three +hundred men quit work, and three hundred families suffered, many of them +for the necessities of life, simply because a loud-mouthed delegate +assured them that they were being imposed upon. + +Things went on quietly at the mine. There was no riot, no disturbance. +Gordon did not go over, but simply telephoned to the superintendent to +close the shaft houses, shut down the engines, put out the fires, and +let things rest, at the same time saying that he would hold the +superintendent and the bosses responsible for the safety of the plant. + +The men were disappointed, as the days went by, that the owner made no +effort to induce them to resume work. They had believed that he would at +once accede to their demand, and that they would go back to work with +the tax removed. This, however, was not his plan. Weeks passed and the +men became restless. They frequented the saloons more generally, spent +their remaining money for liquor, and went into debt as much as they +were permitted for more liquor. They became noisy and quarrelsome. The +few men who were opposed to the strike could make no headway against +public opinion. These men held aloof from the saloons, husbanded their +money, and confined themselves as much as possible to their own houses. + +Things had gone on in this way for six weeks. The men grew more and +more restless and more dissipated. Again the walking delegate came to +encourage them to hold out. Mounted on an empty coal car, he made an +inflammatory speech to the men, advising them not only to hold out +against the owner, but also to prevent the employment of any other help. +If this should not prove sufficient, he advised them to wreck the mining +property and to fire the mine,--anything to bring the owner to terms. + +Jack and Jarvis went for a long walk one day, and their route took them +near Gordonville. Seeing the men collected in such numbers around a coal +car, they approached, and heard the last half of this inflammatory +speech. As the walking delegate finished, Jack jumped up on the car, and +said:-- + +"McGinnis has had his say; now, men, let me have mine. There are always +two sides to a question. You have heard one, let me give you the other. +I am a delegate, self-appointed, from the amalgamated Order of Thinkers, +and I want you to listen to our view of this strike,--and of all +strikes. I want you also to think a little as well as to listen. + +"You have been led into this position by a man whose sole business is to +foment discords between working-men and their employers. The moment +these discords cease, that moment this man loses his job and must work +or starve like the rest of you. He is, therefore, an interested party, +and he is more than likely to be biassed by what seems to be his +interest. He has made no argument; he has simply asserted things which +are not true, and played upon your sympathies, emotions, and passions, +by the use of the stale war-cries--'oppression,' 'down-trodden +working-man,' 'bloated bond-holders,' and, most foolish of all, 'the +conflict between Capital and Labor.' You have not thought this matter +out for yourselves at all. That is why I ask you to join hands for a +little while with the Order of Thinkers and see if there is not some +good way out of this dilemma. McGinnis said that the Company has no +right to charge you for keeping your tools sharp. In one sense this is +true. You have a perfect right to work with dull tools, if you wish to; +you have the right to sharpen your own tools; and you also have the +right to hire any one else to do it for you. You work 'by the ton,' you +own your pickaxes and shovels from handle to blade, and you have the +right to do with them as you please. + +"There are three hundred of you who use tools; you each pay ten cents a +week to the Company for keeping them sharp,--that is, in round numbers, +$1500 a year. There are two smiths at work at $50 a month (that is +$1200), and a helper at $25 a month ($300 more), making just $1500 paid +by the Company in wages. If you will think this matter out, you will see +that there is a dead loss to the Company of the coal used, the wear and +tear of the instruments, and the interest, taxes, insurance, and +degeneration of the plant. Is the Company under obligation to lose this +money for you? Not at all! The Company does this as an accommodation and +a gratuity to you, but not as a duty. Just as much coal would be taken +from the Gordon mine if your tools were never sharpened, only it would +require more men, and you would earn less money apiece. You could not +get this sharpening done at private shops so cheaply, and you cannot do +it yourselves. You have no more right to ask the Company to do this work +for nothing than you have to ask it to buy your tools for you. It would +be just as sensible for you to strike because the Company did not send +each of you ten cents' worth of ice-cream every Sunday morning, as it is +for you to go out on this matter of sharpening tools. + +"But, suppose the Company were in duty bound to do this thing for you, +and suppose it should refuse; would that be a good reason for quitting +work? Not by any means! You are earning an average of $2 a day,--nearly +$16,000 a month. You've 'been out' six weeks. If you gain your point, it +will take you fifteen years to make up what you've already lost. If you +have the sense which God gives geese, you will see that you can't afford +this sort of thing. + +"But the end is not yet. You are likely to stay out six weeks longer, +and each six weeks adds another fifteen years to your struggle to catch +up with your losses. Is this a load which thinking people would impose +upon themselves? Not much! You will lose your battle, for your strike is +badly timed. It seems to be the fate of strikes to be badly timed; they +usually occur when, on account of hard times or over-supply, the +employers would rather stop paying wages than not. That's the case now. +Four months of coal is in yards or on cars, and it's an absolute benefit +to the Company to turn seventy or eighty thousand dollars of dead +product into live money. Don't deceive yourselves with the hope that you +are distressing the owner by your foolish strike; you are putting money +into his pockets while your families suffer for food. There is no great +principle at stake to make your conduct seem noble and to call forth +sympathy for your suffering,--only foolishness and the blind following +of a demagogue whose living depends upon your folly. + +"McGinnis talked to you about the conflict between capital and labor. +That is all rot. There is not and there cannot be such a conflict. Labor +makes capital, and without capital there would be no object in labor. +They are mutually dependent upon each other, and there can be no quarrel +between them, for neither could exist after the death of the other. The +capitalist is only a laborer who has saved a part of his wages, +--either in his generation or in some preceding one. Any man with a +sound mind and a sound body can become a capitalist. When the laborer +has saved one dollar he is a capitalist,--he has money to lend at +interest or to invest in something that will bring a return. The second +dollar is easier saved than the first, and every dollar saved is earning +something on its own account. All persons who have money to invest or to +lend are capitalists. Of course, some are great and some are small, but +all are independent, for they have more than they need for immediate +personal use. + +"I am going to tell you how you may all become capitalists; but first I +want to point out your real enemies. The employer is not your enemy, +capital is not your enemy, but the saloonkeeper is,--and the most deadly +enemy you can possibly have. In that fringe of shanties over yonder live +the powers that keep you down; there are the foes that degrade you and +your families, forcing you to live little better than wild beasts. Your +food is poor, your clothing is in rags, your children are without shoes, +your homes are desolate, there are no schools and no social life. Year +follows year in dreary monotone, and you finally die, and your neighbors +thrust you underground and have an end of you. Misery and wretchedness +fill the measure of your days, and you are forgotten. + +"This dull, brutish condition is self-imposed, and to what end? That +some dozen harpies may fatten on your flesh; that your labor may give +them leisure; that your suffering may give them pleasure; that your +sweat may cool their brows, and your money fill their tills! + +"What do you get in return? Whiskey, to poison your bodies and pervert +your minds; whiskey, to make you fierce beasts or dull brutes; whiskey, +to make your eyes red and your hands unsteady; whiskey, to make your +homes sties and yourselves fit occupants for them; whiskey, to make you +beat your wives and children; whiskey, to cast you into the gutter, the +most loathsome animal in all the world. This is cheap whiskey, but it +costs you dear. All that makes life worth living, all that raises man +above the brute, and all the hope of a future life, are freely given for +this poor whiskey. The man who sells it to you robs you of your money +and also of your manhood. You pay him ten times (often twenty times) as +much as it cost him, and yet he poses as your friend. + +"I'm not going to say anything against beer, for I don't think good beer +is very likely to hurt a man. I will say this, however,--you pay more +than twice what it is worth. This is the point I would make: beer is a +food of some value, and it should be put on a food basis in price. It +isn't more than half as valuable as milk, and it shouldn't cost more +than half as much. You can have good beer at three or four cents a +quart, if you will let whiskey alone. + +"I promised to tell you how to become capitalists, each and every one of +you, and I'll keep my word if you'll listen to me a little longer." + +While Jack had been speaking, some of the men had shown considerable +interest and had gradually crowded their way nearer to the boy. Thirty +or forty Cornishmen and perhaps as many others of the better sort were +close to the car, and seemed anxious to hear what he had to say. Back of +these, however, were the large majority of the miners and the hangers-on +at the saloons, who did not wish to hear, and did not mean that others +should hear, what the boy had to say. Led by McGinnis and the +saloon-keepers, they had kept up such a row that it had been impossible +for any one, except those quite near the car, to hear at all. Now they +determined to stop the talk and to bounce the boy. They made a vigorous +rush for the car with shouts and uplifted hands. + + +A gigantic Cornishman mounted the car, and said, in a voice that could +easily be heard above the shouting of the crowd:-- + +"Wait--wait a bit, men! The lad is a brave one, and ye maun own to that! +There be small 'urt in words, and mebbe 'e 'ave tole a bit truth. Me and +me mates 'ere are minded to give un a chance. If ye men don't want to +'ear 'im, you don't 'ave to stay; but don't 'e dare touchen with a +finger, or, by God! Tom Carkeek will kick the stuffin' out en 'e!" + +This was enough to prevent any overt act, for Tom Carkeek was the +champion wrestler in all that county; he was fiercer than fire when +roused, and he would be backed by every Cornishman on the job. + +Jack went on with his talk. "The 'Order of Thinkers' claim that you men +and all of your class spend one-third of your entire wages for whiskey +and beer. There are exceptions, but the figures will hold good. I am +going to call the amount of your wages spent in this way, one-fourth. +The yearly pay-roll of this mine is, in round numbers, $200,000. Fifty +thousand of this goes into the hands of those harpies, who grow rich as +you grow poor. You are surprised at these figures, and yet they are too +small. I counted the saloons over there, and I find there are eleven of +them. Divide $50,000 into eleven parts, and you would give each saloon +less than $5000 a year as a gross business. Not one of those places can +run on the legitimate percentage of a business which does not amount to +more than that. Do you suppose these men are here from charitable +motives or for their health? Not at all. They are here to make money, +and they do it. Five or six hundred dollars is all they pay for the vile +stuff for which they charge you $5000. They rob you of manhood and money +alike. + +"Now, what would be the result if you struck on these robbers? I will +tell you. In the first place, you would save $50,000 each year, and you +would be better men in every way for so doing. You would earn more +money, and your children would wear shoes and go to school. That would +be much, and well worth while; but that is not the best of it. I will +make a proposition to you, and I will promise that it shall be carried +out on my side exactly as I state it. + +"This is a noble property. In ten years it has paid its owner +$500,000,--$50,000 a year. It is sure to go on in this way under good +management. I offer, in the name of the owner, to bond this property to +you for $300,000 for five years at six per cent. Of course this is an +unusual opportunity. The owner has grown rich out of it, and he is now +willing to retire and give others a chance. His offer to you is to sell +the mine for half its value, and, at the same time, to give you five +years in which to pay for it. I will add something to this proposition, +for I feel certain that he will agree to it. It is this: Mr. Gordon will +build and equip a small brewery on this property, in which good, +wholesome beer can be made for you at one cent a glass. You are to pay +for the brewery in the same way that you pay for the other property; it +will cost $25,000. This will make $325,000 which you are to pay during +the next five years. How? Let me tell you. + +"The property will give you a net income of $40,000 or $50,000, and you +will save $50,000 more when you give up whiskey and get your beer for +less than one-fourth of what it now costs you. The general store at +which you have always traded will be run in your interests, and all that +you buy will be cheaper. The market will be a cooperative one, which +will furnish you meat, fattened on your own land, at the lowest price. +Your fruit and vegetables will come from these broad acres, which will +be yours and will cost you but little. You will earn more money because +you will be sober and industrious, and your money will purchase more +because you will deal without a middleman. You will be better clothed, +better fed, and better men. Your wives will take new interest in life, +and there will be carpets on your floors, curtains at your windows, +vegetables behind your cottages, and flowers in front of them. + +"All these things you will have with the money you are now earning, and +at the same time you will be changing from the laborer to the +capitalist. The mine gives you a profit of $40,000, and you save +one-fourth of your wages, which makes $50,000 more,--$90,000 in all. +What are you to do with this? Less than $20,000 will cover the interest. +You will have $70,000 to pay on the principal. This will reduce the +interest for the next year more than $3000. Each year you can do as +well, and by the time the five years have passed you will own the mine, +the land, the brewery, the store, the market, and this blessed +blacksmith shop about which you have had so much fuss, and also a bank +with a paid-up capital of $50,000. You are capitalists, every one of +you, at the end of five years, if you wish to be, and if you are willing +to give up the single item,--whiskey. + +"Do you like the plan? Do you like the prospect? Turn it over and see +what objections you can find. If you are willing to go into it, come +over to Four Oaks some day and we will go more into details. McGinnis +gave you one side of the picture: I have given you the other. You are at +liberty to follow whichever you please." + +Jack and Jarvis jumped off the car and struck out for home. Carkeek and +his Cornishmen followed the lads until they were well clear of the +village, to protect them, and then Carkeek said:--"Me and the others +like for to hear 'e talk, mister, and we like for to 'ear 'e talk more." + +"All right, Goliath," said Jack. "Come over any time and we'll make +plans." + + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +THE RIOT + + +Two days later the boys, returning from the city, were met by Jane and +Jessie in the big carriage to be driven home. Halfway to Four Oaks the +carriage suddenly halted, and a confused murmur of angry voices gave +warning of trouble. Jack opened the door and stood upon the step. + +"Fifteen or twenty drunken miners block the way,--they are holding the +horses," said he. + +"Let me out; I'll soon clear the road," said Jarvis, trying to force his +way past Jack. + +"Sit still, Hercules; I am slower to wrath than you are. Let me talk to +them," and Jack took three or four steps forward, followed closely by +Jarvis. + +"Well, men, what do you want? There is no good in stopping a carriage on +the highroad." + +"We want work and money and bread," said a great bearded Hun who was +nearest to Jack. + +"This is no way to get either. We have no work to offer, there is no +bread in the carriage, and not much money. You are dead wrong in this +business, and you are likely to get into trouble. I can make some +allowance when I remember the bad whiskey that is in you, but you must +get out of our way; the road is public and we have the right to use it." + +"Not until you have paid toll," said the Hun. + +"That's the rooster who said we drank whiskey and didn't work. He's the +fellow who would rob a poor man of his liberty," came a voice in the +crowd. + +"Knock his block off!" + +"Break his back!" + +"Let me at him," and a score of other friendly offers came from the +drunken crowd. + +Jack stood steadily looking at the ruffians, his blue eyes growing black +with excitement and his hands clenched tightly in the pockets of his +reefer. + +"Slowly, men, slowly," said he. "If you want me, you may have me. There +are ladies in the carriage; let them go on; I'll stay with you as long +as you like. You are brave men, and you have no quarrel with ladies." + +"Ladies, eh!" said the Hun, "ladies! I never saw anything but _women_. +Let's have a look at them, boys." + +This speech was drunkenly approved, and the men pressed forward. Jack +stood firm, his face was white, but his eyes flamed. + +"Stand off! There are good men who will die for those ladies, and it +will go hard but bad men shall die first." + +The Hun disregarded the warning. + +"I'll have a look into--" + +"Hell!" said the slow-of-wrath Jack, and his fist went straight from the +shoulder and smote the Hun on the point of the jaw. It was a terrible +blow, dealt with all the force of a trained athlete, and inspired by +every impulse which a man holds dear; and the half-drunken brute fell +like a stricken ox. Catching the club from the falling man, Jack made a +sudden lunge forward at the face of the nearest foe. + +"Now, Jim!" he shouted, as the full fever of battle seized him. His +forward lunge had placed another miner _hors de combat_, and Jarvis +sprang forward and secured the wounded man's bludgeon. + +"Back to back, Jack, and mind your guard!" + +The odds were eighteen to two against the young men, but they did not +heed them. Back to back they stood, and the heavy clubs were like +feathers in their strong hands. Their skill at "single stick" was of +immense advantage, for it built a wall of defence around them. The +crazy-drunk miners rushed upon them with the fierceness of wild beasts; +they crowded in so close as to interfere with their own freedom of +movement; they sought to overpower the two men by weight of numbers and +by showers of blows. Jack and Jim were kept busy guarding their own +heads, and it was only occasionally that they could give an aggressive +blow. When these opportunities came, they were accepted with fierce +delight, and a miner fell with a broken head at every blow. Two fell in +front of Jack and three went down under Jarvis's club. The battle had +now lasted several minutes, and the strain on the young men was telling +on their wind; they struck as hard and parried as well as at first, but +they were breathing rapidly. The young men cheered each other with +joyous words; they felt no need of aid. + +"Beats football hollow!" panted Jarvis. + +"Go in, old man! you're a dandy full-back!" came between strokes from +Jack. + +Let us leave the boys for a minute and see what the girls are doing. +When Jarvis got out of the carriage, he said:-- + +"Lars, if there is trouble here, you drive on as soon as you can get +your horses clear. Never mind us; we'll walk home. Get the ladies to +Four Oaks as soon as possible." + +When the battle began, the miners left the horses to attack the men. +This gave a clear road, and Lars was ready to drive on, but the girls +were not in the carriage. They had sprung out in the excitement of the +first sound of blows; and now stood watching with glowing eyes and white +faces the prowess of their champions. For minutes they watched the +conflict with fear and pride combined. When seven or eight minutes had +passed and the champions had not slain all their enemies, some degree of +terror arose in the minds of the young ladies,--terror lest their +knights be overpowered by numbers or become exhausted by slaying,--and +they looked about for aid. Lars, remembering what Jarvis had said, urged +the ladies to get into the carriage and be driven out of danger. They +repelled his advice with scorn. Jane said:--"I won't stir a step until +the men can go with us!" + +Jessie said never a word, but she darted forward toward the fighting +men, stooped, picked up a fallen club, and was back in an instant. +Mounting quickly to the box, she said:--"I can hold the horses. Don't +you think you can help the men, Lars?" + +"I'd like to try, miss," and the coachman's coat was off in a trice and +the club in his hand. He was none too soon! + +Jane, who had mounted the box with Jessie, cried, "Look out, Jack!" +just as a heavy stone crashed against the back of his head. Some brute +in the crowd had sent it with all his force. The stone broke through the +Derby hat and opened a wide gash in Jack's scalp, and sent him to the +ground with a thousand stars glittering before his eyes. Jane gave a sob +and covered her eyes. Jessie swayed as though she would fall, but she +never took her eyes from the fallen man; her lips moved, but she said +nothing; and her face was ghastly white. Jarvis heard the dull thud +against Jack's head and knew that he was falling. Whirling swiftly, he +stopped a savage blow that was aimed at the stricken man, and with a +back-handed cut laid the striker low. + +"All right, Jack; keep down till the stars are gone." He stood with one +sturdy leg on each side of Jack's body and his big club made a charmed +circle about him. It was not more than twenty seconds before the wheels +were out of Jack's head and he was on his feet again, though not quite +steady. + +Jack's fall had given courage to the gang, and they made a furious +attack upon Jarvis, who was now alone and not a little impeded by the +friend at his feet. As Jack struggled to his legs, a furious blow +directed at him was parried by Jarvis's left arm,--his right being busy +guarding his own head. The blow was a fearful one; it broke the small +bone in the forearm, beat down the guard, and came with terrible force +upon poor Jack's left shoulder, disabling it for a minute. At the same +time Jarvis received a nasty blow across the face from an unexpected +quarter. He was staggered by it, but he did not fall. Jack's right arm +was good and very angry; a savage jab with his club into the face of the +man who had struck Jarvis laid him low, and Jack grinned with +satisfaction. + +Things were going hard with the young men. They had, indeed, +disqualified nine of the enemy; but there were still eight or ten more, +and through hard work and harder knocks they had lost more than half +their own fighting strength. At this rate they would be used up +completely while there were still three or four of the enemy on foot. +This was when they needed aid, and aid came. + +No sooner had Lars found himself at liberty and with a club in his hands +than he began to use it with telling effect. He attacked the outer +circle, striking every head he could reach, and such was his +sprightliness that four men fell headlong before the others became aware +of this attack from the rear. This diversion came at the right moment, +and proved effective. There were now but six of the enemy in fighting +condition, and these six were more demoralized by the sudden and unknown +element of a rear attack than by the loss of their thirteen comrades. +They hesitated, and half turned to look, and two of them fell under the +blows of Jack and Jarvis. As the rest turned to escape, the Swede's club +felled one, and the other three ran for dear life. They did not escape, +however, for the long legs of the young men were after them. Young blood +is hot, and the savage fight that had been forced upon these boys had +aroused all that was savage in them. In an instant they overtook two of +the fleeing men, but neither could strike an enemy in the back. Throwing +aside their clubs, each seized his enemy by the shoulder, turned him +face to face and smote him sore, each after his fashion. Then they +laughed, took hold of hands, and walked wearily back to the carriage. +Jarvis's face was covered with blood, and Jack's neck and shoulders were +drenched,--his wound had bled freely. Lars had relieved the ladies on +the box after administering kicks and blows in generous measure to the +dazed and crippled miners, who were crawling off the road or staggering +along it. The Swede had a strain of fierce North blood which was not +easily laid when once aroused, and he glared around the battle-field, +hoping to find signs of resistance. When none were to be seen, he donned +his coachman's coat and sat the box like a sphinx. + +The girls went quickly forward to meet the men. They said little, but +they put their hands on their battered champions in a way to make the +heart of man glad. The men were flushed and proud, as men have been, and +men will be, through all time, when they have striven savagely against +other savages in the sight of their mistresses, and have gained the +victory. Their bruises were numb with exultation and their wounds dumb +with pride. There was no regret for blows given or received,--no +sympathy for fallen foe. The male fights, in the presence of the female, +with savage delight, from the lowest to the highest ranks of creation, +and we must forgive our boys for some cruel exultation as they looked on +the field of strife. Better feelings will come when the blood flows less +rapidly in their veins! + +"We must hurry home," said Jane, "and let papa mend you." Then she +burst into tears. "Oh, I am so sorry and so frightened! Do you feel +_very_ bad, Jack? I know you are suffering dreadfully, Mr. Jarvis. Can't +I do something for you?" + +"My arm is bruised a bit," said Jarvis; "if you don't mind, you can +steady it a little." + +Jane's soft hands clasped themselves tenderly over Jarvis's great fist, +and she felt relieved in the thought that she was doing something for +her hero. She held the great right hand of Hercules tenderly, and Jarvis +never let her know that it was the _left_ arm that had been broken. She +felt certain that he must be suffering agony, for ever and anon his +fingers would close over hers with a spasmodic grip that sent a thrill +of mixed joy and pain to her heart. + +While I was bandaging the broken arm I saw the young lady going through +some pantomimic exercises with her hands, as if seeking to revive the +memory of some previous position; then her face blazed with a light, +half pleasure and half shame, and she disappeared. + +When the carriage arrived at Four Oaks, the story was told in few words, +and I immediately set to work to "mend" the boys. Jack insisted that +Jarvis should receive the first attention, and, indeed, he looked the +worse. But after washing the blood off his face, I found that beyond a +severe bruise, which would disfigure him for a few days, his face and +head were unhurt. His arm was broken and badly contused. After I had +attended to it, he said:-- + +"Doctor, I'm as good as new; hope Jack is no worse." + +I carefully washed the blood off Jack's head and neck, and found an ugly +scalp wound at least three inches long. It made me terribly anxious +until I fairly proved that the bone was uninjured. After giving the boy +the tonsure, I put six stitches into the scalp, and he never said a +word. Perhaps the cause of this fortitude could be found in the blazing +eyes of Jessie Gordon, which fixed his as a magnet, while her hands +clasped his tightly. Miss Jessie was as white as snow, but there was no +tremor in hand or eye. When it was all over, her voice was steady and +low as she said:-- + +"Jack Williams, in the olden days men fought for women, and they were +called knights. It was counted a noble thing to take peril in defence of +the helpless. I find no record of more knightly deed than you have done +to-day, and I know that no knight could have done it more nobly. I want +you to wear this favor on your hand." + +She kissed his hand and left the room. Jack didn't seem to mind the +wound in his head, but he gave great attention to his hand. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +THE RESULT + + +As soon as the first report of the battle reached me, I telephoned to +Bill Jackson, asking him to come at once to Four Oaks and to bring a man +with him. When he arrived, attended by his big Irishman, my men had +already put one of the farm teams to a great farm wagon, and had filled +the box nearly full of hay. We gave Jackson a hurried account of the +fight and asked him to go at once and offer relief to the wounded,--if +such relief were needed. Jackson was willing enough to go, but he was +greatly disappointed that he had missed the fight; it seemed unnatural +that there should be a big fight in his neighborhood and he not in it. + +"I'd give a ten-acre lot to have been with you, lads," said the big +farmer as he started off. + +Word had been sent to Dr. High to be ready to care for some broken +heads. Two hours later I drove to the Inn at Exeter and found the doctor +just commencing the work of repair. Thirteen men had been brought in by +the wagon, twelve of them more or less cut and bruised about the head, +and all needing some surgical attention. The thirteenth man was stone +dead. A terrific blow on the back of the head had crushed his skull as +if it had been an egg-shell, and he must have died instantly. After +looking this poor fellow over to make sure that there was no hope for +him, we turned our attention to the wounded. The barn had been turned +into a hospital, and in two hours we had a dozen sore heads well cared +for, and their owners comfortably placed for the night on soft hay +covered by blankets from the Inn. Mrs. French brought tea and gruels for +the thirsty, feverish fellows, and we placed Otto and the big Irishman +on duty as nurses for the night. The coroner had been summoned, and +arrived as we finished our work. He was an energetic official, and lost +no time in getting a jury of six to listen to the statements which the +wounded men would give. To their credit be it said that every one who +gave testimony at all, gave it to the effect that the miners were +crazy-drunk, that they stopped the carriage, provoked the fight, and did +their utmost to disable or destroy the enemy. The coroner would listen +to no further testimony, but gave the case to the jury. In five minutes +their verdict was returned, "justifiable and commendable homicide by +person unknown to the jury." + +The news of a fight and the death of a miner had reached Gordonville, +where it created intense excitement. By the time the inquest was over a +crowd of at least fifty miners had collected near the barn. Much +grumbling and some loud threats were heard. Jackson took it upon himself +to meet these angry men, and no one could have done better. Stepping +upon a box which raised him a foot or two above the crowd, he said:-- + +"See here, fellows, I want to say a word to you. My name's Jackson--Bill +Jackson; perhaps some of you know me. If you don't, I'll introduce +myself. I wasn't in this fight,--worse luck for me! but I am wide open +for engagements in that line. Some one inside said that this gang must +be conciliated, and I thought I would come out and do it. I understand +that you feel sore over this affair,--it's natural that you should,--but +you must remember that those boys out at Four Oaks couldn't accommodate +all of you. If you wouldn't mind taking me for a substitute, I'll do my +level best to make it lively for you. You don't need cards of +introduction to me; you needn't be American citizens; you needn't speak +English; all you have to do is to put up your hands or cock your hats, +and I'll know what you mean. If any of you thinks he hasn't had his +share of what's been going on this afternoon, he may just call on Bill +Jackson for the balance. I want to conciliate you if I can! I'm a +good-tempered man, and not the kind to pick a quarrel; but if any of you +low-lived dogs are looking for a fight, I'm not the man to disappoint +you! I came out here to satisfy you in this matter and to send you home +contented, and, by the jumping Jews! I'll do it if I have to break the +head of every dog's son among you! They told me to speak gently to you, +and by thunder, I've done it; but now I'm going to say a word for +myself! + +"A lot of your dirty crowd attacked two of the decentest men in the +county when they were riding with ladies; one of the gang got killed and +the rest got their skulls cracked. Would these boys fight for the girls +they had with them? Hell's blazes! I'll fight for just thinking of it! +Just one of you duffers say 'boo' to me! I'm going right through you!" + +Jackson sprang into the crowd, which parted like water before a strong +swimmer. He cocked his hat, smacked his fists, and invited any or all to +stand up to him. He was crazy for a fight, to get even with Jack and +Jarvis; but no one was willing to favor him. He marched through the gang +lengthways, crossways, and diagonally, but to no purpose. In great +disgust he returned to the barn and reported that the crowd would not be +"conciliated." When we left, however, there were no miners to be seen. + +It was after one o'clock in the morning when I reached home. Going +directly to the room occupied by the boys, I met Polly on the stairs. + +"I'm glad you've come," said she, "for I can't do a thing with those +boys; they are too wild for any use." + +Entering the room, I found the lads in bed, but hilarious. They had +sent for Lars and had filled him full of hot stuff and commendation. He +was sitting on the edge of a chair between the two beds, his honest eyes +bulging and his head rolling from the effects of unusual potations. The +lads had tasted the cup, too, but lightly; their high spirits came from +other sources. Victories in war and in love deserve celebration; and +when the two are united, a bit of freedom must be permitted. They sat +bolt upright against the heads of their beds with flushed faces and +shining eyes. They shouted Greek and Latin verse at the bewildered +Swede; they gave him the story of Lars Porsena in the original, and then +in bad Swedish. They called him Lars Porsena,--for had he not fought +gallantly? Then he was Gustavus Adolphus,--for had he not come to the +aid of the Protestants when they were in sore need? And then things got +mixed and the "Royal Swede" was Lars Adolphus or Gustavus Porsena Viking +all in one. The honest fellow was more than half crazed by strong +waters, incomprehensible words, and "jollying up" which the young chaps +had given him. + +"See here, boys, don't you see that you're sending your noble Swede to +his Lutzen before his time,--not dead, indeed, but dead drunk? This +isn't the sort of medicine for either of you; you should have been +asleep three hours ago. I'll take your last victim home." + +We heard no more from any of the fighters until nine in the morning. In +looking them over I found that the Swede had as sore a head as either of +the others, though he had never taken a blow. + +Many friends came to see the boys during the days of their seclusion, to +congratulate them on their fortunate escape, and to compliment them on +their skill and courage. The lads enjoyed being made much of, and their +convalescence was short and cheerful. Of course Sir Tom was the most +constant and most enthusiastic visitor. The warm-hearted Irishman loved +the boys always, but now he seemed to venerate them. The successful club +fight appealed to his national instincts as nothing else could have +done. + +"With twenty years off and a shillalah in me hand I would have been +proud to stand with you. By the Lord, I'm asking too much! I'll yield +the twenty years and only ask for the stick!" And his cane went whirling +around his head, now guarding, now striking, and now with elaborate +flourishes, after the most approved Donny-brook fashion. + +"But, me friend Jarvis, what is this you have on your face? Pond's +Extract! Oh, murder! What is the world coming to when fresh beef and +usquebaugh are crowded to the wall by bad-smelling water! Look at me +nose; it is as straight as God made it, and yet many a time it has been +knocked to one side of me face or spread all over me features. Nothing +but whiskey and raw beef could ever coax it back! It's God's mercy if +you are not deformed for life, me friend. Such privileges are not to be +neglected with impunity. Let me bathe your face with whiskey and put a +beef-steak poultice after it, and I'll have you as handsome as a girl in +three days." + +"Give me the steak and whiskey inside and I'll feel handsome at once," +said Jarvis. + +"Oh, the rashness of youth!" said Sir Tom. "But I'll not say a word +against it. Youth is the greatest luck in the world, and I'll not copper +it." + +And then our sporting friend grew reminiscent and told of a time at +Limmer's when the marquis and he occupied beds in the same room, not +unlike our boys' room--only smoky and dingy--and poulticed their +battered faces with beef, and used usquebaugh inside and outside, after +ten friendly rounds. + +"Queensbary's nose never resumed entirely after that night, but mine +came back like rubber. Maybe it was the beef--maybe it was usquebaugh; +me own preference is in favor of the latter." + +Sir Tom came every day so long as the boys were confined to the place, +and each day he was able to develop some new incident connected with the +battle which called for applause. After hearing Lars tell his story for +the fourth time, he gave him a ten-dollar note, saying:-- + +"You did nobly for a Swede, Mr. Gustavus Adolphus, but I would give ten +tenners to have had your place and your shillalah,--a Swede for a +match-lock, but an Irishman for a stick." + +Jack had hardly recovered when he was waited on by a committee from the +mine with a request that he would make another speech. He was asked to +make good his offer of bonding the property, and also to formulate a +plan of cooperation for the guidance of the men. Jack had the plans for +a cooperative mining village well digested, and was anxious to get them +before the miners. As soon as he was fit he went to Gordonville to try +to organize the work. Jarvis of course went with him, and Bill Jackson +and Sir Tom would not be denied; they did not say so, but they looked as +if they thought some diversion might be found. In spite of the influence +of strong whiskey, however, the meeting passed off peacefully. The +results that grew from this effort at reformation were so great and so +far-reaching that they deserve a book for their narration. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + +DEEP WATERS + + +For sharp contrasts give me the dull country. The unexpected is the +usual in small and in great things alike as they happen on a farm, and I +make no apology to the reader for entering them in my narrative. I only +ask him, if he be a city man, to take my word for the truth as to the +general facts. To some elaboration and embellishment I plead guilty, but +the groundwork is truth, and the facts stated are as real as the +foundations of my buildings or the cows in my stalls. If the fortunate +reader be a country man, he will need no assurance from me, for his eyes +have seen and his ears have heard the strange and startling episodes +with which the quiet country-side is filled. I do not dare record all +the adventures which clustered around us at Four Oaks. People who know +only the monotonous life of cities would not believe the half if told, +and I do not wish to invite discredit upon my story of the making of the +factory farm. + +The incidents I have given of the strike at Gordon's mine are +substantially correct, and I would love to follow them to their +sequel,--the coöperative mine; but as that is a story by itself, I +cannot do it now. I promise myself, however, the pleasure of writing a +history of this innovation in coal-mining at an early date. It is worth +the world's knowing that a copartnership can exist between three hundred +equal partners without serious friction, and that community in business +interests on a large scale can be successfully managed without any +effort to control personal liberty, either domestic, social, or +religious. Indeed, I believe the success of this experiment is due +largely to the absence of any attempt to superintend the private +interests of its members,--the only bond being a common financial one, +and the one requisite to membership, ability to save a portion of the +wages earned. + +But to go back to farm matters. In August the ground was stirred for the +second time around the young trees. To do this, the mulch was turned +back and the surface for a space of three feet all around the tree was +loosened by hoe or mattock, and the mulch was then returned. The trees +were vigorous, and their leaves had the polish of health, in spite of +the dry July and August. The mulching must receive the credit for much +of this thrift, for it protected the soil from the rays of the sun and +invited the deep moisture to rise toward the surface. Few people realize +the amount of water that enters into the daily consumption of a tree. It +is said that the four acres of leaf surface of a large elm will +transpire or yield to evaporation eight tons of water in a day, and that +it takes more than five hundred tons of water to produce one ton of hay, +wheat, oats, or other crop. This seems enormous; but an inch of rain on +an acre of ground means more than a hundred tons of water, and +precipitation in our part of the country is about thirty-six inches per +annum, so that we can count on over thirty-six hundred tons of water per +acre to supply this tremendous evaporation of plant life. + +Water-pot and hose look foolish in the face of these figures; indeed, +they are poor makeshifts to keep life in plants during pinching times. A +much more effective method is to keep the soil loose under a heavy +mulch, for then the deep waters will rise. In our climate the tree's +growth for the year is practically completed by July 15, and fortunately +dry times rarely occur so early. We are, therefore, pretty certain to +get the wood growth, no matter how dry the year, since it would take +several years of unusual drought to prevent it. Of course the wood is +not all that we wish for in fruit trees; the fruit is the main thing, +and to secure the best development of it an abundant rainfall is needed +after the wood is grown. If the rain doesn't come in July and August, +heavy mulching must be the fruit-grower's reliance, and a good one it +will prove if the drought doesn't continue more than one year. After +July the new wood hardens and gets ready for the trying winter. If July +and August are very wet, growth may continue until too late for the wood +to harden, and it consequently goes into winter poorly prepared to +resist its rigors. The result is a killing back of the soft wood, but +usually no serious loss to the trees. The effort to stimulate late +summer growth by cultivation and fertilization is all wrong; use manures +and fertilizers freely from March until early June, but not later. The +fall mulch of manure, if used, is more for warmth than for fertility; it +is a blanket for the roots, but much of its value is leached away by the +suns and rains of winter. + +I felt that I had made a mistake in not sowing a cover crop in my +orchard the previous year. There are many excellent reasons for the +cover crop and not one against it. The first reason is that it protects +the land from the rough usage and wash of winter storms; the second, +that it adds humus to the soil; and the third, if one of the legumes is +used, that it collects nitrogen from the air, stores it in each knuckle +and joint, and holds it there until it is liberated by the decay of the +plant. As nitrogen is the most precious of plant foods, and as the +nitrate beds and deposits are rapidly becoming exhausted, we must look +to the useful legumes to help us out until the scientists shall be able +to fix the unlimited but volatile supply which the atmosphere contains, +and thus to remove the certain, though remote, danger of a nitrogen +famine. That this will be done in the near future by electric forces, +and with such economy as to make the product available for agricultural +purposes, is reasonably sure. In the meantime we must use the vetches, +peas, beans, and clovers which are such willing workers. + +The legumes fulfil the three requisites of the cover crop: protection, +humus, and the storing of nitrogen. That was why, when the corn in the +orchard was last cultivated in July, I planted cow peas between the +rows. The peas made a fair growth in spite of the dry season, and after +the corn was cut they furnished fine pasture for the brood sows, that +ate the peas and trampled down the vines. In the spring ploughing this +black mat was turned under, and with it went a store of fertility to +fatten the land. Cow peas were sowed in all the corn land in 1897, and +the rule of the farm is to sow corn-fields with peas, crimson clover, or +some other leguminous plant. As my land is divided almost equally each +year between corn and oats, which follow each other, it gets a cover +crop turned under every two years over the whole of it. Great quantities +of manure are hauled upon the oat stubble in the early spring, and these +fields are planted to corn, while the corn stubble is fertilized by the +cover crop, and oats are sown. The land is taxed heavily every year, but +it increases in fertility and crop-making capacity. For the past two +years my oats have averaged forty-seven bushels and my corn nearly +sixty-eight bushels per acre. There is no waste land in my fields, and +we have made such a strenuous fight against weeds that they no longer +seriously tax the land. The wisdom of the work done on the fence rows is +now apparent. The ploughing and seeding made it easy to keep the brush +and weeds down; hay gathered close to the fences more than pays us for +the mowing; and we have no tall weed heads to load the wind with seeds. +This is a matter which is not sufficiently considered by the majority of +farmers, for weeds are allowed to tax the land almost as much as crops +do, and yet they pay no rent. Fence lines and corners are usually +breeding beds for these pests, and it will pay any landowner to suppress +them. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV + +DOGS AND HORSES + + +It was definitely decided in August that Jane was not to go back to +Farmington. We had all been of two minds over this question, and it was +a comfort to have it settled, though I always suspect that my share of +it was not beyond the suspicion of selfishness. + +Jane was just past nineteen. She had a fair education, so far as books +go, and she did not wish to graduate simply for the honor of a diploma. +Indeed, there were many studies between her and the diploma which she +loathed. She could never understand how a girl of healthy mind could +care for mathematics, exact science, or dead languages. English and +French were enough for her tongue, and history, literature, and +metaphysics enough for her mind. + +"I can learn much more from the books in your library and from the dogs +and horses than I can at school, besides being a thousand times happier; +and oh, Dad, if you will let me have a forge and workshop, I will make +no end of things." + +This was a new idea to me, and I looked into it with some interest. I +knew that Jane was deft with her fingers, but I did not know that she +had a special wish to cultivate this deftness or to put it to practical +use. + +"What can you do with a forge?" said I. "You can't shoe the horses or +sharpen the ploughs. Can you make nails? They are machine-made now, and +you couldn't earn ten cents a week, even at horse-shoe nails." + +"I don't want to make nails, Dad; I want to work in copper and brass, +and iron, too, but in girl fashion. Mary Town has a forge in Hartford, +and I spent lots of Saturdays with her. She says that I am cleverer than +she is, but of course she was jollying me, for she makes beautiful +things; but I can learn, and it's great fun." + +"What kind of things does this young lady make, dear?" + +"Lamp-shades, paper-knives, hinges, bag-tops, buckles, and lots of +things. She could sell them, too, if she had to. It's like learning a +trade, Dad." + +"All right, child, you shall have a forge, if you will agree not to burn +yourself up. Do you roll up your sleeves and wear a leather apron?" + +"Why, of course, just like a blacksmith; only mine will be of soft brown +leather and pinked at the edges." + +So Jane was to have her forge. We selected a site for it at once in the +grove to the east of the house and about 150 yards away, and set the +carpenter at work. The shop proved to be a feature of the place, and +soon became a favorite resort for old and young for five o'clock teas +and small gossiping parties. The house was a shingled cottage, sixteen +by thirty-two, divided into two rooms. The first room, sixteen by +twenty, was the company room, but it contained a work bench as well as +the dainty trappings of a girl's lounging room. In the centre of the +wall that separated the rooms was a huge brick chimney, with a fireplace +in the front room and a forge bed in the rear room, which was the forge +proper. + +I suppose I must charge the $460 which this outfit cost to the farm +account and pay yearly interest on it, for it is a fixture; but I +protest that it is not essential to the construction of a factory farm, +and it may be omitted by those who have no daughter Jane. + +There were other things hinging on Jane's home-staying which made me +think that, from the standpoint of economy, I had made a mistake in not +sending her back to Farmington. It was not long before the dog +proposition was sprung upon me; insidiously at first, until I had half +committed myself, and then with such force and sweep as to take me off +my prudent feet. My own faithful terrier, which had dogged my heels for +three years, seemed a member of the family, and reasonably satisfied my +dog needs. That Jane should wish a terrier of some sort to tug at her +skirts and claw her lace was no more than natural, and I was quite +willing to buy a blue blood and think nothing of the $20 or $30 which it +might cost. We canvassed the list of terriers,--bull, Boston, fox, +Irish, Skye, Scotch, Airedale, and all,--and had much to say in favor of +each. One day Jane said:-- + +"Dad, what do you think of the Russian wolf-hound?" + +"Fine as silk," said I, not seeing the trap; "the handsomest dog that +runs." + +"I think so, too. I saw some beauties in the Seabright kennels. Wouldn't +one of them look fine on the lawn?--lemon and white, and so tall and +silky. I saw one down there, and he wasn't a year old, but his tail +looked like a great white ostrich feather, and it touched the ground. +Wouldn't it be grand to have such a dog follow me when I rode. Say, Dad, +why not have one?" + +"What do you suppose a good one would cost?" + +"I don't know, but a good bit more than a terrier, if they sell dogs by +size. May I write and find out?" + +"There's no harm in doing that," said I, like the jellyfish that I am. + +Jane wasted no time, but wrote at once, and at least seventeen times +each day, until the reply came, she gave me such vivid accounts of the +beauties of the beasts and of the pleasure she would have in owning +one, that I grew enthusiastic as well, and quite made up my mind that +she should not be disappointed. When the letter came, there was +suppressed excitement until she had read it, and then excitement +unsuppressed. + +"Dad, we can have Alexis, son of Katinka by Peter the Great, for $125! +See what the letter says: 'Eleven months old, tall and strong in +quarters, white, with even lemon markings, better head than Marksman, +and a sure winner in the best of company.' Isn't that great? And I don't +think $125 is much, do you?" + +"Not for a horse or a house, dear, but for a dog--" + +"But you know, Dad, this isn't a common dog. We mustn't think of it as a +dog; it's a barzoi; that isn't too much for a barzoi, is it?" + +"Not for a barzoi, or a yacht either; I guess you will have to have one +or the other." + +"The Seabright man says he has a girl dog by Marksman out of Katrina +that is the very picture of Alexis, only not so large, and he will sell +both to the same person for $200; they are such good friends." + +"Break away, daughter, do you want a steam launch with your yacht?" + +"But just think, Dad, only $75 for this one. You save $50, don't you +see?" + +"Dimly, I must confess, as through a glass darkly. But, dear, I may +come to see it through your eyes and in the light of this altruistic dog +fancier. I'm such a soft one that it's a wonder I'm ever trusted with +money." + +The natural thing occurred once more; the fool and his money parted +company, and two of the most beautiful dogs came to live on our lawn. To +live on our lawn, did I say? Not much! Such wonderful creatures must +have a house and grounds of their own to retire to when they were weary +of using ours, or when our presence bored them. The kennel and runs were +built near the carriage barn, the runs, twenty by one hundred feet, +enclosed with high wire netting. The kennel, eight by sixteen, was a +handsome structure of its kind, with two compartments eight by eight +(for Jane spoke for the future), and beds, benches, and the usual +fixtures which well-bred dogs are supposed to require. + +The house for these dogs cost $200, so I was obliged to add another $400 +to the interest-bearing debt. "If Jane keeps on in this fashion," +thought I, "I shall have to refund at a lower rate,"--and she did keep +on. No sooner were the dogs safely kennelled than she began to think how +fine it would look to be followed by this wonderful pair along the +country roads and through the streets of Exeter. To be followed, she +must have a horse and a saddle and a bridle and a habit; and later on I +found that these things did not grow on the bushes in our neighborhood. +I drew a line at these things, however, and decided that they should not +swell the farm account. Thus I keep from the reader's eye some of the +foolishness of a doting parent who has always been as warm wax in the +hands of his, nearly always, reasonable children. + +In my stable were two Kentucky-bred saddlers of much more than average +quality, for they had strains of warm blood in their veins. There is no +question nowadays as to the value of warm blood in either riding or +driving horses. It gives ability, endurance, courage, and docility +beyond expectation. One-sixteenth thorough blood will, in many animals, +dominate the fifteen-sixteenths of cold blood, and prove its virtue by +unusual endurance, stamina, and wearing capacity. + +The blue-grass region of Kentucky has furnished some of the finest +horses in the world, and I have owned several which gave grand service +until they were eighteen or twenty years old. An honest horseman at +Paris, Kentucky, has sold me a dozen or more, and I was willing to trust +his judgment for a saddler for Jane. My request to him was for a +light-built horse; weight, one thousand pounds; game and spirited, but +safe for a woman, and one broken to jump. Everything else, including +price, was left to him. + +In good time Jane's horse came, and we were well pleased with it, as +indeed we ought to have been. My Paris man wrote: "I send a bay mare +that ought to fill the bill. She is as quiet as a kitten, can run like a +deer, and jump like a kangaroo. My sister has ridden her for four +months, and she is not speaking to me now. If you don't like her, send +her back." + +But I did like her, and I sent, instead, a considerable check. The mare +was a bright bay with a white star on her forehead and white stockings +on her hind feet, stood fifteen hands three inches, weighed 980 pounds, +and looked almost too light built; but when we noted the deep chest, +strong loins, thin legs, and marvellous thighs, we were free to admit +that force and endurance were promised. Jane was delighted. + +"Dad, if I live to be a hundred years old, I will never forget this day. +She's the sweetest horse that ever lived. I must find a nice name for +her, and to-morrow we will take our first ride, you and Tom and Aloha +and I--yes, that's her name." + +We did ride the next day, and many days thereafter; and Aloha proved all +and more than the Kentuckian had promised. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI + +THE SKIM-MILK TRUST + + +The third quarter of the year made a better showing than any previous +one, due chiefly to the sale of hogs in August. The hens did well up to +September, when they began to make new clothes for themselves and could +not be bothered with egg-making. There were a few more than seven +hundred in the laying pens, and nearly as many more rapidly approaching +the useful age. The chief advantage in early chickens is that they will +take their places at the nests in October or November while the older +ones are dressmaking. This is important to one who looks for a steady +income from his hens,--October and November being the hardest months to +provide for. A few scattered eggs in the pullet runs showed that the +late February and early March chickens were beginning to have a +realizing sense of their obligations to the world and to the Headman, +and that they were getting into line to accept them. More cotton-seed +meal was added to the morning mash for the old hens, and the corn meal +was reduced a little and the oatmeal increased, as was also the red +pepper; but do what you will or feed what you like, the hen will insist +upon a vacation at this season of the year. You may shorten it, perhaps, +but you cannot prevent it. The only way to keep the egg-basket full is +to have a lot of youngsters coming on who will take up the laying for +October and November. + +We milked thirty-seven cows during July, August, and September, and got +more than a thousand pounds of milk a day. The butter sold amounted to a +trifle more than $375 a month. I think this an excellent showing, +considering the fact that the colony at Four Oaks never numbered less +than twenty-four during that time, and often many more. + +I ought to say that the calves had the first claim to the skim-milk; but +as we never kept many for more than a few weeks, this claim was easily +satisfied. It was like the bonds of a corporation,--the first claim, but +a comparatively small one. The hens came next; they held preferred +stock, and always received a five-pound, semi-daily dividend to each pen +of forty. The growing pigs came last; they held the common stock, which +was often watered by the swill and dish-water from both houses and the +buttermilk and butter-washing from the dairy. I hold that the feeding +value of skim-milk is not less than forty cents a hundred pounds, as we +use it at Four Oaks. This seems a high price when it can often be bought +for fifteen cents a hundred at the factories; but I claim that it is +worth more than twice as much when fed in perfect freshness,--certainly +$4 a day would not buy the skim-milk from my dairy, for it is worth more +than that to me to feed. This by-product is essential to the smooth +running of my factory. Without it the chickens and pigs would not grow +as fast, and it is the best food for laying hens,--nothing else will +give a better egg-yield. The longer my experiment continues, the +stronger is my faith that the combination of cow, hog, and hen, with +fruit as a filler, are ideal for the factory farm. With such a plant +well-started and well-managed, and with favorable surroundings, I do not +see how a man can prevent money from flowing to him in fair abundance. +The record of the fourth quarter is as follows:-- + +Butter $1126.00 +Eggs 351.00 +Hogs 1807.00 + -------- + Total $3284.00 + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + +NABOTH'S VINEYARD + + +>One hazy, lazy October afternoon, as my friend Kyrle and I sat on the +broad porch hitting our pipes, sipping high balls, and watching the men +and machines in the corn-fields, as all toiling sons of the soil should +do, he said:-- + +"Doctor, I don't think you've made any mistake in this business." + +"Lots of them, Kyrle; but none too serious to mend." + +"Yes, I suppose so; but I didn't mean it that way. It was no mistake +when you made the change." + +"You're right, old man. It's done me a heap of good, and Polly and the +youngsters were never so happy. I only wish we had done it earlier." + +"Do you think I could manage a farm?" + +"Why, of course you can; you've managed your business, haven't you? +You've grown rich in a business which is a great sight more taxing. How +have you done it?" + +"By using my head, I suppose." + +"That's just it; if a man will use his head, any business will +go,--farming or making hats. It's the gray matter that counts, and the +fellow that puts a little more of it into his business than his neighbor +does, is the one who'll get on." + +"But farming is different; so much seems to depend upon winds and rains +and frosts and accidents of all sorts that are out of one's line." + +"Not so much as you think, Kyrle. Of course these things cut in, but one +must discount them in farming as in other lines of business. A total +crop failure is an unknown thing in this region; we can count on +sufficient rain for a moderate crop every year, and we know pretty well +when to look for frosts. If a man will do well by his land, the harvest +will come as sure as taxes. All the farmer has to do is to make the best +of what Nature and intelligent cultivation will always produce. But he +must use his gray matter in other ways than in just planning the +rotation of crops. When he finds his raw staples selling for a good deal +less than actual value,--less than he can produce them for, he should go +into the market and buy against higher prices, for he may be absolutely +certain that higher prices will come." + +"But how is one to know? Corn changes so that one can't form much idea +of its actual value." + +"No more than other staples. You know what fur is worth, because you've +watched the fur market for twenty years. If it should fall to half its +present price, you would feel safe in buying a lot. You know that it +would make just as good hats as it ever did, and that the hats, in all +probability, would give you the usual profit. It's the same with corn +and oats. I know their feeding value; and when they fall much below it, +I fill my granary, because for my purpose they are as valuable as if +they cost three times as much. Last year I bought ten thousand bushels +of corn and oats at a tremendously low price. I don't expect to have +such a chance again; but I shall watch the market, and if corn goes +below thirty cents or oats below twenty cents, I will fill my granary to +the roof. I can make them pay big profits on such prices." + +"Will you sell this plant, Williams?" + +"Not for a song, you may be sure." + +"What has it cost you to date?" + +"Don't know exactly,--between $80,000 and $90,000, I reckon; the books +will show." + +"Will you take twenty per cent advance on what the books show? I'm on +the square." + +"Now see here, old man, what would be the good of selling this factory +for $100,000? How could I place the money so that it would bring me half +the things which this farm brings me now? Could I live in a better +house, or have better food, better service, better friends, or a better +way of entertaining them? You know that $5000 or $6000 a year would not +supply half the luxury which we secure at Four Oaks, or give half the +enjoyment to my family or my friends. Don't you see that it makes little +difference what we call our expenses out here, so long as the farm pays +them and gives us a surplus besides? The investment is not large for one +to get a living from, and it makes possible a lot of things which would +be counted rank extravagance in the city. Here's one of them." + +A cavalcade was just entering the home lot. First came Jessie Gordon on +her thoroughbred mare Lightfoot, and with her, Laura on my Jerry. +Laura's foot is as dainty in the stirrup as on the rugs, and she has +Jerry's consent and mine to put it where she likes. Following them were +Jane and Bill Jackson, with Jane's slender mare looking absolutely +delicate beside the big brown gelding that carried Jackson's 190 pounds +with ease. The horses all looked as if there had been "something doing," +and they were hurried to the stables. The ladies laughed and screamed +for a season, as seems necessary for young ladies, and then departed, +leaving us in peace. Jackson filled his pipe before remarking:-- + +"I've been over the ridge into the Dunkard settlement, and they have the +cholera there to beat the band. Joe Siegel lost sixty hogs in three +days, and there are not ten well hogs in two miles. What do you think of +that?" + +"That means a hard 'fight mit Siegel,'" said Kyrle. + +"It ought to mean a closer quarantine on this side of the ridge," said +I, "and you must fumigate your clothes before you appear before your +swine, Jackson. It's more likely to be swine plague than cholera at this +time of the year, but it's just as bad; one can hardly tell the +difference, and we must look sharp." + +"How does the contagion travel, Doctor?" + +"On horseback, when such chumps as you can be found. You probably have +some millions of germs up your sleeve now, or, more likely, on your +back, and I wouldn't let you go into my hog pen for a $2000 note. I'm so +well quarantined that I don't much fear contagion; but there's always +danger from infected dust. The wind blows it about, and any mote may be +an automobile for a whole colony of bacteria, which may decide to picnic +in my piggery. This dry weather is bad for us, and if we get heavy winds +from off the ridge, I'm going to whistle for rain." + +"I say, Williams, when you came out here I thought you a tenderfoot, +sure enough, who was likely to pay money for experience; but, by the +jumping Jews! you've given us natives cards and spades." + +"I _was_ a tenderfoot so far as practical experience goes, but I tried +to use the everyday sense which God gave me, and I find that's about all +a man needs to run a business like this." + +"You run it all right, for returns, and that's what we are after; and +I'm beginning to catch on. I want you to tell me, before Kyrle here, +why you gave me that bull two years ago." + +"What's the matter with the bull, Jackson? Isn't he all right?" + +"Sure he's all right, and as fine as silk; but why did you give him to +me? Why didn't you keep him for yourself?" + +"Well, Bill, I thought you would like him, and we were neighbors, and--" + +"You thought I would save you the trouble of keeping him, didn't you?" + +"Well, perhaps that did have some influence. You see, this is a factory +farm from fence to fence, except this forty which Polly bosses, and the +utilitarian idea is on top. Keeping the bull didn't exactly run with my +notion of economy, especially when I could conveniently have him kept so +near, and at the same time be generous to a neighbor." + +"That's it, and it's taken me two years to find it out. You're trying to +follow that idea all along the line. You're dead right, and I'm going to +tag on, if you don't mind. I was glad enough for your present at the +time, and I'm glad yet; but I've learned my lesson, and you may bet your +dear life that no man will ever again give me a bull." + +"That's right, Jackson. Now you have struck the key-note; stick to it, +and you will make money twice as fast as you have done. Have a mark, and +keep your eye on it, and your plough will turn a straight furrow." + +Jackson sent for his horse, and just before he mounted, I said, "Are +you thinking of selling your farm?" + +"I used to think of it, but I've been to school lately and can 'do my +sums' better. No, I guess I won't sell the paternal acres; but who wants +to buy?" + +"Kyrle, here, is looking for a farm about the size of yours, and to tell +you the truth I should like him for a neighbor. It's dollars to +doughnuts that I could give him a whole herd of bulls." + +"Indeed, you can't do anything of the kind! I wouldn't take a gold +dollar from you until I had it tested. I'm on to your curves." + +"But seriously, Jackson, I must have more land; my stock will eat me out +of house and home by the time the factory is running full steam. What +would you say to a proposition of $10,000 for one hundred acres along my +north line?" + +"A year ago I would have jumped at it. Now I say 'nit.' I need it all, +Doctor; I told you I was going to tag on. But what's the matter with the +old lady's quarter across your south road?" + +"Nothing's the matter with the land, only she won't sell it at any +price." + +"I know; but that drunken brute of a son will sell as soon as she's +under the sod, and they say the poor old girl is on her last legs,--down +with distemper or some other beastly disease. I'll tell you what I'll +do. I'll sound the renegade son and see how he measures. Some one will +get it before long, and it might as well be you." + +Jackson galloped off, and Kyrle and I sat on the porch and divided the +widow's 160-acre mite. It was a good strip of land, lying a fair mile on +the south road and a quarter of a mile deep. The buildings were of no +value, the fences were ragged to a degree, but I coveted the land. It +was the vineyard of Naboth to me, and I planned its future with my +friend and accessory sitting by. I destroyed the estimable old lady's +house and barns, ran my ploughshares through her garden and flower beds, +and turned the home site into one great field of lusty corn, without so +much as saying by your leave. Thus does the greed of land grow upon one. +But in truth, I saw that I must have more land. My factory would require +more than ten thousand bushels of grain, with forage and green foods in +proportion, to meet its full capacity, and I could not hope to get so +much from the land then under cultivation. Again, in a few years--a very +few--the fifty acres of orchard would be no longer available for crops, +and this would still further reduce my tillable land. With the orchards +out of use, I should have but 124 acres for all crops other than hay. If +I could add this coveted 160, it would give me 250 acres of excellent +land for intensive farming. + +"I should like it on this side of the road," said I, "but I suppose that +will have to do." + +"What will have to do?" asked Kyrle. + +"The 160 acres over there." + +"You unconscionable wretch! Have you evicted the poor widow, and she on +her deathbed? For stiffening the neck and hardening the heart, commend +me to the close-to-nature life of the farmer. I wouldn't own a farm for +worlds. It risks one's immortality. Give me the wicked city for +pasturage--and a friend who will run a farm, at his own risk, and give +me the benefit of it." + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII + +MAIDS AND MALLARDS + + +We have so rarely entered our house with the reader that he knows little +of its domestic machinery. So much depends upon this machinery that one +must always take it into consideration when reckoning the pleasures and +even the comforts of life anywhere, and this is especially true in the +country. We have such a lot of people about that our servants cannot +sing the song of lonesomeness that makes dolor for most suburbanites. +They are "churched" as often as they wish, and we pay city wages; but +still it is not all clear sailing in this quarter of Polly's realm. I +fancy that we get on better than some of our neighbors; but we do not +brag, and I usually feel that I am smoking my pipe in a powder magazine. +There is something essentially wrong in the working-girl world, and I am +glad that I was not born to set it right. We cannot down the spirit of +unrest and improvidence that holds possession of cooks and waitresses, +and we needs must suffer it with such patience as we can. + +Two of our house servants were more or less permanent; that is, they +had been with us since we opened the house, and were as content as +restless spirits can be. These were the housekeeper and the cook,--the +hub of the house. The former is a Norwegian, tall, angular, and capable, +with a knot of yellow hair at the back of her head,--ostensibly for +sticking lead pencils into,--and a disposition to keep things snug and +clean. Her duties include the general supervision of both houses and the +special charge of store-rooms, food cellars, and table supplies of all +sorts. She is efficient, she whistles while she works, and I see but +little of her. I suspect that Polly knows her well. + +The cook, Mary, is small, Irish, gray, with the temper of a pepper-pod +and the voice of a guinea-hen suffering from bronchitis, but she can +cook like an angel. She is an artist, and I feel as if the +seven-dollar-a-week stipend were but a "tip" to her, and that sometime +she will present me with a bill for her services. My safeguard, and one +that I cherish, is an angry word from her to the housekeeper. She +jeeringly asserted that she, the cook, got $2 a week more than she, the +housekeeper, did. As every one knows that the housekeeper has $5 a week, +I am holding this evidence against the time when Mary asks for a lump +sum adequate to her deserts. The number of things which Mary can make +out of everything and out of nothing is wonderful; and I am fully +persuaded that all the moneys paid to a really good cook are moneys put +into the bank. I often make trips to the kitchen to tell Mary that "the +dinner was great," or that "Mrs. Kyrle wants the receipt for that +pudding," or that "my friend Kyrle asks if he may see you make a salad +dressing;" but "don't do it, Mary; let the secret die with you." The +cook cackles, like the guinea-hen that she is, but the dishes are none +the worse for the commendation. + +The laundress is just a washerwoman, so far as I know. She undoubtedly +changes with the seasons, but I do not see her, though the clothes are +always bleaching on the grass at the back of the house. + +The maids are as changeable as old-fashioned silk. There are always two +of them; but which two, is beyond me. I tell Polly that Four Oaks is a +sprocket-wheel for maids, with two links of an endless chain always on +top. It makes but little difference which links are up, so the work goes +smoothly. Polly thinks the maids come to Four Oaks just as less +independent folk go to the mountains or the shore, for a vacation, or to +be able to say to the policeman, "I've been to the country." Their +system is past finding out; but no matter what it is, we get our dishes +washed and our beds made without serious inconvenience. The wage account +in the house amounts to just $25 a week. My pet system of an increasing +wage for protracted service doesn't appeal to these birds of passage, +who alight long enough to fill their crops with our wild rice and +celery, and then take wing for other feeding-grounds. This kind of life +seems fitted for mallards and maids, and I have no quarrel with either. +From my view, there are happier instincts than those which impel +migration; but remembering that personal views are best applied to +personal use, I wish both maids and mallards _bon voyage_. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX + +THE SUNKEN GARDEN + + +Extending directly west from the porch for 150 feet is an open pergola, +of simple construction, but fast gaining beauty from the rapid growth of +climbers which Polly and Johnson have planted. It is floored with brick +for the protection of dainty feet, and near the western end cluster +rustic benches, chairs, tables, and such things as women and gardeners +love. Facing the west 50 feet of this pergola is Polly's sunken flower +garden, which is her special pride. It extends south 100 feet, and is +built in the side of the hill so that its eastern wall just shows a +coping above the close-cropped lawn. Of course the western wall is much +higher, as the lawn slopes sharply; but it was filled in so as to make +this wall-enclosed garden quite level. The walls which rise above the +flower beds 4½ feet, are beginning to look decorated, thanks to creeping +vines and other things which a cunning gardener and Polly know. Flowers +of all sorts--annuals, biennials (triennials, perhaps), and +perennials--cover the beds, which are laid out in strange, irregular +fashion, far indeed from my rectangular style. These beds please the +eye of the mistress, and of her friends, too, if they are candid in +their remarks, which I doubt. + +While excavating the garden we found a granite boulder shaped somewhat +like an egg and nearly five feet long. It was a big thing, and not very +shapely; but it came from the soil, and Polly wanted it for the base of +her sun-dial. We placed it, big end down, in the mathematical centre of +the garden (I insisted on that), and sunk it into the ground to make it +solid; then a stone mason fashioned a flat space on the top to +accommodate an old brass dial that Polly had found in Boston. The dial +is not half bad. From the heavy, octagonal brass base rises a slender +quill to cast its shadow on the figured circle, while around this circle +old English characters ask, "Am I not wise, who note only bright hours?" +A plat of sod surrounds the dial, and Polly goes to it at least once a +day to set her watch by the shadow of the quill, though I have told her +a hundred times that it is seventeen minutes off standard time. I am +convinced that this estimable lady wilfully ignores conventional time +and marks her cycles by such divisions as "catalogue time," "seed-buying +time," "planting time," "sprouting time," "spraying time," "flowering +time," "seed-gathering time," "mulching time," and "dreary time," until +the catalogues come again. I know it seemed no time at all until she had +let me in to the tune of $687 for the pergola, walls, and garden. She +bought the sun-dial with her own money, I am thankful to say, and it +doesn't enter into this account. I think it must have cost a pretty +penny, for she had a hat "made over" that spring. + +Polly has planted the lawn with a lot of shade trees and shrubs, and has +added some clumps of fruit trees. Few trees have been planted near the +house; the four fine oaks, from which we take our name, stand without +rivals and give ample shade. The great black oak near the east end of +the porch is a tower of strength and beauty, which is "seen and known of +all men," while the three white oaks farther to the west form a clump +which casts a grateful shade when the sun begins to decline. The seven +acres of forest to the east is left severely alone, save where the +carriage drive winds through it, and Polly watches so closely that the +foot of the Philistine rarely crushes her wild flowers. Its sacredness +recalls the schoolgirl's definition of a virgin forest: "One in which +the hand of man has never dared to put his foot into it." Polly wanders +in this grove for hours; but then she knows where and how things grow, +and her footsteps are followed by flowers. If by chance she brushes one +down, it rises at once, shakes off the dust, and says, "I ought to have +known better than to wander so far from home." + +She keeps a wise eye on the vegetable garden, too, and has stores of +knowledge as to seed-time and harvest and the correct succession of +garden crops. She and Johnson planned a greenhouse, which Nelson built, +for flowers and green stuff through the winter, she said; but I think it +is chiefly a place where she can play in the dirt when the weather is +bad. Anyhow, that glass house cost the farm $442, and the interest and +taxes are going on yet. I as well as Polly had to do some building that +autumn. Three more chicken-houses were built, making five in all. Each +consists in ten compartments twenty feet wide, of which each is intended +to house forty hens. When these houses were completed, I had room for +forty pens of forty each, which was my limit for laying hens. In +addition was one house of ten pens for half-grown chickens and fattening +fowls. It would take the hatch of another year to fill my pens, but one +must provide for the future. These three houses cost, in round numbers, +$2100,--five times as much as Polly's glass house,--but I was not going +to play in them. + +I also built a cow-house on the same plan as the first one, but about +half the size. This was for the dry cows and the heifers. It cost $2230, +and gave me stable room enough for the waiting stock, so that I could +count on forty milch cows all the time, when my herd was once balanced. +Forty cows giving milk, six hundred swine of all ages, putting on fat or +doing whatever other duty came to hand, fifteen or sixteen hundred hens +laying eggs when not otherwise engaged, three thousand apple trees +striving with all their might to get large enough to bear fruit,--these +made up my ideal of a factory farm; and it looked as if one year more +would see it complete. + +No rain fell in October, and my brook became such a little brook that I +dared to correct its ways. We spent a week with teams, ploughs, and +scrapers, cutting the fringe and frills away from it, and reducing it to +severe simplicity. It is strange, but true, that this reversion to +simplicity robbed it of its shy ways and rustic beauty, and left it +boldly staring with open eyes and gaping with wide-stretched mouth at +the men who turned from it. We put in about two thousand feet of tile +drainage on both sides of what Polly called "that ditch," and this +completed the improvements on the low lands. The land, indeed, was not +too low to bear good crops, but it was lightened by under drainage and +yielded more each after year. + +The tiles cost me five cents per foot, or $100 for the whole. The work +was done by my own men. + + + + +CHAPTER L + +THE HEADMAN GENERALIZES + + +Jackson's prophecy came true. The old lady died, and before the ground +was fairly settled around her the improvident son accepted a cash offer +of $75 per acre for his homestead, and the farm was added to mine. This +was in November. I at once spent $640 for 2-1/2 miles of fencing to +enclose it in one field, charging the farm account with $12,640 for the +land and fence. + +This transaction was a bargain, from my point of view; and it was a good +sale, from the standpoint of the other man, for he put $12,000 away at +five per cent interest, and felt that he need never do a stroke of work +again. A lazy man is easily satisfied. + +In December I sold 283 hogs. It was a choice lot, as much alike as peas +in a pod, and gave an average weight of 276 pounds; but the market was +exceedingly low. I received the highest quotation for the month, $3.60 +per hundred, and the lot netted $2702. + +It seems hard luck to be obliged to sell fine swine at such a price, and +a good many farmers would hold their stock in the hope of a rise; but I +do not think this prudent. When a pig is 250 days old, if he has been +pushed, he has reached his greatest profit-growth; and he should be +sold, even though the market be low. If one could be certain that within +a reasonable time, say thirty days, there would be a marked advance, it +might do to hold; but no one can be sure of this, and it doesn't usually +pay to wait. Market the product when at its best, is the rule at Four +Oaks. The young hog is undoubtedly at his best from eight to nine months +old. He has made a maximum growth on minimum feed, and from that time on +he will eat more and give smaller proportionate returns. There is +danger, too, that he will grow stale; for he has been subjected to a +forcing system which contemplated a definite time limit and which cannot +extend much beyond that limit without risks. Force your swine not longer +than nine months and sell for what you can get, and you will make more +money in the long run than by trying to catch a high market. I sold in +December something more than four hundred cockerels, which brought $215. +The apples from the old trees were good that year, but not so abundant +as the year before, and they brought $337,--$2.25 per tree. The hens +laid few eggs in October and November, though they resumed work in +December; but the pullets did themselves proud. Sam said he gathered +from fourteen to twenty eggs a day from each pen of forty, which is +better than forty per cent. We sold nearly eighteen hundred dozen eggs +during this quarter, for $553. The butter account showed nearly +twenty-eight hundred pounds sold, which brought $894, and the sale of +eleven calves brought $180. These sales closed the credit side of our +ledger for the year. + +Apples $337.00 +Calves 130.00 +Cockerels 215.00 +1785 doz. eggs 553.00 +2790 lb. butter 894.00 +283 hogs 2702.00 + -------- + Total $4831.00 + +In making up the expense account of that year and the previous one, I +found that I should be able in future to say with a good deal of +exactness what the gross amount would be, without much figuring. The +interest account would steadily decrease, I hoped, while the wage +account would increase as steadily until it approached $5500; that year +it was $4662. Each man who had been on the farm more than six months +received $18 more that year than he did the year before, and this +increase would continue until the maximum wage of $40 a month was +reached; but while some would stay long enough to earn the maximum, +others would drop out, and new men would begin work at $20 a month. I +felt safe, therefore, in fixing $5500 as the maximum wage limit of any +year. Time has proven the correctness of this estimate, for $5372 is the +most I have paid for wages during the seven years since this experiment +was inaugurated. + +The food purchased for cows, hogs, and hens may also be definitely +estimated. It costs about $30 a year for each cow, $1 for each hog, and +thirty cents for each hen. Everything else comes from the land, and is +covered by such fixed charges as interest, wages, taxes, insurance, +repairs, and replenishments. The food for the colony at Four Oaks, +usually bought at wholesale, doesn't cost more than $5 a month per +capita. This seems small to a man who is in the habit of paying cash for +everything that enters his doors; but it amply provides for comforts and +even for luxuries, not only for the household, but also for the stranger +within the gates. In the city, where water and ice cost money and the +daily purchase of food is taxed by three or four middlemen, one cannot +realize the factory farmer's independence of tradesmen. I do not mean +that this sum will furnish terrapin and champagne, but I do not +understand that terrapin and champagne are necessary to comfort, health, +or happiness. + +Let us look for a moment at some of the things which the factory farmer +does not buy, and perhaps we shall see that a comfortable existence need +not demand much more. His cows give him milk, cream, butter, and veal; +his swine give roast pig, fresh pork, salt pork, ham, bacon, sausages, +and lard; his hens give eggs and poultry; his fields yield hulled corn, +samp, and corn meal; his orchards give apples, pears, peaches, quinces, +plums, and cherries; his bushes give currants, gooseberries, +strawberries, raspberries, blackberries; his vines give grapes; his +forests give hickory nuts, butternuts, and hazel nuts; and, best of all, +his garden gives more than twenty varieties of toothsome and wholesome +vegetables in profusion. The whole fruit and vegetable product of the +temperate zone is at his door, and he has but to put forth his hand and +take it. The skilled housewife makes wonderful provision against winter +from the opulence of summer, and her storehouse is crowded with +innumerable glass cells rich in the spoils of orchard and garden. There +is scant use for the grocer and the butcher under such conditions. I am +so well convinced that my estimate of $5 a month is liberal that I have +taxed the account with all the salt used on the farm. + + + + +CHAPTER LI + +THE GRAND-GIRLS + + +The click of Jane's hammer began to be heard in November, and hardly a +day passed without some music from this "Forge in the Forest." Sir Tom +made a permanent station of the workshop, where he spent hours in a +comfortable chair, drawing nourishment from the head of his cane and +pleasure from watching the girl at the anvil. I suspect that he planted +himself in the corner of the forge to safeguard Jane; for he had an +abiding fear that she would take fire, and he wished to be near at hand +to put her out. He procured a small Babcock extinguisher and a +half-dozen hand-grenades, and with these instruments he constituted +himself a very efficient volunteer fire department. He made her promise, +also, that she would have definite hours for heavy work, that he might +be on watch; and so fond was she of his company, or rather of his +presence, for he talked but little, that she kept close to the schedule. + +Laura had a favorite corner in the forge, where she often turned a hem +or a couplet. She was equally dexterous at either; and Sir Tom watched +her, too, with an admiring eye. I once heard him say:-- + +"Milady Laura, it is the regret of me life that I came into the world a +generation too soon." + +Laura sometimes went away--she called it "going home," but we scoffed +the term--and the doldrums blew until she returned. Sir Tom dined with +us nearly every evening through the fall and early winter; and when he, +and Kate and Tom and the grand-girls, and the Kyrles, and Laura were at +Four Oaks, there was little to be desired. The grand-girls were nearly +five and seven now, and they were a great help to the Headman. My +terrier was no closer to my heels from morning to night than were these +youngsters. They took to country life like the young animals they were, +and made friends with all, from Thompson down. They must needs watch the +sheep as they walked their endless way on the treadmill night and +morning; they thrust their hands into hundreds of nests and placed the +spoils in Sam's big baskets; they watched the calves at their patent +feeders, which deceived the calves, but not the girls; they climbed into +the grain bins and tobogganed on the corn; they haunted the cow-barn at +milking time and wondered much; but the chiefest of their delights was +the beautiful white pig which Anderson gave them. A little movable pen +was provided for this favorite, and the youngsters fed it several times +a day with warm milk from a nursing-bottle, like any other motherless +child. The pig loved its foster-mothers, and squealed for them most of +the time when it was not eating or sleeping; fortunately, a pig can do +much of both. It grew playful and intelligent, and took on strange +little human ways which made one wonder if Darwin were right in his +conclusion that we are all ascended from the ape. I have seen features +and traits of character so distinctly piggish as to rouse my suspicions +that the genealogical line is not free from a cross of _sus scrofa_. The +pig grew in stature and in wisdom, but not in grace, from day to day, +until it threatened to dominate the place. However, it was lost during +the absence of its friends,--to be replaced by a younger one at the next +visit. + +"Do _your_ pigs get lost when you are away?" asked No. 1. + +"Not often, dear." + +"It's only pet pigs that runds away," said No. 2, "and I don't care, for +it rooted me." + +The pet pig is still a favorite with the grand-girls, but it always runs +away in the fall. + +Kate loved to come to Four Oaks, and she spent so much time there that +she often said:-- + +"We have no right to that $1200; we spend four times as much time here +as you all do in town." + +"That's all right daughter, but I wish you would spend twice as much +time here as you do, and I also wish that the $1200 were twice as much +as it is." + +Time was running so smoothly with us that we "knocked on wood" each +morning for fear our luck would break. + +The cottage which had once served as a temporary granary, and which had +been moved to the building line two years before, was now turned into an +overflow house against the time when Jack should come home for the +winter vacation. Polly had decided to have "just as many as we can hold, +and some more," and as the heaviest duties fell upon her, the rest of us +could hardly find fault. The partitions were torn out of the cottage, +and it was opened up into one room, except for the kitchen, which was +turned into a bath-room. Six single iron beds were put up, and the place +was made comfortable by an old-fashioned, air-tight, sheet-iron stove +with a great hole in the top through which big chunks and knots of wood +were fed. This stove would keep fire all night, and, while not up to +latter-day demands, it was quite satisfactory to the warm-blooded boys +who used it. The expense of overhauling the cottage was $214. Tom, Kate, +and the grand-girls were to be with us, of course, and so were the +Kyrles, Sir Tom, Jessie Gordon, Florence, Madeline, and Alice Chase. +Jack was to bring Jarvis and two other men besides Frank and Phil of +last year's party. + +The six boys were bestowed in the cottage, where they made merry +without seriously interrupting sleep in the main house. The others found +comfortable quarters under our roof, except Sir Tom, who would go home +some time in the night, to return before lunch the next day. + +With such a houseful of people, the cook was worked to the bone; but she +gloried in it, and cackled harder than ever. I believe she gave warning +twice during those ten days; but Polly has a way with her which Mary +cannot resist. I do not think we could have driven that cook out of the +house with a club when there was such an opportunity for her to +distinguish herself. Her warnings were simply matters of habit. + +The holidays were filled with such things as a congenial country +house-party can furnish--the wholesomest, jolliest things in the world; +and the end, when it came, was regretted by all. I grew to feel a little +bit jealous of Jarvis's attentions to Jane, for they looked serious, and +she was not made unhappy by them. Jarvis was all that was honest and +manly, but I could not think of giving up Jane, even to the best of +fellows. I wanted her for my old age. I suspect that a loving father can +dig deeper into the mud of selfishness than any other man, and yet feel +all the time that he is doing God service. It is in accord with nature +that a daughter should take the bit in her teeth and bolt away from this +restraining selfishness, but the man who is left by the roadside cannot +always see it in that light. + + + + +CHAPTER LII + +THE THIRD BECKONING + + +On the afternoon of December 31 I called a meeting of the committee of +ways and means, and Polly and I locked ourselves in my office. It was +then two and a half years since we commenced the experiment of building +a factory farm, which was to supply us with comforts, luxuries, and +pleasures of life, and yet be self-supporting: a continuous experiment +in economics. + +The building of the factory was practically completed, though not all of +its machinery had yet been installed. We had spent our money +freely,--too freely, perhaps; and we were now ready to watch the +returns. Polly said:-- + +"There are some things we are sure of: we like the country, and it likes +us. I have spent the happiest year of my life here. We've entertained +more friends than ever before, and they've been better entertained, so +that we are all right from the social standpoint. You are stronger and +better than ever before, and so am I. Credit the farm with these things, +Mr. Headman, and you'll find that it doesn't owe us such an awful amount +after all." + +"Are these things worth $100,000?" + +"Now, John, you don't mean that you've spent $100,000! What in the world +have you done with it? Just pigs and cows and chickens--" + +"And greenhouses and sunken gardens and pergolas and kickshaws," said I. +"But seriously, Polly, I think that we can show value for all that we +have spent; and the whole amount is not three times what our city house +cost, and that only covered our heads." + +"How do you figure values here?" + +"We get a great deal more than simply shelter out of this place, and we +have tangible values, too. Here are some of them: 480 acres of excellent +land, so well groomed and planted that it is worth of any man's money, +$120 per acre, or $57,600; buildings, water-plant, etc., all as good as +new, $40,000; 44 cows, $4400; 10 heifers nearly two years old, $500; 8 +horses, $1200; 50 brood sows, $1000; 350 young pigs, $1700; 1300 laying +hens, $1300; tools and machinery, $1500; that makes well over $100,000 +in sight, besides all the things you mentioned before." + +"You haven't counted the six horses in my barn." + +"They haven't been charged to the farm, Polly." + +"Or the trees you've planted?" + +"No, they go with the land to increase its value." + +"And my gardens, too?" + +"Yes, they are fixtures and count with the acres. You see, this, land +didn't cost quite $75 an acre, but I hold it $50 better for what we've +done to it; I don't believe Bill Jackson would sell his for less. I +offered him $10,000 for a hundred acres, and he refused. We've put up +the price of real estate in this neighborhood, Mrs. Williams." + +"Well, let's get at the figures. I'm dying to see how we stand." + +"I have summarized them here:-- + +"To additional land and development of plant $20,353.00 +To interest on previous investment 4,220.00 +Wages 4,662.00 +Food for twenty-five people 1,523.00 +Food for stock 2,120.00 +Taxes and insurance 207.00 +Shoeing and repairs 309.00 + ---------- + "Making in all $33,394.00 + +spent this year. + +"The receipts are:-- + +"First quarter $1,297.00 +Second quarter 1,706.00 +Third quarter 3,284.00 +Fourth quarter 4,831.00 + --------- + "Making $11,118.00 + +"But we agreed to pay $4000 a year to the farm for our food and shelter, +if it did as well by us as the town house did. Shall we do it, Polly?" + +"Why, of course; we've been no end more comfortable here." + +"Well, if we don't expect to get something for nothing, I think we +ought to add it. Adding $4000 will make the returns from the farm +$15,118, leaving $18,276 to add to the interest-bearing debt. Last year +this debt was $84,404. Add this year's deficit, and we have $102,680. A +good deal of money, Polly, but I showed you well over $100,000 in +assets,--at our own price, to be sure, but not far wrong." + +"Will you ever have to increase the debt?" + +"I think not. I believe we shall reduce it a little next year, and each +year thereafter. But, supposing it only pays expenses, how can you put +on as much style on the interest of $100,000 anywhere else as you can +here? It can't be done. When the fruit comes in and this factory is +running full time, it will earn well on toward $25,000 a year, and it +will not cost over $14,000 to run it, interest and all. It won't take +long at that rate to wipe out the interest-bearing debt. You'll be rich, +Polly, before you're ten years older." + +"You are rich now, in imagination and expectation, Mr. Headman, but I'll +bank with you for a while longer. But what's the use of charging the +farm with interest when you credit it with our keeping?" + +"There isn't much reason in that, Polly. It's about as broad as it is +long. I simply like to keep books in that way. We charge the farm with a +little more than $4000 interest, and we credit it with just $4000 for +our food and shelter. We'll keep on in this way because I like it." + + + + +CHAPTER LIII + +THE MILK MACHINE + + +In opening the year 1898 I was faced by a larger business proposition +than I had originally planned. When I undertook the experiment of a +factory farm, I placed the limit of capital to be invested at about +$60,000. Now I found that I had exceeded that amount by a good many +thousand dollars, and I knew that the end was not yet. The factory was +not complete, and it would be several years before it would be at its +best in output. While it had cost me more than was originally +contemplated, and while there was yet more money to be spent, there was +still no reason for discouragement. Indeed, I felt so certain of +ultimate profits that I was ready to put as much into it as could +possibly be used to advantage. + +The original plan was for a soiling farm on which I could milk thirty +cows, fatten two hundred hogs, feed a thousand hens, and wait for +thirty-five hundred fruit trees to come to a profitable age. With this +in view, I set apart forty acres of high, dry land, for the +feeding-grounds, twenty acres of which was devoted to the cows; and I +now found that this twenty-acre lot would provide an ample exercise +field for twice that number. It was in grass (timothy, red-top, and blue +grass), and the cows nibbled persistently during the short hours each +day when they were permitted to be on it; but it was never reckoned as +part of their ration. The sod was kept in good condition and the field +free from weeds, by the use of the mowing-machine, set high, every ten +or twenty days, according to the season. Following the mower, we use a +spring-tooth rake which bunched the weeds and gathered or broke up the +droppings; and everything the rake caught was carted to the manure vats. +Our big Holsteins do not suffer from close quarters, so far as I am able +to judge, neither do they take on fat. From thirty minutes to three +hours (depending on the weather), is all the outing they get each day; +but this seems sufficient for their needs. The well-ventilated stable +with its moderate temperature suits the sedentary nature of these milk +machines, and I am satisfied with the results. I cannot, of course, +speak with authority of the comparative merits of soiling _versus_ +grazing, for I have had no experience in the latter; but in theory +soiling appeals to me, and in practice it satisfies me. + +When I found I could keep more cows on the land set apart for them, I +built another cow stable for the dry cows and the heifers, and added +four stalls to my milk stable by turning each of the hospital wards into +two stalls. + +The ten heifers which I reserved in the spring of 1896 were now nearly +two years old. They were expected to "come in" in the early autumn, when +they would supplement the older herd. The cows purchased in 1895 were +now five years old, and quite equal to the large demand which we made +upon them. They had grown to be enormous creatures, from thirteen +hundred to fourteen hundred pounds in weight, and they were proving +their excellence as milk producers by yielding an average of forty +pounds a day. We had, and still have, one remarkable milker, who thinks +nothing of yielding seventy pounds when fresh, and who doesn't fall +below twenty-five pounds when we are forced to dry her off. I have no +doubt that she would be a successful candidate for advanced registration +if we put her to the test. For ten months in each year these cows give +such quantities of milk as would surprise a man not acquainted with this +noble Dutch family. My five common cows were good of their kind, but +they were not in the class with the Holsteins. They were not "robber" +cows, for they fully earned their food; but there was no great profit in +them. To be sure, they did not eat more than two-thirds as much as the +Holsteins; but that fact did not stand to their credit, for the basic +principle of factory farming is to consume as much raw material as +possible and to turn out its equivalent in finished product. The common +cows consumed only two-thirds as much raw material as the Holsteins, +and turned out rather less than two-thirds of their product, while they +occupied an equal amount of floor space; consequently they had to give +place to more competent machines. They were to be sold during the +season. + +Why dairymen can be found who will pay $50 apiece for cows like those I +had for sale (better, indeed, than the average), is beyond my method of +reckoning values. Twice $50 will buy a young cow bred for milk, and she +would prove both bread and milk to the purchaser in most cases. The +question of food should settle itself for the dairyman as it does for +the factory farmer. The more food consumed, the better for each, if the +ratio of milk be the same. + +My Holsteins are great feeders; more than 2 tons of grain, 2-1/2 tons of +hay, and 4 or 5 tons of corn fodder, in addition to a ton of roots or +succulent vegetables, pass through their great mouths each year. The hay +is nearly equally divided between timothy, oat hay, and alfalfa; and +when I began to figure the gross amount that would be required for my 50 +Holstein gourmands, I saw that the widow's farm had been purchased none +too quickly. To provide 100 tons of grain, 125 tons of hay, and 200 or +300 tons of corn fodder for the cows alone, was no slight matter; but I +felt prepared to furnish this amount of raw material to be transmuted +into golden butter. The Four Oaks butter had made a good reputation, and +the four oak leaves stamped on each mould was a sufficient guarantee of +excellence. My city grocer urged a larger product, and I felt safe in +promising it; at the same time, I held him up for a slight advance in +price. Heretofore it had netted me 32 cents a pound, but from January 1, +1898, I was to have 33-1/3 cents for each pound delivered at the station +at Exeter, I agreeing to furnish at least 50 pounds a day, six days in a +week. + +This was not always easily done during the first eight months of that +year, and I will confess to buying 640 pounds to eke out the supply for +the colony; but after the young heifers came in, there was no trouble, +and the purchased butter was more than made up to our local grocer. + +It will be more satisfactory to deal with dairy matters in lump sums +from now on. The contract with the city grocer still holds, and, though +he often urges me to increase my herd, I still limit the supply to 300 +pounds a week,--sometimes a little more, but rarely less. I believe that +38 to 44 cows in full flow of milk will make the best balance in my +factory; and a well-balanced factory is what I am after. + +I am told that animals are not machines, and that they cannot be run as +such. My animals are; and I run them as I would a shop. There is no +sentiment in my management. If a cow or a hog or a hen doesn't work in a +satisfactory way, it ceases to occupy space in my shop, just as would +an imperfect wheel. The utmost kindness is shown to all animals at Four +Oaks. This rule is the most imperative one on the place, and the one in +which no "extenuating circumstances" are taken into account. There are +two equal reasons for this: the first is a deep-rooted aversion to +cruelty in all forms; and the second is, _it pays_. But kindness to +animals doesn't imply the necessity of keeping useless ones or those +whose usefulness is below one's standard. If a man will use the +intelligence and attention to detail in the management of stock that is +necessary to the successful running of a complicated machine, he will +find that his stock doesn't differ greatly from his machine. The trouble +with most farmers is that they think the living machine can be neglected +with impunity, because it will not immediately destroy itself or others, +and because it is capable of a certain amount of self-maintenance; while +the dead machine has no power of self-support, and must receive careful +and punctual attention to prevent injury to itself and to other +property. If a dairyman will feed his cows as a thresher feeds the +cylinder of his threshing-machine, he will find that the milk will flow +from the one about as steadily as the grain falls from the other. + +Intensive factory farming means the use of the best machines pushed to +the limit of their capacity through the period of their greatest +usefulness, and then replaced by others. Pushing to the limit of +capacity is in no sense cruelty. It is predicated on the perfect health +of the animal, for without perfect condition, neither machine nor animal +can do its best work. It is simply encouraging to a high degree the +special function for which generations of careful breeding have fitted +the animal. + +That there is gratification in giving milk, no well-bred cow or mother +will deny. It is a joyous function to eat large quantities of pleasant +food and turn it into milk. Heredity impels the cow to do this, and it +would take generations of wild life to wean her from it. As well say +that the cataleptic trance of the pointer, when the game bird lies close +and the delicate scent fills his nostrils, is not a joy to him, or that +the Dalmatian at the heels of his horse, or the foxhound when Reynard's +trail is warm, receive no pleasure from their specialties. + +Do these animals feel no joy in the performance of service which is bred +into their bones and which it is unnatural or freakish for them to lack? +No one who has watched the "bred-for-milk" cow can doubt that the joys +of her life are eating, drinking, sleeping, and giving milk. Pushing her +to the limit of her capacity is only intensifying her life, though, +possibly, it may shorten it by a year or two. While she lives she knows +all the happiness of cow life, and knows it to the full. What more can +she ask? She would starve on the buffalo grass which supports her +half-wild sister, "northers" would freeze her, and the snow would bury +her. She is a product of high cow-civilization, and as such she must +have the intelligent care of man or she cannot do her best. With this +care she is a marvellous machine for the making of the only article of +food which in itself is competent to support life in man. If my +Holsteins are not machines, they resemble them so closely that I will +not quarrel with the name. + +What is true of the cow, is true also of the pork-making machine that we +call the hog. His wild and savage progenitor is lost, and we have in his +place a sluggish animal that is a very model as a food producer. His +three pleasures are eating, sleeping, and growing fat. He follows these +pleasures with such persistence that 250 days are enough to perfect him. +It can certainly be no hardship to a pig to encourage him in a life of +sloth and gluttony which appeals to his taste and to my profit. + +Custom and interest make his life ephemeral; I make it comfortable. From +the day of his birth until we separate, I take watchful care of him. +During infancy he is protected from cold and wet, and his mother is +coddled by the most nourishing foods, that she may not fail in her duty +to him. During childhood he is provided with a warm house, a clean bed, +and a yard in which to disport himself, and is fed for growth and bone +on skim-milk, oatmeal, and sweet alfalfa. During his youth, corn meal is +liberally added to his diet, also other dainties which he enjoys and +makes much of; and during his whole life he has access to clean water, +and to the only medicine which a pig needs,--a mixture of ashes, +charcoal, salt, and sulphur. + +When he has spent 250 happy days with me, we part company with feelings +of mutual respect,--he to finish his mission, I to provide for his +successor. + +My early plan was to turn off 200 of this finished product each year, +but I soon found that I could do much better. One can raise a crop of +hogs nearly as quickly as a crop of corn, and with much more profit, if +the food be at hand. There was likely to be an abundance of food. I was +more willing to sell it in pig skins than in any other packages. My plan +was now to turn off, not 200 hogs each year, but 600 or more. I had 60 +well-bred sows, young and old, and I could count on them to farrow at +least three times in two years. The litters ought to average 7 each, say +22 pigs in two years; 60 times 22 are 1320, and half of 1320 is 660. +Yes, at that rate, I could count on about 600 finished hogs to sell each +year. But if my calculations were too high, I could easily keep 10 more +brood sows, for I had sufficient room to keep them healthy. + +The two five-acre lots, Nos. 3 and 5, had been given over to the brood +sows when they were not caring for young litters in the brood-house. +Comfortable shelters and a cemented basin twelve feet by twelve, and one +foot deep, had been built in each lot. The water-pipe that ran through +the chicken lot (No. 4) connected with these basins, as did also a +drain-pipe to the drain in the north lane, so that it was easy to turn +on fresh water and to draw off that which was soiled. Through this +device my brood sows had access to a water bath eight inches deep, +whenever they were in the fields. My hogs, young or old, have never been +permitted to wallow in mud. We have no mud-holes at Four Oaks to grow +stale and breed disease. The breeding hogs have exercise lots and baths, +but the young growing and fattening stock have neither. They are kept in +runs twenty feet by one hundred, in bunches of from twenty to forty, +according to age, from the time they are weaned until they leave the +place for good. This plan, which I did not intend to change, opened a +question in my mind that gave me pause. It was this: Can I hope, even +with the utmost care, to keep the house for growing and fattening swine +free from disease if I keep it constantly full of swine? + +The more I thought about it the less probable it appeared. The pig-house +had cost me $4320. Another would cost as much, if not more, and I did +not like to go to the expense unless it were necessary. I worked over +this problem for several days, and finally came to the conclusion that +I should never feel easy about my swine until I had two houses for them, +besides the brood-house for the sows. I therefore gave the order to +Nelson to build another swine-house as soon as spring opened. My plan +was, and I carried it out, to move all the colonies every three months, +and to have the vacant house thoroughly cleaned, sprayed with a powerful +germicide, and whitewashed. The runs were to be turned over, when the +weather would permit, and the ground sown to oats or rye. + +The new house was finished in June, and the pigs were moved into it on +July 1st with a lease of three months. My mind has been easy on the +question of the health of my hogs ever since; and with reason, for there +has been no epizoötic or other serious form of disease in my piggery, in +spite of the fact that there are often more than 1200 pigs of all +degrees crowded into this five-acre lot. The two pig-houses and the +brood-house, with their runs, cover the whole of the lot, except the +broad street of sixty feet just inside my high quarantine fence, which +encloses the whole of it. + + + + +CHAPTER LIV + +BACON AND EGGS + + +Each hog turned out from my piggery weighing 270 pounds or more, has +eaten of my substance not less than 500 pounds of grain, 250 pounds of +chopped alfalfa, 250 pounds of roots or vegetables, and such quantities +of skimmed milk and swill as have fallen to his share. I could reckon +the approximate cost of these foods, but I will not do so. All but the +middlings and oil meal come from the farm and are paid for by certain +fixed charges heretofore mentioned. The middlings and oil meal are +charged in the "food for animals" account at the rate of $1 a year for +each finished hog. + +The truth is that a large part of the food which enters into the making +of each 300 pounds of live pork, is of slow sale, and that for some of +it there is no sale at all,--for instance, house swill, dish-water, +butter-washings, garden weeds, lawn clippings, and all sorts of coarse +vegetables. A hog makes half his growth out of refuse which has no +value, or not sufficient to warrant the effort and expense of selling +it. He has unequalled facilities for turning non-negotiable scrip into +convertible bonds, and he is the greatest moneymaker on the farm. If +the grain ration were all corn, and if there were a roadside market for +it at 35 cents a bushel, it would cost $3.12; the alfalfa would be worth +$1.45, and the vegetables probably 65 cents, under like conditions, +making a total of $5.22 as a possible gross value of the food which the +hog has eaten. The gross value of these things, however, is far above +their net value when one considers time and expense of sale. The hog +saves all this trouble by tucking under his skin slow-selling remnants +of farm products and making of them finished assets which can be turned +into cash at a day's notice. + +To feed the hogs on the scale now planned, I had to provide for +something like 7000 bushels of grain, chiefly corn and oats, 100 tons of +alfalfa, and an equal amount of vegetables, chiefly sugar beets and +mangel-wurzel. Certainly the widow's land would be needed. + +The poultry had also outgrown my original plans, and I had built with +reference to my larger views. There were five houses on the poultry lot, +each 200 feet long, and each divided into ten equal pens. Four of these +houses were for the laying hens, which were divided into flocks of 40 +each; while the other house was for the growing chickens and for +cockerels being fattened for market. + +There were now on hand more than 1300 pullets and hens, and I instructed +Sam to run his incubator overtime that season, so as to fill our houses +by autumn. I should need 800 or 900 pullets to make our quota good, for +most of the older hens would have to be disposed of in the autumn,--all +but about 200, which would be kept until the following spring to breed +from. + +I believe that a three-year-old hen that has shown the egg habit is the +best fowl to breed from, and it is the custom at Four Oaks to reserve +specially good pens for this purpose. The egg habit is unquestionably as +much a matter of heredity as the milk or the fat producing habit, and +should be as carefully cultivated. With this end in view, Sam added +young cockerels to four of his best-producing flocks on January 1, and +by the 15th he was able to start his incubators. + +Breeding and feeding for eggs is on the same principle as feeding and +breeding for milk. It is no more natural for a hen to lay eggs for human +consumption than it is for the robin to do so, or for the cow to give +more milk than is sufficient for her calf. Man's necessity has made +demands upon both cow and hen, and man's intelligence has converted +individualists into socialists in both of these races. They no longer +live for themselves alone. As the cow, under favorable conditions, finds +pleasure in giving milk, so does the hen under like conditions take +delight in giving eggs,--else why the joyous cackle when leaving her +nest after doing her full duty? She gloats over it, and glories in it, +and announces her satisfaction to the whole yard. It is something to be +proud of, and the cackling hen knows it better than you or I. It can be +no hardship to push this egg machine to the limit of its capacity. It +adds new zest to the life of the hen, and multiplies her opportunities +for well-earned self-congratulation. + +Our hens are fed for eggs, and we get what we feed for. I said of my +hens that I would not ask them to lay more than eight dozen eggs each +year, and I will stick to what I said. But I do not reject voluntary +contributions beyond this number. Indeed, I accept them with thanks, and +give Biddy a word of commendation for her gratuity. Eight dozen eggs a +year will pay a good profit, but if each of my hens wishes to present me +with two dozen more, I slip 62 cents into my pocket and say, "I am very +much obliged to you, miss," or madam, as the case may be. Most of my +hens do remember me in this substantial way, and the White Wyandottes +are in great favor with the Headman. + +The houses in which my hens live are almost as clean as the one I +inhabit (and Polly is tidy to a degree); their food is as carefully +prepared as mine, and more punctually served; their enemies are fended +off, and they are never frightened by dogs or other animals, for the +five-acre lot on which their houses and runs are built is enclosed by a +substantial fence that prevents any interloping; book agents never +disturb their siestas, nor do tree men make their lives hideous with +lithographs of impossible fruit on improbable trees. Whether I am +indebted to one or to all of these conditions for my full egg baskets, I +am unable to say; but I do not purpose to make any change, for my egg +baskets are as full as a reasonable man could wish. As nearly as I can +estimate, my hens give thirty per cent egg returns as a yearly +average--about 120 eggs for each hen in 365 days. This is more than I +ask of them, but I do not refuse their generosity. + +Every egg is worth, in my market, 2-1/2 cents, which means that the +yearly product of each hen could be sold for $3. Something more than two +thousand dozen are consumed by the home colony or the incubators; the +rest find their way to the city in clean cartons of one dozen each, with +a stencil of Four Oaks and a guarantee that they are not twenty-four +hours old when they reach the middleman. + +In return for this $3 a year, what do I give my hens besides a clean +house and yard? A constant supply of fresh water, sharp grits, oyster +shells, and a bath of road dust and sifted ashes, to which is added a +pinch of insect powder. Twice each day five pounds of fresh skim-milk is +given to each flock of forty. In the morning they have a warm mash +composed of (for 1600 hens) 50 pounds of alfalfa hay cut fine and soaked +all night in hot water, 50 pounds of corn meal, 50 pounds of oat meal, +50 pounds of bran, and 20 pounds of either meat meal or cotton-seed +meal. At noon they get 100 pounds of mixed grains--wheat and buckwheat +usually--with some green vegetables to pick at; and at night 125 to 150 +pounds of whole corn. There are variations of this diet from time to +time, but no radical change. I have read much of a balanced ration, but +I fancy a hen will balance her own ration if you give her the chance. + +Milk is one of the most important items on this bill of fare, and all +hens love it. It should be fed entirely fresh, and the crocks or earthen +dishes from which it is eaten should be thoroughly cleansed each day. +Four ounces for each hen is a good daily ration, and we divide this into +two feedings. + +Our 1600 hens eat about 75 tons of grain a year. Add to this the 100 +tons which 50 cows will require, 200 tons for the swine, and 25 tons for +the horses, and we have 400 tons of grain to provide for the stock on +the factory farm. Nearly a fourth of this, in the shape of bran, gluten +meal, oil meal, and meat meal, must be purchased, for we have no way of +producing it. For the other 300 tons we must look to the land or to a +low market. Three hundred tons of mixed grains means something like +13,000 bushels, and I cannot hope to raise this amount from my land at +present. + +Fortunately the grain market was to my liking in January of 1898; and +though there were still more than 7000 bushels in my granary, I +purchased 5000 bushels of corn and as much oats against a higher market. +The corn cost 27 cents a bushel and the oats 22, delivered at Exeter, +the 10,000 bushels amounting to $2450, to be charged to the farm +account. + +I was now prepared to face the food problem, for I had more than 17,000 +bushels of grain to supplement the amount the farm would produce, and to +tide me along until cheap grain should come again, or until my land +should produce enough for my needs. The supply in hand plus that which I +could reasonably expect to raise, would certainly provide for three +years to come, and this is farther than the average farmer looks into +the future. But I claim to be more enterprising than an average farmer, +and determined to keep my eyes open and to take advantage of any +favorable opportunity to strengthen my position. + +In the meantime it was necessary to force my trees, and to secure more +help for the farm work. To push fruit trees to the limit of healthy +growth is practical and wise. They can accomplish as much in growth and +development in three years, when judiciously stimulated, as in five or +six years of the "lick-and-a-promise" kind of care which they usually +receive. + +A tree must be fed first for growth and afterward for fruit, just as a +pig is managed, if one wishes quick returns. To plant a tree and leave +it to the tenderness of nature, with only occasional attention, is to +make the heart sick, for it is certain to prove a case of hope deferred. +In the fulness of time the tree and "happy-go-lucky" nature will prove +themselves equal to the development of fruit; but they will be slow in +doing it. It is quite as well for the tree, and greatly to the advantage +of the horticulturist, to cut two or three years out of this +unprofitable time. All that is necessary to accomplish this is: to keep +the ground loose for a space around the tree somewhat larger than the +spread of its branches; to apply fertilizers rich in nitrogen; to keep +the whole of the cultivated space mulched with good barn-yard manure, +increasing the thickness of the mulch with coarse stuff in the fall, so +as to lengthen the season of root activity; and to draw the mulch aside +about St. Patrick's Day, that the sun's rays may warm the earth as early +as possible. Moderate pruning, nipping back of exuberant branches, and +two sprayings of the foliage with Bordeaux mixture, to keep fungus +enemies in check, comprise all the care required by the growing tree. +This treatment will condense the ordinary growth of five years into +three, and the tree will be all the better for the forcing. + +As soon as fruit spurs and buds begin to show themselves, the treatment +should be modified, but not remitted. Less nitrogen and more phosphoric +acid and potash are to be used, and the mulch should _not_ be removed +in the early spring. The objects now are, to stimulate the fruit buds +and to retard activity in the roots until the danger from late frosts is +past. As a result of this kind of treatment, many varieties of apple +trees will give moderate crops when the roots are seven, and the trunks +are six years old. Fruit buds showed in abundance on many of my trees in +the fall of 1897, especially on the Duchess and the Yellow Transparent, +and I looked for a small apple harvest that year. + + + + +CHAPTER LV + +THE OLD TIME FARM-HAND + + +With all my industries thus increasing, the necessity for more help +became imperative. French and Judson had their hands more than full in +the dairy barns, and had to be helped out by Thompson. Anderson could +not give the swine all the attention they needed, and was assisted by +Otto, who proved an excellent swineherd. Sam had the aid of Lars's boys +with the poultry, and very efficient aid it was, considering the time +they could give to it. They had to be off with the market wagon at 7.40, +and did not return from school until 4 P.M. Lars was busy in the +carriage barn; and though we spared him as much as possible from +driving, he had to be helped out by Johnson at such times as the latter +could spare from his greenhouse and hotbeds. Zeb took care of the farm +teams; but the winter's work of distributing forage and grain, getting +up wood and ice, hauling manure, and so forth, had to be done in a +desultory and irregular manner. The spring work would find us wofully +behindhand if I did not look sharp. I had been looking sharp since +January set in, and had experienced, for the first time, real +difficulties in finding anything like good help. Hitherto I had been +especially fortunate in this regard. I had met some reverses, but in the +main good luck had followed me. I had nine good men who seemed contented +and who were all saving money,--an excellent sign of stability and +contentment. Even Lars had not fallen from grace but once, and that +could hardly be charged against him, for Jack and Jarvis had tempted him +beyond resistance; while Sam's nose was quite blanched, and he was to +all appearances firmly seated on the water wagon. Really, I did not know +what labor troubles meant until 1898, but since then I have not had +clear sailing. + +From my previous experience with working-men, I had formed the opinion +that they were reasoning and reasonable human beings,--with +peculiarities, of course; and that as a class they were ready to give +good service for fair wages and decent treatment. In early life I had +been a working-man myself, and I thought I could understand the feelings +and sympathize with the trials of the laborer from the standpoint of +personal experience. I was sorely mistaken. The laboring man of to-day +is a different proposition from the man who did manual labor "before the +war." That he is more intelligent, more provident, happier, or better in +any way, I sincerely doubt; that he is restless, dissatisfied, and less +efficient, I believe; that he is unreasonable in his demands and +regardless of the interests of his employer, I know. There are many +shining exceptions, and to these I look for the ultimate regeneration of +labor; but the rule holds true. + +I do not believe that the principles of life have changed in forty +years. I do not believe that an intelligent, able-bodied man need be a +servant all his life, or that industry and economy miss their rewards, +or that there is any truth in the theory that men cannot rise out of the +rut in which they happen to find themselves. The trouble is with the +man, not with the rut. He spends his time in wallowing rather than in +diligently searching for an outlet or in honestly working his way up to +it. Heredity and environment are heavy weights, but industry and +sobriety can carry off heavier ones. I have sympathy for weakness of +body or mind, and patience for those over whom inheritance has cast a +baleful spell; but I have neither patience nor sympathy for a strong man +who rails at his condition and makes no determined effort to better it. + +The time and money wasted in strikes, agitations, and arbitrations, if +put to practical use, would better the working-man enough faster than +these futile efforts do. I have no quarrel with unions or combinations +of labor, so far as they have the true interests of labor for an object; +but I do quarrel with the spirit of mob rule and the evidences of +conspicuous waste, which have grown so rampant as to overshadow the +helpful hand and to threaten, not the stability of society--for in the +background I see six million conservative sons of the soil who will look +to the stability of things when the time comes--but the unions +themselves. + +I remember my first summer on a farm. It lasted from the first day of +April to the thirty-first day of October, and on the evening of that day +I carried to my father $28, the full wage for seven months. I could not +have spent one cent during that time, for I carried the whole sum home; +but I do not remember that I was conscious of any want. The hours on the +farm were not short; an eight-hour day would have been considered but a +half-day. We worked from sun to sun, and I grew and knew no sorrow or +oppression. The next year I received the munificent wage of $6 a month, +and the following year, $8. + +In after years, in brick-yards, sawmills, lumber woods, or harvest +fields, there was no arbitrary limit put upon the amount of work to be +done. If I chose to do the work of a man and a half, I got $1.50 for +doing it, and it would have been a bold and sturdy delegate who tried to +hold me from it. I felt no need of help from outside. I was fit to care +for myself, and I minded not the long hours, the hard work, or the hard +bed. This life was preliminary to a fuller one, and it served its use. +I know what tired legs and back mean, and I know that one need not have +them always if he will use the ordinary sense which God gives. Genius, +or special cleverness, is not necessary to get a man out of the rut of +hard manual labor. Just plain, everyday sense will do. But before I had +secured the three men for whom I was in search, I began to feel that +this common sense of which we speak so glibly is a rare commodity under +the working-man's hat. I advertised, sent to agencies and intelligence +offices, interviewed and inspected, consulted friends and enemies, and +so generally harrowed my life that I was fit to give up the whole +business and retire into a cave. + +By actual count, I saw more than one hundred men, of all ages, sizes, +and colors. Eight of these were tried, of whom five were found wanting. +Early in February I had settled upon three sober men to add to our +colony. As none of these lasted the year out, I may be forgiven for not +introducing them to the reader. They served their purpose, and mine too, +and then drifted on. + + + + +CHAPTER LVI + +THE SYNDICATE + + +I do not wish to take credit for things which gave me pleasure in the +doing, or to appear altruistic in my dealings with the people employed +at Four Oaks. I tell of our business and other relations because they +are details of farm history and rightfully belong to these pages. If I +dealt fairly by my men and established relations of mutual confidence +and dependence, it was not in the hope that my ways might be approved +and commended, but because it paid, in more ways than one. I wanted my +men to have a lively interest in the things which were of importance to +me, that their efforts might be intelligent and direct; and I was glad +to enter into their schemes, either for pleasure or for profit, with +such aid as I could give. Cordial understanding between employee and +employer puts life into the contract, and disposes of perfunctory +service, which simply recognizes a definite deed for a definite +compensation. Uninterested labor leaves a load of hay in the field to be +injured, just because the hour for quitting has come, while interested +labor hurries the hay into the barn to make it safe, knowing that the +extra half-hour will be made up to it in some other way. + +It pays the farmer to take his help into a kind of partnership, not +always in his farm, but always in his consideration. That is why my +farm-house was filled with papers and magazines of interest to the men; +that is why I spent many an evening with them talking over our +industries; that is why I purchased an organ for them when I found that +Mrs. French, the dairymaid, could play on it; that is why I talked +economy to them and urged them to place some part of each month's wage +in the Exeter Savings Bank; and that is why, early in 1898, I formulated +a plan for investing their wages at a more profitable rate of interest. +I asked each one to give me a statement of his or her savings up to +date. They were quite willing to do this, and I found that the aggregate +for the eight men and three women was $2530. Anderson, who saved most of +his wages, had an account in a city savings bank, and did not join us in +our syndicate, though he approved of it. + +The money was made up of sums varying from $90, Lena's savings, to $460 +owned by Judson, the buggy man. My proposition was this: Pool the funds, +buy Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific stock, and hold it for one or two +years. The interest would be twice as much as they were getting from +the bank, while the prospect of a decided advance was good. I said to +them:-- + +"I have owned Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific stock for more than +three years. I commenced to buy at fifty-seven, and I am still buying, +when I can get hold of a little money that doesn't have to go into this +blessed farm. It is now eighty-one, and it will go higher. I am so sure +of this that I will agree to take the stock from each or all of you at +the price you pay for it at any time during the next two years. There is +no risk in this proposition to you, and there may be a very handsome +return." + +They were pleased with the plan, and we formed a pool to buy thirty +shares of stock. Thompson and I were trustees, and the certificate stood +in our names; but each contributor received a pro-rata interest; Lena, +one thirtieth; Judson, five-thirtieths; and the others between these +extremes. The stock was bought at eighty-two. I may as well explain now +how it came out, for I am not proud of my acumen at the finish. A little +more than a year later the stock reached 122, and I advised the +syndicate to sell. They were all pleased at the time with the handsome +profit they had made, but I suspect they have often figured what they +might have made "if the boss hadn't been such a chump," for we have seen +the stock go above two hundred. + +This was not the only enterprise in which our colony took a small share. +The people at Four Oaks are now content to hold shares in one of the +great trusts, which they bought several points below par, and which pay +1¾. per cent every three months. Even Lena, who held only one share of +the C., R.I., & P. five years ago, has so increased her income-bearing +property that she is now looked upon as a "catch" by her acquaintances. +If I am correctly informed, she has an annual income of $105, +independent of her wages. + + + + +CHAPTER LVII + +THE DEATH OF SIR TOM + + +At 7.30 on the morning of March 16, Dr. High telephoned me that Sir +Thomas O'Hara was seriously ill, and asked me to come at once. It took +but a few minutes to have Jerry at the door, and, breasting a cold, thin +rain at a sharp gallop, I was at my friend's door before the clock +struck eight. Dr. High met me with a heavy face. + +"Sir Tom is bad," said he, "with double pneumonia, and I am awfully +afraid it will go hard with him." + +I remembered that my friend's pale face had looked a shade paler than +usual the evening before, and that there had been a pinched expression +around the nose and mouth, as if from pain; but Sir Tom had many twinges +from his old enemy, gout, which he did not care to discuss, and I took +little note of his lack of fitness. He touched the brandy bottle a +little oftener than usual, and left for home earlier; but his voice was +as cheery as ever, and we thought only of gout. He was taken with a hard +chill on his way home, which lasted for some time after he was put to +bed; but he would not listen to the requests of William and the faithful +cook that the doctor be summoned. At last he fell into a heavy sleep +from which it was hard to rouse him, and the servants followed their own +desire and called Dr. High. He came as promptly as possible, and did all +that could be done for the sick man. + +A hurried examination convinced me that Dr. High's opinion of the +gravity of the case was correct, and we telephoned at once for a +specialist from the city, and for a trained nurse. After a short +consultation with Dr. High I reëntered my friend's room, and I fear that +my face gave me away, for Sir Tom said:-- + +"Be a man, Williams, and tell the whole of it." + +"My dear old man, this is a tough proposition, but you must buck up and +make a game fight. We have sent for Dr. Jones and a nurse, and we will +pull you through, sure." + +"You will try, for sure, but I reckon the call has come for me to cash +in me checks. When that little devil Frost hit me right and left in me +chest last night, I could see me finish; and I heard the banshee in me +sleep, and that means much to a Sligo man." + +"Not to this Sligo man, I hope," said I, though I knew that we were in +deep waters. + +The wise man and the nurse came out on the 10.30 train, the nurse +bringing comfort and aid, but the physician neither. After thoroughly +examining the patient, he simply confirmed our fears. + +"Serious disease to overcome, and only scant vital forces; no reasonable +ground for hope." + +Sir Tom gave me a smile as I entered the room after parting from the +specialist. + +"I've discounted the verdict," said he, "and the foreman needn't draw +such a long face. I've had my fling, like a true Irishman, and I'm ready +to pay the bill. I won't have to come back for anything, Williams; +there's nothing due me; but I must look sharp for William and the old +girl in the kitchen,--faithful souls,--for they will be strangers in a +strange land. Will you send for a lawyer?" + +The lawyer came, and a codicil to Sir Thomas's will made the servants +comfortable for life. All that day and the following night we hung +around the sick bed, hoping for the favorable change that never came. On +the morning of the 17th it was evident that he would not live to see the +sun go down. We had kept all friends away from the sick chamber; but +now, at his request, Polly, Jane, and Laura were summoned, and they +came, with blanched faces and tearful eyes, to kiss the brow and hold +the hands of this dear man. He smiled with contentment on the group, and +said:-- + +"Me friends have made such a heaven of this earth that perhaps I have +had me full share." + +"Sir Tom," said I, "shall I send for a priest?" + +"A priest! What could I do with a priest? Me forebears were on the +Orange side of Boyne Water, and we have never changed color." + +"Would you like to see a clergyman?" + +"No, no; just the grip of a friend's hand and these angels around me. +Asking pardon is not me long suit, Williams, but perhaps the time has +come for me to play it. If the good God will be kind to me I will thank +Him, as a gentleman should, and I will take no advantage of His +kindness; but if He cannot see His way clear to do that, I will take +what is coming." + +"Dear Sir Tom," said Jane, with streaming eyes, "God cannot be hard with +you, who have been so good to every one." + +"If there's little harm in me life, there's but scant good, too; I can't +find much credit. Me good angel has had an easy time of it, more's the +pity; but Janie, if you love me, Le Bon Dieu will not be hard on me. He +cannot be severe with a poor Irishman who never stacked the cards, +pulled a race, or turned his back on a friend, and who is loved by an +angel." + +I asked Sir Tom what we should do for him after he had passed away. + +"It would be foine to sleep in the woods just back of Janie's forge, +where I could hear the click of her hammer if the days get lonely; but +there's a little castle, God save the mark, out from Sligo. Me forebears +are there,--the lucky ones,--and me wish is to sleep with them; but I +doubt it can be." + +"Indeed it can be, and it shall be, too," said Polly. "We will all go +with you, Sir Tom, when June comes, and you shall sleep in your own +ground with your own kin." + +"I don't deserve it, Mrs. Williams, indeed I don't, but I would lie +easier there. That sod has known us for a thousand years, and it's the +greenest, softest, kindest sod in all the world; but little I'll mind +when the breath is gone. I'll not be asking that much of you." + +"My dear old chap, we won't lose sight of you until that green sod +covers the stanchest heart that ever beat. Polly is right. We'll go with +you to Sligo,--all of us,--Polly and Jane and Jack and I, and Kate and +the babies, too, if we can get them. You shall not be lonesome." + +"Lonesome, is it? I'll be in the best of company. Me heart is at rest +from this moment, and I'll wait patiently until I can show you Sligo. +This is a fine country, Mrs. Williams, and it has given me the truest +friends in all the world, but the ground is sweet in Sligo." + +His breath came fainter and faster, and we could see that it would soon +cease. After resting a few minutes, Sir Tom said:-- + +"Me lady Laura, do you mind that prayer song, the second verse?" + +Laura's voice was sobbing and uncertain as it quavered:-- + + "Other refuge have I none," + +but it gained courage and persuasiveness until it filled the room and +the heart of the man with,-- + + "Cover my defenceless head, + With the shadow of Thy wing." + +A gentle smile and the relaxing of closed hands completed the story of +our loss, though the real weight of it came days and months later. + +It was long before we could take up our daily duties with anything like +the familiar happiness. Something had gone out of our lives that could +never be replaced, and only time could salve the wounds. The dear man +who had gone was no friend to solemn faces, and living interests must +bury dead memories; but it was a long time before the click of Jane's +hammer was heard in her forge; not until Laura had said, "It will please +_him_, Jane." + + + + +CHAPTER LVIII + +BACTERIA + + +January, February, and March passed with more than the usual snow and +rain,--fully ten inches of precipitation; but the spring proved neither +cold nor late. During these three months we sold butter to the amount of +$1283, and $747 worth of eggs; in all, $2030. + +The ploughs were started in the highest land on the 11th of April, and +were kept going steadily until they had turned over nearly 280 acres. + +I decided to put the whole of the widow's field into corn, lots 8, 12, +and 15 (84 acres) into oats, and 50 acres of the orchards into roots and +sweet fodder corn. Number 13 was to be sown with buckwheat as soon as +the rye was cut for green forage. I decided to raise more alfalfa, for +we could feed more to advantage, and it was fast gaining favor in my +establishment. It is so productive and so nutritious that I wonder it is +not more generally used by farmers who make a specialty of feeding +stock. It contains as much protein as most grains, and is wholesome and +highly palatable if properly cured. It should be cut just as it is +coming into flower, and should be cured in the windrow. The leaves are +the most nutritious part of the plant, and they are apt to fall off if +the cutting be deferred, or if the curing be _done carelessly_. + +Lot No. 9 was to be fitted for alfalfa as soon as the season would +permit. First, it must receive a heavy dressing of manure, to be +ploughed under. The ordinary plough was to be followed in this case by a +subsoiler, to stir the earth as deep as possible. When the seed was +sown, the land was to receive five hundred pounds an acre of high-grade +fertilizer, and one hundred pounds an acre of infected soil. + +The peculiar bacterium that thrives on congenial alfalfa soil is +essential to the highest development of the plant. Without its presence +the grass fails in its chief function--the storing of nitrogen--and +makes but poor growth. When the alfalfa bacteria are abundant, the plant +flourishes and gathers nitrogen in knobs and bunches in its roots and in +the joints of its stems. + +I sent to a very successful alfalfa grower in Ohio for a thousand pounds +of soil from one of his fields, to vaccinate my field with. This is not +always necessary,--indeed, it rarely is, for alfalfa seed usually carry +enough bacteria to inoculate favorable soils; but I wished to see if +this infected soil would improve mine. I have not been able to discover +any marked advantage from its use; the reason being that my soil was so +rich in humus and added manures that the colonies of bacteria on the +seeds were quite sufficient to infect the whole mass. Under less +favorable conditions, artificial inoculation is of great advantage. + +Wonderful are the secrets of nature. The infinitely small things seem to +work for us and the infinitely large ones appear suited to our use; and +yet, perhaps, this is all "seeming" and "appearing." We may ourselves be +simply more advanced bacteria, working blindly toward the solution of an +infinite problem in which we are concerned only as means to an end. + +"Why should the spirit of mortal be proud," until it has settled its +relative position with both Sirius and the micro-organisms, or has +estimated its stature by view-points from the bacterial world and from +the constellation of Lyra. Until we have been able to compare opinions +from these extremes, if indeed they be extremes, we cannot expect to +make a correct estimate of our value in the economy of the universe. I +fancy that we are apt to take ourselves too seriously, and that we will +sometime marvel at the shadow which we did not cast. + + + + +CHAPTER LIX + +MATCH-MAKING + + +The home lot took on a home look in the spring of 1898. The lawn lost +its appearance of newness; the trees became acquainted with each other; +the shrubs were on intimate terms with their neighbors, and broke into +friendly rivalry of blossoms; the gardens had a settled-down look, as if +they had come to stay; and even the wall flowers were enjoying +themselves. These efforts of nature to make us feel at ease were +thankfully received by Polly and me, and we voted that this was more +like home than anything else we had ever had; and when the fruit trees +put forth their promise of an autumn harvest in great masses of +blossoms, we declared that we had made no mistake in transforming +ourselves from city to country folk. + +"Aristocracy is of the land," said Polly. "It always has been and +always will be the source of dignity and stability. I feel twice as +great a lady as I did in the tall house on B---- Street." + +"So you don't want to go back to that tall house, madam?" + +"Indeed I don't. Why should I?" + +"I don't know why you should, only I remember Lot's wife looked back +toward the city." + +"Don't mention that woman! She didn't know what she wanted. You won't +catch me looking toward the city, except once a week for three or four +hours, and then I hurry back to the farm to see what has happened in my +garden while I've been away." + +"But how about your friends, Polly?" + +"You know as well as I that we haven't lost a friend by living out here, +and that we've tied some of them closer. No, sir! No more city life for +me. It may do for young people, who don't know better, but not for me. +It's too restricted, and there's not enough excitement." + +"Country life fits us like paper on the wall," said I, "but how about +the youngsters? If we insist on keeping children, we must take them into +our scheme of life." + +"Of course we must, but children are an unknown quantity. They are _x_ +in the domestic problem, and we cannot tell what they stand for until +the problem is worked out. I don't see why we can't find the value of +_x_ in the country as easily as in the city. They have had city and +school life, now let them see country life; the _x_ will stand for wide +experience at least." + +"Jane likes it thus far," said I, "and I think she will continue; but I +don't feel so sure about Jack." + +"You're as blind as a bat--or a man. Jane loves country life because +she's young and growing; but there's a subconscious sense which tells +her that she's simply fitting herself to be carried off by that handsome +giant, Jim Jarvis. She doesn't know it, but it's the truth all the same, +and it will come as sure as tide; and when it does come, her life will +be run into other moulds than we have made, no matter how carefully." + +"I wonder where this modern Hercules is most vulnerable. I'll slay him +if I find him mousing around my Jane." + +"You will slay nothing, Mr. Headman, and you know it; you will just take +what's coming to you, as others have done since the world was young." + +"Well, I give fair warning; it's 'hands off Jane,' for lo, these many +years, or some one will be brewing 'harm tea' for himself." + +"You bark so loud no one will believe you can bite," said this saucy, +match-making mother. + +"How about Jack?" said I. "Have you settled the moulds he is to be run +in?" + +"Not entirely; but I am not as one without hope. Jack will be through +college in June, and will go abroad with us for July and August; he will +be as busy as possible with the miners from the moment he comes back; he +is much in love with Jessie, the Gordon's have no other child, the +property is large, Homestead Farm is only three miles, and--" + +"Slow up, Polly! Slow up! Your main line is all right, but your +terminal facilities are bad. Jack is to be educated, travelled, +employed, engaged, married, endowed with Homestead Farm, and all that; +but you mustn't kill off the Gordons. I swing the red lantern in front +of that train of thought. Let Jack and Jessie wait till we are through +with Four Oaks and the Gordons have no further use for Homestead Farm, +before thinking of coupling that property on to this." + +"Don't be a greater goose than you can help," said Polly. "You know what +I mean. Men are so short-sighted! Laura says, 'the Headman ought to have +a small dog and a long stick'; but no matter, I'll keep an eye on the +children, and you needn't worry about country life for them. They'll +take to it kindly." + +"Well, they ought to, if they have any appreciation of the fitness of +things. Did you ever see weather made to order before? I feel as if I +had been measured for it." + +"It suits my garden down to the ground," said Polly, who hates slang. + +"It was planned for the farmer, madam. If it happens to fit the +rose-garden mistress, it is a detail for you to note and be thankful +for, but the great things are outside the rose gardens. Look at that +corn-field! A crow could hide in it anywhere." + +"What have crows hiding got to do with corn, I'd like to know?" + +"When I was a boy the farmers used to say, 'If it will cover a crow's +back on the Fourth of July, it will make good corn,' and I am farmering +with old saws when I can't find new ones." + +"It's all of three weeks yet to the Fourth of July, and your corn will +cover a turkey by that time." + +"I hope so, but we shan't be here to see it, more's the pity, as Sir Tom +would say." + +"Do you know, Kate says she won't go over. She doesn't think it would +pay for so short a trip. Why do you insist upon eight weeks?" + +"Well, now, I like that! When did I ever insist on anything, Mrs. +Williams? Not since I knew you well, did I? But be honest, Polly. Who +has done the cutting down of this trip? You and the youngsters may stay +as long as you please, but I will be back here September 1st unless the +_Normania_ breaks a shaft." + +"I wish we could go _over_ on a German boat. I hate the Cunarders." + +"So do I, but we must land at Queenstown. We must put Sir Tom under the +sod at that little castle out from Sligo. Then we can do Holland and +Belgium, and have a week or ten days in London." + +"That will be enough. I do hope Johnson will take good care of my +flowers; it's the very most important time, you know, and if he neglects +them--" + +"He won't neglect them, Polly; even if he does, they can be easily +replaced. But the hay harvest, now, that's different; if they spoil the +timothy or cut the alfalfa too late!" + +"Bother your alfalfa! What do I care for that? Kate's coming out with +the babies, and I'm going to put her in full charge of the gardens. +She'll look after them, I'm sure. I'll tell you another bit of news: Jim +Jarvis is bound to go with us, Jack says, and he has asked if we'll let +him." + +"How long have you had that up your sleeve, young woman? I don't like it +a little bit! That is why you talked so like an oracle a little while +ago! What does Jane say?" + +"She doesn't say much, but I think she wouldn't object." + +"Of course she can't object. You sick a big brute of a man on to a +little girl, and she don't dare object; but I'll feed him to the fishes +if he worries her." + +"To be sure you will, Mr. Ogre. Anybody would be sure of that to hear +you talk." + +"Don't chaff me, Polly. This is a serious business. If you sell my girl, +I'm going to buy a new one. I'll ask Jessie Gordon to go with us and, if +Jack is half the man I take him to be, he'll replenish our stock of +girls before we get back." + +"Who is match-making now?" + +"I don't care what you call it. I shall take out letters of marque and +reprisal. I won't raise girls to be carried off by the first privateer +that makes sail for them, without making some one else suffer. If +Jarvis goes, Jessie goes, that's flat." + +"I think it will be an excellent plan, Mr. Bad Temper, and I've no doubt +that we can manage it." + +"Don't say 'we' when you talk of managing it. I tell you I'm entirely on +the defensive until some one robs me, then I'll take what is my +neighbor's if I can get it. If it were not for my promise to Sir Tom, I +wouldn't leave the farm for a minute! And I would establish a quarantine +against all giants for at least five years." + +"You know you like Jarvis. He is one of the best." + +"That's all right, Polly. He's as fine as silk, but he isn't fine enough +for our Jane yet." + + + + +CHAPTER LX + +"I TOLD YOU SO" + + +It may be the limitless horizon, it may be the comradery of confinement, +it may be the old superstition of a plank between one and eternity, or +it may be some occult influence of ship and ocean; but certain it is +that there is no such place in all the world as a deck of a +transatlantic liner for softening young hearts, until they lose all +semblance of shape, and for melting them into each other so that out of +twain there comes but one. I think Polly was pleased to watch this +melting process, as it began to show itself in our young people, from +the safe retreat of her steamer chair and behind the covers of her book. +I couldn't find that she read two chapters from any book during the +whole voyage, or that she was miserable or discontented. She just +watched with a comfortable "I told you so" expression of countenance; +and she never mentioned home lot or garden or roses, from dock to dock. + +It is as natural for a woman to make matches as for a robin to build +nests, and I suppose I had as much right to find fault with the one as +with the other. I did not find fault with her, but neither could I +understand her; so I fretted and fumed and smoked, and walked the deck +and bet on everything in sight and out of sight, until the soothing +influence of the sea took hold of me, and then I drifted like the rest +of them. + +No, I will not say "like the rest of them," for I could not forgive this +waste of space given over to water. In other crossings I had not noted +the conspicuous waste with any feeling of loss or regret; but other +crossings had been made before I knew the value of land. I could not get +away from the thought that it would add much to the wealth of the world +if the mountains were removed and cast into the sea. Not only that, but +it would curb to some extent the ragings of this same turbulent sea, +which was rolling and tossing us about for no really good reason that I +could discover. The Atlantic had lost much of its romance and mystery +for me, and I wondered if I had ever felt the enthusiasm which I heard +expressed on all sides. + +"There she spouts!" came from a dozen voices, and the whole passenger +list crowded the port rail, just to see a cow whale throwing up streams +of water, not immensely larger than the streams of milk which my cow +Holsteins throw down. The crowd seemed to take great pleasure in this +sight, but to me it was profitless. + +I have known the day when I could watch the graceful leaps and dives of +a school of porpoises, as it kept with easy fin, alongside of our ocean +greyhound, with pleasure unalloyed by any feeling of non-utility. But +now these "hogs of the sea" reminded me of my Chester Whites, and the +comparison was so much in favor of the hogs of the land, that I turned +from these spectacular, useless things, to meditate upon the price of +pork. Even Mother Carey's chickens gave me no pleasure, for they +reminded me of a far better brood at home, and I cheerfully thanked the +noble Wyandottes who were working every third day so that I could have a +trip to Europe. To be sure, I had European trips before I had +Wyandottes; to have them both the same year was the marvel. + +Before we reached Queenstown, Jarvis had gained some ground by twice +picking me out of the scuppers; but as I resented his steadiness of foot +and strength of hand, it was not worth mentioning. I could see, however, +that these feats were great in Jane's eyes. The double rescue of a +beloved parent, from, not exactly a watery grave, but a damp scupper, +would never be forgotten. The giant let her adore his manly strength and +beauty, and I could only secretly hope that some wave--tidal if +necessary--would take him off his feet and send him into the scuppers. +But he had played football too long to be upset by a watery wave, and I +was balked of my revenge. + +Jack and Jessie were rather a pleasure to me than otherwise. They +settled right down to the heart-softening business in such +matter-of-fact fashion that their hearts must have lost contour before +the voyage was half over. Polly dismissed them from her mind with a sigh +of satisfaction, and I then hoped that she would find some time to +devote to me, but I was disappointed. She assured me that those two were +safely locked in the fold, but that she could not "set her mind at rest" +until the other two were safe. After that she promised to take me in +hand; whether for reward or for punishment left me guessing. + +The six and a half days finally came to an end, and we debarked for +Queenstown. The journey across Ireland was made as quickly as slow +trains and a circuitous route would permit, and we reached Sligo on the +second day. Sir Thomas's agent met us, and we drove at once to the +"little castle out from Sligo." It proved to be a very old little +castle, four miles out, overlooking the bay. It was low and flat, with +thick walls of heavy stone pierced by a few small windows, and a broad +door made of black Irish oak heavily studded with iron. From one corner +rose a square tower, thirty feet or more in height, covered with wild +vines that twined in and out through the narrow, unglazed windows. + +Within was a broad, low hall, from which opened four rooms of nearly +equal size. There was little evidence that the castle had been inhabited +during recent years, though there was an ancient woman care-taker who +opened the great door for us, and then took up the Irish peasant's wail +for the last of the O'Haras. She never ceased her crooning except when +she spoke to us, which was seldom; but she placed us at table in the +state dining room, and served us with stewed kid, potatoes, and goat's +milk. The walls of the dining room were covered with ancient pictures of +the O'Haras, but none so recent as a hundred years. We could well +believe Sir Tom's words, "the sod has known us for a thousand years," +when we looked upon the score of pictures, each of which stood for at +least one generation. + +The agent told us that our friend had never lived at the castle, but +that he had visited the place as a child, and again just before leaving +for America. A wall-enclosed lot about two hundred feet square was "the +kindest sod in all the world to an O'Hara," and here we placed our dear +friend at rest with the "lucky ones" of his race. No one of the race +ever deserved more "luck" than did our Sir Tom. The young clergyman who +read the service assured us that he had found it; and our minds gave the +same evidence, and our hearts said Amen, as we turned from his peaceful +resting-place by the green waters of Sligo Bay. + +Two days later we were comfortably lodged at The Hague, from which we +intended to "do" the little kingdom of Holland by rail, by canal, or on +foot, as we should elect. + + + + +CHAPTER LXI + +THE BELGIAN FARMER + + +Leaving Holland with regret, we crossed the Schelde into Belgium, the +cockpit of Europe. It is here that one sees what intensive farming is +like. No fences to occupy space, no animals roaming at large, nothing +but small strips of land tilled to the utmost, chiefly by hand. Little +machinery is used, and much of the work is done after primitive +fashions; but the land is productive, and it is worked to the top of its +bent. + +The peasant-farmer soils his cows, his sheep, his swine, in a way that +is economical of space and food, if not of labor, and manages to make a +living and to pay rent for his twenty-acre strip of land. His methods do +not appeal to the American farmer, who wastes more grain and forage each +year than would keep the Netherlander, his family, and his stock; but +there is a lesson to be learned from this subdivision and careful +cultivation of land. Belgian methods prove that Mother Earth can care +for a great many children if she be properly husbanded, and that the +sooner we recognize her capacity the better for us. + +Abandoned farms are not known in Belgium and France, though the soil +has been cultivated for a thousand years, and was originally no better +than our New England farms, and not nearly so good as hundreds of those +which are practically given over to "old fields" in Virginia. + +It is neglect that impoverishes land, not use. Intelligent use makes +land better year by year. The only way to wear out land is to starve and +to rob it at the same time. Food for man and beast may be taken from the +soil for thousands of years without depleting it. All it asks in return +is the refuse, carefully saved, properly applied, and thoroughly worked +in to make it available. If, in addition to this, a cover crop of some +leguminous plant be occasionally turned under, the soil may actually +increase in fertility, though it be heavily cropped each year. + +It would pay the young American farmer to study Belgian methods, crude +though they are, for the insight he could gain into the possibilities of +continuous production. The greatest number of people to the square mile +in the inhabited globe live in this little, ill-conditioned kingdom, and +most of them get their living from the soil. It has been the +battle-field of Europe: a thousand armies have harrowed it; human blood +has drenched it from Liège to Ostend; it has been depopulated again and +again. But it springs into new life after each catastrophe, simply +because the soil is prolific of farmers, and they cannot be kept down. +Like the poppies on the field of Waterloo, which renew the blood-red +strife each year, the Belgian peasant-farmer springs new-born from the +soil, which is the only mother he knows. + +After two weeks in Holland, two in Belgium, and two in London, we were +ready to turn our faces toward home. + +We took the train to Southampton, and a small side-wheel steamer carried +us outside Southampton waters, where we tossed about for thirty minutes +before the _Normania_ came to anchor. The wind was blowing half a gale +from the north, and we were glad to get under the lee of the great +vessel to board her. + +The transfer was quickly made, and we were off for New York. The wind +gained strength as the day grew old, but while we were in the Solent the +bluff coast of Devon and Cornwall broke its force sufficiently to permit +us to be comfortable on the port side of the ship. + +As night came on, great clouds rolled up from the northwest and the wind +increased. Darkness, as of Egypt, fell upon us before we passed the +Lizard, and the only things that showed above the raging waters were the +beacon lights, and these looked dim and far away. Occasionally a flash +of lightning threw the waters into relief, and then made the darkness +more impenetrable. As we steamed beyond the Lizard and the protecting +Cornish coast, the full force of the gale, from out the Irish Sea, +struck us. We were going nearly with it, and the good ship pitched and +reared like an angry horse, but did not roll much. Pitching is harder to +bear than rolling, and the decks were quickly vacated. + +I turned into my stateroom soon after ten o'clock, and then happened a +thing which will hold a place in my memory so long as I have one. I did +not feel sleepy, but I was nervous, restless, and half sick. I lay on my +lounge for perhaps half an hour, and then felt impelled to go on deck. I +wrapped myself in a great waterproof ulster, pulled my storm cap over my +ears, and climbed the companionway. Two or three electric bulbs in +sheltered places on deck only served to make the darkness more intense. +I crawled forward of the ladies' cabin, and, supporting myself against +the donkey-engine, peered at the light above the crow's-nest and tried +to think that I could see the man on watch in the nest. I did see him +for an instant, when the next flash of lightning came, and also two +officers on the bridge; and I knew that Captain Bahrens was in the chart +house. When the next flash came, I saw the other lookout man making his +short turns on the narrow space of bow deck, and was tempted to join +him; why, I do not know. I crept past the donkey-engine, holding fast to +it as I went, until I reached the iron gate that closes the narrow +passage to the bow deck. With two silver dollars in my teeth I staggered +across this rail-guarded plank, and when the next flash came I was +sitting at the feet of the lookout man with the two silver dollars in my +outstretched hand. He took the money, and let me crawl forward between +the anchors and the high bulwark of the bows. + +The sensations which this position gave me were strange beyond +description. Darkness was thick around me; at one moment I was carried +upward until I felt that I should be lost in the black sky, and the next +moment the downward motion was so terrible that the blacker water at the +bottom of the sea seemed near. I cannot say that I enjoyed it, but I +could not give it up. + +When the great bow rose, I stood up, and, looking over the bulwark, +tried to see either sky or water, but tried in vain, save when the +lightning revealed them both. When the bow fell, I crouched under the +bulwark and let the sea comb over me. How long I remained at this weird +post, I do not know; but I was driven from it in such terror as I hope +never to feel again. + +An unusually large wave carried me nearer the sky than I liked to be, +and just as the sharp bow of the great iron ship was balancing on its +crest for the desperate plunge, a glare of lightning made sky and sea +like a sheet of flame and curdled the blood in my veins. In the trough +of the sea, under the very foot of the immense steamship, lay a delicate +pleasure-boat, with its mast broken flush with its deck, and its +helpless body the sport of the cruel waves. + +The light did not last longer than it would take me to count five, but +in that time I saw four figures that will always haunt me. Two sailors +in yachting costume were struggling hopelessly with the tiller, and the +wild terror of their faces as they saw the huge destruction that hung +over them is simply unforgettable. + +The other two were different. A strong, blond man, young, handsome, and +brave I know, stood bareheaded in front of the cockpit. With a sudden, +vehement motion he drew the head of a girl to his breast and held it +there as if to shut out the horrible world. There was no fear in his +face,--just pain and distress that he was unable to do more. I am +thankful that I did not see the face of the girl. Her brown hair has +floated in my dreams until I have cried out for help; what would her +face have done? + +In the twinkling of an eye it was over. I heard a sound as when one +breaks an egg on the edge of a cup,--no more. I screamed with horror, +ran across the guarded plank, climbed the gate, and fell headlong and +screaming over the donkey-engine. Picking up my battered self, I +shouted: + +"Bahrens! Bahrens! for God's sake, help! Man overboard! Stop the ship!" + +I reached the ladder to the bridge just as the captain came out of the +chart house. + +"For God's sake, stop the ship! You've run down a boat with four +people! Stop her, can't you!" + +"It can't be done, man. If we've run down a boat, it's all over with it +and all in it. I can't risk a thousand lives without hope of saving one. +This is a gale, Doctor, and we have our hands full." + +I turned from him in horror and despair. I stumbled to my stateroom, +dropped my wet clothing in the middle of the floor, and knew no more +until the trumpet called for breakfast. The rush of green waters was +pounding at my porthole; the experience of the night came back to me +with horror; the reek of my wet clothes sickened my heart, and I rang +for the steward. + +"Take these things away, Gustav, and don't bring them back until they +are dry and pressed." + +"What things does the Herr Doctor speak for?" + +"The wet things there on the floor." + +"Excuse me, but I have seen no things wet." + +"You Dutch chump!" said I, half rising, "what do you mean by +saying--Well, I'll be damned!" There were my clothes, dry and folded, on +the couch, and my ulster and cap on their hook, without evidence of +moisture or use. + +"Gustav, remind me to give you three rix-dollars at breakfast." + +"Danke, Herr Doctor." + +Of such stuff are dreams made. But I will know those terror-stricken +sailors if I do not see them for a hundred years; and I am glad the +dark-haired girl did not realize the horror, but simply knew that the +man loved her; and I often think of the man who did the nice thing when +no one was looking, and whose face was not terrorized by the crack of +doom. + + + + +CHAPTER LXII + +HOME-COMING + + +Even Polly was satisfied with our young people before we entered New +York Bay. If anything in their "left pulmonaries" had remained +unsoftened during the voyage out and the comradery of the Netherlands, +it was melted into non-resistance by the homeward trip. I could not long +hold out against the evidence of happiness that surrounded me, and I +gave a half-grudging consent that Jarvis and Jane might play together +for the next three or four years, if they would not ask to play "for +keeps" until those years had passed. They readily gave the promise, but +every one knows how such promises are kept. The children wore me out in +time, as all children do in all kinds of ways, and got their own ways in +less than half the contract period. I cannot put my finger on any +punishment that has befallen them for this lack of filial consideration, +and I am fifteen-sixteenths reconciled. + +I was downright glad that Jack "made good" with Jessie Gordon. She was +the sort of girl to get out the best that was in him, and I was glad to +have her begin early. Try as I might, I could not feel unhappy that +beautiful September morning as we steamed up the finest waterway to the +finest city in the world. Deny it who will, I claim that our Empire City +and its environments make the most impressive human show. There is more +life, vigor, utility, gorgeousness about it than can be found anywhere +else; and it has the snap and elasticity of youth, which are so +attractive. No man who claims the privilege of American citizenship can +sail up New York Bay without feeling pride in his country and +satisfaction in his birthright. One doesn't disparage other cities and +other countries when he claims that his own is the best. + +We were not specially badly treated at the custom-house,--no worse, +indeed, than smugglers, thieves, or pirates would have been; and we +escaped, after some hours of confinement, without loss of life or +baggage, but with considerable loss of dignity. How can a +self-respecting, middle-aged man (to be polite to myself) stand for +hours in a crowded shed, or lean against a dirty post, or sit on the +sharp edge of his open trunk, waiting for a Superior Being with a gilt +band around his hat, without losing some modicum of dignity? And how, +when this Superior Being calls his number and kicks his trunk, is he to +know that he is a free-born American citizen and a lineal descendant of +Roger Williams? The evidence is entirely from within. How is he to +support a countenance and mien of dignity while the secrets of his +chest are laid bare and the contents of his trunk dumped on the dirty +floor? And how must his eyes droop and his face take on a hang-dog look +when his second-best coat is searched for diamonds, and his favorite +(though worn) pajamas punched for pearls. + +There are concessions to be made for one's great and glorious country, +and the custom-house is one of them. Perhaps we will do better sometime, +and perhaps, though this is unlikely, the customs inspectors of the +future will disguise themselves as gentlemen. We finally passed the +inquisition, and, with stuffed trunks and ruffled spirits, took cabs for +the station, and were presently within the protecting walls at Four +Oaks, there to forget lost dignities in the cultivation of land and new +ones. + + + + +CHAPTER LXIII + +AN HUNDRED FOLD + + +Kate declared that she had had the time of her life during her nine +weeks' stay at Four Oaks. "People here every day, and the house full +over Sunday. We've kept the place humming," said she, "and you may be +thankful if you find anything here but a mortgage. When Tom and I get +rich, we are going to be farm people." + +"Don't wait for that, daughter. Start your country home early and let it +grow up with the children. It doesn't take much money to buy the land +and to get fruit trees started. If Tom will give it his care for three +hours a week, he will make it at least pay interest and taxes, and it +will grow in value every year until you are ready to live on it. Think +how our orchards would look now if we had started them ten years ago! +They would be fit to support an average family." + +"There, Dad, don't mount your hobby as soon as ever you get home. But we +_have_ had a good time out here. Do you really think farming is all beer +and skittles?" + +"It has been smooth sailing for me thus far, and I believe it is simply +a business with the usual ups and downs; but I mean to make the ups the +feature in this case." + +"Are you really glad to get back to it? Didn't you want to stay longer?" + +"I had a fine trip, and all that, but I give you this for true; I don't +think it would make me feel badly if I were condemned to stay within +forty miles of this place for the rest of my life." + +"I can't go so far as that with you, Dad, but perhaps I may when I'm +older." + +"Yes, age makes a difference. At forty a man is a fool or a farmer, or +both; at fifty the pull of the land is mighty; at sixty it has full +possession of him; at seventy it draws him down with other forces than +that which Newton discovered, and at eighty it opens for him and kindly +tucks the sod around him. Mother Earth is no stepmother, but warm and +generous to all, and I think a fellow is lucky who comes to her for long +years of bounty before he is compelled to seek her final hospitality." + +"But, Dad, we can't all be farmers." + +"Of course not, and there's the pity of it; but almost every man can +have a plot of ground on which each year he can grow some new thing, if +only a radish or a leaf of lettuce, to add to the real wealth of the +world. I tell you, young lady, that all wealth springs out of the +ground. You think that riches are made in Wall Street, but they are +not; they are only handled and manipulated. Stop the work of the farmer +from April to October of any year, and Wall Street would be a howling +wilderness. The Street makes it easier to exchange a dozen eggs for +three spools of silk, or a pound of butter for a hat pin, but that's +all; it never created half the intrinsic value of twelve eggs or sixteen +ounces of butter. It's only the farmer who is a wealth producer, and +it's high time that he should be recognized as such. He's the husbandman +of all life; without him the world would be depopulated in three years. +You don't half appreciate the profession which your Dad has taken up in +his old age." + +"That sounds all right, but I don't think the farmer would recognize +himself from that description. He doesn't live up to his possibilities, +does he?" + +"Mighty few people do. A farmer may be what he chooses to be. He's under +no greater limitations than a business or a professional man. If he be +content to use his muscle blindly, he will probably fall under his own +harrow. So, too, would the merchant or the lawyer who failed to use his +intelligence in his business. The farmer who cultivates his mind as well +as his land, uses his pencil as often as his plough, and mixes brains +with brawn, will not fall under his own harrow or any other man's. He +will never be the drudge of soil or of season, for to a large extent he +can control the soil and discount the season. No other following gives +such opportunity for independence and self-balance." + +"Almost thou persuadest me to become a farmer," said Kate, as we left +the porch, where I had been admiring my land while I lectured on the +advantages of husbandry. + +Polly came out of the rose garden, where she had been examining her +flowers and setting her watch, and said:-- + +"Kate, you and the grand-girls must stay this month out, anyway. It +seems an age since we saw you last." + +"All right, if Dad will agree not to fire farm fancies and figures at me +every time he catches me in an easy-chair." + +"I'll promise, but you don't know what you're missing." + +Four Oaks looked great, and I was tempted to tramp over every acre of +it, saying to each, "You are mine"; but first I had a little talk with +Thompson. + +"Everything has been greased for us this summer," said Thompson. "We got +a bumper crop of hay, and the oats and corn are fine! I allow you've got +fifty-five bushels of oats to the acre in those shocks, and the corn +looks like it stood for more than seventy. We sold nine more calves the +end of June, for $104. Mr. Tom must have a lot of money for you, for in +August we sold the finest bunch of shoates you ever saw,--312 of them. +They were not extra heavy, but they were fine as silk. Mr. Tom said they +netted $4.15 per hundred, and they averaged a little over 260 pounds. I +went down with them, and the buyers tumbled over each other to get them. +I was mighty proud of the bunch, and brought back a check for $3407." + +"Good for you, Thompson! That's the best sale yet." + +"Some of the heifers will be coming in the last of this month or the +first of next. Don't you want to get rid of those five scrub cows?" + +"Better wait six weeks, and then you may sell them. Do you know where +you can place them?" + +"Jackson was looking at them a few days ago, and said he would give $35 +apiece for them; but they are worth more." + +"Not for us, Thompson, and not for him, either, if he saw things just +right. They're good for scrubs; but they don't pay well enough for us, +and if he wants them he can have them at that price about the middle of +October." + +The credit account for the second quarter of 1898 stood:-- + +23 calves . . . . . $270.00 +Eggs . . . . . . 637.00 +Butter . . . . . . 1314.00 + Total. . . . . . $2221.00 + + + + +CHAPTER LXIV + +COMFORT ME WITH APPLES + + +September added a new item to our list of articles sold; small, indeed, +but the beginning of the fourth and last product of our factory +farm,--fruit from our newly planted orchards. The three hundred plum +trees in the chicken runs gave a moderate supply for the colony, and the +dwarf-pear trees yielded a small crop; but these were hardly included in +our scheme. I expected to be able, by and by, to sell $200 or $300 worth +of plums; but the chief income from fruit would come from the fifty +acres of young apple orchards. + +I hope to live to see the time when these young orchards will bring me +at least $5 a year for each tree; and if I round out my expectancy (as +the life-insurance people figure it), I may see them do much better. In +the interim the day of small things must not be despised. In our climate +the Yellow Transparent and the Duchess do not ripen until early +September, and I was therefore at home in time to gather and market the +little crop from my six hundred trees. The apples were carefully picked, +for they do not bear handling well, and the perfect ones were placed in +half-bushel boxes and sent to my city grocer. Not one defective apple +was packed, for I was determined that the Four Oaks stencil should be as +favorably known for fruit as for other products. + +The grocer allowed me fifty cents a box. "The market is glutted with +apples, but not your kind," said he. "Can you send more?" I could not +send more, for my young trees had done their best in producing +ninety-six boxes of perfect fruit. Boxes and transportation came to ten +cents for each box, and I received $38 for my first shipment of fruit. + +I cannot remember any small sum of money that ever pleased me +more,--except the $28 which I earned by seven months of labor in my +fourteenth year; for it was "first fruits" of the last of our +interlacing industries. + +Thirty-eight dollars divided among my trees would give one cent to each; +but four years later these orchards gave net returns of ninety cents for +each tree, and in four years from now they will bring more than twice +that amount. At twelve years of age they will bring an annual income of +$3 each, and this income will steadily increase for ten or fifteen +years. At the time of writing, February, 1903, they are good for $1 a +year, which is five per cent of $20. + +Would I take $20 apiece for these trees? Not much, though that would +mean $70,000. I do not know where I could place $70,000 so that it +would pay five per cent this year, six per cent next year, and twenty +per cent eight or ten years from now. Of course, $70,000 would be an +exorbitant price to pay for an orchard like mine; but it must be +remembered that I am old and cannot wait for trees to grow. + +If a man will buy land at $50 or $60 an acre, plant it to apple trees +(not less than sixty-five to the acre), and bring these trees to an age +when they will produce fruit to the value of $1.50 each, they will not +have cost more than $1.50 per tree for the land, the trees, and the +labor. + +I am too old to begin over again, and I wish to see a handsome income +from my experiment before my eyes are dim; but why on earth young men do +not take to this kind of investment is more than I can see. It is as +safe as government bonds, and infinitely safer than most mercantile +ventures. It is a dignified employment, free from the ordinary risks of +business; and it is not likely to be overdone. All one needs is energy, +a little money, and a good bit of well-directed intelligence. This +combination is common enough to double our rural population, relieve the +congestion in trades and underpaid employments, and add immensely to the +wealth of the country. If we can only get the people headed for the +land, it will do much toward solving the vexing labor problems, and will +draw the teeth of the communists and the anarchists; for no one is so +willing to divide as he who cannot lose by division. To the man who has +a plot of ground which he calls his own, division doesn't appeal with +any but negative force. Neither should it, until all available lands are +occupied. Then he must move up and make room for another man by his +side. + +The sales for the quarter ending September 30 were as follows:-- + +96 half-bushel boxes of apples $38.00 +9 calves 104.00 +Eggs 543.00 +Butter 1293.00 +Hogs 3407.00 + -------- + Total $5385.00 + +This was the best total for any three months up to date, and it made me +feel that I was getting pretty nearly out of the woods, so far as +increasing my investment went. + +Including my new hog-house and ten thousand bushels of purchased grain, +the investment, thought I, must represent quite a little more than +$100,000, and I hoped not to go much beyond that sum, for Polly looked +serious when I talked of six figures, though she was reconciled to any +amount which could be stated in five. + +My buildings were all finished, and were good for many years; and if +they burned, the insurance would practically replace them. My granary +was full enough of oats and corn to provide for deficits of years to +come; and my flocks and herds were now at their maximum, since Sam had +turned more than eight hundred pullets into the laying pens. I began to +feel that the factory would soon begin to run full time and to make +material returns for its equipment. It would, of course, be several +years before the fruit would make much showing, but I am a patient man, +and could wait. + + + + +CHAPTER LXV + +THE END OF THE THIRD YEAR + + +"Polly," said I, on the evening of December 31, "let's settle the +accounts for the year, and see how much we must credit to 'experience' +to make the figures balance." + +"Aren't you going to credit anything to health, and good times +generally? If not, you don't play fair." + +"We'll keep those things in reserve, to spring on the enemy at a +critical moment; perhaps they won't be needed." + +"I fancy you will have to bring all your reserves into action this time, +Mr. Headman, for you promised to make a good showing at the end of the +third year." + +"Well, so I will; at least, according to my own estimate; but others may +not see it as I do." + +"Don't let others see it at all, then. The experiment is yours, isn't +it?" + +"Yes, for us; but it's more than a personal matter. I want to prove that +a factory farm is sound in theory and safe in practice, and that it will +fit the needs of a whole lot of farmers." + +"I hardly think that 'a whole lot of farmers,' or of any other kind of +people, will put $100,000 into a farm on any terms. Don't you think +you've been a little extravagant?" + +"Only on the home forty, Polly. I will expound this matter to you some +time until you fall asleep, but not to-day. We have other business on +hand. I want to give you this warning to begin with: you are not to jump +to a conclusion or on to my figures until you have fairly considered two +items which enter into this year's expense account. I've built an extra +hog-house and have bought ten thousand bushels of grain, at a total +expense of about $6000. Neither of these items was really needed this +year; but as they are our insurance against disease and famine, I +secured them early and at low prices. They won't appear in the expense +account again,--at least, not for many years,--and they give me a sense +of security that is mighty comforting." + +"But what if Anderson sets fire to your piggery, or lightning strikes +your granary,--how about the expense account then?" + +"What do you suppose fire insurance policies are for? To paper the wall? +No, madam, they are to pay for new buildings if the old ones burn up. I +charge the farm over $200 a year for this security, and it's a binding +contract." + +"Well, I'll try and forget the $6000 if you'll get to the figures at +once." + +"All right. First, let me go over the statement for the last quarter of +the year. The sales were: apples, from 150 old trees at $3 per tree, +$450; 10 calves, $115; 360 hens and 500 cockerels, $430; 5 cows (the +common ones, to Jackson) at $35 each, $175; eggs, $827; butter, $1311; +and 281 hogs, rushed to market in December when only about eight months +old and sold for $3.70 per hundred to help swell this account, $2649; +making a total for the fourth quarter of $5957. + +"The items of expense for the year were:-- + +"Interest on investment $5,132.00 + New hog-house 4,220.00 + 10,000 bu. of grain 2,450.00 + Food for colony 5,322.00 + Food for stock 1,640.00 + Seeds and fertilizers 2,155.00 + Insurance and taxes 730.00 + Shoeing and repairs 349.00 + Replenishments 450.00 + +"Total $22,760.00 + +"The credit account reads: first quarter, $2030; second quarter, $2221; +third quarter, $5387; fourth quarter, $5957; total, $15,595. + +"If we take out the $6670 for the extra piggery and the grain, the +expense account and the income will almost balance, even leaving out the +$4000 which we agreed to pay for food and shelter. I think that's a fair +showing for the three years, don't you?" + +"Possibly it is; but what a lot of money you pay for wages. It's the +largest item." + +"Yes, and it always will be. I don't claim that a factory farm can be +run like a grazing or a grain farm. One of its objects is to furnish +well-paid employment to a lot of people. We've had nine men and two lads +all the year, and three extra men for seven months, three women on the +farm and five in the house,--twenty-two people to whom we've paid wages +this year. Doesn't that count for anything? How many did we keep in the +city?" + +"Four,--three women and a man." + +"Then we give employment to eighteen more people at equally good wages +and in quite as wholesome surroundings. Do you realize, Polly, that the +maids in the house get $1300 out of the $5300,--one quarter of the +whole? Possibly there is a suspicion of extravagance on the home forty." + +"Not a bit of it! You know that you proved to me that it cost us $5200 a +year for board and shelter in the city, and you only credit the farm +with $4000. That other $1200 would more than pay the extra wages. I +really don't think it costs as much to live here as it did on +B----Street, and any one can see the difference." + +"You are right. If we call our plant an even $100,000, which at five per +cent would mean $5000 a year,--where can you get house, lawns, woods, +gardens, horses, dogs, servants, liberty, birds, and sun-dials on a wide +and liberal scale for $5000 a year, except on a farm like this? You +can't buy furs, diamonds, and yachts with such money anyhow or +anywhere, so personal expenditures must be left out of all our +calculations. No, the wage account will always be the large one, and I +am glad it is so, for it is one finger of the helping hand." + +"You haven't finished with the figures yet. You don't know what to add +to our _permanent_ investment." + +"That's quickly done. _Nineteen thousand five hundred and ninety-five +dollars_ from twenty-two thousand seven hundred and sixty dollars leaves +three thousand one hundred and sixty-five dollars to charge to our +investment. I resent the word 'permanent,' which you underscored just +now, for each year we're going to have a surplus to subtract from this +interest-bearing debt." + +"Precious little surplus you'll have for the next few years, with Jack +and Jane getting married, and--" + +"But, Polly, you can't charge weddings to the farm, any more than we can +yachts and diamonds." + +"I don't see why. A wedding is a very important part of one's life, and +I think the farm ought to be _made_ to pay for it." + +"I quite agree with you; but we must add $3165 to the old farm debt, and +take up our increased burden with such courage as we may. In round +figures it is $106,000. Does that frighten you, Polly?" + +"A little, perhaps; but I guess we can manage it. _You_ would have been +frightened three years ago if some one had told you that you would put +$106,000 into a farm of less than five hundred acres." + +"You're right. Spending money on a farm is like other forms of +vice,--hated, then tolerated, then embraced. But seriously, a man would +get a bargain if he secured this property to-day for what it has cost +us. I wouldn't take a bonus of $50,000 and give it up." + +"You'll hardly find a purchaser at that price, and I'm glad you can't, +for I want to live here and nowhere else." + + + + +CHAPTER LXVI + +LOOKING BACKWARD + + +With the close of the third year ends the detailed history of the +factory farm. All I wish to do further is to give a brief synopsis of +the debit and credit accounts for each of the succeeding four years. + +First I will say a word about the people who helped me to start the +factory. Thompson and his wife are still with me, and they are well on +toward the wage limit. Johnson has the gardens and Lars the stables, and +Otto is chief swineherd. French and his wife act as though they were +fixtures on the place, as indeed I hope they are. They have saved a lot +of money, and they are the sort who are inclined to let well enough +alone. Judson is still at Four Oaks, doing as good service as ever; but +I fancy that he is minded to strike out for himself before long. He has +been fortunate in money matters since he gave up the horse and buggy; he +informed me six months ago that he was worth more than $5000. + +"I shouldn't have had five thousand cents if I'd stuck to that darned +old buggy," said he, "and I guess I'll have to thank you for throwing +me down that day." + +Zeb has married Lena, and a little cottage is to be built for them this +winter, just east of the farm-house; and Lena's place is to be filled by +her cousin, who has come from the old country. + +Anderson and Sam both left in 1898,--poor, faithful Anderson because his +heart gave out, and Sam because his beacon called him. + +Lars's boys, now sixteen and eighteen, have full charge of the poultry +plant, and are quite up to Sam in his best days. Of course I have had +all kinds of troubles with all sorts of men; but we have such a strong +force of "reliables" that the atmosphere is not suited to the idler or +the hobo, and we are, therefore, never seriously annoyed. Of one thing I +am certain: no man stays long at our farm-house without apprehending the +uses of napkin and bath-tub, and these are strong missionary forces. + +Through careful tilth and the systematic return of all waste to the +land, the acres at Four Oaks have grown more fertile each year. The soil +was good seven years ago, and we have added fifty per cent to its crop +capacity. The amount of waste to return to the land on a farm like this +is enormous, and if it be handled with care, there will be no occasion +to spend much money for commercial fertilizers. I now buy fertilizers +only for the mid-summer dressing on my timothy and alfalfa fields. The +apple trees are very heavily mulched, even beyond the spread of their +branches, with waste fresh from the vats, and once a year a light +dressing of muriate of potash is applied. The trees have grown as fast +as could be desired, and all of them are now in bearing. The apples from +these young trees sold for enough last year to net ninety cents for each +tree, which is more than the trees have ever cost me. + +In 1898 these orchards yielded $38; in 1899, $165; in 1900, $530; in +1901, $1117. Seven years from the date of planting these trees, which +were then three years old, I had received in money $4720, or $1200 more +than I paid for the fifty acres of land on which they grew. If one would +ask for better returns, all he has to do is to wait; for there is a sort +of geometrical progression inherent in the income from all +well-cared-for orchards, which continues in force for about fifteen +years. There is, however, no rule of progress unless the orchards are +well cared for, and I would not lead any one to the mistake of planting +an orchard and then doing nothing but wait. Cultivate, feed, prune, +spray, dig bores, fight mice, rabbits, aphides, and the thousand other +enemies to trees and fruit, and do these things all the time and then +keep on doing them, and you will win out. Omit all or any of them, and +the chances are that you will fail of big returns. + +But orcharding is not unique in this. Every form of business demands +prompt, timely, and intelligent attention to make it yield its best. The +orchards have been my chief care for seven years; the spraying, +mulching, and cultivation have been done by the men, but I think I have +spent one whole year, during the past seven, among my trees. Do I charge +my orchards for this time? No; for I have gotten as much good from the +trees as they have from me, and honors are easy. A meditative man in his +sixth lustrum can be very happy with pruning-hook and shears among his +young trees. If he cannot, I am sincerely sorry for him. + +I have not increased my plant during the past four years. My stock +consume a little more than I can raise; but there are certain things +which a farm will not produce, and there are other things which one had +best buy, thus letting others work their own specialties. + +If I had more land, would I increase my stock? No, unless I had enough +land to warrant another plant. My feeding-grounds are filled to their +capacity from a sanitary point of view, and it would be foolish to take +risks for moderate returns. If I had as much more land, I would +establish another factory; but this would double my business cares +without adding one item to my happiness. As it is, the farm gives me +enough to keep me keenly interested, and not enough to tire or annoy me. +So far as profits go, it is entirely satisfactory. It feeds and +shelters my family and twenty others in the colony, and also the +stranger within the gates, and it does this year after year without +friction, like a well-oiled machine. + +Not only this. Each year for the past four, it has given a substantial +surplus to be subtracted from the original investment. If I live to be +sixty-eight years of age, the farm will be my creditor for a +considerable sum. I have bought no corn or oats since January, 1898. The +seventeen thousand bushels which I then had in my granary have slowly +grown less, though there has never been a day when we could not have +measured up seven thousand or eight thousand bushels. I shall probably +buy again when the market price pleases me, for I have a horror of +running short; but I shall not sell a bushel, though prices jump to the +sky. + +I have seen the time when my corn and oats would have brought four times +as much as I paid for them, but they were not for sale. They are the raw +material, to be made up in my factory, and they are worth as much to me +at twenty cents a bushel as at eighty cents. What would one think of the +manager of a silk-thread factory who sold his raw silk, just because it +had advanced in price? Silk thread would advance in proportion, and how +does the manager know that he can replace his silk when needed, even at +the advanced price? + +When corn went to eighty cents a bushel, hogs sold for $8.25 a hundred, +and my twenty-cent corn made pork just as fast as eighty-cent corn would +have done, and a great deal cheaper. + +Once I sold some timothy hay, but it was to "discount the season," just +as I bought grain. + +On July 18, 1901, a tremendous rain and wind storm beat down about forty +acres of oats beyond recovery. The next day my mowing machines, working +against the grain, commenced cutting it for hay. Before it was half cut, +I sold to a livery-stable keeper in Exeter fifty tons of bright timothy +for $600. The storm brought me no loss, for the horses did quite as well +on the oat hay as they ever had done on timothy, and $600 more than paid +for the loss of the grain. + +During the first three years of my experiment hogs were very +low,--lower, indeed, than at any other period for forty years. It was +not until 1899 that prices began to improve. During that year my sales +averaged $4.50 a hundred. In 1900 the average was $5.25, in 1901 it was +$6.10, and in 1902 it was just $7. It will be readily appreciated that +there is more profit in pork at seven cents a pound than at three and a +half cents; but how much more is beyond me, for it cost no more to get +my swine to market last year than it did in 1896. I charge each hog $1 +for bran and shorts; this is all the ready money I pay out for him. If +he weighs three hundred pounds (a few do), he is worth $10.50 at $3.50 a +hundred, or $21 at $7 a hundred; and it is a great deal pleasanter to +say $1 from $21, leaves $20, than to say $1 from $10.50 leaves $9.50. + +Of course, $1 a head is but a small part of what the hog has cost when +ready for market, but it is all I charge him with directly, for his +other expenses are carried on the farm accounts. The marked increase in +income during the past four years is wholly due to the advance in the +price of pork and the increased product of the orchards. The expense +account has not varied much. + +The fruit crop is charged with extra labor, packages, and +transportation, before it is entered, and the account shows only net +returns. I have had to buy new machinery, but this has been rather +evenly distributed, and doesn't show prominently in any year. + +In 1900 I lost my forage barn. It was struck by lightning on June 13, +and burned to the ground. Fortunately, there was no wind, and the rain +came in such torrents as to keep the other buildings safe. I had to +scour the country over for hay to last a month, and the expense of this, +together with some addition to the insurance money, cost the farm $1000 +before the new structure was completed. I give below the income and the +outgo for the last four years:-- + + INCOME EXPENSES TO THE GOOD +1899 $17,780.00 $15,420.00 $2,360.00 +1900 19,460.00 16,480.00 2,980.00 +1901 21,424.00 15,520.00 5,904.00 +1902 23,365.00 15,673.00 7,692.00 + ----------- +Making a total to the good of $18,936.00 + +These figures cover only the money received and expended. They take no +account of the $4000 per annum which we agreed to pay the farm for +keeping us, so long as we made it pay interest to us. Four times $4000 +are $16,000 which, added to $18,936, makes almost $35,000 to charge off +from the $106,000 of original investment. + +Polly was wrong when she spoke of it as a _permanent_ investment. Four +years more of seven-dollar pork and thrifty apple growth will make this +balance of $71,000 look very small. The interest is growing rapidly +less, and it will be but a short time before the whole amount will be +taken off the expense account. When this is done, the yearly balance +will be increased by the addition of $5000, and we may be able to make +the farm pay for weddings, as Polly suggested. + + + + +CHAPTER LXVII + +LOOKING FORWARD + + +I am not so opinionated as to think that mine is the only method of +farming. On the contrary, I know that it is only one of several good +methods; but that it is a good one, I insist. For a well-to-do, +middle-aged man who was obliged to give up his profession, it offered +change, recreation, employment, and profit. My ability to earn money by +my profession ceased in 1895, and I must needs live at ease on my +income, or adopt some congenial and remunerative employment, if such +could be found. The vision of a factory farm had flitted through my +brain so often that I was glad of the opportunity to test my theories by +putting them into practice. Fortunately I had money, and to spare; for I +had but a vague idea of what money would be needed to carry my +experiment to the point of self-support. I set aside $60,000 as ample, +but I spent nearly twice that amount without blinking. It is quite +likely that I could have secured as good and as prompt returns with +two-thirds of this expenditure. I plead guilty to thirty-three per cent +lack of economy; the extenuating circumstances were, a wish to let the +members of my family do much as they pleased and have good things and +good people around them, and a somewhat luxurious temperament of my own. + +Polly and I were too wise (not to say too old) to adopt farming as a +means of grace through privations. We wanted the good there was in it, +and nothing else; but as a secondary consideration I wished to prove +that it can be made to pay well, even though one-third of the money +expended goes for comforts and kickshaws. + +It is not necessary to spend so much on a five-hundred-acre farm, and a +factory farm need not contain so many acres. Any number of acres from +forty to five hundred, and any number of dollars from $5000 to $100,000, +will do, so long as one holds fast to the rules: good clean fences for +security against trespass by beasts, or weeds; high tilth, and heavy +cropping; no waste or fallow land; conscientious return to the land of +refuse, and a cover crop turned under every second year; the best stock +that money can buy; feed for product, not simply to keep the animals +alive; force product in every way not detrimental to the product itself; +maintain a strict quarantine around your animals, and then depend upon +pure food, water, air, sunlight, and good shelter to keep them healthy; +sell as soon as the product is finished, even though the market doesn't +please you; sell only perfect product under your own brand; buy when the +market pleases you and thus "discount the seasons"; remember that +interdependent industries are the essence of factory farming; employ the +best men you can find, and keep them interested in your affairs; have a +definite object and make everything bend toward that object; plant apple +trees galore and make them your chief care, as in time they will prove +your chief dependence. These are some of the principles of factory +farming, and one doesn't have to be old, or rich, to put them into +practice. + +I would exchange my age, money, and acres for youth and forty acres, and +think that I had the best of the bargain; and I would start the factory +by planting ten acres of orchard, buying two sows, two cows, and two +setting hens. Youth, strength, and hustle are a great sight better than +money, and the wise youth can have a finer farm than mine before he +passes the half-century mark, even though he have but a bare forty to +begin with. + +I do not take it for granted that every man has even a bare forty; but +millions of men who have it not, can have it by a little persistent +self-denial; and when an able-bodied man has forty acres of ground under +his feet, it is up to him whether he will be a comfortable, independent, +self-respecting man or not. + +A great deal of farm land is distant from markets and otherwise limited +in its range of production, but nearly every forty which lies east of +the hundredth meridian is competent to furnish a living for a family of +workers, if the workers be intelligent as well as industrious. Farm +lands are each year being brought closer to markets by steam and +electric roads; telephone and telegraphic wires give immediate service; +and the daily distribution of mails brings the producer into close touch +with the consumer. The day of isolation and seclusion has passed, and +the farmer is a personal factor in the market. He is learning the +advantages of coöperation, both in producing and in disposing of his +wares; he has paid off his mortgage and has money in the bank; he is a +power in politics, and by far the most dependable element in the state. +Like the wrestler of old, who gained new strength whenever his foot +touched the ground, our country gains fresh vigor from every man who +takes to the soil. + +In preaching a hejira to the country, I do not forget the interests of +the children. Let no one dread country life for the young until they +come to the full pith and stature of maturity; for their chances of +doing things worth doing in the world are four to one against those of +children who are city-bred. Four-fifths of the men and women who do +great things are country-bred. This is out of all proportion to the +birth-rate as between country and city, and one is at a loss to account +for the disproportion, unless it is to be credited to environment. Is it +due to pure air and sunshine, making redder blood and more vigorous +development, to broader horizons and freedom from abnormal conventions? +Or does a close relation to primary things give a newness to mind and +body which is granted only to those who apply in person? + +Whatever the reason, it certainly pays to be country-bred. The cities +draw to themselves the cream of these youngsters, which is only natural; +but the cities do not breed them, except as exotics. + +If the unborn would heed my advice, I would say, By all means be born in +the country,--in Ohio if possible. But, if fortune does not prove as +kind to you as I could wish, accept this other advice: Choose the, +country for your foster-mother; go to her for consolation and +rejuvenation, take her bounty gratefully, rest on her fair bosom, and be +content with the fat of the land. + + + + +THE RURAL SCIENCE SERIES + + +Includes books which state the underlying principles of agriculture in +plain language. They are suitable for consultation alike by the amateur +or professional tiller of the soil, the scientist or the student, and +are freely illustrated and finely made. + +The following volumes are now ready: + + +THE SOIL. By F.H. KING, of the University of Wisconsin. 303 pp. 45 +illustrations. 75 cents. + +THE FERTILITY OF THE LAND. By I.P. ROBERTS, of Cornell University. +Second edition. 421 pp. 45 illustrations. $1.25. + +THE SPRAYING OF PLANTS. By E.G. LODEMAN, late of Cornell University. 399 +pp. 92 illustrations. $1.00. + +MILK AND ITS PRODUCTS. By H.H. WING, of Cornell University. Third +edition. 311 pp. 43 illustrations. $1.00. + +THE PRINCIPLES OF FRUIT-GROWING. By L.H. BAILEY. Third edition. 516 pp. +120 illustrations. $1.25. + +BUSH-FRUITS. By F.W. CARD, of Rhode Island College of Agriculture and +Mechanic Arts. Second edition. 537 pp. 113 illustrations. $1.50. + +FERTILIZERS. By E.B. VOORHEES, of New Jersey Experiment Station. Second +edition. 332 pp. $1.00. + +THE PRINCIPLES OF AGRICULTURE. By L.H. BAILEY. Third edition. 300 pp. 92 +illustrations. $1.25. + +IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE. By F.H. KING, University of Wisconsin. 502 pp. +163 illustrations. $1.50. + +THE FARMSTEAD. By I.P. ROBERTS. 350 pp. 138 illustrations. $1.25. + +RURAL WEALTH AND WELFARE. By GEORGE T. FAIRCHILD, ex-President of the +Agricultural College of Kansas. 381 pp. 14 charts. $1.25. + +THE PRINCIPLES OF VEGETABLE-GARDENING. By L.H. BAILEY. 468 pp. 144 +illustrations. $1.25. + +THE FEEDING OF ANIMALS. By W.H. JORDAN, of New York State Experiment +Station. $1.25 _net_. + +FARM POULTRY. By GEORGE C. WATSON, of Pennsylvania State College. $1.25 +_net_. + +CARE OF ANIMALS. By N.S. MAYO, of Connecticut Agricultural College. +$1.25 _net_. + +New volumes will be added from time to time to the RURAL SCIENCE SERIES. +The following are in preparation: + +PHYSIOLOGY OF PLANTS. By J.C. ARTHUR, Purdue University. + +BREEDING OF ANIMALS. By W.H. BREWER, of Yale University. + +PLANT PATHOLOGY. By B.T. GALLOWAY and associates of U.S. Department of +Agriculture. + +Comprises practical hand-books for the horticulturist, explaining and +illustrating in detail the various important methods which experience +has demonstrated to be the most satisfactory. They may be called manuals +of practice, and though all are prepared by Professor Bailey, of Cornell +University, they include the opinions and methods of successful +specialists in many lines, thus combining the results of the +observations and experiences of numerous students in this and other +lands. They are written in the clear, strong, concise English and in the +entertaining style which characterize the author. The volumes are +compact, uniform in style, clearly printed, and illustrated as the +subject demands. They are of convenient shape for the pocket, and are +substantially bound in flexible green cloth. + +THE HORTICULTURIST'S RULE-BOOK. By L.H. Bailey. Fourth +edition. 312 pp. 75 cts. + +THE NURSERY-BOOK. By L.H. Bailey. Fourth edition. 365 pp. 152 +illustrations. $1.00. + +PLANT-BREEDING. By L.H. Bailey. 293 pp. 20 illustrations. +$1.00. + +THE FORCING-BOOK. By L.H. Bailey. 266 pp. 88 illustrations. +$1.00. + +GARDEN MAKING. By L.H. Bailey. Third edition. 417 pp. 256 +illustrations. $1.00. + +THE PRUNING-BOOK. By L.H. Bailey. Second edition. 545 pp. 331 +illustrations. $1.50. + +THE PRACTICAL GARDEN-BOOK. By C.E. Hunn and L.H. +Bailey. 250 pp. Many marginal cuts. $1.00. + +The Garden of a Commuter's Wife + +Recorded by the Gardener + +WITH EIGHT PHOTOGRAVURE ILLUSTRATIONS + +Cloth 12mo $1.50 + +"In brief, the book is delightfully sketchy and chatty, thoroughly +feminine and entrancing. The writer represents herself as a doctor's +daughter in a country town, who has married an Englishman, and after two +years abroad has come home to live. Both husband and wife prefer the +country to the city, and they make of their modest estate a mundane +paradise of which it is a privilege to have a glimpse. Surely it is no +exaggeration to characterize this as one of the very best books of the +holiday season, thus far."--_Providence Journal._ + +"It is written with charm, and is more than a mere treatise on what may +be raised in the small lot of the suburban resident. + +"The author has not only learned to appreciate nature from intimate +association, but has achieved unusual power of communicating these facts +to others. There is something unusually attractive about the +book."--_The Philadelphia Inquirer._ + + * * * * * + +A Woman's Hardy Garden + +By HELENA RUTHERFORD ELY + +With many Illustrations from Photographs taken in the Author's Garden by +Professor C.F. CHANDLER + +Cloth 12MO $1.75 net + +"It Is never for a moment vague or general, and Mrs. Ely is certainly +inspiring and helpful to the prospective gardener."--_Boston Herald._ + +"Mrs. Ely gives copious details of the cost of plants, the exact dates +of planting, the number of plants required in a given space for beauty +of effect and advantage to free growth, the protection needed from sun +and frost, the precautions to take against injury from insects, the +satisfaction to be expected from the different varieties of plants in +the matter of luxuriant bloom and length of time for blossoming, and +much information to be appreciated only by those who have raised a +healthy garden by the slow teachings of personal experience."--_New York +Times Saturday Review._ + + * * * * * + +THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + +66 Fifth Avenue, New York + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Fat of the Land, by John Williams Streeter + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FAT OF THE LAND *** + +***** This file should be named 16525-8.txt or 16525-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/2/16525/ + +Produced by Bill Tozier, Barbara Tozier, Janet Blenkinship +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Fat of the Land + The Story of an American Farm + +Author: John Williams Streeter + +Release Date: August 13, 2005 [EBook #16525] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FAT OF THE LAND *** + + + + +Produced by Bill Tozier, Barbara Tozier, Janet Blenkinship +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<h1>THE FAT OF THE LAND</h1> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_FAT_OF_THE_LAND" id="THE_FAT_OF_THE_LAND"></a>THE FAT OF THE LAND</h2> + +<h3>The Story of an American Farm</h3> + +<h3>by</h3> + +<h2>JOHN WILLIAMS STREETER</h2> + + +<p>New York</p> + +<p>THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</p> + +<p>LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd.</p> + +<p>1904</p> + +<p><i>All rights reserved</i></p> + +<p>copyright, 1904.</p> + +<p>by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.</p> + +<p>Set up, electrotyped, and published February, 1904. Reprinted March, +April, May, 1904.</p> + +<p>Norwood Press</p> + +<p>J.S. Cushing & Co.—Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.<br /><br /><br /></p> + +<h1>To POLLY<br /><br /><br /></h1> + + +<p>CONTENTS</p> + +<p> + <a href="#THE_FAT_OF_THE_LAND"><b>THE FAT OF THE LAND</b></a><br /> + <a href="#THE_FAT_OF_THE_LAND"><b>THE FAT OF THE LAND</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_I"><b>CHAPTER I MY EXCUSE</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_II"><b>CHAPTER II THE HUNTING OF THE LAND</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_III"><b>CHAPTER III THE FIRST VISIT TO THE FARM</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><b>CHAPTER IV THE HIRED MAN</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_V"><b>CHAPTER V BORING FOR WATER</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><b>CHAPTER VI WE TAKE POSSESSION</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><b>CHAPTER VII THE HORSE-AND-BUGGY MAN</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><b>CHAPTER VIII WE PLAT THE FARM</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><b>CHAPTER IX HOUSE-CLEANING</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_X"><b>CHAPTER X FENCED IN</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><b>CHAPTER XI THE BUILDING LINE</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><b>CHAPTER XII CARPENTERS QUIT WORK</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XIII"><b>CHAPTER XIII PLANNING FOR THE TREES</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XIV"><b>CHAPTER XIV PLANTING OF THE TREES</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XV"><b>CHAPTER XV POLLY'S JUDGMENT HALL</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XVI"><b>CHAPTER XVI WINTER WORK</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XVII"><b>CHAPTER XVII CARPENTERS QUIT WORK</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII"><b>CHAPTER XVIII WHITE WYANDOTTES</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XIX"><b>CHAPTER XIX FRIED PORK</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XX"><b>CHAPTER XX A RATION FOR PRODUCT</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XXI"><b>CHAPTER XXI THE RAZORBACK</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XXII"><b>CHAPTER XXII THE OLD ORCHARD</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII"><b>CHAPTER XXIII THE FIRST HATCH</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV"><b>CHAPTER XXIV THE HOLSTEIN MILK MACHINE</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XXV"><b>CHAPTER XXV THE DAIRYMAID</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI"><b>CHAPTER XXVI LITTLE PIGS</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII"><b>CHAPTER XXVII WHAT SHALL WE ASK OF THE HEN?</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII"><b>CHAPTER XXVIII DISCOUNTING THE MARKET</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX"><b>CHAPTER XXIX FROM CITY TO COUNTRY</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XXX"><b>CHAPTER XXX AUTUMN RECKONING</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI"><b>CHAPTER XXXI THE CHILDREN</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII"><b>CHAPTER XXXII THE HOME-COMING</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII"><b>CHAPTER XXXIII CHRISTMAS EVE</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV"><b>CHAPTER XXXIV CHRISTMAS</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV"><b>CHAPTER XXXV WE CLOSE THE BOOKS FOR '96</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI"><b>CHAPTER XXXVI OUR FRIENDS</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVII"><b>CHAPTER XXXVII THE HEADMAN'S JOB</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVIII"><b>CHAPTER XXXVIII SPRING OF '97</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIX"><b>CHAPTER XXXIX THE YOUNG ORCHARD</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XL"><b>CHAPTER XL THE TIMOTHY HARVEST</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XLI"><b>CHAPTER XLI STRIKE AT GORDON'S MINE</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XLII"><b>CHAPTER XLII THE RIOT</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XLIII"><b>CHAPTER XLIII THE RESULT</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XLIV"><b>CHAPTER XLIV DEEP WATERS</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XLV"><b>CHAPTER XLV DOGS AND HORSES</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XLVI"><b>CHAPTER XLVI THE SKIM-MILK TRUST</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XLVII"><b>CHAPTER XLVII NABOTH'S VINEYARD</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XLVIII"><b>CHAPTER XLVIII MAIDS AND MALLARDS</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XLIX"><b>CHAPTER XLIX THE SUNKEN GARDEN</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_L"><b>CHAPTER L THE HEADMAN GENERALIZES</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_LI"><b>CHAPTER LI THE GRAND-GIRLS</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_LII"><b>CHAPTER LII THE THIRD RECKONING</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_LIII"><b>CHAPTER LIII THE MILK MACHINE</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_LIV"><b>CHAPTER LIV DEEP WATERS</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_LV"><b>CHAPTER LV THE OLD TIME FARM-HAND</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_LVI"><b>CHAPTER LVI THE SYNDICATE</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_LVII"><b>CHAPTER LVII THE DEATH OF SIR TOM</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_LVIII"><b>CHAPTER LVIII BACTERIA</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_LIX"><b>CHAPTER LIX COMFORT ME WITH APPLES</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_LX"><b>CHAPTER LX "I TOLD YOU SO"</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_LXI"><b>CHAPTER LXI THE BELGIAN FARMER</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_LXII"><b>CHAPTER LXII HOME-COMING</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_LXIII"><b>CHAPTER LXIII AN HUNDRED FOLD</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_LXIV"><b>CHAPTER LXIV COMFORT ME WITH APPLES</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_LXV"><b>CHAPTER LXV THE END OF THE THIRD YEAR</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_LXVI"><b>CHAPTER LXVI LOOKING BACKWARD</b></a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_LXVII"><b>CHAPTER LXVII LOOKING FORWARD</b></a><br /> + <a href="#THE_RURAL_SCIENCE_SERIES"><b>THE RURAL SCIENCE SERIES</b></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + + +<h1>THE FAT OF THE LAND</h1> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h4>MY EXCUSE</h4> + + +<p>My sixtieth birthday is a thing of yesterday, and I have, therefore, +more than half descended the western slope. I have no quarrel with life +or with time, for both have been polite to me; and I wish to give an +account of the past seven years to prove the politeness of life, and to +show how time has made amends to me for the forced resignation of my +professional ambitions. For twenty-five years, up to 1895, I practised +medicine and surgery in a large city. I loved my profession beyond the +love of most men, and it loved me; at least, it gave me all that a +reasonable man could desire in the way of honors and emoluments. The +thought that I should ever drop out of this attractive, satisfying life, +never seriously occurred to me, though I was conscious of a strong and +persistent force that urged me toward the soil. By choice and by +training I was a physician, and I gloried in my work; but by instinct I +was, am, and always shall be, a farmer. All my life I have had visions +of farms with flocks and herds, but I did not expect to realize my +visions until I came on earth a second time.</p> + +<p>I would never have given up my profession voluntarily; but when it gave +me up, I had to accept the dismissal, surrender my ambitions, and fall +back upon my primary instinct for diversion and happiness. The dismissal +came without warning, like the fall of a tree when no wind shakes the +forest, but it was imperative and peremptory. The doctors (and they were +among the best in the land) said, "No more of this kind of work for +years," and I had to accept their verdict, though I knew that "for +years" meant forever.</p> + +<p>My disappointment lasted longer than the acute attack; but, thanks to +the cheerful spirit of my wife, by early summer of that year I was able +to face the situation with courage that grew as strength increased. +Fortunately we were well to do, and the loss of professional income was +not a serious matter. We were not rich as wealth is counted nowadays; +but we were more than comfortable for ourselves and our children, though +I should never earn another dollar. This is not the common state of the +physician, who gives more and gets less than most other men; it was +simply a happy combination of circumstances. Polly was a small heiress +when we married; I had some money from my maternal grandfather; our +income was larger than our necessities, and our investments had been +fortunate. Fate had set no wolf to howl at our door.</p> + +<p>In June we decided to take to the woods, or rather to the country, to +see what it had in store for us. The more we thought of it, the better I +liked the plan, and Polly was no less happy over it. We talked of it +morning, noon, and night, and my half-smothered instinct grew by what it +fed on. Countless schemes at length resolved themselves into a factory +farm, which should be a source of pleasure as well as of income. It was +of all sizes, shapes, industries, and limits of expenditure, as the +hours passed and enthusiasm waxed or waned. I finally compromised on +from two hundred to three hundred acres of land, with a total +expenditure of not more than $60,000 for the building of my factory. It +was to produce butter, eggs, pork, and apples, all of best quality, and +they were to be sold at best prices. I discoursed at some length on +farms and farmers to Polly, who slept through most of the harangue. She +afterward said that she enjoyed it, but I never knew whether she +referred to my lecture or to her nap.</p> + +<p>If farming be the art of elimination, I want it not. If the farmer and +the farmer's family must, by the nature of the occupation, be deprived +of reasonable leisure and luxury, if the conveniences and amenities must +be shorn close, if comfort must be denied and life be reduced to the +elemental necessities of food and shelter, I want it not. But I do not +believe that this is the case. The wealth of the world comes from the +land, which produces all the direct and immediate essentials for the +preservation of life and the protection of the race. When people cease +to look to the land for support, they lose their independence and fall +under the tyranny of circumstances beyond their control. They are no +longer producers, but consumers; and their prosperity is contingent upon +the prosperity and good will of other people who are more or less alien. +Only when a considerable percentage of a nation is living close to the +land can the highest type of independence and prosperity be enjoyed. +This law applies to the mass and also to the individual. The farmer, who +produces all the necessities and many of the luxuries, and whose +products are in constant demand and never out of vogue, should be +independent in mode of life and prosperous in his fortunes. If this is +not the condition of the average farmer (and I am sorry to say it is +not), the fault is to be found, not in the land, but in the man who +tills it.</p> + +<p>Ninety-five per cent of those who engage in commercial and professional +occupations fail of large success; more than fifty per cent fail +utterly, and are doomed to miserable, dependent lives in the service of +the more fortunate. That farmers do not fail nearly so often is due to +the bounty of the land, the beneficence of Nature, and the +ever-recurring seed-time and harvest, which even the most thoughtless +cannot interrupt.</p> + +<p>The waking dream of my life had been to own and to work land; to own it +free of debt, and to work it with the same intelligence that has made me +successful in my profession. Brains always seemed to me as necessary to +success in farming as in law, or in medicine, or in business. I always +felt that mind should control events in agriculture as in commercial +life; that listlessness, carelessness, lack of thrift and energy, and +waste, were the factors most potent in keeping the farmer poor and +unreasonably harassed by the obligations of life. The men who cultivate +the soil create incalculable wealth; by rights they should be the +nation's healthiest, happiest, most comfortable, and most independent +citizens. Their lives should be long, free from care and distress, and +no more strenuous than is wholesome. That this condition is not general +is due to the fact that the average farmer puts muscle before mind and +brawn before brains, and follows, with unthinking persistence, the crude +and careless traditions of his forefathers.</p> + +<p>Conditions on the farm are gradually changing for the better. The +agricultural colleges, the experiment stations, the lecture courses +which are given all over the country, and the general diffusion of +agricultural and horticultural knowledge, are introducing among farming +communities a more intelligent and more liberal treatment of land. But +these changes are so slow, and there is so much to be done before even +a small percentage of our six millions of farmers begin to realize their +opportunities, that even the weakest effort in this direction may be of +use. This is my only excuse for going minutely into the details of my +experiment in the cultivation of land. The plain and circumstantial +narrative of how Four Oaks grew, in seven years, from a poor, +ill-paying, sadly neglected farm, into a beautiful home and a profitable +investment, must simply stand for what it is worth. It may give useful +hints, to be followed on a smaller or a larger scale, or it may arouse +criticisms which will work for good, both to the critic and to the +author. I do not claim experience, excepting the most limited; I do not +claim originality, except that most of this work was new to me; I do not +claim hardships or difficulties, for I had none; but I do claim that I +made good, that I arrived, that my experiment was physically and +financially a success, and, as such, I am proud of it, and wish to give +it to the world.</p> + +<p>I was fifty-three years old when I began this experiment, and I was +obliged to do quickly whatever I intended to do. I could devote any part +of $60,000 to the experiment without inconvenience. My desire was to +test the capacity of ordinary farm land, when properly treated, to +support an average family in luxury, paying good wages to more than the +usual number of people, keeping open house for many friends, and at the +same time not depleting my bank account. I wished to experiment in +<i>intensive farming</i>, using ordinary farm land as other men might do +under similar or modified circumstances. I believed that if I fed the +land, it would feed me. My plan was to sell nothing from the farm except +finished products, such as butter, fruit, eggs, chickens, and hogs. I +believed that best results would be attained by keeping only the best +stock, and, after feeding it liberally, selling it in the most favorable +market. To live on the fat of the land was what I proposed to do; and I +ask your indulgence while I dip into the details of this seven years' +experiment.</p> + +<p>You may say that few persons have the time, inclination, taste, or money +to carry out such an experiment; that the average farmer must make each +year pay, and that the exploiting of this matter is therefore of +interest to a very limited number. Admitting much of this, I still claim +that there is a lesson to every struggling farmer in this narrative. It +should teach the value of brain work on the farm, and the importance of +intelligent cultivation; also the advantages of good seed, good tilth, +good specimens of well-bred stock, good food, and good care. Feed the +land liberally, and it will return you much. Permit no waste in space, +product, time, tools, or strength. Do in a small way, if need be, what I +have done on a large scale, and you will quickly commence to get good +dividends. I have spent much more money than was really necessary on +the place, and in the ornamentation of Four Oaks. This, however, was +part of the experiment. I asked the land not only to supply immediate +necessities, but to minister to my every want, to gratify the eye, and +please the senses by a harmonious fusion of utility and beauty. I wanted +a fine country home and a profitable investment within the same ring +fence.</p> + +<p>Will you follow me through the search for the land, the purchase, and +the tremendous house-cleaning of the first year? After that we will take +up the years as they come, finding something of special interest +attaching naturally to each. I shall have to deal much with figures and +statistics, in a small way, and my pages may look like a school book, +but I cannot avoid this, for in these figures and statistics lies the +practical lesson. Theory alone is of no value. Practical application of +the theory is the test. I am not imaginative. I could not write a +romance if I tried. My strength lies in special detail, and I am willing +to spend a lot of time in working out a problem. I do not claim to have +spent this time and money without making serious mistakes; I have made +many, and I am willing to admit them, as you will see in the following +pages. I do claim, however, that, in spite of mistakes, I have solved +the problem, and have proved that an intelligent farmer can live in +luxury on the fat of the land.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h4>THE HUNTING OF THE LAND</h4> + + +<p>The location of the farm for this experiment was of the utmost +importance. The land must be within reasonable distance of the city and +near a railroad, consequently within easy touch of the market; and if +possible it must be near a thriving village, to insure good train +service. As to size, I was somewhat uncertain; my minimum limit was 150 +acres and 400 the maximum. The land must be fertile, or capable of being +made so.</p> + +<p>I advertised for a farm of from two hundred to four hundred acres, +within thirty-five miles of town, and convenient to a good line of +transportation. Fifty-seven replies came, of which forty-six were +impossible, eleven worth a second reading, and five worth investigating. +My third trip carried me thirty miles southwest of the city, to a +village almost wholly made up of wealthy people who did business in +town, and who had their permanent or their summer homes in this village. +There were probably twenty-seven or twenty-eight hundred people in the +village, most of whom owned estates of from one to thirty acres, +varying in value from $10,000 to $100,000. These seemed ideal +surroundings. The farm was a trifle more than two miles from the +station, and 320 acres in extent. It lay to the west of a +north-and-south road, abutting on this road for half a mile, while on +the south it was bordered for a mile by a gravelled road, and the west +line was an ordinary country road. The lay of the land in general was a +gentle slope to the west and south from a rather high knoll, the highest +point of which was in the north half of the southeast forty. The land +stretched away to the west, gradually sloping to its lowest point, which +was about two-thirds of the distance to the western boundary. A +straggling brook at its lowest point was more or less rampant in +springtime, though during July and August it contained but little water.</p> + +<p>Westward from the brook the land sloped gradually upward, terminating in +a forest of forty to fifty acres. This forest was in good condition. The +trees were mostly varieties of oak and hickory, with a scattering of +wild cherry, a few maples, both hard and soft, and some lindens. It was +much overgrown with underbrush, weeds, and wild flowers. The land was +generally good, especially the lower parts of it. The soil of the higher +ground was thin, but it lay on top of a friable clay which is fertile +when properly worked and enriched.</p> + +<p>The farm belonged to an unsettled estate, and was much run down, as +little had been done to improve its fertility, and much to deplete it. +There were two sets of buildings, including a house of goodly +proportions, a cottage of no particular value, and some dilapidated +barns. The property could be bought at a bargain. It had been held at +$100 an acre; but as the estate was in process of settlement, and there +was an urgent desire to force a sale, I finally secured it for $71 per +acre. The two renters on the farm still had six months of occupancy +before their leases expired. They were willing to resign their leases if +I would pay a reasonable sum for the standing crops and their stock and +equipments.</p> + +<p>The crops comprised about forty acres of corn, fifty acres of oats, and +five acres of potatoes. The stock was composed of two herds of cows +(seven in one and nine in the other), eleven spring calves, about forty +hogs, and the usual assortment of domestic fowls. The equipment of the +farm in machinery and tools was meagre to the last degree. I offered the +renters $700 and $600, respectively, for their leasehold and other +property. This was more than their value, but I wanted to take +possession at once.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h4>THE FIRST VISIT TO THE FARM</h4> + + +<p>It was the 8th of July, 1895, when I contracted for the farm; possession +was to be given August 1st. On July 9th, Polly and I boarded an early +train for Exeter, intending to make a day of it in every sense. We +wished to go over the property thoroughly, and to decide on a general +outline of treatment. Polly was as enthusiastic over the experiment as +I, and she is energetic, quick to see, and prompt to perform. She was to +have the planning of the home grounds—the house and the gardens; and +not only the planning, but also the full control.</p> + +<p>A ride of forty-five minutes brought us to Exeter. The service of this +railroad, by the way, is of the best; there is hardly a half-hour in the +day when one cannot make the trip either way, and the fare is moderate: +$8.75 for twenty-five rides,—thirty-five cents a ride. We hired an open +carriage and started for the farm. The first half-mile was over a +well-kept macadam road through that part of the village which lies west +of the railway. The homes bordering this street are of fine proportions, +and beautifully kept. They are the country places of well-to-do people +who love to get away from the noise and dirt of the city. Some of them +have ten or fifteen acres of ground, but this land is for breathing +space and beauty—not for serious cultivation. Beyond these homes we +followed a well-gravelled road leading directly west. This road is +bordered by small farms, most of them given over to dairying interests.</p> + +<p>Presently I called Polly's attention to the fact that the few apple +trees we saw were healthy and well grown, though quite independent of +the farmer's or the pruner's care. This thrifty condition of unkept +apple orchards delighted me. I intended to make apple-growing a +prominent feature in my experiment, and I reasoned that if these trees +did fairly well without cultivation or care, others would do excellently +well with both.</p> + +<p>As we approached the second section line and climbed a rather steep +hill, we got the first glimpse of our possession. At the bottom of the +western slope of this hill we could see the crossing of the +north-and-south road, which we knew to be the east boundary of our land; +while, stretching straight away before us until lost in the distant +wood, lay the well-kept road which for a good mile was our southern +boundary. Descending the hill, we stopped at the crossing of the roads +to take in the outline of the farm from this southeast corner. The +north-and-south road ran level for 150 yards, gradually rose for the +next 250, and then continued nearly level for a mile or more. We saw +what Jane Austen calls "a happy fall of land," with a southern exposure, +which included about two-thirds of the southeast forty, and high land +beyond for the balance of this forty and the forty lying north of it. +There was an irregular fringe of forest trees on this southern slope, +especially well defined along the eastern border. I saw that Polly was +pleased with the view.</p> + +<p>"We must enter the home lot from this level at the foot of the hill," +said she, "wind gracefully through the timber, and come out near those +four large trees on the very highest ground. That will be effective and +easily managed, and will give me a chance at landscape gardening, which +I am just aching to try."</p> + +<p>"All right," said I, "you shall have a free hand. Let's drive around the +boundaries of our land and behold its magnitude before we make other +plans."</p> + +<p>We drove westward, my eyes intent upon the fields, the fences, the +crops, and everything that pertained to the place. I had waited so many +years for the sense of ownership of land that I could hardly realize +that this was not another dream from which I would soon be awakened by +something real. I noticed that the land was fairly smooth except where +it was broken by half-rotted stumps or out-cropping boulders, that the +corn looked well and the oats fair, but the pasture lands were too well +seeded to dock, milkweed, and wild mustard to be attractive, and the +fences were cheap and much broken.</p> + +<p>The woodland near the western limit proved to be practically a virgin +forest, in which oak trees predominated. The undergrowth was dense, +except near the road; it was chiefly hazel, white thorn, dogwood, young +cherry, and second growth hickory and oak. We turned the corner and +followed the woods for half a mile to where a barbed wire fence +separated our forest from the woodland adjoining it. Coming back to the +starting-point we turned north and slowly climbed the hill to the east +of our home lot, silently developing plans. We drove the full half-mile +of our eastern boundary before turning back.</p> + +<p>I looked with special interest at the orchard, which was on the +northeast forty. I had seen it on my first visit, but had given it +little attention, noting merely that the trees were well grown. I now +counted the rows, and found that there were twelve; the trees in each +row had originally been twenty, and as these trees were about +thirty-five feet apart, it was easy to estimate that six acres had been +given to this orchard. The vicissitudes of seventeen years had not been +without effect, and there were irregular gaps in the rows,—here a sick +tree, there a dead one. A careless estimate placed these casualties at +fifty-five or sixty, which I later found was nearly correct. This left +180 trees in fair health; and in spite of the tight sod which covered +their roots and a lamentable lack of pruning, they were well covered +with young fruit. They had been headed high in the old-fashioned way, +which made them look more like forest trees than a modern orchard. They +had done well without a husbandman; what could not others do with one?</p> + +<p>The group of farm buildings on the north forty consisted of a one-story +cottage containing six rooms—sitting room, dining room, kitchen, and a +bedroom opening off each—with a lean-to shed in the rear, and some +woe-begone barns, sheds, and out-buildings that gave the impression of +not caring how they looked. The second group was better. It was south of +the orchard on the home forty, and quite near the road.</p> + +<p>Why does the universal farm-house hang its gable over the public road, +without tree or shrub to cover its boldness? It would look much better, +and give greater comfort to its inmates, if it were more remote. A lawn +leading up to a house, even though not beautiful or well kept, adds +dignity and character to a place out of all proportion to its waste or +expense. I know of nothing that would add so much to the beautification +of the country-side as a building line prohibiting houses and barns +within a hundred yards of a public road. A staring, glaring farm-house, +flanked by a red barn and a pigsty, all crowding the public road as +hard as the path-master will permit, is incongruous and unsightly. With +all outdoors to choose from, why ape the crowded city streets? With much +to apologize for in barn and pigsty, why place them in the seat of +honor? Moreover, many things which take place on the farm gain +enchantment from distance. It is best to leave some scope for the +imagination of the passer-by. These and other things will change as +farmers' lives grow more gracious, and more attention is given to +beautifying country houses.</p> + +<p>The house, whose gables looked up and down the street, was two stories +in height, twenty-five feet by forty in the main, with a one-story ell +running back. Without doubt there was a parlor, sitting room, and four +chambers in the main, with dining room and kitchen in the ell.</p> + +<p>"That will do for the head man's house, if we put it in the right place +and fix it up," said Polly.</p> + +<p>"My young lady, I propose to be the 'head man' on this farm, and I wish +it spelled with a capital H, but I do not expect to live in that house. +It will do first-rate for the farmer and his men, when you have placed +it where you want it, but I intend to live in the big house with you."</p> + +<p>"We'll not disagree about that, Mr. Headman."</p> + +<p>The barns were fairly good, but badly placed. They were not worth the +expense of moving, so I decided to let them stand as they were until we +could build better ones, and then tear them down.</p> + +<p>We drove in through a clump of trees behind the farm-house, and pushed +on about three hundred yards to the crest of the knoll. Here we got out +of the carriage and looked about, with keen interest, in every +direction. The views were wide toward three points of the compass. North +and northwest we could see pleasant lands for at least two miles; +directly west, our eyes could not reach beyond our own forest; to the +south and southwest, fruitful valleys stretched away to a range of +wooded hills four miles distant; but on the east our view was limited by +the fringe of woods which lay between us and the north-and-south road.</p> + +<p>"This is the exact spot for the house," said Polly. "It must face to the +south, with a broad piazza, and the chief entrance must be on the east. +The kitchens and fussy things will be out of sight on the northwest +corner; two stories, a high attic with rooms, and covered all over with +yellow-brown shingles." She had it all settled in a minute.</p> + +<p>"What will the paper on your bedroom wall be like?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"I know perfectly well, but I shan't tell you."</p> + +<p>Seating myself on an out-cropping boulder, I began to study the +geography of the farm. In imagination I stripped it of stock, crops, +buildings, and fences, and saw it as bald as the palm of my hand. I +recited the table of long measure: Sixteen and a half feet, one rod, +perch, or pole; forty rods, one furlong; eight furlongs, one mile. Eight +times 40 is 320; there are 320 rods in a mile, but how much is 16-1/2. +times 320? "Polly, how much is 16-1/2 times 320?"</p> + +<p>"Don't bother me now; I'm busy."</p> + +<p>(Just as if she could have told in her moment of greatest leisure!) I +resorted to paper and pencil, and learned that there are 5280 feet in +each and every mile. My land was, therefore, 5280 feet long and 2640 +feet wide. I must split it in some way, by a road or a lane, to make all +parts accessible. If I divided it by two lanes of twenty feet each, I +could have on either side of these lanes lots 650 feet deep, and these +would be quite manageable. I found that if these lots were 660 feet +long, they would contain ten acres minus the ten feet used for the lane. +This seemed a real discovery, as it simplified my calculations and +relieved me of much mental effort.</p> + +<p>"Polly, I am going to make a map of the place,—lay it out just as I +want it."</p> + +<p>"You may leave the home forty out of your map; I will look after that," +said the lady.</p> + +<p>In my pocket I found three envelopes somewhat the worse for wear. This +is how one of them looked when my map was finished.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="./images/diagram1.jpg"><img src="./images/diagram1-tb.jpg" alt="Diagram1" title="Diagram1" /></a></div> + + +<p>I am not especially haughty about this map, but it settled a matter +which had been chaotic in my mind. My plan was to make the farm a +soiling one; to confine the stock within as limited a space as was +consistent with good health, and to feed cultivated forage and crops. In +drawing my map, the forty which Polly had segregated left the northeast +forty standing alone, and I had to cast about for some good way of +treating it. "Make it your feeding ground," said my good genius, and +thus the wrath of Polly was made to glorify my plans.</p> + +<p>This feeding lot of forty acres is all high land, naturally drained. It +was near the obvious building line, and it seemed suitable in every way. +I drew a line from north to south, cutting it in the middle. The east +twenty I devoted to cows and their belongings; the west twenty was +divided by right lines into lots of five acres each, the southwest one +for the hens and the other three for hogs.</p> + +<p>Looking around for Polly to show her my work, I found she had +disappeared; but soon I saw her white gown among the trees. Joining her, +I said,—</p> + +<p>"I have mapped seven forties; have you finished one?"</p> + +<p>"I have not," she said. "Mine is of more importance than all of yours; I +will give you a sketch this evening. This bit of woods is better than I +thought. How much of it do you suppose there is?"</p> + +<p>"About seven acres, I reckon, by hook and by crook; enough to amuse you +and furnish a lot of wild-flower seed to be floated over the rest of the +farm."</p> + +<p>"You may plant what seeds you like on the rest of the farm, but I must +have wild flowers. Do you know how long it is since I have had them? Not +since I was a girl!"</p> + +<p>"That is not very long, Polly. You don't look much more than a girl +to-day. You shall have asters and goldenrod and black-eyed Susans to +your heart's content if you will always be as young."</p> + +<p>"I believe Time will turn backward for both of us out here, Mr. Headman. +But I'm as hungry as a wolf. Do you think we can get a glass of milk of +the 'farm lady'?"</p> + +<p>We tried, succeeded, and then started for home. Neither of us had much +to say on the return trip, for our minds were full of unsolved problems. +That evening Polly showed me this plat of the home forty.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="./images/diagram2.jpg"><img src="./images/diagram2-tb.jpg" alt="Diagram2" title="Diagram2" /></a></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h4>THE HIRED MAN</h4> + + +<p>Modern farming is greatly handicapped by the difficulty of getting good +help. I need not go into the causes which have operated to bring about +this condition; it exists, and it has to be met. I cannot hope to solve +the problem for others, but I can tell how I solved it for myself. I +determined that the men who worked for me should find in me a +considerate friend who would look after their interests in a reasonable +and neighborly fashion. They should be well housed and well fed, and +should have clean beds, clean table linen and an attractively set table, +papers, magazines, and books, and a comfortable room in which to read +them. There should be reasonable work hours and hours for recreation, +and abundant bathing facilities; and everything at Four Oaks should +proclaim the dignity of labor.</p> + +<p>From the men I expected cleanliness, sobriety, uniform kindness to all +animals, cheerful obedience, industry, and a disposition to save their +wages. These demands seemed to me reasonable, and I made up my mind to +adhere to them if I had to try a hundred men.</p> + +<p>The best way to get good farm hands who would be happy and contented, I +thought, was to go to the city and find men who had shot their bolts and +failed of the mark; men who had come up from the farm hoping for easier +or more ambitious lives, but who had failed to find what they sought and +had experienced the unrest of a hand-to-mouth struggle for a living in a +large city; men who were pining for the country, perhaps without knowing +it, and who saw no way to get back to it. I advertised my wants in a +morning paper, and asked my son, who was on vacation, to interview the +applicants. From noon until six o'clock my ante-room was invaded by a +motley procession—delicate boys of fifteen who wanted to go to the +country, old men who thought they could do farm work, clerks and +janitors out of employment, typical tramps and hoboes who diffused very +naughty smells, and a few—a very few—who seemed to know what they +could do and what they really wanted.</p> + +<p>Jack took the names of five promising men, and asked them to come again +the next day. In the morning I interviewed them, dismissed three, and +accepted two on the condition that their references proved satisfactory. +As these men are still at Four Oaks, after seven years of steady +employment, and as I hope they will stay twenty years longer, I feel +that the reader should know them. Much of the smooth sailing at the +farm is due to their personal interest, steadiness of purpose, and +cheerful optimism.</p> + +<p>William Thompson, forty-six years of age, tall, lean, wiry, had been a +farmer all his life. His wife had died three years before, and a year +later, he had lost his farm through an imperfect title. Understanding +machinery and being a fair carpenter, he then came to the city, with +$200 in his pocket, joined the Carpenter's Union, and tried to make a +living at that trade. Between dull business, lock-outs, tie-ups, and +strikes, he was reduced to fifty cents, and owed three dollars for room +rent. He was in dead earnest when he threw his union card on my table +and said:—</p> + +<p>"I would rather work for fifty cents a day on a farm than take my +chances for six times as much in the union."</p> + +<p>This was the sort of man I wanted: one who had tried other things and +was glad of a chance to return to the land. Thompson said that after he +had spent one lonesome year in the city, he had married a sensible woman +of forty, who was now out at service on account of his hard luck. He +also told of a husky son of two-and-twenty who was at work on a farm +within fifty miles of the city. I liked the man from the first, for he +seemed direct and earnest. I told him to eat up the fifty cents he had +in his pocket and to see me at noon of the following day. Meantime I +looked up one of his references; and when he came, I engaged him, with +the understanding that his time should begin at once.</p> + +<p>The wage agreed upon was $20 a month for the first half-year. If he +proved satisfactory, he was to receive $21 a month for the next six +months, and there was to be a raise of $1 a month for each half-year +that he remained with me until his monthly wage should amount to +$40,—each to give or take a month's notice to quit. This seemed fair to +both. I would not pay more than $20 a month to an untried man, but a +good man is worth more. As I wanted permanent, steady help, I proposed +to offer a fair bonus to secure it. Other things being equal, the man +who has "gotten the hang" of a farm can do better work and get better +results than a stranger.</p> + +<p>The transient farm-hand is a delusion and a snare. He has no interest +except his wages, and he is a breeder of discontent. If the hundreds of +thousands of able-bodied men who are working for scant wages in cities, +or inanely tramping the country, could see the dignity of the labor +which is directly productive, what a change would come over the face of +the country! There are nearly six million farms in this nation, and four +millions of them would be greatly benefited by the addition of another +man to the working force. There is a comfortable living and a minimum of +$180 a year for each of four million men, if they will only seek it and +honestly earn it. Seven hundred millions in wages, and double or treble +that in product and added values, is a consideration not unworthy the +attention of social scientists. To favor an exodus to the land is, I +believe, the highest type of benevolence, and the surest and safest +solution of the labor problem.</p> + +<p>Besides engaging Thompson, I tentatively bespoke the services of his +wife and son. Mrs. Thompson was to come for $15 a month and a +half-dollar raise for each six months, the son on the same terms as the +father.</p> + +<p>The other man whom I engaged that day was William Johnson, a tall, blond +Swede about twenty-six years old. Johnson had learned gardening in the +old country, and had followed it two years in the new. He was then +employed in a market gardener's greenhouse; but he wanted to change from +under glass to out of doors, and to have charge of a lawn, shrubs, +flowers, and a kitchen garden. He spoke brokenly, but intelligently, had +an honest eye, and looked to me like a real "find." Polly, who was to be +his immediate boss, was pleased with him, and we took him with the +understanding that he was to make himself generally useful until the +time came for his special line of work. We now had two men engaged (with +a possible third) and one woman, and my <i>venire</i> was exhausted.</p> + +<p>Two days later I again advertised, and out of a number of applicants +secured one man. Sam Jones was a sturdy-looking fellow of middle age, +with a suspiciously red nose. He had been bred on a farm, had learned +the carpenter's trade, and was especially good at taking care of +chickens. His ambition was to own and run a chicken plant. I hired him +on the same terms as the others, but with misgivings on account of the +florid nose. This was on the 19th or 20th of July, and there were still +ten days before I could enter into possession. The men were told to +report for duty the last day of the month.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h4>BORING FOR WATER</h4> + + +<p>The water supply was the next problem. I determined to have an abundant +and convenient supply of running water in the house, the barns, and the +feeding grounds, and also on the lawn and gardens. I would have no +carrying or hauling of water, and no lack of it. There were four wells +on the place, two of them near the houses and two stock wells in the +lower grounds. Near the well at the large house was a windmill that +pumped water into a small tank, from which it was piped to the barn-yard +and the lower story of the house. The supply was inadequate and not at +all to my liking.</p> + +<p>My plan involved not only finding, raising, and distributing water, but +also the care of waste water and sewage. Inquiring among those who had +deep wells in the village, I found that good water was usually reached +at from 180 to 210 feet. As my well-site was high, I expected to have to +bore deep. I contracted with a well man of good repute for a six-inch +well of 250 feet (or less), piped and finished to the surface, for $2 a +foot; any greater depth to be subject to further agreement.</p> + +<p>It took nearly three months to finish the water system, but it has +proved wonderfully convenient and satisfactory. During seven years I +have not spent more than $50 for changes and repairs. We struck bed-rock +at 197 feet, drilled 27 feet into this rock, and found water which rose +to within 50 feet of the surface and which could not be materially +lowered by the constant use of a three-inch power-pump. The water was +milky white for three days, in spite of much pumping; and then, and ever +after, it ran clear and sweet, with a temperature of 54° F. Well and +water being satisfactory, I cheerfully paid the well man $448 for the +job.</p> + +<p>Meantime I contracted for a tank twelve by twelve feet, to be raised +thirty feet above the well on eight timbers, each ten inches square, +well bolted and braced, for $430,—I to put in the foundation. This +consisted of eight concrete piers, each five feet deep in the clay, +three feet square, and capped at the level of the ground with a +limestone two feet square and eight inches thick. These piers were set +in octagon form around the well, with their centres seven feet from the +middle of the bore, making the spread of the framework fourteen feet at +the ground and ten at the platform. The foundation cost $32. A Rider +eight-inch, hot-air, wood-burning, pumping engine (with a two-inch pipe +leading to the tank, and a four-inch pipe from it), filled the tank +quickly; and it was surprising to see how little fuel it consumed. It +cost $215.</p> + +<p>I have now to confess to a small extravagance. I contracted with a +carpenter to build an ornamental tower, fifty-five feet high, twenty +feet across at the base, and fifteen feet at the top, sheeted and +shingled, with a series of small windows in spiral and a narrow stairway +leading to a balcony that surrounded the tower on a level with the top +of the tank. This tower cost $425; but it was not all extravagance, +because a third of the expense would have been incurred in protecting +the engine and making the tank frost-proof.</p> + +<p>To distribute the water, I had three lines of four-inch pipe leading +from the tank's out-flow pipe. One of these went 250 feet to the house, +with one-inch branches for the gardens and lawn; another led east 375 +feet, past the proposed sites of the cottage, the farm-house, the dairy, +and other buildings in that direction; while the third, about 400 feet +long, led to the horse barn and the other projected buildings. From near +the end of this west pipe a 1-1/2-inch pipe was carried due north +through the centre of the five-acre lot set apart for the hennery, and +into the fields beyond. This pipe was about 700 feet long. Altogether I +used 1100 feet of four-inch, and about 2200 feet of smaller pipe, at a +total cost of $803. All water pipes were placed 4-1/2 feet in the ground +to be out of the reach of frost, and to this day they have received no +further attention.</p> + +<p>The trenches for the pipes were opened by a party of five Italians whom +a railroad friend found for me. These men boarded themselves, slept in +the barn, and did the work for seventy-five cents a rod, the job costing +me $169.</p> + +<p>Opening the sewer trenches cost a little more, for they were as deep as +those for the water, and a little wider. Eight hundred feet of main +sewer, a three-hundred-foot branch to the house, and short branches from +barns, pens, and farm-houses, made in all about fourteen hundred feet, +which cost $83 to open. The sewer ended in the stable yard back of the +horse barn, in a ten-foot catch-basin near the manure pit. A few feet +from this catch-basin was a second, and beyond this a third, all of the +same size, with drain-pipes connecting them about two feet below the +ground. These basins were closely covered at all times, and in winter +they were protected from frost by a thick layer of coarse manure. They +were placed near the site of the manure pit for convenience in cleaning, +which had to be done every three months for the first one, once in six +months for the second and rarely for the third; indeed, the water +flowing from the third was always clear. This waste water was run +through a drain-pipe diagonally across the northwest corner of the big +orchard to an open ditch in the north lane. Opening this drain of forty +rods cost $30. Later I carried this closed drain to the creek, at an +additional expense of $67. The connecting of the water pipes and the +laying of the sewer was done by a local plumber for $50; the drain-pipe +and sewer-pipe cost $112; and the three catch-basins, bricked up and +covered with two-inch plank, cost $63. The filling in of all these +trenches was done by my own men with teams and scrapers, and should not +be figured into this expense account. It must be borne in mind that +while this elaborate water system was being installed, no buildings were +completed and but few were even begun; the big house was not finished +for more than a year. The sites of all the buildings had been decided +on, and the farm-house and the cottage had been moved and remodelled, by +the middle of October, at which date the water plant was completed. An +abundant supply of good water is essential to the comfort of man and +beast, and the money invested in securing it will pay a good interest in +the long run. My water plant cost me a lot of money, $2758; but it +hasn't cost me $10 a year since it was finished.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h4>WE TAKE POSSESSION</h4> + + +<p>My barn was full of horses, but none of them was fit for farm work; so I +engaged a veterinary surgeon to find three suitable teams. By the 25th +of the month he had succeeded, and I inspected the animals and found +them satisfactory, though not so smooth and smart-looking as I had +pictured them. When I compared them, somewhat unfavorably, with the +teams used for city trucks and delivery wagons, he retorted by saying: +"I did not know that you wanted to pay $1200 a pair for your horses. +These six horses will cost you $750, and they are worth it." They were a +sturdy lot, young, well matched, not so large as to be unwieldy, but +heavy enough for almost any work. The lightest was said to weigh 1375 +pounds, and the heaviest not more than a hundred pounds more. Two of the +teams were bay with a sprinkling of white feet, while the other pair was +red roan, and, to my mind, the best looking.</p> + +<p>Four of these horses are still doing service on the farm, after more +than seven years. One of the bays died in the summer of '98, and one of +the roans broke his stifle during the following winter and had to be +shot. The bereaved relicts of these two pairs have taken kindly to each +other, and now walk soberly side by side in double harness. I sometimes +think, however, that I see a difference. The personal relation is not +just as it was in the old union,—no bickerings or disagreements, but +also no jokes and no caresses. The soft nose doesn't seek its neighbor's +neck, there is no resting of chin on friendly withers while half-closed +eyes see visions of cool shades, running brooks, and knee-deep clover; +and the urgent whinney which called one to the other and told of +loneliness when separated is no longer heard. It is pathetic to think +that these good creatures have been robbed of the one thing which gave +color to their lives and lifted them above the dreary treadmill of duty +for duty's sake. The kindly friendship of each for his yoke-fellow is +not the old sympathetic companionship, which will come again only when +the cooling breezes, running brooks, and knee-deep pastures of the good +horse's heaven are reached.</p> + +<p>A horse is wonderfully sensitive for an animal of his size and strength. +He is timid by nature and his courage comes only from his confidence in +man. His speed, strength, and endurance he will willingly give, and give +it to the utmost, if the hand that guides is strong and gentle, and the +voice that controls is firm, confident, and friendly. Lack of courage in +the master takes from the horse his only chance of being brave; lack of +steadiness makes him indirect and futile; lack of kindness frightens him +into actions which are the result of terror at first, and which become +vices only by mismanagement. By nature the horse is good. If he learns +bad manners by associating with bad men, we ought to lay the blame where +it belongs. A kind master will make a kind horse; and I have no respect +for a man who has had the privilege of training a horse from colt-hood +and has failed to turn out a good one. Lack of good sense, or cruelty, +is at the root of these failures. One can forgive lack of sense, for men +are as God made them; but there is no forgiveness for the cruel: cooling +shades and running brooks will not be prominent features in their +ultimate landscapes.</p> + +<p>For harness and farm equipments, tools and machinery, I went to a +reliable firm which made most and handled the rest of the things that +make a well-equipped farm. It is best to do much of one's business +through one house, provided, of course, that the house is dependable. +You become a valued customer whom it is important to please, you receive +discounts, rebates, and concessions that are worth something, and a +community of interest grows up that is worth much.</p> + +<p>My first order to this house was for three heavy wagons with four-inch +tires, three sets of heavy harness, two ploughs and a subsoiler, three +harrows (disk, spring tooth, and flat), a steel land-roller, two +wheelbarrows, an iron scraper, fly nets and other stable equipment, +shovels, spades, hay forks, posthole tools, a hand seeder, a chest of +tools, stock-pails, milk-pails and pans, axes, hatchets, saws of various +kinds, a maul and wedges, six kegs of nails, and three lanterns. The +total amount was $488; but as I received five per cent discount, I paid +only $464. The goods, except the wagons and harnesses, were to go by +freight to Exeter. Polly was to buy the necessary furnishings for the +men's house, the only stipulation I made being that the beds should be +good enough for me to sleep in. On the 25th of July she showed me a list +of the things which she had purchased. It seemed interminable; but she +assured me that she had bought nothing unnecessary, and that she had +been very careful in all her purchases. As I knew that Polly was in the +habit of getting the worth of her money, I paid the bills without more +ado. The list footed up to $495.</p> + +<p>Most of the housekeeping things were to be delivered at the station in +Exeter; the rest were to go on the wagons. On the afternoon of the 30th +the wagons and harnesses were sent to the stable where the horses had +been kept, and the articles to go in these wagons were loaded for an +early start the following morning. The distance from the station in the +city to the station at Exeter is thirty miles, but the stable is three +miles from the city station, the farm two and a half miles from Exeter +station, and the wagon road not so direct as the railroad. The trip to +the farm, therefore, could not be much less than forty miles, and would +require the best part of two days. The three men whom I had engaged +reported for duty, as also did Thompson's son, whom we are to know +hereafter as Zeb.</p> + +<p>Early on the last day of the month the men and teams were off, with +cooked provisions for three days. They were to break the journey +twenty-five miles out, and expected to reach the farm the next +afternoon. Polly and I wished to see them arrive, so we took the train +at 1 P.M. August 1st, and reached Four Oaks at 2.30, taking with us Mrs. +Thompson, who was to cook for the men.</p> + +<p>Before starting I had telephoned a local carpenter to meet me, and to +bring a mason if possible. I found both men on the ground, and explained +to them that there would be abundant work in their lines on the place +for the next year or two, that I was perfectly willing to pay a +reasonable profit on each job, but that I did not propose to make them +rich out of any single contract.</p> + +<p>The first thing to do, I told them, was to move the large farm-house to +the site already chosen, about two hundred yards distant, enlarge it, +and put a first-class cellar under the whole. The principal change +needed in the house was an additional story on the ell, which would give +a chamber eighteen by twenty-six, with closets five feet deep, to be +used as a sleeping room for the men. I intended to change the sitting +room, which ran across the main house, into a dining and reading room +twenty feet by twenty-five, and to improve the shape and convenience of +the kitchen by pantry and lavatory. There must also be a well-appointed +bathroom on the upper floor, and set tubs in the kitchen. My men would +dig the cellar, and the mason was to put in the foundation walls (twelve +inches thick and two feet above ground), the cross or division walls, +and the chimneys. He was also to put down a first-class cement floor +over the whole cellar and approach. The house was to be heated by a +hot-water system; and I afterward let this job to a city man, who put in +a satisfactory plant for $500.</p> + +<p>We had hardly finished with the carpenter and the mason when we saw our +wagons turning into the grounds. We left the contractors to their +measurements, plans, and figures, while we hastened to turn the teams +back, as they must go to the cottage on the north forty. The horses +looked a little done up by the heat and the unaccustomed journey, but +Thompson said: "They're all right,—stood it first-rate."</p> + +<p>The cottage and out-buildings furnished scanty accommodations for men +and beasts, but they were all that we could provide. I told the men to +make themselves and the horses as comfortable as they could, then to +milk the cows and feed the hogs, and call it a day.</p> + +<p>While the others were unloading and getting things into shape, I called +Thompson off for a talk. "Thompson," I said, "you are to have the +oversight of the work here for the present, and I want you to have some +idea of my general plan. This experiment at farming is to last years. We +won't look for results until we are ready to force them, but we are to +get ready as soon as possible. In the meantime, we will have to do +things in an awkward fashion, and not always for immediate effect. We +must build the factory before we can turn out the finished product. The +cows, for instance, must be cared for until we can dispose of them to +advantage. Half of them, I fancy, are 'robber cows,' not worth their +keep (if it costs anything to feed them), and we will certainly not +winter them. Keep your eye on the herd, and be able to tell me if any of +them will pay. Milk them carefully, and use what milk, cream, and butter +you can, but don't waste useful time carting milk to market—feed it to +the hogs rather. If a farmer or a milkman will call for it, sell what +you have to spare for what he will give, and have done with it quickly. +You are to manage the hogs on the same principle. Fatten those which are +ready for it, with anything you find on the place. We will get rid of +the whole bunch as soon as possible. You see, I must first clear the +ground before I can build my factory. Let the hens alone for the +present; you can eat them during the winter.</p> + +<p>"Now, about the crops. The hay in barns and stacks is all right; the +wheat is ready for threshing, but it can wait until the oats are also +ready; the corn is weedy, but it is too late to help it, and the +potatoes are probably covered with bugs. I will send out to-morrow some +Paris green and a couple of blow-guns. There is not much real farm work +to do just now, and you will have time for other things. The first and +most important thing is to dig a cellar to put your house over; your +comfort depends on that. Get the men and horses with plough and scraper +out as early as you can to-morrow morning, and hustle. You have nothing +to do but dig a big hole seven feet deep inside these lines. I count on +you to keep things moving, and I will be out the day after to-morrow."</p> + +<p>The mason had finished his estimate, which was $560. After some +explanations, I concluded that it was a fair price, and agreed to it, +provided the work could be done promptly. The carpenter was not ready to +give me figures; he said, however, that he could get a man to move the +house for $120, and that he would send me by mail that night an itemized +estimate of costs, and also one from a plumber. This seemed like doing a +lot of things in one afternoon, so Polly and I started for town content.</p> + +<p>"Those people can't be very luxurious out there," said Polly, "but they +can have good food and clean beds. They have all out-doors to breathe +in, and I do not see what more one can ask on a fine August evening, do +you, Mr. Headman?"</p> + +<p>I could think of a few things, but I did not mention them, for her first +words recalled some scenes of my early life on a backwoods farm: the log +cabin, with hardly ten nails in it, the latch-string, the wide-mouthed +stone-and-stick chimney, the spring-house with its deep crocks, the +smoke-house made of a hollow gum-tree log, the ladder to the loft where +I slept, and where the snows would drift on the floor through the rifts +in the split clapboards that roofed me over. I wondered if to-day was so +much better than yesterday as conditions would warrant us in expecting.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h4>THE HORSE-AND-BUGGY MAN</h4> + + +<p>August 3 found me at Four Oaks in the early afternoon. A great hollow +had been dug for the cellar, and Thompson said that it would take but +one more full day to finish it. Piles of material gave evidence that the +mason was alert, and the house-mover had already dropped his long +timbers, winch, and chains by the side of the farm-house.</p> + +<p>While I was discussing matters with Thompson, a smart trap turned into +the lot, and a well-set-up young man sprang out of the stylish runabout +and said,—</p> + +<p>"Dr. Williams, I hear you want more help on your farm."</p> + +<p>"I can use another man or two to advantage, if they are good ones."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't want to brag, but I guess I am a good one, all right. I +ain't afraid of work, and there isn't much that I can't do on a farm. +What wages do you pay?"</p> + +<p>I told him my plan of an increasing wage scale, and he did not object. +"That includes horse keep, I suppose?" said he.</p> + +<p>"I do not know what you mean by 'horse keep.'"</p> + +<p>"Why, most of the men on farms around here own a horse and buggy, to use +nights, Sundays, and holidays, and we expect the boss to keep the horse. +This is my rig. It is about the best in the township; cost me $280 for +the outfit."</p> + +<p>"See here, young man, this is another specimen of farm economics, and it +is one of the worst in the lot. Let me do a small example in mental +arithmetic for you. The interest on $280 is $14; the yearly depreciation +of your property, without accidents, is at least $40; horse-shoeing and +repairs, $20; loss of wages (for no man will keep your horse for less +than $4 a month), $48. In addition to this, you will be tempted to spend +at least $5 a month more with a horse than without one; that is $60 +more. You are throwing away $182 every year without adding $1 to your +value as an employee, one ounce of dignity to your employment, or one +foot of gain in your social position, no matter from what point you view +it.</p> + +<p>"Taking it for granted that you receive $25 a month for every month of +the year (and this is admitting too much), you waste more than half on +that blessed rig, and you can make no provision for the future, for +sickness, or for old age. No, I will not keep your horse, nor will I +employ any man whose scheme of life doesn't run further than the +ownership of a horse and buggy."</p> + +<p>"But a fellow must keep up with the procession; he must have some +recreation, and all the men around here have rigs."</p> + +<p>"Not around Four Oaks. Recreation is all right, but find it in ways less +expensive. Read, study, cultivate the best of your kind, plan for the +future and save for it, and you will not lack for recreation. Sell your +horse and buggy for $200, if you cannot get more, put the money at +interest, save $200 out of your wages, and by the end of the year you +will be worth over $400 in hard cash and much more in self-respect. You +can easily add 1200 a year to your savings, without missing anything +worth while; and it will not be long before you can buy a farm, marry a +wife, and make an independent position. I will have no horse-and-buggy +men on my farm. It's up to you."</p> + +<p>"By Jove! I believe you may be right. It looks like a square deal, and +I'll play it, if you'll give me time to sell the outfit."</p> + +<p>"All right, come when you can. I'll find the work."</p> + +<p>That day being Saturday, I told Thompson that I would come out early +Monday morning, bringing with me a rough map of the place as I had +planned it, and we would go over it with a chain and drive some +outlining stakes. I then returned to Exeter, found the carpenter and the +plumber, and accepted their estimates,—$630 and $325, respectively. The +farm-house moved, finished, furnished, and heated, but not painted or +papered, would cost $2630. Painting, papering, window-shades, and odds +and ends cost $275, making a total of $2905. It proved a good +investment, for it was a comfortable and convenient home for the men and +women who afterward occupied it. It has certainly been appreciated by +its occupants, and few have left it without regret. We have always tried +to make it an object lesson of cleanliness and cheerfulness, and I don't +think a man has lived in it for six months without being bettered. It +seemed a good deal of money to put on an old farm-house for farm-hands, +but it proved one of the best investments at Four Oaks, for it kept the +men contented and cheerful workers.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h4>WE PLAT THE FARM</h4> + + +<p>On Monday I was out by ten o'clock, armed with a surveyor's chain. +Thompson had provided a lot of stakes, and we ran the lines, more or +less straight, in general accord with my sketch plan. We walked, +measured, estimated, and drove stakes until noon. At one o'clock we were +at it again, and by four I was fit to drop from fatigue. Farm work was +new to me, and I was soft as soft. I had, however, got the general lay +of the land, and could, by the help of the plan, talk of its future +subdivisions by numerals,—an arrangement that afterward proved definite +and convenient. We adjourned to the shade of the big black oak on the +knoll, and discussed the work in hand.</p> + +<p>"You cannot finish the cellar before to-morrow night," I said, "because +it grows slower as it grows deeper; but that will be doing well enough. +I want you to start two teams ploughing Wednesday morning, and keep them +going every day until the frost stops them. Let Sam take the plough, and +have young Thompson follow with the subsoiler. Have them stick to this +as a regular diet until I call them off. They are to commence in the +wheat stubble where lots six and seven will be. I am going to try +alfalfa in that ground, though I am not at all sure that it will do +well, and the soil must be fitted as well as possible. After it has had +deep ploughing it is to be crossed with the disk harrow; then have it +rolled, disk it again, and then use the flat harrow until it feels as +near like an ash heap as time will permit. We must get the seed in +before September."</p> + +<p>"We will need another team if you keep two ploughing and one on the +harrow," said Thompson.</p> + +<p>"You are right, and that means another $400, but you shall have it. We +must not stop the ploughs for anything. Numbers 10, 11, 14, 1, 2, 3, 4, +5, and much of the home lot, ought to be ploughed before snow flies. +That means about 160 acres,—80 odd days of steady work for the +ploughmen and horses. You will probably find it best to change teams +from time to time. A little variety will make it easier for them. As +soon as 6 and 7 are finished, turn the ploughs into the 40 acres which +make lots 1 to 5. All that must be seeded to pasture grass, for it will +be our feeding-ground, and we'll be late with it if we don't look sharp.</p> + +<p>"We must have more help, by the way. That horse-and-buggy man, Judson, +is almost sure to come, and I will find another. Some of you will have +to bunk in the hay for the present, for I am going to send out a woman +to help your wife. Six men can do a lot of work, but there is a +tremendous lot of work to do. We must fit the ground and plant at least +three thousand apple trees before the end of November, and we ought to +fence this whole plantation. Speaking of fences reminds me that I must +order the cedar posts. Have you any idea how many posts it will take to +fence this farm as we have platted it? I suppose not. Well, I can tell +you. Twenty-two hundred and fifty at one rod apart, or 1850 at twenty +feet apart. These posts must be six feet above and three feet below +ground. They will cost eighteen cents each. That item will be $333, for +there are seven miles of fence, including the line fence between me and +my north neighbor. I am going to build that fence myself, and then I +shall know whose fault it is if his stock breaks through. Of course some +of the old posts are good, but I don't believe one in twenty is long +enough for my purpose."</p> + +<p>"What do you buy cedar posts for, when you have enough better ones on +the place?" asked Thompson.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what you mean."</p> + +<p>"Well, down in the wood yonder there's enough dead white oak, standing +or on the ground, to make three thousand, nine-foot posts, and one +seasoned white oak will outlast two cedars, and it is twice as strong."</p> + +<p>"Well, that's good! How much will it cost to get them out?"</p> + +<p>"About five cents apiece. A couple of smart fellows can make good wages +at that price."</p> + +<p>"Good. We will save thirteen cents each. They will cost $93 instead of +$333. I don't know everything yet, do I, Thompson?"</p> + +<p>"You learn easy, I reckon."</p> + +<p>"Keep your eyes and ears open, and if you find any one who can do this +job, let him have it, for we are going to be too busy with other things +at present. It's time for me to be off. I cannot be out again till +Thursday, for I must find a man, a woman, and a team of horses and all +that goes with them. I'll see you on the 8th at any rate."</p> + +<p>I was dead tired when I reached home; but there wasn't a grain of +depression in my fatigue,—rather a sense of elation. I felt that for +the first time in thirty years real things were doing and I was having a +hand in them. The fatigue was the same old tire that used to come after +a hard day on my father's farm, and the sense was so suggestive of youth +that I could not help feeling younger. I have never gotten away from the +faith that the real seed of life lies hidden in the soil; that the man +who gives it a chance to germinate is a benefactor, and that things done +in connection with land are about the only real things. I have grown +younger, stronger, happier, with each year of personal contact with the +soil. I am thankful for seven years of it, and look forward to twice +seven more. I have lost the softness which nearly wilted me that 5th day +of August, and with the softness has gone twenty or thirty pounds of +useless flesh. I am hard, active, and strong for a man of sixty, and I +can do a fair day's work. To tell the truth, I prefer the moderate work +that falls to the lot of the Headman, rather than the more strenuous +life of the husbandman; but I find an infinite deal to thank the farm +for in health and physical comfort.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h4>HOUSE-CLEANING</h4> + + +<p>After dinner I telephoned the veterinary surgeon that I wanted another +team. He replied that he thought he knew of one that would suit, and +that he would let me know the next day. I also telephoned two "want +ads." to a morning paper, one for an experienced farm-hand, the other +for a woman to do general housework in the country. Polly was to +interview the women who applied, and I was to look after the men. That +night I slept like a hired man.</p> + +<p>Out of the dozen who applied the next day I accepted a Swede by the name +of Anderson. He was about thirty, tall, thin, and nervous. He did not +fit my idea of a stockman, but he looked like a worker, and as I could +furnish the work we soon came to terms.</p> + +<p>A few words more about Anderson. He proved a worker indeed. He had an +insatiable appetite for work, and never knew when to quit. He was not +popular at the farm, for he was too eager in the morning to start and +too loath in the evening to stop. His unbridled passion for work was a +thing to be deplored, as it kept him thin and nervous. I tried to +moderate this propensity, but with no result. Anderson could not be +trusted with horses, or, indeed, with animals of any kind, for he made +them as nervous as himself; but in all other kinds of work he was the +best man ever at Four Oaks. He worked for me nearly three years, and +then suddenly gave out from a pain in his left chest and shortness of +breath. I called a physician for poor Anderson, and the diagnosis was +dilatation of the heart from over-exercise.</p> + +<p>"A rare disease among farm-hands, Dr. Williams," said Dr. High, but my +conscience did not fully forgive me. I asked Anderson to stay at the +farm and see what could be done by rest and care. He declined this, as +well as my offer to send him to a hospital. He expressed the liveliest +gratitude for kindnesses received and others offered, but he said he +must be independent and free. He had nearly $1200 in a savings bank in +the city, and he proposed to use it, or such portion of it as was +necessary. I saw him two months later. He was better, but not able to +work. Hearing nothing from him for three years, a year ago I called at +the bank where I knew he had kept his savings. They had sent sums of +money to him, once to Rio Janeiro and once to Cape Town. For two years +he had not been heard from. Whether he is living or dead I do not know. +I only know that a valuable man and a unique farm-hand has disappeared. +I never think of Anderson without wishing I had been more severe with +him,—more persistent in my efforts to wean him from his real passion. +Peace to his ashes, if he be ashes.</p> + +<p>That same day I telephoned the Agricultural Implement Company to send me +another wagon, with harness and equipment for the team. The veterinary +surgeon reported that he had a span of mares for me to look at, but I +was too much engaged that day to inspect the team, and promised to do so +on the next.</p> + +<p>When I reached home, Polly said she had found nothing in the way of a +general housework girl for the country. She had seen nine women who +wished to do all other kinds of work, but none to fit her wants.</p> + +<p>"What do they come for if they don't want the place we described? Do +they expect we are to change our plans of life to suit their personal +notions?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"It's hard to say what they came for or what they want. Their ways are +past finding out. We will put in another 'ad.' and perhaps have better +luck."</p> + +<p>Wednesday, the 7th, I went to see the new team. I found a pair of +flea-bitten gray Flemish mares, weighing about twenty-eight hundred +pounds. They were four years old, short of leg and long of body, and +looked fit. The surgeon passed them sound, and said he considered them +well worth the price asked,—$300. I was pleased with the team, and +remembered a remark I had heard as a boy from an itinerant Methodist +minister at a time when the itinerant minister was supposed to know all +there was to know about horse-flesh. This was his remark: "There was +never a flea-bitten mare that was a poor horse." In spite of its +ambiguity, the saying made an impression from which I never recovered. I +always expected great things from flea-bitten grays.</p> + +<p>The team, wagon, harness, etc., added $395 to the debit account against +the farm. Polly secured her girl,—a green German who had not been long +enough in America to despise the country.</p> + +<p>"She doesn't know a thing about our ways," said Polly, "but Mrs. +Thompson can train her as she likes. If you can spend time enough with +green girls, they are apt to grow to your liking."</p> + +<p>On Thursday I saw Anderson and the new team safely started for the farm. +Then Polly, the new girl, and I took train for the most interesting spot +on earth.</p> + +<p>Soon after we arrived I lost sight of Polly, who seemed to have business +of her own. I found the mason and his men at work on the cellar wall, +which was almost to the top of the ground. The house was on wheels, and +had made most of its journey. The house mover was in a rage because he +had to put the house on a hole instead of on solid ground, as he had +expected. "I have sent for every stick of timber and every cobbling +block I own, to get this house over that hole; there's no money in this +job for me; you ought to have dug the cellar after the house was +placed," said he.</p> + +<p>I made friends with him by agreeing to pay $30 more for the job. The +house was safely placed, and by Saturday night the foundation walls were +finished.</p> + +<p>Sam and Zeb had made a good beginning on the ploughing, the teams were +doing well for green ones, and the men seemed to understand what good +ploughing meant. Thompson and Johnson had spent parts of two days in the +potato patches in deadly conflict with the bugs.</p> + +<p>"We've done for most of them this time," said Thompson, "but we'll have +to go over the ground again by Monday."</p> + +<p>The next piece of work was to clear the north forty (lots 1 to 5) of all +fences, stumps, stones, and rubbish, and all buildings except the +cottage. The barn was to be torn down, and the horses were to be +temporarily stabled in the old barn on the home lot. Useful timbers and +lumber were to be snugly piled, the manure around the barns was to be +spread under the old apple trees, which were in lot No. 1, and +everything not useful was to be burned. "Make a clean sweep, and leave +it as bare as your hand," I told Thompson. "It must be ready for the +plough as soon as possible."</p> + +<p>Judson, the man with the buggy, reported at noon. He came with bag and +baggage, but not with buggy, and said that he came to stay.</p> + +<p>"Thompson," said I, "you are to put Judson in charge of the roan team to +follow the boys when they are far enough ahead of him. In the meantime +he and the team will be with you and Johnson in this house-cleaning. By +to-morrow night Anderson and the new team will get in, and they, too, +will help on this job. I want you to take personal charge of the gray +team,—neither Johnson nor Anderson is the right sort to handle horses. +The new team will do the trucking about and the regular farm work, while +the other three are kept steadily at the ploughs and harrows."</p> + +<p>The cleaning of the north forty proved a long job. Four men and two +teams worked hard for ten days, and then it was not finished. By that +time the ploughmen had finished 6 and 7, and were ready to begin on No. +1. Judson, with the roans and harrows, was sent to the twenty acres of +ploughed ground, and Zeb and his team were put at the cleaning for three +days, while Sam ploughed the six acres of old orchard with a +<i>shallow-set</i> plough. The feeding roots of these trees would have been +seriously injured if we had followed the deep ploughing practised in the +open. By August 24 about two hundred loads of manure from the +barn-yards, the accumulation of years, had been spread under the apple +trees, and I felt sure it was well bestowed. Manuring, turning the sod, +pruning, and spraying, ought to give a good crop of fruit next year.</p> + +<p>We had several days of rain during this time, which interfered somewhat +with the work, but the rains were gratefully received. I spent much of +my time at Four Oaks, often going every day, and never let more than two +days pass without spending some hours on the farm. To many of my friends +this seemed a waste of time. They said, "Williams is carrying this fad +too far,—spending too much time on it."</p> + +<p>Polly did not agree with them, neither did I. Time is precious only as +we make it so. To do the wholesome, satisfying thing, without direct or +indirect injury to others, is the privilege of every man. To the charge +of neglecting my profession I pleaded not guilty, for my profession had +dismissed me without so much as saying "By your leave." I was obliged to +change my mode of life, and I chose to be a producer rather than a +consumer of things produced by others. I was conserving my health, +pleasing my wife, and at the same time gratifying a desire which had +long possessed me. I have neither apology to make nor regret to record; +for as individuals and as a family we have lived healthier, happier, +more wholesome, and more natural lives on the farm than we ever did in +the city, and that is saying much.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h4>FENCED IN</h4> + + +<p>On the 26th, when I reached the station at Exeter, I found Thompson and +the gray team just starting for the farm with the second load of wire +fencing. I had ordered fifty-six rolls of Page's woven wire fence, forty +rods in each roll. This fence cost me seventy cents a rod, $224 a mile, +or $1568 for the seven miles. Add to this $37 for freight, and the total +amounted to $1605 for the wire to fence my land. I got this facer as I +climbed to the seat beside Thompson. I did not blink, however, for I had +resolved in the beginning to take no account of details until the 31st +day of December, and to spend as much on the farm in that time as I +could without being wasteful. I did not care much what others thought. I +felt that at my age time was precious, and that things must be rushed as +rapidly as possible.</p> + +<p>I was glad of this slow ride with Thompson, for it gave me an +opportunity to study him. I wondered then and afterward why a man of his +general intelligence, industry, and special knowledge of the details of +farming, should fail of success when working for himself. He knew ten +times as much about the business as I did, and yet he had not succeeded +in an independent position. Some quality, like broadness of mind or +directness of purpose, was lacking, which made him incapable of carrying +out a plan, no matter how well conceived. He was like Hooker at +Chancellorsville, whose plan of campaign was perfect, whose orders were +carried out with exactness, whose army fell into line as he wished, and +whose enemy did the obvious thing, yet who failed terribly because the +responsibility of the ultimate was greater than he could bear. As second +in command, or as corps leader, he was superb; in independent command he +was a disastrous failure.</p> + +<p>Thompson, then, was a Joe Hooker on a reduced plane,—good only to +execute another man's plans. Thompson might have rebutted this by saying +that I too might prove a disastrous failure; that as yet I had shown +only ability to spend,—perhaps not always wisely. Such rebuttal would +have had weight seven years ago, but it would not be accepted to-day, +for I have made my campaign and won my battle. The record of the past +seven years shows that I can plan and also execute.</p> + +<p>Thompson told me that he had found two woodsmen (by scouting around on +Sunday) who were glad to take the job of cutting the white-oak posts at +five cents each, and that they were even then at work; and that Nos. 6 +and 7 would be fitted for alfalfa by the end of the week. He added that +the seed ought to be sown as soon thereafter as possible and that a +liberal dressing of commercial fertilizer should be sown before the seed +was harrowed in.</p> + +<p>"I have ordered five tons of fertilizer," I said, "and it ought to be +here this week. Sow four bags to the acre."</p> + +<p>"Four bags,—eight hundred pounds; that's pretty expensive. Costs, I +suppose, $35 to $40 a ton."</p> + +<p>"No; $24."</p> + +<p>"How's that?"</p> + +<p>"Friend at court; factory price; $120 for five tons; $5 freight, making +in all $125. We must use at least eight hundred pounds this fall and +five hundred in the spring. Alfalfa is an experiment, and we must give +it a show."</p> + +<p>"Never saw anything done with alfalfa in this region, but they never +took no pains with it," said Thompson.</p> + +<p>"I hope it will grow for us, for it is great forage if properly managed. +The seed will be out this week, and you had best sow it on Monday, the +2d."</p> + +<p>"How are you going to seed the north forty?"</p> + +<p>"Timothy, red top, and blue grass; heavy seeding, to get rid of the +weeds. These lots will all be used as stock lots. Small ones, you think, +but we will depend almost entirely upon soiling. I hope to keep a fair +sod on these lots, and they will be large enough to give the animals +exercise and keep them healthy. I hope the carpenter is pushing things +on the house. I want to get you into better quarters as soon as +possible, and I want the cottage moved out of the way before we seed the +lot."</p> + +<p>"They're pushing things all right, I guess; that man Nelson is a +hustler."</p> + +<p>When I reached the farm I found Johnson and Anderson tearing down the +old fence that was our eastern boundary. None of the posts were long +enough for my purpose, so all were consigned to the woodpile.</p> + +<p>My neighbor on the north owned just as much land as I did. He inherited +it and a moderate bank account from his father, who in turn had it from +his. The farm was well kept and productive. The house and barns were +substantial and in good repair. The owner did general farming, raised +wheat, corn, and oats to sell, milked twenty cows and sent the milk to +the creamery, sold one or two cows and a dozen calves each year, and +fattened twenty or thirty pigs. He was pretty certain to add a few +hundred dollars to his bank account at the end of each season. He kept +one man all the time and two in summer. He was a bachelor of +twenty-eight, well liked and good to look upon: five feet ten inches in +height, broad of shoulder, deep of chest, and a very Hercules in +strength. His face was handsome, square-jawed and strong. He was +good-natured, but easily roused, and when angry was as fierce as fire. +He had the reputation of being the hardest fighter in the country. His +name was William Jackson, so he was called Bill. I had met Jackson +often, and we had taken kindly to each other. I admired his frank manner +and sturdy physique, and he looked upon me as a good-natured tenderfoot, +who might be companionable, and who would certainly stir up things in +the neighborhood. I went in search of him that afternoon to discuss the +line fence, a full mile of which divided our lands.</p> + +<p>"I want to put a fence along our line which nothing can get over or +under," I said. "I am willing to bear the expense of the new fence if +you will take away the old one and plough eight furrows,—four on your +land and four on mine,—to be seeded to grass before the wires are +stretched. We ought to get rid of the weeds and brush."</p> + +<p>"That is a liberal proposition, Dr. Williams, and of course I accept," +said Jackson; "but I ought to do more. I'll tell you what I'll do. You +are planning to put a ring fence around your land,—three miles in all. +I'll plough the whole business and fit it for the seed. I'll take one of +my men, four horses, and a grub plough, and do it whenever you are +ready."</p> + +<p>This settled the fence matter between Jackson and me. The men who cut +the posts took the job of setting them, stretching the wire, and hanging +the gates, for $400. This included the staples and also the stretching +of three strands of barbed wire above the woven wire; two at six-inch +intervals on the outside, and one inside, level with the top of the +post. Thus my ring fence was six feet high and hard to climb. I have a +serious dislike for trespass, from either man or beast, and my boundary +fence was made to discourage trespassers. I like to have those who enter +my property do so by the ways provided, for "whoso climbeth up any other +way, the same is a thief and a robber."</p> + +<p>The ring fence was finished by the middle of October. The interior +fences were built by my own men during soft weather in winter and +spring; and, as I had already paid for the wire and posts, nothing more +should be charged to the fence account. In round numbers these seven +miles of excellent fence cost me $2100. A lot of money! But the fence is +there to-day as serviceable as when it was set, and it will stand for +twice seven years more. One hundred dollars a year is not a great price +to pay for the security and seclusion which a good fence furnishes. +There was no need of putting up so much interior fence. I would save a +mile or two if I had it to do again; however, I do not dislike my +straight lanes and tightly fenced fields.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h4>THE BUILDING LINE</h4> + + +<p>Before leaving Four Oaks that day I had a long conversation with Nelson, +the carpenter. I had taken his measure, by inquiry and observation, and +was willing to put work into his hands as fast as he could attend to it. +The first thing was to put him in possession of my plan of a building +line.</p> + +<p>Two hundred feet south of the north line of the home lot a street or +lane was to run due west from the gate on the main road. This was to be +the teaming or business entrance to the farm. Commencing three hundred +feet from the east end of this drive, the structures were to be as +follows: On the south side, first a cold-storage house, then the +farm-house, the cottage, the well, and finally the carriage barn for the +big house. On the north side of the line, opposite the ice-house, the +dairy-house; then a square with a small power-house for its centre, a +woodhouse, a horse barn for the farm horses, a granary and a forage barn +for its four corners. Beyond this square to the west was the fruit-house +and the tool-house—the latter large enough to house all the farm +machinery we should ever need. I have a horror of the economy that +leaves good tools to sky and clouds without protection. This sketch +would not be worked out for a long time, as few of the buildings were +needed at once. It was made for the sake of having a general design to +be carried out when required; and the water and sewer system had been +built with reference to it.</p> + +<p>I told Nelson that a barn to shelter the horses was the first thing to +build, after the house for the men, and that I saw no reason why two or +even three buildings should not be in process of construction at the +same time. He said there would be no difficulty in managing that if he +could get the men and I could get the money. I promised to do my part, +and we went into details.</p> + +<p>I wanted a horse barn for ten horses, with shed room for eight wagons in +front and a small stable yard in the rear; also a sunken manure vat, ten +feet by twenty, with cement walls and floor, the vat to be four feet +deep, two feet in the ground and two feet above it. A vat like this has +been built near each stable where stock is kept, and I find them +perfectly satisfactory. They save the liquid manure, and thus add fifty +per cent to the value of the whole. Open sheds protect from sun and +rain, and they are emptied as often as is necessary, regardless of +season, for I believe that the fields can care for manure better than a +compost heap.</p> + +<p>I also told Nelson to make plans and estimates for a large forage barn, +75 by 150 feet, 25 feet from floor to rafter plate, with a driving floor +through the length of it and mows on either side. A granary, with a +capacity of twenty thousand bushels, a large woodhouse, and a small +house in the centre of this group where the fifteen horse-power engine +could be installed, completed my commissions for that day.</p> + +<p>Plans for these structures were submitted in due time, and the work was +pushed forward as rapidly as possible. The horse barn made a comfortable +home for ten horses, if we should need so many, with food and water +close at hand and every convenience for the care of the animals and +their harness. The forage barn was not expensive,—it was simply to +shelter a large quantity of forage to be drawn upon when needed. The +woodhouse was also inexpensive, though large. Wood was to be the +principal fuel at Four Oaks, since it would cost nothing, and there must +be ample shelter for a large amount. The granary would have to be built +well and substantially, but it was not large. The power-house also was a +small affair. The whole cost of these five buildings was $8550. The +itemized amount is, horse barn, $2000, forage barn, $3400, granary, +$2200, woodhouse, $400, power-house, $550.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h4>CARPENTERS QUIT WORK</h4> + + +<p>On Friday, August 30, I was obliged to go to a western city on business +that would keep me from four to ten days. I turned my face away from the +farm with regret. I could hardly realize that I had spent but one month +in my new life, the old interests had slipped so far behind. I was +reluctant to lose sight, even for a week, of the intensely interesting +things that were doing at Four Oaks. Polly said she would go to Four +Oaks every day, and keep so watchful an eye on the farm that it could +not possibly get away.</p> + +<p>"You're getting a little bit maudlin about that farm, Mr. Headman, and +it will do you good to get away for a few days. There are <i>some other</i> +things in life, though I admit they are few, and we are not to forget +them. I am up to my ears in plans for the house and the home lot; but I +can't quite see what you find so interesting in tearing down old barns +and fences and turning over old sods."</p> + +<p>"Every heart knoweth its own sorrow, Polly, and I have my troubles."</p> + +<p>Friday evening, September 6, I returned from the west. My first +greeting was,—</p> + +<p>"How's the farm, Polly?"</p> + +<p>"It's there, or was yesterday; I think you'll find things running +smoothly."</p> + +<p>"Have they sowed the alfalfa and cut the oats?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Finished the farm-house?"</p> + +<p>"No, not quite, but the painters are there, and Nelson has commenced +work on two other buildings."</p> + +<p>"What time can I breakfast? I must catch the 8.10 train, and spend a +long day where things are doing."</p> + +<p>Things were humming at Four Oaks when I arrived. Ten carpenters besides +Nelson and his son were pounding, sawing, and making confusion in all +sorts of ways peculiar to their kind. The ploughmen were busy. Thompson +and the other two men were shocking oats. I spent the day roaming around +the place, watching the work and building castles. I went to the alfalfa +field to see if the seed had sprouted. Disappointed in this, I wandered +down to the brook and planned some abridgment of its meanderings. It +could be straightened and kept within bounds without great expense if +the work were done in a dry season. Polly had asked for a winding brook +with a fringe of willows and dogwood, but I would not make this +concession to her esthetic taste. This farm land must be useful to the +sacrifice of everything else. A winding brook would be all right on the +home lot, if it could be found, but not on the farm. A straight ditch +for drainage was all that I would permit, and I begrudged even that. No +waste land in the cultivated fields, was my motto. I had threshed this +out with Polly and she had yielded, after stipulating that I must keep +my hands off the home forty.</p> + +<p>Over in the woods I found two men at work splitting fence posts. They +seemed expert, and I asked them how many they could make in a day.</p> + +<p>"From 90 to 125, according to the timber. But we must work hard to make +good wages."</p> + +<p>"That applies to other things besides post-splitting, doesn't it?"</p> + +<p>Closer inspection of the wood lot gratified me exceedingly. Little had +been done for it except by Nature, but she had worked with so prodigal a +hand that it showed all kinds of possibilities, both for beauty and for +utility. Before leaving the place, I had a little talk with Nelson.</p> + +<p>"Everything is going on nicely," he said. "I have ten carpenters, and +they are a busy lot. If I can only hold them on to the job, things will +go well."</p> + +<p>"What's the matter? Can't you hold them?"</p> + +<p>"I hope so, but there is a hoisters' strike on in the city, and the +carpenters threaten to go out in sympathy. I hope it won't reach us, +but I'm afraid it will."</p> + +<p>"What will you do if the men go out?"</p> + +<p>"Do the best I can. I can get two non-union men that I know of. They +would like to be on this job now, but these men won't permit it. My son +is a full hand, so there will be four of us; but it will be slow work."</p> + +<p>"See here, Nelson, I can't have this work slack up. We haven't time. +Cold weather will be on before we know it. I'm going to take this bull +by the horns. I'll advertise for carpenters in the Sunday papers. Some +of those who apply will be non-union men, and I'll hold them over for a +few days until we see how the cat jumps. If it comes to the worst, we +can get some men to take the place of Thompson and Sam, who are +carpenters, and set them at the tools. I will not let this work stop, +strike or no strike."</p> + +<p>"If you put non-union men on you will have to feed and sleep them on the +place. The union will make it hot for them."</p> + +<p>"I will take all kinds of care of every man who gives me honest work, +you may be sure."</p> + +<p>When I returned to town I sent this "ad." to two papers: "Wanted: Ten +good carpenters to go to the country." The Sunday papers gave a lurid +account of the sentiment of the Carpenters' Union and its sympathetic +attitude toward the striking hoisters. The forecast was that there would +not be a nail driven if the strike were not settled by Tuesday night. +It seemed that I had not moved a day too soon. On Monday thirty-seven +carpenters applied at my office. Most of them had union tickets and were +not considered. Thirteen, however, were not of the union, and they were +investigated. I hired seven on these conditions: wages to begin the next +day, Tuesday, and to continue through the week, work or no work. If the +strike was ordered, I would take the men to the country and give them +steady work until my jobs were finished. They agreed to these +conditions, and were requested to report at my office on Wednesday +morning to receive two days' pay, and perhaps to be set to work.</p> + +<p>I did not go to the farm until Tuesday afternoon. There was no change in +the strike, and no reason to expect one. The noon papers said that the +Carpenters' Union would declare a sympathetic strike to be on from +Wednesday noon.</p> + +<p>On reaching Four Oaks I called Nelson aside and told him how the land +lay and what I had done.</p> + +<p>"I want you to call the men together," said I, "and let me talk to them. +I must know just how we stand and how they feel."</p> + +<p>Nelson called the men, and I read the reports from two papers on the +impending strike order.</p> + +<p>"Now, men," said I, "we must look this matter in the face in a +businesslike fashion. You have done good work here; your boss is +satisfied, and so am I. It would suit us down to the ground if you +would continue on until all these jobs are finished. We can give you a +lot of work for the best part of the year. You are sure of work and sure +of pay if you stay with us. That is all I have to say until you have +decided for yourselves what you will do if the strike is ordered."</p> + +<p>I left the men for a short time, while they talked things over. It did +not take them long to decide.</p> + +<p>"We must stand by the union," said the spokesman, "but we'll be damned +sorry to quit this job. You see, sir, we can't do any other way. We have +to be in the union to get work, and we have to do as the union says or +we will be kicked out. It is hard, sir, not to do a hit of a hammer for +weeks or months with a family on one's hands and winter coming; but what +can a man do? We don't see our way clear in this matter, but we must do +as the union says."</p> + +<p>"I see how you are fixed," said I, "and I am mighty sorry for you. I am +not going to rail against unions, for they may have done some good; but +they work a serious wrong to the man with a family, for he cannot follow +them without bringing hardships upon his dependent ones. It is not fair +to yoke him up with a single man who has no natural claims to satisfy, +no mouth to feed except his own; but I will talk business.</p> + +<p>"You will be ordered out to-morrow or next day, and you say you will +obey the order. You have an undoubted right to do so. A man is not a +slave, to be made to work against his will; but, on the other hand, is +he not a slave if he is forced to quit against his will? Freedom of +action in personal matters is a right which wise men have fought for and +for which wise men will always fight. Do you find it in the union? What +shall I do when you quit work? How long are you going to stay out? What +will become of my interests while you are following the lead of your +bell-wethers? Shall my work stop because you have been called out for a +holiday? Shall the weeds grow over these walls and my lumber rot while +you sit idly by? Not by a long sight! You have a perfect right to quit +work, and I have a perfect right to continue.</p> + +<p>"The rights which we claim for ourselves we must grant to others. One +man certainly has as defensible a right to work as another man has to be +idle. In the legitimate exercise of personal freedom there is no effort +at coercion, and in this case there shall be none. If you choose to +quit, you will do so without let or hindrance from me; but if you quit, +others will take your places without let or hindrance from you. You will +be paid in full to-night. When you leave, you must take your tools with +you, that there may be no excuse for coming back. When you leave the +place, the incident will be closed so far as you and I are concerned, +and it will not be opened unless I find some of you trying to interfere +with the men I shall engage to take your places. I think you make a +serious mistake in following blind leaders who are doing you material +injury, for sentimental reasons; but you must decide this for +yourselves. If, after sober thought, any of you feel disposed to return, +you can get a job if there is a vacancy; but no man who works for me +during this strike will be displaced by a striker. You may put that in +your pipes and smoke it. Nelson will pay you off to-night."</p> + +<p>The strike was ordered for Wednesday. On the morning of that day the +seven carpenters whom I had engaged arrived at my office ready for work. +I took them to the station and started for Four Oaks. At a station five +miles from Exeter we quitted the train, hired two carriages, and were +driven to the farm without passing through the village.</p> + +<p>We arrived without incident, the men had their dinners, and at one +o'clock the hammers and saws were busy again. We had lost but one half +day. The two non-union men whom Nelson had spoken of were also at work, +and three days later the spokesman of the strikers threw up his card and +joined our force. We had no serious trouble. It was thought wise to keep +the new men on the place until the excitement had passed, and we had to +warn some of the old ones off two or three times, but nothing +disagreeable happened, and from that day to this Four Oaks has remained +non-unionized.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h4>PLANNING FOR THE TREES</h4> + + +<p>The morning of September 17th a small frost fell,—just enough to curl +the leaves of the corn and show that it was time for it to be laid by. +Thompson, Johnson, Anderson, and the two men from the woods, who were +diverted from their post-splitting for the time being, went gayly to the +corn fields and attacked the standing grain in the old-fashioned way. +This was not economical; but I had no corn reaper, and there was none to +hire, for the frost had struck us all at the same time. The five men +were kept busy until the two patches—about forty-three acres—were in +shock. This brought us to the 24th. In the meantime the men and women +moved from the cottage to the more commodious farm-house. Polly had +found excuses for spending $100 more on the furnishings of this +house,—two beds and a lot of other things. Sunday gave the people a +chance to arrange their affairs; and they certainly appreciated their +improved surroundings.</p> + +<p>The cottage was moved to its place on the line, and the last of the +seeding on the north forty was done. Ten tons of fertilizer were sown on +this forty-acre tract (at a cost of $250), and it was then left to +itself, not to be trampled over by man or beast, except for the +stretching of fences or for work around some necessary buildings, until +the middle of the following May.</p> + +<p>We did not sow any wheat that year,—there was too much else to be done +of more importance. There is not much money in wheat-farming unless it +be done on a large scale, and I had no wish to raise more than I could +feed to advantage. Wheat was to be a change food for my fowls; but just +then I had no fowls to feed, and there were more than two hundred +bushels in stacks ready for the threshers, which I could hold for future +hens.</p> + +<p>The ploughmen were now directed to commence deep ploughing on No. +14,—the forty acres set apart for the commercial orchard. This tract of +land lay well for the purpose. Its surface was nearly smooth, with a +descent to the west and southwest that gave natural drainage. I have +been informed that an orchard would do better if the slope were to the +northeast. That may be true, but mine has done well enough thus far, +and, what is more to the point, I had no land with a northeast slope. +The surface soil was thin and somewhat impoverished, but the subsoil was +a friable clay in which almost anything would grow if it was properly +worked and fed. It was my desire to make this square block of forty +acres into a first-class apple orchard for profit. Seven years from +planting is almost too soon to decide how well I have succeeded, but the +results attained and the promises for the future lead me to believe that +there will be no failure in my plan.</p> + +<p>The three essentials for beginning such an orchard are: prepare the land +properly, get good stock (healthy and true to name), and plant it well. +I could do no more this year than to plough deep, smooth the surface, +and plant as well as I knew how. Increased fertility must come from +future cultivation and top dressing. The thing most prominent in my plan +was to get good trees well placed in the ground before cold weather set +in. At my time of life I could not afford to wait for another autumn, or +even until spring. I had, and still have, the opinion that a +fall-planted tree is nearly six months in advance of one planted the +following spring. Of course there can be no above-ground growth during +that time, but important things are being done below the surface. The +roots find time to heal their wounds and to send out small searchers +after food, which will be ready for energetic work as soon as the sun +begins to warm the soil. The earth settles comfortably about these roots +and is moulded to fit them by the autumn rains. If the stem is well +braced by a mound of earth, and if a thick mulch is placed around it, +much will be done below ground before deep frosts interrupt the work; +and if, in the early spring, the mulch and mound are drawn back, the +sun's influence will set the roots at work earlier by far than a spring +tree could be planted.</p> + +<p>Other reasons for fall planting are that the weather is more settled, +the ground is more manageable, help is more easily secured, and the +nurserymen have more time for filling your order. Any time from October +15 until December 10 will answer in our climate, but early November is +the best. I had decided to plant the trees in this orchard twenty-five +feet apart each way. In the forty acres there would be fifty-two rows, +with fifty-two trees in each row,—or twenty-seven hundred in all. I +also decided to have but four varieties of apples in this orchard, and +it was important that they should possess a number of virtues. They must +come into early bearing, for I was too old to wait patiently for +slow-growing trees; they must be of kinds most dependable for yearly +crops, for I had no respect for off years; and they must be good enough +in color, shape, and quality to tempt the most fastidious market. I +studied catalogues and talked with pomologists until my mind was nearly +unsettled, and finally decided upon Jonathan, Wealthy, Rome Beauty, and +Northwestern Greening,—all winter apples, and all red but the last. I +was helped in my decision, so far as the Jonathans and Rome Beauties +were concerned, by the discovery that more than half of the old orchard +was composed of these varieties.</p> + +<p>There is little question as to the wisdom of planting trees of kinds +known to have done well in your neighborhood. They are just as likely to +do well by you as by your neighbor. If the fruit be to your liking, you +can safely plant, for it is no longer an experiment; some one else has +broken that ground for you.</p> + +<p>In casting about for a reliable nurseryman to whom to trust the very +important business of supplying me with young trees, I could not long +keep my attention diverted from Rochester, New York. Perhaps the reason +was that as a child I had frequently ridden over the plank road from +Henrietta to Rochester, and my memory recalled distinctly but three +objects on that road,—the house of Frederick Douglass, Mount Hope +Cemetery, and a nursery of young trees. Everything else was obscure. I +fancy that in fifty years the Douglass house has disappeared, but Mount +Hope Cemetery and the tree nursery seem to mock at time. The soil and +climate near Rochester are especially favorable to the growing of young +trees, and my order went to one of the many reliable firms engaged in +this business. The order was for thirty-four hundred +trees,—twenty-seven hundred for the forty-acre orchard and seven +hundred for the ten acres farthest to the south on the home lot. Polly +had consented to this invasion of her domain, for reasons. She said:—</p> + +<p>"It is a long way off, rather flat and uninteresting, and I do not see +exactly how to treat it. Apple trees are pretty at most times, and +picturesque when old. You can put them there, if you will seed the +ground and treat it as part of the lawn. I hate your old straight rows, +but I suppose you must have them."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I guess I shall have to have straight rows, but I will agree to +the lawn plan after the third year. You must give me a chance to +cultivate the land for three years."</p> + +<p>Your tree-man must be absolutely reliable. You have to trust him much +and long. Not only do you depend upon him to send you good and healthy +stock, but you must trust, for five years at least, that this stock will +prove true to name. The most discouraging thing which can befall a +horticulturist is to find his new fruit false to purchase labels. After +wait, worry, and work he finds that he has not what he expected, and +that he must begin over again. It is cold comfort for the tree-man to +make good his guarantee to replace all stock found untrue, for five +years of irreplaceable time has passed. When you have spent time, hope, +and expectation as well as money, looking for results which do not come, +your disappointment is out of all proportion to your financial loss, be +that never so great. In the best-managed nurseries there will be +mistakes, but the better the management the fewer the mistakes. Pay good +prices for young trees, and demand the best. There is no economy in +cheap stock, and the sooner the farmer or fruit-grower comprehends this +fact, the better it will be for him. I ordered trees of three years' +growth from the bud,—this would mean four-year-old roots. Perhaps it +would have been as well to buy smaller ones (many wise people have told +me so), but I was in such a hurry! I wanted to pick apples from these +trees at the first possible moment. I argued that a sturdy +three-year-old would have an advantage over its neighbor that was only +two. However small this advantage, I wanted it in my business—my +business being to make a profitable farm in quick time. The ten acres of +the home lot were to be planted with three hundred Yellow Transparent, +three hundred Duchess of Oldenburg, and one hundred mixed varieties for +home use. I selected the Transparent and the Duchess on account of their +disposition to bear early, and because they are good sellers in a near +market, and because a fruit-wise friend was making money from an +eight-year-old orchard of three thousand of these trees, and advised me +not to neglect them.</p> + +<p>My order called for thirty-four hundred three-year-old apple trees of +the highest grade, to be delivered in good condition on the platform at +Exeter for the lump sum of $550. The agreement had been made in August, +and the trees were to be delivered as near the 20th of October as +practicable. Apple trees comprised my entire planting for the autumn of +1895. I wanted to do much other work in that line, but it had to be left +for a more convenient season. Hundreds of fruit trees, shade trees, and +shrubs have since been planted at Four Oaks, but this first setting of +thirty-four hundred apple trees was the most important as well as the +most urgent.</p> + +<p>The orchard was to be a prominent feature in the factory I was building, +and as it would be slower in coming to perfection than any other part, +it was wise to start it betimes. I have kicked myself black and blue for +neglecting to plant an orchard ten years earlier. If I had done this, +and had spent two hours a month in the management of it, it would now be +a thing of beauty and an income-producing joy forever,—or, at least, as +long as my great-grandchildren will need it.</p> + +<p>There is no danger of overdoing orcharding. The demand for fruit +increases faster than the supply, and it is only poor quality or bad +handling that causes a slack market. If the general farmer will become +an expert orchardist, he will find that year by year his ten acres of +fruit will give him a larger profit than any forty acres of grain land; +but to get this result he must be faithful to his trees. Much of the +time they are caring for themselves, and for the owner, too; but there +are times when they require sharp attention, and if they do not get it +promptly and in the right way, they and the owner will suffer. Fruit +growing as a sole occupation requires favorable soil, climate, and +market, and also a considerable degree of aptitude on the part of the +manager, to make it highly profitable. A fruit-grower in our climate +must have other interests if he would make the most of his time. While +waiting for his fruit he can raise food for hens and hogs; and if he +feeds hens and hogs, he should keep as many cows as he can. He will then +use in his own factory all the raw material he can raise. This will +again be returned to the land as a by-product, which will not only +maintain the fertility of the farm, but even increase it. If his cows +are of the best, they will yield butter enough to pay for their food and +to give a profit; the skim milk, fed to the hogs and hens, will give +eggs and pork out of all proportion to its cost; and everything that +grows upon his land can thus be turned off as a finished product for a +liberal price, and yet the land will not be depleted. The orchard is +better for the hens and hogs and cows, and they are better for the +orchard. These industries fit into each other like the folding of hands; +they seem mutually dependent, and yet they are often divorced, or, at +best, only loosely related. This view may seem to be the result of <i>post +hoc</i> reasoning, but I think it is not. I believe I imbibed these notions +with my mother's milk, for I can remember no time when they were not +mine. The psalmist said, "Comfort me with apples"; and the psalmist was +reputed a wise man. With only sufficient wisdom to plant an orchard, I +live in high expectation of finding the same comfort in my old age.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h4>PLANTING OF THE TREES</h4> + + +<p>September proved as dry as August was wet,—only half an inch of water +fell; and the seedings would have been slow to start had they depended +for their moisture upon the clouds. By October 1, however, green had +taken the place of brown on nearly all the sixty acres we had tilled. +The threshers came and threshed the wheat and oats. Of wheat there were +311 bushels, of oats, 1272. We stored this grain in the cottage until +the granary should be ready, and stacked the straw until the forage barn +could receive it. My plan from the first has been to shelter all forage, +even the meanest, and bright oat straw is not low in the scale.</p> + +<p>On the 10th the horse stable was far enough advanced to permit the +horses to be moved, and the old barn was deserted. A neighbor who had +bought this barn at once pulled it down and carted it away. In this +transaction I held out several days for $50, but as my neighbor was +obdurate I finally accepted his offer. The first entry on the credit +side of my farm ledger is, By one old barn, $45. The receipts for +October, November, and December, were:—</p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Receipts for last quarter"> +<tr><td align='left'>By one old barn</td><td align='right'>$45.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>By apples on trees (153 trees at $1.85 each)</td><td align='right'>283.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>By 480 bushels of potatoes at 30 cents per bushel</td><td align='right'>144.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>By five old sows, not fat</td><td align='right'>35.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>One cow</td><td align='right'>15.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Three cows</td><td align='right'>70.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Two cows</td><td align='right'>35.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Three cows, two heifers, nine calves</td><td align='right'>187.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Forty-three shoats and gilts,</td><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>average 162 lb., at 2 cents per lb</td><td align='right'>139.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>----------</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Total</td><td align='right'>$953.00</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>The young hogs had eaten most of my small potatoes and some of my corn +before we parted with them in late November. These sales were made at +the farm, and at low prices, for I was afraid to send such stuff to +market lest some one should find out whence it came. The Four Oaks brand +was to stand for perfection in the future, and I was not willing to +handicap it in the least. Top prices for gilt-edged produce is what +intensive farming means; and if there is money in land, it will be found +close to this line.</p> + +<p>The potatoes had been dug and sold, or stored in the cellar of the +farm-house; the apples from the trees reserved for home use had been +gathered, and we were ready for the fall planting. While waiting for the +stock to arrive, we had time to get in all the hay and most of the straw +into the forage barn, which was now under roof.</p> + +<p>On Saturday, the 26th, word came that sixteen immense boxes had arrived +at Exeter for us. Three teams were sent at once, and each team brought +home two boxes. Three trips were made, and the entire prospective +orchard was safely landed. Monday saw our whole force at work planting +trees. Small stakes had been driven to give the exact centre for each +hole, so that the trees, viewed from any direction, would be in straight +lines. Sam, Zeb, and Judson were to dig the holes, putting the surface +dirt to the right, and the poor earth to the left; I was to prune the +roots and keep tab on the labels; Johnson and Anderson were to set the +trees,—Anderson using a shovel and Johnson his hands, feet, and eyes; +while Thompson was to puddle and distribute the trees. The puddling was +easily done. We sawed an oil barrel in halves, placed these halves on a +stone boat, filled them two-thirds full of water, and added a lot of +fine clay. Into this thin mud the roots of each tree were dipped before +planting.</p> + +<p>My duty was to shorten the roots that were too long, and to cut away the +bruised and broken ones. The top pruning was to be done after the trees +were all set and banked. The stock was fine in every respect,—fully up +to promise. Watching Johnson set his first tree convinced me that he +knew more about planting than I did. He lined and levelled it; he pawed +surface dirt into the hole, and churned the roots up and down; more +dirt, and he tamped it; still more dirt, and he tramped it; yet more +dirt, and he stamped it until the tree stood like a post; then loose +dirt, and he left it. I was sure Johnson knew his business too well to +need advice from a tenderfoot, so I went back to my root pruning.</p> + +<p>We were ten days planting these thirty-four hundred trees, but we did it +well, and the days were short. We finished on the 7th of November. The +trees were now to be top pruned. I told Johnson to cut every tree in the +big orchard back to a three-foot stub, unless there was very good reason +for leaving a few inches (never more than six), and I turned my back on +him and walked away as I said these cruel words. It seemed a shame to +cut these bushy, long-legged, handsome fellows back to dwarfish +insignificance and brutish ugliness, but it had to be done. I wanted +stocky, thrifty, low-headed business trees, and there was no other way +to get them. The trees in the lower, or ten-acre, orchard, were not +treated so severely. Their long legs were left, and their bushy tops +were only moderately curtailed. We would try both high and low heading.</p> + +<p>On the night of November 11 the shredders came and set up their great +machine on the floor of the forage barn, ready to commence work the next +morning. There were ten men in the shredding gang. I furnished six more, +and Bill Jackson came with two others to change work with me; that is, +my men were to help him when the machine reached his farm. We worked +nineteen men and four teams three and a half days on the forty-three +acres of corn, and as a result, had a tremendous mow of shredded corn +fodder and an immense pile of half-husked ears. For the use of the +machine and the wages of the ten men I paid $105. Poor economy! Before +next corn-shredding time I owned a machine,—smaller indeed, but it did +the work as well (though not as quickly), and it cost me only $215, and +was good for ten years.</p> + +<p>The weather had favored me thus far. The wet August had put the ground +into good condition for seeding, and the dry September and October had +permitted our buildings to be pushed forward, but now everything was to +change. A light rain began on the morning of the 15th (I did not permit +it to interrupt the shredding, which was finished by noon), and by night +it had developed into a steady downpour that continued, with +interruptions, for six weeks. November and December of 1895 gave us rain +and snow fall equal to twelve and a half inches of water. Plans at Four +Oaks had to be modified. There was no more use for the ploughs. Nos. 10 +and 11, and much of the home lot were left until spring. I had planned +to mulch heavily all the newly set trees, and for this purpose had +bought six carloads of manure (at a cost of $72); but this manure could +not be hauled across the sodden fields, and must needs be piled in a +great heap for use in the spring. The carpenters worked at disadvantage, +and the farm men could do little more than keep themselves and the +animals comfortable. They did, however, finish one good job between +showers. They tile-drained the routes for the two roads on the home +lot,—the straight one east and west through the building line, about +1000 feet, and the winding carriage drive to the site of the main house, +about 1850 feet. The tile pipe cost $123. They also set a lot of fence +posts in the soft ground.</p> + +<p>Building progressed slowly during the bad weather, but before the end of +December the horse barn, the woodshed, the granary, the forage barn, and +the power-house were completed, and most of the machinery was in place. +The machinery consisted of a fifteen horse-power engine, with shafting +running to the forage barn, the granary, and the woodshed. A power-saw +was set in the end of the shed, a grinding mill in the granary, and a +fodder-cutter in the forage barn. The cost of these items was:—</p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Cost of sundry items"> +<tr><td align='left'>Engine and shafting</td><td align='right'>$187.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Saw</td><td align='right'>24.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mill</td><td align='right'>32.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Feed-cutter and carrier</td><td align='right'>76.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>nothing</td><td align='right'>--------</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Total</td><td align='right'>$319.00</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>I gave the services of my two carpenters, Thompson and Sam, during most +of this time to Nelson, for I had but little work for them, and he was +not making much out of his job.</p> + +<p>The last few days of 1895 turned clear and cold, and the barometer set +"fair." The change chirked us up, and we ended the year in good spirits.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h4>POLLY'S JUDGMENT HALL</h4> + + +<p>Before closing the books, we should take account of stock, to see what +we had purchased with our money. Imprimis: 320 acres of good land, +satisfactory to the eye, well fenced and well groomed; 3400 apple trees, +so well planted as to warrant a profitable future; a water and sewer +system as good as a city could supply; farm buildings well planned and +sufficient for the day; an abundance of food for all stock, and to +spare; an intelligent and willing working force; machinery for more than +present necessity; eight excellent horses and their belongings; six +cows, moderately good; two pigs and two score fowls, to be eaten before +spring, and <i>a lot of fun</i>. What price I shall have to put against this +last item to make the account balance, I can tell better when I foot the +other side of the ledger.</p> + +<p>But first I must add a few items to the debit account. Moving the +cottage cost $30. I paid $134 for grass seed and seed rye. The wage +account for six men and two women for five months was $735. Their food +account was $277. Of course the farm furnished milk, cream, butter, +vegetables, some fruit, fresh pork, poultry, and eggs. There were also +some small freight bills, which had not been accounted for, amounting to +$31, and $8 had been spent in transportation for the men. Then the farm +must be charged with interest on all money advanced, when I had +completed my additions. The rate was to be five per cent, and the time +three months.</p> + +<p>On the last day of the year I went to the farm to pay up to date all +accounts. I wished to end the year with a clean score. I did not know +what the five months had cost me (I would know that evening), but I did +know that I had had "the time of my life" in the spending, and I would +not whine. I felt a little nervous when I thought of going over the +figures with Polly,—she was such a judicious spender of money. But I +knew her criticism would not be severe, for she was hand-in-glove with +me in the project. I tried to find fault with myself for wastefulness, +but some excellent excuse would always crop up. "Your water tower is +unnecessary." "Yes, but it adds to the landscape, and it has its use." +"You have put up too much fencing." "True, but I wanted to feel secure, +and the old fences were such nests of weeds and rubbish." "You have +spent too much money on the farm-house." "I think not, for the laborer +is worthy of his hire, and also of all reasonable creature comforts." +And thus it went on. I would not acknowledge myself in the wrong; nor, +arguing how I might, could I find aught but good in my labors. I +devoutly hoped to be able to put the matter in the same light when I +stood at the bar in Polly's judgment hall.</p> + +<p>The day was clear, cool, and stimulating. A fair fall of snow lay on the +ground, clean and wholesome, as country snow always is. I wished that +the house was finished (it was not begun), and that the family was with +me in it. "Another Christmas time will find us here, God willing, and +many a one thereafter."</p> + +<p>I spent three hours at the farm, doing a little business and a lot of +mooning, and then returned to town. The children were off directly after +dinner, intent on holiday festivities, so that Polly and I had the house +to ourselves. I felt that we needed it. I invited my partner into the +den, lighted a pipe for consolation, unlocked the drawer in which the +farm ledger is kept, gave a small deprecatory cough, and said:—</p> + +<p>"My dear, I am afraid I have spent an awful lot of money in the last +five months. You see there is such a quantity of things to do at once, +and they run into no end of money. You know, I—"</p> + +<p>"Of course I know it, and I know that you have got the worth of it, +too."</p> + +<p>Wouldn't that console you! How was I to know that Polly would hail from +that quarter? I would have kissed her hand, if she would have permitted +such liberty; I kissed her lips, and was ready to defend any sum total +which the ledger dare show.</p> + +<p>"Do you know how much it is?" said Polly.</p> + +<p>"Not within a million!" I was reckless then, and hoped the total would +be great, for had not Polly said that she knew I had got the worth of my +money? And who was to gainsay her? "It is more than I planned for, I +know, but I do not see how I could use less without losing precious +time. We started into this thing with the theory that the more we put +into it, without waste, the more we would ultimately get out of it. Our +theory is just as sound to-day as it was five months ago."</p> + +<p>"We will win out all right in the end, Mr. Headman, for we will not put +the price-mark on health, freedom, happiness, or fun, until we have seen +the debit side of the ledger."</p> + +<p>"How much do you want to spend for the house?" said I.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean the house alone?"</p> + +<p>"No; the house and carriage barn. I'll pay for the trees, shrubs, and +kickshaws in the gardens and lawns."</p> + +<p>"You started out with a plan for a $10,000 house, didn't you? Well, I +don't think that's enough. You ought to give me $15,000 for the house +and barn and let me see what I can do with it; and you ought to give it +to me right away, so that you cannot spend it for pigs and foolish farm +things."</p> + +<p>"I'll do it within ten days, Polly; and I won't meddle in your affairs +if you will agree to keep within the limit."</p> + +<p>"It's a bargain," said Polly, "and the house will be much more livable +than this one. What do you think we could sell this one for?"</p> + +<p>"About $33,000 or $34,000, I think."</p> + +<p>"And will you sell it?"</p> + +<p>"Of course, if you don't object."</p> + +<p>"Sell, to be sure; it would be foolish to keep it, for we'll be country +folk in a year."</p> + +<p>"I have a theory," said I, "that when we live on the farm we ought to +credit the farm with what it costs us for food and shelter +here,—providing, of course, that the farm feeds and shelters us as +well."</p> + +<p>"It will do it a great deal better. We will have a better house, better +food, more company, more leisure, more life, and more everything that +counts, than we ever had before."</p> + +<p>"We'll fix the value of those things when we've had experience," said I. +"Now let's get at the figures. I tell you plainly that I don't know what +they foot up,—less than $40,000, I hope."</p> + +<p>"Don't let's worry about them, no matter what they say."</p> + +<p>This from prudent, provident Polly!</p> + +<p>"Certainly not," said I, as bold as a lion.</p> + +<p>"There are thirty-five items on the debit side of the ledger and a few +little ones on the credit side. Hold your breath while I add them.</p> + +<p>"I have spent $44,331 and have received $953, which leaves a debit +balance of $43,378."</p> + +<p>"That isn't so awfully bad, when you think of all the fun you've had."</p> + +<p>"Fun comes high at this time of the year, doesn't it, Polly?"</p> + +<p>"Much depends on what you call high. You have waited and worked a long +time for this. I won't say a word if you spend all you have in the +world. It's yours."</p> + +<p>"Mine and yours and the children's; but I won't spend it all. Seventy or +seventy-five thousand dollars, besides your house and barn money, shall +be my limit. There is still an item of interest to be added to this +account.</p> + +<p>"Interest! Why, John Williams, do you mean to tell me that you borrowed +this money? I thought it was your own to do as you liked with. Have you +got to pay interest on it?"</p> + +<p>"It was mine, but I loaned it to the farm. Before I made this loan I was +getting five per cent on the money. I must now look to the farm for my +five per cent. If it cannot pay this interest promptly, I shall add the +deferred payment to the principal, and it shall bear interest. This must +be done each year until the net income from the farm is greater than the +interest account. Whatever is over will then be used to reduce the +principal."</p> + +<p>"That's a long speech, but I don't think it's very clear. I don't see +why a man should pay interest on his own money. The farm is yours, isn't +it? You bought it with your own money, didn't you? What difference does +it make whether you charge interest or not?"</p> + +<p>"Not the least difference in the world to us, Polly, but a great deal to +the experiment."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I forgot the experiment. And how much interest do you add?"</p> + +<p>"Five hundred and forty-two dollars. Also, $75 to the lawyer and $5 for +recording the deed, making the whole debt of the farm to me $44,000 +even."</p> + +<p>"Does it come out just even $44,000? I believe you've manipulated the +figures."</p> + +<p>"Not on your life! Add them yourself. They were put down at all sorts of +times during the past five months. My dear, I wish you a good-night and +a happy New Year. You have given me a very happy ending for the old +one."</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h4>WINTER WORK</h4> + + +<p>The new year opened full of all sorts of interests and new projects. +There were so many things to plan for and to commence at the farm that +we often got a good deal mixed up. I can hardly expect to make a +connected narrative of the various plans and events, so will follow each +one far enough to launch it and then leave it for future development.</p> + +<p>Little snow fell in January and February '96. The weather was average +winter weather, and a good deal of outdoor work was done. On the 2d I +went to the farm to plan with Thompson an outline for the two months. I +had decided to make Thompson the foreman, for I had watched him +carefully for five months and was satisfied that I might go farther and +fare a great deal worse. Indeed, I thought myself very fortunate to have +found such a dependable man. He was temperate and good-natured, and he +had a bluff, hearty way with the other men that made it easy for them to +accept his directions. He was thorough, too, in his work. He knew how a +job should be done, and he was not satisfied until it was finished +correctly. He was not a worker for work's sake, as was Anderson, but he +was willing to put his shoulder to the wheel for results.</p> + +<p>"Wait till I get my shoulder under it," was a favorite expression with +him, and I am frank to say that when this conjunction took place there +was apt to be something doing. Thompson is still at Four Oaks, and it +will be a bad day for the farm when he leaves.</p> + +<p>"Thompson," said I, "you are to be working foreman out here, and I want +you to put your mind on the business and keep it there. I cannot raise +your wages, for I have a system; but you shall have $50 as a Christmas +present if things go well. Will you stay on these terms?"</p> + +<p>"I will stay, all right, Dr. Williams, and I will give the best I've +got. I like the looks of this place, and I want to see how you are going +to work it out."</p> + +<p>That being settled, I told Thompson of some things that must be done +during January and February.</p> + +<p>"You must get out a great lot of wood, have it sawed, and store it in +the shed, more than enough for a year's use. The wood should be taken +from that which is already down. Don't cut any standing trees, even +though they are dead. Use all limbs that are large enough, but pile the +brushwood where it can be burned. We must do wise forestry in these +woods, and we will have an unlimited supply of fuel. I mean that the +wood lot shall grow better rather than worse as the years go by. We +cannot do much for it now, but more in time. You must see to it that the +men are not careless about young trees,—no breaking or knocking down +will be in order. Another thing to look after is the ice supply. I will +get Nelson to build an ice-house directly, and you must look around for +the ice. Have you any idea as to where it can be had?"</p> + +<p>"A big company is getting ice on Round Lake three miles west, and I +suppose they will sell you what you want," said Thompson, "and our teams +can haul it all right."</p> + +<p>"What do you suppose they will charge per ton on their platform?"</p> + +<p>"From twenty-five to forty cents, I reckon."</p> + +<p>"All right, make as good a bargain as you can, and attend to it at the +best time. When the teams are not hauling ice or wood, let them draw +gravel from French's pit. It will be hard to get it out in the winter, +but I guess it can be done, and we will need a lot of it on these roads. +Have it dumped at convenient places, and we will put it on the drives in +the spring.</p> + +<p>"Another thing,—we must have a bridge across the brook on each lane. +You will find timbers and planks enough in the piles from the old barns +to make good bridges, and the men can do the work. Then there is all +that wire for the inside fences to stretch and staple; but mind, no +barbed wire is to be put on top of inside fences.</p> + +<p>"These five jobs will keep you busy for the next two months, for +there'll be only four men besides yourself to do them. I am going to set +Sam at the chicken plant. I'll see you before long, and we'll go over +the cow and hog plans; but you have your work cut out for the next two +months. By the way, how much of an ice-house shall I need?"</p> + +<p>"How many cows are you going to milk?"</p> + +<p>"About forty when we run at full speed; perhaps half that number this +year."</p> + +<p>"Well, then you'd better build a house for four hundred tons. That won't +be too big when you are on full time, and it's a mighty bad thing to run +short of ice."</p> + +<p>I saw Nelson the same day and contracted with him for an ice-house +capable of holding four hundred tons, for $900. The walls of the house +to be of three thicknesses of lumber with two air spaces (one four +inches, the other two) without filling. As a result of the conference +with Thompson, I had, before the first of March, a wood-house full of +wood, which seemed a supply for two years at full steam; an ice-house +nearly full of ice; two serviceable bridges across the brook; the wire +fencing almost completed; and eighty loads of gravel,—about one-third +of what I needed. The whole cash outlay was,—</p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Ice House cash outlay"> +<tr><td align='left'>300 tons of ice at 30 cents per ton</td><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>$90.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>80 tons of gravel at 25 cents per load</td><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>20.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fence staples</td><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>19.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>--------</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Total</td><td align='right'>$129.00</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>The conference with Sam Jones, the hen man, was deferred until my next +visit, and my plans for the cow barn, dairy-house, and hog-house were +left to Nelson for consideration, he promising to give me estimates +within a few days.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h4>WHAT SHALL WE ASK OF THE HEN?</h4> + + +<p>Sam Jones, the chicken-loving man, was as pleased as a boy with a new +top when I began to talk of a hen plant. He had a lot of practical +knowledge of the business, for he had <i>failed</i> in it twice; and I could +furnish any amount of theory, and enough money to prevent disaster.</p> + +<p>In his previous attempts he had invested nearly all his small capital in +a plant that might yield two hundred eggs a day; he had to buy all foods +in small quantities, and therefore at high prices; and he had to give +his whole time to a business which was too small and too much on the +hand-to-mouth order to give him a living profit. My theory of the +business was entirely different. I could plan for results, and, what was +more to the point, I could wait for them. Mistakes, accidents, even +disasters, were disarmed by a bank account; my bread and butter did not +depend upon the temper of a whimsical hen. The food would cost the +minimum. All grains and green food, and most of the animal food, in the +form of skim milk, would be furnished by the farm. I meant also to +develop a plant large enough to warrant the full attention of an +able-bodied man. I felt no hesitation about this venture, for I did not +intend to ask more of my hens than a well-disposed hen ought to be +willing to grant.</p> + +<p>I do not ask a hen to lay a double-yolk every day in the year. That is +too much to expect of a creature in whom the mother instinct is +prominent, and who wishes also to have a new dress for herself at least +once in that time. I do not wish a hen to work overtime for me. If she +will furnish me with eight dozen of her finished product per annum, I +will do the rest. Whatever she does more than that shall redound to her +credit. Two-hundred-eggs-a-year hens are scarcer than hens with teeth, +and I was not looking for the unusual. A hen can easily lay one hundred +eggs in three hundred and sixty-five days, and yet find time for +domestic and social affairs. She can feel that she is not a subject for +charity, while at the same time she retains her self-respect as a hen of +leisure.</p> + +<p>I have the highest regard for this domestic fowl, and I would not for a +great deal impose a too arduous task upon her. I feel like encouraging +her in her peculiar industry, for which she is so eminently fitted, but +not like forcing her into strenuous efforts that would rob her of +vivacity and dull her social and domestic impulses. No; if the hen will +politely present me with one hundred eggs a year, I will thank her and +ask no more. Some one will say: "How can you make hens pay if they don't +lay more than eight dozen eggs a year? Eggs sometimes sell as low as +twelve cents per dozen."</p> + +<p>Four Oaks hens never have laid one-cent eggs, and never will. They would +quit work if such a price were suggested. Ninety per cent of the eggs +from Four Oaks have sold for thirty cents or more per dozen, and the +demand is greater than the supply. The Four Oaks certificate that the +egg is not thirty-six hours old when it reaches the egg cup, makes two +and a half cents look small to those who can afford to pay for the best. +To lack confidence in the egg is a serious matter at the breakfast +table, and a person who can insure perfect trust will not lack +patronage. If, therefore, a hen will lay eight dozen eggs, she is +welcome to say to an acquaintance: "I have just handed the Headman a +two-dollar bill," for she knows that I have not paid fifty cents for her +food.</p> + +<p>Of course the wages of the hen man and his food and the interest on the +plant must be counted, but I do not propose to count them twice. Four +Oaks is a factory where several things are made, each in a measure +dependent on, and useful to, the others, and we cannot itemize costs of +single products because of this mutual dependence. I feel certain that I +could not drop one of the factory's industries without loss to each of +the others. For this reason I kept a very simple set of books. I charged +the farm with all money spent for it, and credited it with all moneys +received. Even now I have no very definite knowledge of what it costs +to keep a hen, a hog, or a cow; nor do I care. Such data are greatly +influenced by location, method of getting supplies, and market +fluctuations. I furnish most of my food, and my own market. My crops +have never entirely failed, and I take little heed whether they be large +or small. They are not for sale as crops, but as finished products. I am +not willing to sell them at any price, for I want them consumed on the +place for the sake of the land.</p> + +<p>Corn has sold for eighty cents a bushel since I began this experiment, +yet at that time I fed as much as ever and was not tempted to sell a +bushel, though I could easily have spared five thousand. When it went +down to twenty-eight cents, I did not care, for corn and oats to me are +simply in transition state,—not commodities to be bought or sold. They +cost me, one year with another, about the same. An abundant harvest +fills my granaries to overflowing; a bad harvest doesn't deplete them, +for I do not sell my surplus for fear that I, too, may have to buy out +of a high market. I have bought corn and oats a few times, but only when +the price was decidedly below my idea of the feeding value of these +grains. I can find more than twenty-eight cents in a bushel of corn, and +more than eighteen cents in thirty-two pounds of oats. But I am away off +my subject. I began to talk about the hen plant, and have wandered to my +favorite fad,—the factory farm.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h4>WHITE WYANDOTTES</h4> + + +<p>"Sam," said I, "I am going to start this poultry plant from just as near +the beginning of things as possible. I want you to dispose of every hen +on the place within the next twenty days, and to burn everything that +has been used in connection with them. We've cleared this land of +disease germs, if there were germs in it, by turning it bottom-side up; +now let's start free from the pestiferous vermin that make a hen's life +unhappy. No stock, either old or young, shall be brought here. When we +want to change our breeding, we'll buy eggs from the best fanciers and +hatch them in our own incubators. It will then be our own fault if we +don't keep our chickens comfortable and free from their enemies. This is +sound theory, and we'll try how it works out in practice. Certainly it +will be easier to keep clean if we start clean. Not one board or piece +of lumber that has been used for any other purpose shall find place in +my hen-houses. Eternal vigilance makes a full egg basket; and a full egg +basket means a lot of money at the year's end. I will never find fault +with you for being too careful Attend to the details in such way as +suits you best, provided the result is thorough and everlasting +cleanliness. Nothing less will win out, and nothing less will meet the +requirements of our factory rules.</p> + +<p>"The first thing to do is to get the incubating cellar made. It ought to +be four feet in the ground and four feet out of it. Make it ten feet by +fifteen, inside measure, and you can easily run five two-hundred-egg +incubators. Build it near the south fence in No. 4,—that's the lot for +the hens. The walls are to be of brick, and we'll have a brick floor put +in, for it's too cold to concrete it now. Gables are to point east and +west, and each is to have a window; put the door in the middle of the +south wall, and shingle the roof. Digging through three feet of frost +will be hard, but it must be done, and done quickly. I want you to start +your incubator lamps before the 3d of February."</p> + +<p>"I can dig the hole without much trouble,—big fire on the ground for +two or three hours will help,—and I can put on the roof and do all the +carpenter work, but I can't lay the brick."</p> + +<p>"I'll look out for that part of the job, but I want you to see that +things are pushed, for I shall have a thousand eggs here by February 1st +and another thousand by the 25th, and these eggs mean money."</p> + +<p>"What do you have to pay for them?"</p> + +<p>"Ten cents apiece,—$200 for two thousand eggs."</p> + +<p>"Well, I should say! Are they hand-painted? I wouldn't have had to quit +business if I could have sold my eggs at a quarter of that price."</p> + +<p>"That's all right, Sam, but you didn't sell White Wyandotte eggs for +hatching. I've contracted with two of the best-known fanciers of +Wyandottes in the country to send me five hundred eggs apiece February +1st and 25th. I don't think the price is high for the stock."</p> + +<p>"Have you decided to keep 'dottes? I hoped you would try Leghorns; +they're great layers."</p> + +<p>"Yes, they're great summer layers, but the American birds will beat them +hollow in winter; and I must have as steady a supply of eggs as +possible. My customers don't stop eating eggs in winter, and they'll be +willing to pay more for them at that season. The Leghorn is too small to +make a good broiler, and as half the chicks come cockerels, we must look +out for that."</p> + +<p>"Why do you throw down the Plymouth Rocks? They're bigger than 'dottes, +and just as good layers."</p> + +<p>"I threw down the barred Plymouth Rocks on account of color; I like +white hens best. It was hard to decide between White Rocks and +Wyandottes, for there's mighty little difference between them as +all-around hens. I really think I chose the 'dottes because the first +reply to my letters was from a man who was breeding them."</p> + +<p>"They are 'beauts,' all of them, and I'll give them a good chance to +spread themselves," said Sam.</p> + +<p>"What percentage of hatch may we expect from purchased eggs?"</p> + +<p>"About sixty chicks out of every hundred eggs, I reckon."</p> + +<p>"That would be doing pretty well, wouldn't it? If we had good luck with +the sixty chicks, how many would grow up?"</p> + +<p>"Fifty ought to."</p> + +<p>"Of these fifty, can we count on twenty-five pullets?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"That's what I was getting at. You think we might, by good luck, raise +twenty-five pullets from each hundred eggs. I'll cut that in the middle +and be satisfied with twelve, or even with ten. At that rate the two +thousand eggs that cost $200 will give me two hundred pullets to begin +the egg-making next November. That's not enough; we ought to raise just +twice that number. I'll spend as much more on eggs to be hatched by the +middle of April or the first of May, and then we can reasonably expect +to go into next winter with four hundred pullets. They will cost the +farm a dollar apiece, but the farm will have four hundred cockerels to +sell at fifty cents each, which will materially reduce the cost."</p> + +<p>"I think you put that pretty low, sir; we ought to raise more than four +hundred pullets out of four thousand eggs."</p> + +<p>"Everything more will be clear gain. I shall be satisfied with four +hundred. We must also get at the brooder house. This is the order in +which I want the buildings to stand in the chicken lot: first, the +incubating house, 10 feet from the south line; 40 feet north of this, +the brooder house; and 120 feet north of that, the first hen-house, with +runs 100 feet deep. We'll build other houses for the birds as we need +them. They are all to face to the south. If the brooder house is 50 feet +long and 15 feet wide, it can easily care for the eight hundred chicks, +and for half as many more, if we are lucky enough to get them.</p> + +<p>"We'll have a five-foot walk against the north wall of this house, and a +ten-foot space north and south through the centre for heating plant and +food. This will leave a space at each side ten by twenty feet, to be cut +into five pens four feet by ten, each of which will mother a hundred +chicks or more. There must be plenty of glass in the south wall, and +we'll use overhead water pipes in each hover.</p> + +<p>"There's no hurry about the poultry-houses. You can build one in the +early summer, and perhaps another in the fall. I expect you to do the +carpenter work on these houses. I'll see the mason at once and have him +ready by the time you've dug the hole. The incubators will be here in +good time, and we want everything ready for work as soon as the eggs +arrive."</p> + +<p>Sam was pleased with his job; it was exactly to his liking. He took real +delight in caring for fowls, and he was especially anxious to prove to +me that it was not so much lack of knowledge as lack of capital that had +caused the downfall of his previous efforts. Sam could not then +understand why one man could sell his eggs at thirty-six cents a dozen +when his neighbor could get only sixteen; he found out later.</p> + +<p>The mason's work for the incubator house and the foundation wall for the +brooder house cost $290. The lumber bill for these two, including doors +and windows, was $464. The five incubators, $65, and the hot-water +heater for the brooder house, $68, made the total $897. Add to this $400 +paid during two months for eggs, and we have $1297 as the cost of +starting the poultry plant.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h4>FRIED PORK</h4> + + +<p>I had given Nelson this sketch as a guide in working out the plan for +the cow barn: Length over all, 130 feet; width, 40 feet. This +parallelogram was to be divided lengthwise into three equal spaces, one +in the centre for a driveway, and one on each side for the cow platforms +and feeding mangers. Twenty feet at the west end of the barn was +partitioned off, one corner for a small granary, the other for a kitchen +in which the food was to be prepared. These rooms were each thirteen +feet by twenty. At the other end of the building, ten feet on each side +was given over to hospital purposes,—a lying-in ward ten feet by +thirteen being on each side of the driveway.</p> + +<p>The foundation for this building was to be of stone, and the entire +floor of cement; and the walls were to be sealed within and sheeted +without, and then covered with ship lap boards, making three thicknesses +of boards. It was to be one story high. An east-and-west passage, +cutting the main drive at right angles, divided the barn at its middle. +At the south end of this passage was a door leading to the dairy-house, +which was on the building line 150 feet away. The four spaces made by +these passages were each subdivided into ten stalls five feet wide. Two +doors on the north and two on the south gave exit for the cows. I had +placed my limit at forty milch cows, and I thought this stable would +furnish suitable quarters for that number. If I had to rebuild, I would +make some modifications. Experience is a good teacher; but the stable +has served its purpose, and I cannot quarrel with the results. The chief +defect is in the distribution of water. The supply is abundant, but it +is let on only in the kitchen, whence it is supplied to the cows by +means of a hose or a barrel swung between wheels.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="./images/diagram3.jpg"><img src="./images/diagram3-tb.jpg" alt="Diagram3" title="Diagram3" /></a></div> + + +<p>In the kitchen are appliances for mixing and cooking food, and for +warming the drinking water in winter. Nelson and I discussed the sketch +plan given below, and he found some fault with it. I would not be +dissuaded from my views, however, and Nelson had to yield. I was as +opinionated in those days as a theoretical amateur is apt to be; and it +was hard to give up my theories at the suggestion of a person who had +only experience to guide him. The best plan, as I have long since +learned, is to mix the two and use the solid substance that results from +their combination.</p> + +<p>We located the site of the building, and talked plans until the low sun +of January 8th disappeared in the west. Then we adjourned to the sitting +room of the farm-house to finish the matter so far as was possible. An +hour and a half passed, and we were in fair accord, when Mrs. Thompson +came into the room to say that supper was ready, and to ask us to join +the men at table before starting homeward. I was glad of the +opportunity, for I was curious to know if Mrs. Thompson set a good +table. We went into the dining room just as the farm family was ready to +sit down. There were ten of us,—two women, six men, Nelson, and myself; +and as we sat down, I noticed with pleasure that each had evidently +taken some thought of the obligations which a table ought to impose. The +table was clothed in clean white, and there was a napkin at each plate. +Nelson and I had the only perfectly fresh ones, and this I took as +evidence that napkins were usual. The food was all on the table, and was +very satisfactory to look at. Thompson sat at one end, and before him, +on a great platter, lay two dozen or more pieces of fried salt pork, +crisp in their shells of browned flour, and fit for a king. On one side +of the platter was a heaping dish of steaming potatoes. A knife had +been drawn once around each, just to give it a chance to expand and show +mealy white between the gaping circles that covered its bulk. At the +other side was a boat of milk gravy, which had followed the pork into +the frying-pan and had come forth fit company for the boiled potatoes. I +went back forty years at one jump, and said,—</p> + +<p>"I now renew my youth. Is there anything better under the sun than fried +salt pork and milk gravy? If there is, don't tell me of it, for I have +worshipped at this shrine for forty years, and my faith must not be +shaken."</p> + +<p>Such a supper twice or thrice a week would warm the cockles of my old +heart; but Polly says, "No modern cook can make these things just right; +and if not just right, they are horrid." That is true; it takes an +artist or a mother to fry salt pork and make milk gravy.</p> + +<p>There were other things on the table,—quantities of bread and butter, +apple sauce (in a dish that would hold half a peck), stacks of fresh +ginger-bread, tea, and great pitchers of milk; but naught could distract +my attention from the <i>pièce de résistance</i>. Thrice I sent my plate +back, and then could do no more. That meal convinced me that I could +trust Mrs. Thompson. A woman who could fry salt pork as my mother did, +was a woman to be treasured.</p> + +<p>I left the farm-house at 7, and reached home by 8.45. Polly was not +quite pleased with my late hours; she said it did not worry her not to +know where I was, but it was annoying.</p> + +<p>"Can't you have a telephone put into the farm-house? It would be +convenient in a lot of ways."</p> + +<p>"Why, of course; I don't see why it can't be done at once. I'll make +application this very night."</p> + +<p>It was six weeks before we really got a wire to the farm, but after that +we wondered how we ever got along without it.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h4>A RATION FOR PRODUCT</h4> + + +<p>Nelson was to commence work on the cow-house at once; at least, the +mason was. I left the job as a whole to Nelson, and he made some sort of +contract with the mason. The agreement was that I should pay $4260 for +the barn complete. The machinery we put into it was very simple,—a +water heater and two cauldrons for cooking food. All three cost about +$60.</p> + +<p>Thompson had selected six cows, from those bought with the place, as +worth wintering. They were now giving from six to eight quarts each, and +were due to come in in April and May. An eight-quart-a-day cow was not +much to my liking, but Thompson said that with good care they would do +better in the spring. "Four of those cows ought to make fine milkers," +he said; "they are built for it,—long bodies, big bags, milk veins that +stand out like crooked welts, light shoulders, slender necks, and lean +heads. They are young, too; and if you'll dehorn them, I believe they'll +make your thoroughbreds hump themselves to keep up with them at the milk +pail. You see, these cows never had more than half a chance to show +what they could do. They have never been 'fed for milk.' Farmers don't +do that much. They think that if a cow doesn't bawl for food or drink +she has enough. I suppose she has enough to keep her from starving, and +perhaps enough to hold her in fair condition, but not enough to do this +and fill the milk pail, too. I read somewhere about a ration for +'maintenance' and one for 'product,' and there was a deal of difference. +Most farmers don't pay much attention to these things, and I guess +that's one reason why they don't get on faster."</p> + +<p>"You've got the whole matter down fine in that 'ration for product,' +Thompson, and that's what we want on this farm. A ration that will +simply keep a cow or a hen in good health leaves no margin for profit. +Cows and hens are machines, and we must treat them as such. Crowd in the +raw material, and you may look for large results in finished product. +The question ought always to be, How much can a cow eat and drink? not, +How little can she get on with? Grain and forage are to be turned into +milk, and the more of these foods our cows eat, the better we like it. +If these machines work imperfectly, we must get rid of them at once and +at any price. It will not pay to keep a cow that persistently falls +below a high standard. We waste time on her, and the smooth running of +the factory is interrupted. I'm going to place a standard on this farm +of nine thousand pounds a year for each matured cow; I don't think that +too high. If a cow falls much below that amount, she must give place to +a better one, for I'm not making this experiment entirely for my health. +The standard isn't too high, yet it's enough to give a fine profit. It +means at least three hundred and fifty pounds of butter a year, and in +this case the butter means at least thirty cents a pound, or more than +$100 a year for each cow. This is all profit, if one wishes to figure it +by itself, for the skimmed milk will more than pay for the food and +care. But why did you say dehorn the cows?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I notice that a man with a club is almost sure to find some use +for it. If he isn't pounding the fence or throwing it at a dog, he's +snipping daisies or knocking the heads off bull-thistles. He's always +doing something with it just because he has it in his hand. It's the +same way with a cow. If she has horns, she'll use them in some way, and +they take her mind off her business. No, sir; a cow will do a lot better +without horns. There's mighty little to distract her attention when her +clubs are gone."</p> + +<p>"What breeds of cows have you handled, Thompson?"</p> + +<p>"Not any thoroughbreds that I know of; mostly common kinds and grade +Jerseys or Holsteins."</p> + +<p>"I'm going to put a small herd of thorough bred Holsteins on the place."</p> + +<p>"Why don't you try thoroughbred Jerseys' They'll give as much butter, +and they won't eat more than half as much."</p> + +<p>"You don't quite catch my idea, Thompson. I want the cow that will eat +the most, if she is, at the same time, willing to pay for her food. I +mean to raise a lot of food, and I want a home market for it. What comes +from the land must go back to it, or it will grow thin. The Holstein +will eat more than the Jersey, and, while she may not make more butter, +she will give twice as much skimmed milk and furnish more fertilizer to +return to the land. Fresh skimmed milk is a food greatly to be prized by +the factory-farm man; and when we run at full speed, we shall have three +hundred thousand pounds of it to feed.</p> + +<p>"I have purchased twenty three-year-old Holstein cows, in calf to +advanced registry bulls, and they are to be delivered to me March 10. I +shall want you to go and fetch them. I also bought a young bull from the +same herd, but not from the same breeding. These twenty-one animals will +cost, by the time they get here, $2200. I shall give the bull to my +neighbor Jackson. He will be proud to have it, and I shall be relieved +of the care of it. Be good to your neighbor, Thompson, if by so doing +you can increase the effectiveness of the factory farm. We will start +the dairy with twenty thoroughbreds and six scrubs. I shall probably buy +and sell from time to time; but of one thing I am certain: if a cow +cannot make our standard, she goes to the butcher, be she mongrel or +thoroughbred. What do you think of Judson as a probable dairyman?"</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't wonder if he would do first-rate. He's a quiet fellow, and +cows like that. He has those roans tagging him all over the place; and +if a horse likes a man, it's because he's nice and quiet in his ways. I +notice that he can milk a cow quicker than the other men, and it ain't +because he don't milk dry—I sneaked after him twice. The cow just gives +down for him better than for the others."</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h4>THE RAZORBACK</h4> + + +<p>We have now launched three of the four principal industries of our +factory farm. The fourth is perhaps the most important of all, if a +single member of a group of mutually dependent industries can have this +distinction. There is no question that the farmer's best friend is the +hog. He will do more for him and ask less of him than any other animal. +All he asks is to be born. That is enough for this non-ruminant +quadruped, who can find his living in the earth, the roadside ditch, or +the forest, and who, out of a supply of grass, roots, or mast, can +furnish ham and bacon to the king's taste and the poor man's +maintenance. The half-wild razorback, with never a clutch of corn to his +back, gives abundant food to the mountaineer over whose forest he +ranges. The cropped or slit ear is the only evidence of human care or +human ownership. He lives the life of a wild beast, and in the autumn he +dies the death of a wild beast; while his flesh, made rich with juices +of acorns, beechnuts, and other sweet masts, nourishes a man whose only +exercise of ownership is slaughter. The hog that can make his own +living, run like a deer, and drink out of a jug, has done more for the +pioneer and the backwoodsman than any other animal.</p> + +<p>Take this semi-wild beast away from his wild haunts, give him food and +care, and he will double his gifts. Add a hundred generations of careful +selection, until his form is so changed that it is beyond recognition, +and again the product will be doubled. The spirit of swine is not +changed by civilization or good breeding; such as it was on that day +when the herd "ran down a steep place and was drowned in the sea," such +it is to-day. A fixed determination to have its own way dominated the +creature then, and a pig-headed desire to be the greatest food-producing +machine in the world is its ruling passion now. That the hog has +succeeded in this is beyond question; for no other food animal can +increase its own weight one hundred and fifty fold in the first eight +months of its life.</p> + +<p>All over the world there is a growing fondness for swine flesh, and the +ever increasing supply doesn't outrun the demand. Since the dispersion +of the tribes of Israel there has been no persistent effort to +depopularize this wonderful food maker. Pig has more often been the food +of the poor than of the rich, but now rich and poor alike do it honor. +Old Ben Jonson said:—</p> + +<p>"Now pig is meat, and a meat that is nourishing and may be desired, and +consequently eaten: it may be eaten; yea, very exceedingly well eaten."</p> + +<p>Hundreds have praised the rasher of ham, and thousands the flitch of +bacon; it took the stroke of but one pen to make roast pig classical.</p> + +<p>The pig of to-day is so unlike his distant progenitor that he would not +be recognized; if by any chance he were recognized, it would be only +with a grunt of scorn for his unwieldy shape and his unenterprising +spirit. Gone are the fleet legs, great head, bulky snout, terrible jaws, +warlike tusks, open nostrils, flapping ears, gaunt flanks, and racing +sides; and with these has gone everything that told of strength, +freedom, and wild life. In their place has come a cuboidal mass, twice +as long as it is broad or high, with a place in front for mouth and +eyes, and a foolish-looking leg under each corner. A mighty fall from +"freedom's lofty heights," but a wonderfully improved machine. The +modern hog is to his progenitor as the man with the steam-hammer to the +man with the stone-hammer,—infinitely more useful, though not so free.</p> + +<p>It is not easy to overestimate the value of swine to the general farmer; +but to the factory farmer they are indispensable. They furnish a +profitable market for much that could not be sold, and they turn this +waste material into a surprising lot of money in a marvellously short +time. A pig should reach his market before he is nine months old. From +the time he is new-born until he is 250 days old, he should gain at +least one pound a day, which means five cents, in ordinary times. +During this time he has eaten, of things which might possibly have been +sold, perhaps five dollars' worth. At 250 days, with a gain of one pound +a day, he is worth, one year with another, $12.50. This is putting it +too low for my market, but it gives a profit of not less than $6 a head +after paying freight and commissions. It is, then, only a question of +how many to keep and how to keep them. To answer the first half of this +question I would say, Keep just as many as you can keep well. It never +pays to keep stock on half rations of food or care, and pigs are not +exceptions. In answering the other half of the question, how to keep +them, I shall have to go into details of the first building of a piggery +at Four Oaks.</p> + +<p>As in the case of the hens, I determined to start clean. Hogs had been +kept on the farm for years, and, so far as I could learn, there had been +no epizoötic disease. The swine had had free range most of the time, and +the specimens which I bought were healthy and as well grown as could be +expected. They were not what I wanted, either in breed or in +development, so they had been disposed of, all but two. These I now +consigned to the tender care of the butcher, and ordered the sty in +which they had been kept to be burned.</p> + +<p>I had planned to devote lot No. 2 to a piggery. There are five acres in +this lot, and I thought it large enough to keep four or five hundred +pigs of all sizes in good health and good condition for forcing. Some of +the swine, not intended for market, would have more liberty; but close +confinement in clean pens and small runs was to be the rule. To crowd +hogs in this way, and at the same time to keep them free from disease, +would require special vigilance. The ordinary diseases that come from +damp and draughts could be fended off by carefully constructed +buildings. Cleanliness and wholesome food ought to do much, and +isolation should accomplish the rest. I have established a perfect +quarantine about my hog lot, and it has never been broken. After the +first invoices of swine in the winter and spring of 1896, no hog, young +or old, has entered my piggery, save by the way of a sixty-day +quarantine in the wood lot, and very few by that way.</p> + +<p>My pigs are several hundred yards from the public roads, and my +neighbor, Jackson, has planted a young orchard on his land to the north +of my hog lots, and permits no hogs in this planting. I have thus +secured practical isolation. I have rarely sent swine to fairs or stock +shows. In the few instances in which I have broken this rule I have sold +the stock shown, never returning it to Four Oaks.</p> + +<p>Isolation, cleanliness, good food, good water, and a constant supply of +ashes, charcoal, and salt, have kept my herd (thus far) from those +dreadfully fatal diseases that destroy so many swine. If I can keep the +specific micro-organism that causes hog-cholera off my place, I need not +fear the disease. The same is true of swine plague. These diseases are +of bacterial origin, and are communicated by the transference of +bacteria from the infected to the non-infected. I propose to keep my +healthy herd as far removed as possible from all sources of infection. I +have carried these precautions so far that I am often scoffed at. I +require my swineherd, when returning from a fair or a stock show, to +take a full bath and to disinfect his clothing before stepping into the +pig-house. This may seem an unnecessary refinement in precautionary +measures, but I do not think so. It has served me well: no case of +cholera or plague has shown itself at Four Oaks.</p> + +<p>What would I do if disease should appear? I do not know. I think, +however, that I should fight it as hard as possible at close quarters, +killing the seriously ill, and burning all bodies. After the scourge had +passed I would dispose of all stock as best I could, and then burn the +entire plant (fences and all), plough deep, cover the land white as snow +with lime, leave it until spring, plough again, and sow to oats. During +the following summer I would rebuild my plant and start afresh. A whole +year would be lost, and some good buildings, but I think it would pay in +the end. There would be no safety for the herd while a single colony of +cholera or plague bacteria was harbored on the place; and while neither +might, for years, appear in virulent form, yet there would be constant +small losses and constant anxiety. One cannot afford either of these +annoyances, and it is usually wise to take radical measures. If we apply +sound business rules to farm management, we shall at least deserve +success.</p> + +<p>I chose to keep thoroughbred swine for the reason that all the standard +varieties are reasonably certain to breed true to a type which, in each +breed, is as near pork-making perfection as the widest experience can +make it. Most of our good hogs are bred from English or Chinese stock. +Modifications by climate, care, crossing, and wise selection have +procured a number of excellent varieties, which are distinct enough to +warrant separate names, but which are nearly equal as pork-makers.</p> + +<p>In color one could choose between black, black and white, and white and +red. I wanted white swine; not because they are better than swine of +other colors, for I do not think they are, but for æsthetic reasons. My +poultry was to be white, and white predominated in my cows; why should +not my swine be white also,—or as white as their habits would permit? I +am told on all sides that the black hog is the hardiest, that it fattens +easier, and that for these reasons it is a better all-round hog. This +may be true, but I am content with my white ones. When some neighbor +takes a better bunch of hogs to market, or gets a better price for them, +than I do, I may be persuaded to think as he talks. Thus far I have sold +close to the top of the market, and my hogs are never left over.</p> + +<p>Perhaps my hogs eat more than those of my neighbors. I hope they do, for +they weigh more, on a "weight for age" scale, and I do not think they +are "air crammed," for "you cannot fatten capons so." I am more than +satisfied with my Chester Whites. They have given me a fine profit each +year, and I should be ungrateful if I did not speak them fair.</p> + +<p>I wished to get the hog industry started on a liberal scale, and scoured +the country, by letter, for the necessary animals. I found it difficult +to get just what I wanted. Perhaps I wanted too much. This is what I +asked for: A registered young sow due to farrow her second litter in +March or April. By dint of much correspondence and a considerable outlay +of money, I finally secured nineteen animals that answered the +requirements. I got them in twos and threes from scattered sources, and +they cost an average price of $31 per head delivered at Four Oaks. A +young boar, bred in the purple, cost $27. My foundation herd of Chester +Whites thus cost me $614,—too much for an economical start; but, again, +I was in a hurry.</p> + +<p>The hogs began to arrive in February, and were put into temporary +quarters pending the building of the house for the brood sows, which +house must now be described.</p> + +<p>It was a low building, 150 by 30 feet, divided by a six-foot alley-way +into halves, each 150 by 12 feet. Each of these halves was again divided +into fifteen pens 10 by 12 feet, with a 10 by 30 run for each pen. This +was the general plan for the brood-house for thirty sows. At the east +end of this house was a room 15 by 30 feet for cooking food and storing +supplies for a few days. The building was of wood with plank floors. It +stands there yet, and has answered its purpose; but it was never quite +satisfactory. I wanted cement floors and a more sightly building. I +shall probably replace it next year. When it was built the weather was +unfavorable for laying cement, and I did not wish to wait for a more +clement season. The house and the fences for the runs cost $2100.</p> + +<p>On the 6th of March Thompson called me to one of the temporary pens and +showed me a family of the prettiest new-born animals in the world,—a +fine litter of no less than nine new-farrowed pigs. I felt that the +fourth industry was fairly launched, and that we could now work and +wait.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<h4>THE OLD ORCHARD</h4> + + +<p>March was unusually raw even for that uncooked month. The sun had to +cross the line before it could make much impression on the deep frost. +After the 15th, however, we began to find evidences that things were +stirring below ground. The red and yellow willows took on brighter +colors, the bark of the dogwood assumed a higher tone, and the catkins +and lilac buds began to swell with the pride of new sap.</p> + +<p>If our old orchard was to be pruned while dormant, it must be done at +once. Thompson and I spent five days of hard work among the trees, +cutting out all dead limbs, crossing branches, and suckers. We called +the orchard old, but it was so only by comparison, for it was not out of +its teens; and I did not wish to deal harshly with it. A good many +unusual things were being done for it in a short time, and it was not +wise to carry any one of them too far. It had been fertilized and +ploughed in the fall, and now it was to be pruned and sprayed,—all +innovations. The trees were well grown and thrifty. They had given a +fair crop of fruit last year, and they were well worth considerable +attention. They could not hereafter be cultivated, for they were all in +the soiling lot for the cows, but they could be pruned and sprayed. The +lack of cultivation would be compensated by the fertilization incident +to a feeding lot. The trees would give shade and comfort to the cows, +while the cows fed and nourished the trees,—a fair exchange.</p> + +<p>The crop of the year before, though half the apples were stung, had +brought nearly $300. With better care, and consequently better fruit, we +could count on still better results, for the varieties were excellent +(Baldwins, Jonathans, and Rome Beauties); so we trimmed carefully and +burned the rubbish. This precaution, especially in the case of dead +limbs, is important, for most dead wood in young trees is due to +disease, often infectious, and should be burned at once.</p> + +<p>I bought a spraying-pump (for $13), which was fitted to a sound oil +barrel, and we were ready to make the first attack on fungus disease +with the Bordeaux mixture. This was done by Johnson and Anderson late in +the month. Another vigorous spraying with the same mixture when the buds +were swelling, another when the flower petals were falling, and still +another when the fruit was as large as peas (the last two sprayings had +Paris green added to the Bordeaux mixture), and the fight against apple +enemies was ended for that year.</p> + +<p>Thompson had gone for the cows. He left March 9, and returned with the +beauties on Friday the 17th. They were all my fancy had painted +them,—large, gentle-eyed, with black and white hair over soft +butter-yellow skin, and all the points that distinguish these marvellous +milk-machines. They were bestowed as needs must until the cow barn was +completed. One of them had dropped a bull calf two days before leaving +the home farm. The calf had been left, and the mother was in an +uncomfortable condition, with a greatly distended udder and milk +streaming from her four teats, though Thompson had relieved her thrice +while <i>en route</i>.</p> + +<p>I was greatly pleased with the cows, but must not spend time on them +now, for things are happening in my factory faster than I can tell of +them. Johnson had built some primitive hotbeds for early vegetables out +of old lumber and oiled muslin. He had filled them with refuse from the +horse stable and had sown his seeds.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<h4>THE FIRST HATCH</h4> + + +<p>On February 3 the incubator lamps were lighted under the first invoice +of one thousand eggs. The incubating cellar was to Sam's liking, and he +felt confident that three weeks of strict attention to temperature, +moisture, and the turning of eggs, would bring results beyond my +expectations.</p> + +<p>After the seventh day, on which he had tested or candled the eggs, he +was willing to promise almost anything in the way of a hatch, up to +seventy-five or eighty per cent. In the intervals of attendance on the +incubators he was hard at work on the brooder-house, which must be ready +for its first occupants by the 25th. Everything went smoothly until the +18th. That morning Sam met me with a long face.</p> + +<p>"Something went wrong with one of my lamps last night," said he. "I +looked at them at ten o'clock and they were all right, but at six this +morning one of the thermometers was registering 122°, and the whole +batch was cooked."</p> + +<p>"Not the whole thousand, Sam!"</p> + +<p>"No, but 170 fertile eggs, and that spoils a twenty-dollar bill and a +lot of good time. What in the name of the black man ever got into that +lamp of mine is more than I know. It's just my luck!"</p> + +<p>"It's everybody's luck who tries to raise chickens by wholesale, and we +must copper it. Don't be downed by the first accident, Sam; keep +fighting and you'll win out."</p> + +<p>The brooder-house was ready when the first chicks picked the shells on +the 24th, and within thirty-six hours we had 503 little white balls of +fluff to transfer from the four incubators to the brooder-house. We put +about a hundred together in each of five brooders, fed them cut oats and +wheat with a little coarse corn meal and all the fresh milk they could +drink, and they throve mightily.</p> + +<p>The incubators were filled again on the 26th, and from that hatch we got +552 chicks. On the 21st of March they were again filled, and on the 13th +of April we had 477 more to add to the colony in the brooder-house. For +the last time we started the lamps April 15th, and on the 6th of May we +closed the incubating cellar and found that 2109 chicks had been hatched +from the 4000 eggs. The last hatch was the best of all, giving 607. I +don't think we have ever had as good results since, though to tell the +truth I have not attempted to keep an exact count of eggs incubated. My +opinion is that fifty per cent is a very good average hatch, and that +one should not expect more.</p> + +<p>In September, when the young birds were separated, the census report was +723 pullets and 764 cockerels, showing an infant mortality of 622, or +twenty-nine per cent. The accidents and vicissitudes of early +chickenhood are serious matters to the unmothered chick, and they must +not be overlooked by the breeder who figures his profits on paper.</p> + +<p>After the first year I kept no tabs on the chickens hatched; my desire +was to add each year 600 pullets to my flock, and after the third season +to dispose of as many hens. It doesn't pay to keep hens that are more +than two and a half years old. I have kept from 1200 to 1600 laying hens +for the past six years. I do not know what it costs to feed one or all +of them, but I do know what moneys I have received for eggs, young +cockerels, and old hens, and I am satisfied.</p> + +<p>There is a big profit in keeping hens for eggs if the conditions are +right and the industry is followed, in a businesslike way, in connection +with other lines of business; that is, in a factory farm. If one had to +devote his whole time to the care of his plant, and were obliged to buy +almost every morsel of food which the fowls ate, and if his market were +distant and not of the best, I doubt of great success; but with food at +the lowest and product at the highest, you cannot help making good +money. I do not think I have paid for food used for my fowls in any one +year more than $500; grits, shells, meat meal, and oil meal will cover +the list. I do not wish to induce any man or woman to enter this +business on account of the glowing statements which these pages contain. +I am ideally situated. I am near one of the best markets for fine food; +I can sell all the eggs my hens will lay at high prices; food costs the +minimum, for it comes from my own farm; I utilize skim-milk, the +by-product from another profitable industry, to great advantage; and I +had enough money to carry me safely to the time of product. In other +words, I could build my factory before I needed to look to it for +revenue. I do not claim that this is the only way, but I do claim that +it is the way for the fore-handed middle-aged man who wishes to change +from city to country life without financial loss. Younger people with +less means can accomplish the same results, but they must offset money +by time. The principle of the factory farm will hold as well with the +one as with the other.</p> + +<p>To intensify farming is the only way to get the fat of the land. The +nations of the old world have nearly reached their limit in food +production. They are purchasers in the open market. This country must be +that market; and it behooves us to look to it that the market be well +stocked. There is land enough now and to spare, but will it be so fifty +or a hundred years hence? Our arid lands will be made fertile by +irrigation, but they will add only a small percentage to the amount +already in quasi-cultivation. Our future food supplies must be drawn +largely from the six million farms now under fences. These farms must be +made to yield fourfold their present product, or they will fall short, +not only of the demands made upon them, but also of their possibilities. +That is why I preach the gospel of intensive farming, for grain, hay, +market, and factory farm alike.</p> + +<p>I will put the chickens out of the way for the present, referring to +them from time to time and indicating their general management, the cost +of their houses and food, and the amount of money received for eggs and +fowls. I do not think my plant would win the approval of fanciers, and +it is not in all ways up to date; but it is clean, healthy, and +commodious, and the birds attend as strictly to business as a reasonable +owner could wish. I shall be glad to show it to any one interested +enough to search it out, and to go into the details of the business and +show how I have been able to make it so remunerative.</p> + +<p>Sam is with me no longer. For three years he did good service and saved +money, and the lurid nose grew dim. There is, however, a limit to human +endurance. Like victims of other forms of circular insanity, the +dipsomaniac completes his cycle in an uncertain period and falls upon +bad times. For a month before we parted company I saw signs of relapse +in Sam. He was loquacious at times, at other times morose. He talked +about going into business for himself, and his nose took on new color. I +labored with him, but to no purpose; the spirit of unrest was upon him, +and it had to work its own. I held him firm long enough to secure +another man, and then we parted, he to do business for himself, I to get +on as best I could. Sam painted his nose and raised chickens and other +things until his savings had flown; then he got a position with a woman +who runs a broiler plant, and for two years he has given good service. +He will probably continue in ways of well-doing until the next cycle is +complete, when the beacon light will blaze afresh and he will follow it +on to the rocks. Such a man is more to be pitied than condemned, for his +anchor is sure to drag at times.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> + +<h4>THE HOLSTEIN MILK MACHINE</h4> + + +<p>During the month of March the teams hauled more gravel. They also +distributed the manure that had been purchased in the fall for mulching +the trees. While the ground was still frozen this mulch was placed near +the trees, to be used as soon as the sun had warmed the earth. The mound +of dirt at the base of each tree was of course levelled down before this +dressing was applied. I never afterward purchased stable or stock-yard +manure, though I could often have used it to advantage; for I did not +think it safe to purchase this kind of fertilizer for a farm where large +numbers of animals are kept. The danger from infection is too great. +Large quantities of barnyard manure were furnished yearly out of my own +pits, and I supplemented it with a good deal of the commercial variety. +I try to turn back to the land each year more than I take from it, but I +do not dare to go to a stock-yard for any part of my supply. It was not +until I had mentally established a quarantine for my hogs that I +realized the danger from those six carloads of manure; and I promised +myself then that no such breach of quarantine should again occur.</p> + +<p>The cows arrived on St. Patrick's Day. Our herd was then composed of the +twenty Holstein heifers (coming three years old), and six of the best of +the common cows purchased with the farm. Within forty days the herd was +increased by the addition of twenty-three calves. Twenty-five were born, +but two were dead. Of this number, eighteen were Holsteins eligible for +registration, ten heifers, and eight bulls. Each calf was taken from its +mother on the third day and fed warm skim-milk from a patent feeder +three times a day, all it would drink. When three weeks old, seven of +the Holstein calves and the five from the common cows were sent to +market. They brought $5.25 each above the expense of selling, or $63 for +the bunch. The ten Holstein heifer calves were of course held; and one +bull calf, which had a double cross of Pieterje 2d and Pauline Paul, and +which seemed an unusually fair specimen, was kept for further +development.</p> + +<p>The cow barn was finished about April 1st, and shortly after that the +herd was established in permanent quarters. As the dairy-house was +unfinished, and there was no convenient way of disposing of the milk +which now flowed in abundance, I bought a separator (for $200) and sent +the cream to a factory, using the fresh skim-milk for the calves and +young pigs and chickens.</p> + +<p>From March 22, when I began to sell, until May 10, when my dairy-house +was in working order, I received $203 for cream. Thompson had sold milk +from the old cows, from August to December, 1895, to the amount of $132. +This item should have been entered on the credit side for the last year, +but as it was not, we will make a note of it here. These are the only +sales of milk and cream made from Four Oaks since I bought the land.</p> + +<p>The milk supply from my herd started out at a tremendous rate, +considering the age of the cows. It must be borne in mind that none of +the thoroughbreds was within three years of her (probable) best; yet +they were doing nobly, one going as high as fifty-two pounds of milk in +one day, and none falling below thirty-six as a maximum. The common cows +did nearly as well at first, four of them giving a maximum of thirty-two +pounds each in twenty-four hours. It was easy to see the difference +between the two sorts, however. The old ones had reached maturity and +were doing the best they could; the others were just beginning to +manufacture milk, and were building and regulating their machinery for +that purpose. The Holsteins, though young, were much larger than the old +cows, and were enormous feeders. A third or a half more food passed +their great, coarse mouths than their less aristocratic neighbors could +be coaxed to eat. Food, of course, is the one thing that will make +milk; other things being equal, then the cow that consumes the most food +will produce the most milk. This is the secret of the Holsteins' +wonderful capacity for assimilating enormous quantities of food without +retaining it under their hides in the shape of fat. They have been bred +for centuries with the milk product in view, and they have become +notable machines for that purpose. They are not the cows for people to +keep who have to buy feed in a high market, for they are not easy +keepers in any sense; but for the farmer who raises a lot of grain and +roughage which should be fed at his own door, they are ideal. They will +eat much and return much.</p> + +<p>As to feeding for milk, I have followed nearly the same plan through my +whole experiment. I keep an abundance of roughage, usually shredded +corn, before the cows all the time. When it has been picked over +moderately well, it is thrown out for bedding, and fresh fodder is put +in its place. The finer forages, timothy, red-top, clover, alfalfa, and +oat straw, are always cut fine, wetted, and mixed with grain before +feeding. This food is given three times a day in such quantities as will +be eaten in forty-five minutes. Green forage takes the place of dry in +season, and fresh vegetables are served three times a week in winter. +The grain ration is about as follows: By weight, corn and cob meal, +three parts; oatmeal, three parts; bran, three parts; gluten meal, two +parts; linseed meal, one part. The cash outlay for a ton of this mixture +is about $12; this price, of course, does not include corn and oats, +furnished by the farm. A Holstein cow can digest fifteen pounds of this +grain a day. This means about two and a half tons a year, with a cash +outlay of $30 per annum for each head. Fresh water is always given four +times a day, and much of the time the cows have ready access to it. In +cold weather the water is warmed to about 65° F. The cows are let out in +a twenty-acre field for exercise every day, except in case of severe +storms. They are fed forage in the open when the weather is fine and +insects are not troublesome, and they sometimes sleep in the open on hot +nights; but by far the largest part of their time is spent in their own +stalls away from chilling winds and biting flies. In their stables they +are treated much as fine horses are,—well bedded, well groomed, and +well cared for in all ways.</p> + +<p>A quiet, darkened stable conduces rumination. Loud talking, shouting, or +laughing are not looked upon with favor in our cow barn. On the other +hand, continuous sounds, if at all melodious, seem to soothe the animals +and increase the milk flow. Judson, who has proved to be our best +herdsman, has a low croon in his mouth all the time. It can hardly be +called a tune, though I believe he has faith in it, but it has a +fetching way with the herd. I have never known him to be quick, sharp, +or loud with the cows. When things go wrong, the crooning ceases. When +it is resumed, all is well in the cow world. The other man, French, who +is an excellent milker, and who stands well with the cows, has a half +hiss, half whistle, such as English stable-boys use, except that it runs +up and down five notes and is lost at each end. The cows like it and +seem to admire French for his accomplishment even more than Judson, for +they follow his movements with evident pleasure expressed in their great +ox eyes.</p> + +<p>Rigid rules of cleanliness are carried out in every detail with the +greatest exactness. The house and the animals are cared for all the time +as if on inspection. Before milking, the udders are carefully brushed +and washed, and the milker covers himself entirely with a clean apron. +As each cow is milked, the milker hangs the pail on a spring balance and +registers the exact weight on a blackboard. He then carries the milk +through the door that leads to the dairy-house, and pours it into a tank +on wheels. This ends his responsibility. The dairymaid is then in +charge.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h2> + +<h4>THE DAIRYMAID</h4> + + +<p>Of course I had trouble in getting a dairymaid. I was not looking for +the bouncing, buxom, red-cheeked, arms-akimbo, butter-colored-hair sort. +I didn't care whether she were red-cheeked and bouncing or not, but for +obvious reasons I didn't want her hair to be butter-colored. What I did +want was a woman who understood creamery processes, and who could and +would make the very giltest of gilt-edged butter.</p> + +<p>I commenced looking for my paragon in January. I interviewed applicants +of both sexes and all nationalities, but there was none perfect; no, not +one. I was not exactly discouraged, but I certainly began to grow +anxious as the time approached when I should need my dairymaid, and need +her badly. One day, while looking over the <i>Rural New Yorker</i> (I was +weaned on that paper), I saw the following advertisement. "Wanted: +Employment on a dairy-farm by a married couple who understand the +business." If this were true, these two persons were just what I needed; +but, was it true? I had tried a score of greater promise and had not +found one that would do. Was I to flush two at once, and would they +fall to my gun?</p> + +<p>A small town in one of the Middle Western states was given as the +address, and I wrote at once. My letter was strong in requirements, and +asked for particulars as to experience, age, references, and +nationality. The reply came promptly, and was more to my liking than any +I had received before. Name, French; Americans, newly married, +twenty-eight and twenty-six respectively; experience four and three +years in creamery and dairy work; references, good; the couple wished to +work together to save money to start a dairy of their own. I was pleased +with the letter, which was an unusual one to come from native-born +Americans. Our people do not often hunt in couples after this manner. I +telegraphed them to come to the city at once.</p> + +<p>It was late in April when I first saw the Frenches. The man was tall and +raw-boned, but good-looking, with a frank manner that inspired +confidence. He was a farmer's son with a fair education, who had saved a +little money, and had married his wife out of hand lest some one else +should carry her off while he was building the nest for her.</p> + +<p>"I took her when I could get her," he said, "and would have done it with +a two-dollar bill in my pocket rather than have taken chances."</p> + +<p>The woman was worthy of such an extreme measure, for she looked capable +of caring for both. She was a fine pattern of a country girl, with a +head full of good sense, and very useful-looking hands and arms. Her +face was good to look upon; it showed strength of character and a +definite object in life. She said she understood the creamery processes +in all their niceties, and that she could make butter good enough for +Queen Victoria.</p> + +<p>The proposition offered by this young couple was by far the best I had +received, and I closed with them at once. I agreed to pay each $25 a +month to start with, and explained my plan of an increasing wage of $1 a +month for each period of six months' service. They thought they ought to +have $30 level. I thought so, too, if they were as good as they +promised. But I had a fondness for my increasing scale, and I held to +it. These people were skilled laborers, and were worth more to begin +with than ordinary farm hands. That is why I gave them $25 a month from +the start. Six hundred dollars a year for a man and wife, with no +expense except for clothing, is good pay. They can easily put away $400 +out of it, and it doesn't take long to get fore-handed. I think the +Frenches have invested $500 a year, on an average, since they came to +Four Oaks.</p> + +<p>It is now time to get at the dairy-house, since the dairy and the +dairymaid are both in evidence. The house was to be on the building +line, and both Polly and I thought it should have attractive features. +We decided to make it of dark red paving brick. It was to be eighteen +feet by thirty, with two rooms on the ground. The first, or south room, +ten feet by eighteen, was fitted for storing fruit, and afforded a +stairway to the rooms above, which were four in number besides the bath. +The larger room was of course the butter factory, and was equipped with +up-to-date appliances,—aërator, Pasteurizer, cooler, separator, Babcock +tester, swing churn, butter-worker, and so on. The house was to have +steep gables and projecting eaves, with a window in each gable, and two +dormer windows in each roof. The walls were to be plastered, and the +ground floor was to be cement. It cost $1375.</p> + +<p>As motive power for the churn and separator, a two-sheep-power treadmill +has proved entirely satisfactory. It is worked by two sturdy wethers who +are harbored in a pleasant house and run, close to the power-house, and +who pay for their food by the sweat of their brows and the wool from +their backs. They do not appear to dislike the "demnition grind," which +lasts but an hour twice a day; they go without reluctance to the tramp +that leads nowhere, and the futile journey which would seem foolish to +anything wiser than a sheep. This sheep-power is one of the curios of +the place. My grand-girls never lose their interest in it, and it has +been photographed and sketched more times than there are fingers and +toes on the sheep.</p> + +<p>The expenditure for equipment, from separator to sheep, was $354. I +made an arrangement with a fancy grocer in the city to furnish him +thirty pounds, more or less, of fresh (unsalted) butter, six days in the +week, at thirty-three cents a pound, I to pay express charges. I bought +six butter-carriers with ice compartments for $3.75 each, $23 in all, +and arranged with the express company to deliver my packages to the +grocer for thirty cents each. The butter netted me thirty-two cents a +pound that year, or about $60 a week.</p> + +<p>In July I bought four thoroughbred Holsteins, four years old, in fresh +milk, and in October, six more, at an average price of $120 a +head,—$1200 in all. These reënforcements made it possible for me to +keep my contract with the middleman, and often to exceed it.</p> + +<p>The dairy industry was now fairly launched and in working order. It had +cost, not to be exact, $7000, and it was reasonably sure to bring back +to the farm about $60 a week in cash, besides furnishing butter for the +family and an immense amount of skim-milk and butter-milk to feed to the +young animals on the place.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI</h2> + +<h4>LITTLE PIGS</h4> + + +<p>By April 1st all my sows had farrowed. There was much variation in the +number of pigs in these nineteen litters. One noble mother gave me +thirteen, two of which promptly died. Three others farrowed eleven each, +and so down to one ungrateful mother who contributed but five to the +industry at Four Oaks. The average, however, was good; 154 pigs on April +10th were all that a halfway reasonable factory man could expect.</p> + +<p>These youngsters were left with their mothers until eight weeks old; +then they were put, in bunches of thirty, into the real hog-house, which +was by that time completed. It was 200 feet long and 50 feet wide, with +a 10-foot passageway through the length of it. On either side were 10 +pens 20 feet by 20, each connected with a run 20 feet by 120. The house +stood on a platform or bed of cement 90 by 200 feet, which formed the +floor of the house and extended 20 feet outside of each wall, to secure +cleanliness and a dry feeding-place in the open. The cement floor was +expensive ($1120 as first cost), but I think it has paid for itself +several times over in health and comfort to the herd. The structure on +this floor was of the simplest; a double wall only five feet high at the +sides, shingled roof, broken at the ridge to admit windows, and strong +partitions. It cost $3100. As in the brood-sow house, there is a kitchen +at the west end. The 150 little pigs made but a small showing in this +great house, which was intended to shelter six hundred of all sizes, +from the eight-weeks-old baby pig to the nine-months-old +three-hundred-pounder ready for market.</p> + +<p>Pigs destined for market never leave this house until ripe for killing. +At six or seven months a few are chosen to remain on the farm and keep +up its traditions; but the great number live their ephemeral lives of +eight months luxuriously, even opulently, until they have made the ham +and bacon which, poor things, they cannot save, and then pass into the +pork barrel or the smoke-house without a sigh of regret. They toil not, +neither do they spin; but they have a place in the world's economy, and +they fit it perfectly. So long as one animal must eat another, the man +animal should thank the hog animal for his generosity.</p> + +<p>Now that my big hog-house seemed so empty, I would gladly have sent into +the highways and byways to buy young stock to fill it; but I dared not +break my quarantine. I could easily have picked up one hundred or even +two hundred new-weaned pigs, within six or eight miles of my place, at +about $1.50 each, and they would have grown into fat profit by fall; but +I would not take a risk that might bear ill fruit. I had slight +depressions of spirits when I visited my piggery during that summer; but +I chirked up a little in the fall, when the brood sows again made good. +But more of that anon.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII</h2> + +<h4>WORK ON THE HOME FORTY</h4> + + +<p>April and May made amends for the rudeness of March, and the ploughs +were early afield. Thompson, Zeb, Johnson, and sometimes Anderson, +followed the furrows, first in 10 and 11, and lastly in 13. Number 9 had +a fair clover sod, and was not disturbed. We ploughed in all about 114 +acres, but we did not subsoil. We spent twenty days ploughing and as +many more in fitting the ground for seed. The weather was unusually warm +for the season, and there was plenty of rain. By the middle of May, oats +were showing green in Nos. 8, 10, 11, 12, and 13,—sixty-two acres. The +corn was well planted in 15 and the west three-quarters of +14,—eighty-two acres. The other ten acres in the young orchard was +planted to fodder corn, sown in drills so that it could be cultivated in +one direction.</p> + +<p>The ten-acre orchard on the south side of the home lot was used for +potatoes, sugar beets, cabbages, turnips, etc., to furnish a winter +supply of vegetables for the stock.</p> + +<p>The outlook for alfalfa was not bright. In the early spring we +fertilized it again, using five hundred pounds to the acre, though it +seemed like a conspicuous waste. The warm rains and days of April and +May brought a fine crop of weeds; and about the middle of May I turned +Anderson loose in the fields with a scythe, and he mowed down everything +in sight.</p> + +<p>After that things soon began to look better in the alfalfa fields. As +the season was favorable, we were able to cut a crop of over a ton to +the acre early in July, and nearly as much in the latter part of August. +We cut forty tons from these twenty acres within a year from seeding, +but I suspect that was unusual luck. I had used thirteen hundred pounds +of commercial fertilizer to the acre, and the season was very favorable +for the growth of the plant. I have since cut these fields three times +each year, with an average yield of five tons to the acre for the whole +crop.</p> + +<p>I like alfalfa, both as green and as dry forage. When we use it green, +we let it lie in swath for twenty-four hours, that it may wilt +thoroughly before feeding. It is then fit food for hens, hogs, and, in +limited quantities, for cows, and is much relished. When used dry, it is +always cut fine and mixed with ground grains. In this shape it is fed +liberally to hens and hogs, and also to milch cows; for the latter it +forms half of the cut-food ration.</p> + +<p>While the crops are growing, we will find time to note the changes on +the home lot. Nearly in front of the farm-house, and fifty yards +distant, was a space well fitted for the kitchen garden. We marked off a +plat two hundred feet by three hundred, about one and a half acres, +carted a lot of manure on it, and ploughed it as deep as the subsoiler +would reach. This was done as soon as the frost permitted. We expected +this garden to supply vegetables and small fruits for the whole colony +at Four Oaks. An acre and a half can be made exceedingly productive if +properly managed.</p> + +<p>Along the sides of this garden we planted two rows of currant and +gooseberry bushes, six feet between rows, and the plants four feet apart +in the rows. The ends of the plat were left open for convenience in +horse cultivation. Ten feet outside these rows of bush fruit was planted +a line of quince trees, thirty on each side, and twenty feet beyond +these a row of cherry trees, twenty in each row.</p> + +<p>Near the west boundary of the home lot, and north of the lane that +enters it, I planted two acres of dwarf pear trees—Bartlett and +Duchess,—three hundred trees to the acre. I also planted six hundred +plum trees—Abundance, Wickson, and Gold—in the chicken runs on lot 4. +After May 1, when he was relieved from his farm duties, Johnson had +charge of the planting and also of the gardening, and he took up his +special work with energy and pleasure.</p> + +<p>The drives on the home lot were slightly rounded with ploughs and +scraper, and then covered with gravel. The open slope intended for the +lawn was now to be treated. It comprised about ten acres, irregular in +form and surface, and would require a good deal of work to whip it into +shape. A lawn need not be perfectly graded,—in fact, natural +inequalities with dips and rises are much more attractive; but we had to +take out the asperities. We ploughed it thoroughly, removed all stumps +and stones, levelled and sloped it as much as pleased Polly, harrowed it +twice a week until late August, sowed it heavily to grass seed, rolled +it, and left it.</p> + +<p>Polly had the house in her mind's eye. She held repeated conversations +with Nelson, and was as full of plans and secrets as she could hold. By +agreement, she was to have a free hand to the extent of $15,000 for the +house and the carriage barn. I never really examined the plans, though I +saw the blue prints of what appeared to be a large house with a driving +entrance on the east and a great wide porch along the whole south side. +I did not know until it was nearly finished how large, convenient, and +comfortable it was to be. A hall, a great living-room, the dining room, +a small reception room, and an office, bedroom, and bath for me, were +all on the ground floor, besides a huge wing for the kitchen and other +useful offices.</p> + +<p>Above stairs there was room for the family and a goodly number of +friends. We had agreed that the house should be simple in all ways, with +no hard wood except floors, and no ornamentation except paint and paper. +It must be larger than our needs, for we looked forward to delightful +visits from many friends. We were to have more leisure than ever before +for social life, and we desired to make the most of our opportunities.</p> + +<p>A country house is by all odds the finest place to entertain friends and +to be entertained by them. They come on invitation, not as a matter of +form, and they stay long enough to put by questions of weather, clothes, +and servant-girls, and to get right down to good old-fashioned visiting. +Real heart-to-heart talks are everyday occurrences in country visits, +while they are exceptional in city calls. We meant to make much of our +friends at Four Oaks, and to have them make much of us. We have +discovered new values even in old friends, since we began to live with +them, weeks at a time, under the same roof. Their interests are ours, +and our plans are warmly taken up by them. There is nothing like it +among the turmoils and interruptions of town life, and the older we grow +the more we need this sort of rest among our friends. The guest book at +the farm will show very few weeks, in the past six years, when friends +haven't been with us, and Polly and I feel that the pleasure we have +received from this source ought to be placed on the credit side of the +farm ledger.</p> + +<p>Another reason for a company house was that Jack and Jane would shortly +be out of school. It was not at all in accord with our plan that they +should miss any pleasure by our change. Indeed, we hoped that the change +would be to their liking and to their advantage.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2> + +<h4>DISCOUNTING THE MARKET</h4> + + +<p>We broke ground for the house late in May, and Nelson said that we +should be in it by Thanksgiving Day. Soon after the plans were settled +Polly informed me that she should not spend much money on the stable.</p> + +<p>"Can't do it," she said, "and do what I ought to on the house. I will +give you room for six horses; the rest, if you have more, must go to the +farm barn. I cannot spend more than $1100 or $1200 on the barn."</p> + +<p>Polly was boss of this department, and I was content to let her have her +way. She had already mulcted me to the extent of $436 for trees, plants, +and shrubs which were even then grouped on the lawn after a fashion that +pleased her. I need not go into the details of the lawn planting, the +flower garden, the pergola, and so forth. I have a suspicion that Polly +has in mind a full account of the "fight for the home forty," in a form +greatly better than I could give it, and it is only fair that she should +tell her own story. I am not the only one who admires her landscape, her +flower gardens, and her woodcraft. Many others do honor to her tastes +and to the evidence of thought which the home lot shows. She disclaims +great credit, for she says, "One has only to live with a place to find +out what it needs."</p> + +<p>As I look back to the beginning of my experiment, I see only one bit of +good luck that attended it. Building material was cheap during the +months in which I had to build so much. Nothing else specially favored +me, while in one respect my experiment was poorly timed. The price of +pork was unusually low. For three years, from 1896, the price of hogs +never reached $5 per hundred pounds in our market,—a thing +unprecedented for thirty years. I never sold below three and a half +cents, but the showing would have been wonderfully bettered could I have +added another cent or two per pound for all the pork I fattened. The +average price for the past twenty-five years is well above five cents a +pound for choice lots. Corn and all other foods were also cheap; but +this made little difference with me, because I was not a seller of +grain.</p> + +<p>In 1896 I was, however, a buyer of both corn and oats. In September of +that year corn sold on 'Change at 19-1/2 cents a bushel, and oats at +14-3/4. These prices were so much below the food value of these grains +that I was tempted to buy. I sent a cash order to a commission house for +five thousand bushels of each. I stored this grain in my granary, +against the time of need, at a total expense of $1850,—21 cents a +bushel for corn and 16 for oats. I had storage room and to spare, and I +knew that I could get more than a third of a cent out of each pound of +corn, and more than half a cent out of each pound of oats. I recalled +the story of a man named Joseph who did some corn business in Egypt a +good many years ago, much in this line, and who did well in the +transaction. There was no dream of fat kine in my case; but I knew +something of the values of grains, and it did not take a reader of +riddles to show me that when I could buy cheaper than I could raise, it +was a good time to purchase.</p> + +<p>As I said once before, there have been no serious crop failures at Four +Oaks,—indeed, we can show better than an average yield each year; but +this extra corn in my cribs has given me confidence in following my plan +of very liberal feeding. With this grain on hand I was able to cut +twenty acres of oats in Nos. 10 and 11 for forage. This was done when +the grain was in the milk, and I secured about sixty tons of excellent +hay, much loved by horses. We got from No. 9 a little less than twelve +tons of clover,—alfalfa furnished forty tons; and there was nearly +twenty tons of old hay left over from that originally purchased. With +all this forage, good of its kind, there was, however, no timothy or red +top, which is by all odds the best hay for horses. I determined to +remedy this lack before another year. As soon as the oats were off lots +10 and 11, they were ploughed and crossed with the disk harrow. From +then until September 1, these fields were harrowed each week in half +lap, so that by the time we were ready to seed them they were in +excellent condition and free from weeds. About September 1 they were +sown to timothy and red top, fifteen pounds each to the acre, +top-dressed with five hundred pounds of fertilizer, harrowed once more, +rolled, and left until spring, when another dose of fertilizer was used.</p> + +<p>I wished to establish twenty acres of timothy and as much alfalfa, to +furnish the hay supply for the farm. With one hundred tons of alfalfa +and sixty of timothy, which I could reasonably expect, I could get on +splendidly.</p> + +<p>From the first I have practised feeding my hay crop for immediate +returns. The land receives five hundred pounds of fertilizer per acre +when it is sown, a like amount again in the spring, and, as soon as a +crop is cut, three hundred pounds an acre more. This usually gives a +second crop of timothy about September 1, if the season is at all +favorable. The alfalfa is cut at least three times, and for each cutting +it receives three hundred pounds of plant food per acre. In the course +of a year I spend from $10 to $12 an acre for my grass land. In return I +get from each acre of timothy, in two cuttings, about three and a half +tons; worth, at an average selling price, $12 a ton. The alfalfa yields +nearly five tons per acre, and has a feeding value of $10 a ton. I have +sold timothy hay a few times, but I feel half ashamed to say so, for it +is against my view of justice to the land. I find oat hay cheaper to +raise than timothy, and, as it is quite as well liked by the horses, I +have been tempted to turn a part of my timothy crop into money directly +from the field.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX</h2> + +<h4>FROM CITY TO COUNTRY</h4> + + +<p>In early July I went through my young orchard, which had been cut back +so ruthlessly the previous autumn, and carefully planned a head for each +tree. Quite a bunch of sprouts had started from near the top of each +stub, and were growing luxuriantly. Out of each bunch I selected three +or four to form the head; the rest were rubbed off or cut out with a +sharp knife or pruning shears. It surprised me to see what a growth some +of these sprouts had made; sixteen or eighteen inches was not uncommon. +Big roots and big bodies were pushing great quantities of sap toward the +tops.</p> + +<p>Of course I bought farm machinery during this first season,—mower, +reaper, corn reaper, shredder, and so on. In October I took account of +expenditures for machinery, grass seed, and fertilizer, and found that I +had invested $833. I had also, at an expense of $850, built a large shed +or tool-house for farm implements. It is one of the rules at Four Oaks +to grease and house all tools when not in actual use. I believe the +observation of this rule has paid for the shed.</p> + +<p>In October 1896 I had a good offer for my town house, and accepted it. +I had purchased the property eleven years before for $22,000, but, as it +was in bad condition, I had at once spent $9000 on it and the stable. I +sold it for $34,000, with the understanding that I could occupy it for +the balance of the year if I wished.</p> + +<p>After selling the house, I calculated the cost of the elementary +necessities, food and shelter, which I had been willing to pay during +many years of residence in the city. The record ran about like this:—</p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Interest on house"> +<tr><td align='left'>Interest at 5% on house valued at $34,000</td><td align='right'>$1700.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Yearly taxes on same</td><td align='right'>340.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Insurance</td><td align='right'>80.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fuel and light</td><td align='right'>250.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Wages for one man and three women</td><td align='right'>1200.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Street sprinkling, watchman, etc.</td><td align='right'>90.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Food, including water, ice, etc.</td><td align='right'>1550.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>________</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Making a total of</td><td align='right'>$5210.00</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>It cost me $100 a week to shelter and feed my family in the city. This, +of course, took no account of personal expenses,—travel, sight-seeing, +clothing, books, gifts, or the thousand and one things which enter more +or less prominently into the everyday life of the family.</p> + +<p>If the farm was to furnish food and shelter for us in the future, it +would be no more than fair to credit it with some portion of this +expenditure, which was to cease when we left the city home. What portion +of it could be justly credited to the farm was to be decided by +comparative comforts after a year of experience. I did not plan our +exodus for the sake of economy, or because I found it necessary to +retrench; our rate of living was no higher than we were willing and able +to afford. Our object was to change occupation and mode of life without +financial loss, and without moulting a single comfort. We wished to end +our days close to the land, and we hoped to prove that this could be +done with both grace and profit. I had no desire to lose touch with the +city, and there was no necessity for doing so. Four Oaks is less than an +hour from the heart of town. I could leave it, spend two or three hours +in town, and be back in time for luncheon without special effort; and +Polly would think nothing of a shopping trip and friends home with her +to dinner. The people of Exeter were nearly all city people who were so +fortunate as not to be slaves to long hours. They were rich by work or +by inheritance, and they gracefully accepted the <i>otium cum dignitate</i> +which this condition permitted. Social life was at its best in Exeter, +and many of its people were old acquaintances of ours. A noted country +club spread its broad acres within two miles of our door, and I had been +favorably posted for membership. It did not look as though we should be +thrust entirely upon our own resources in the country; but at the worst +we had resources within our own walls and fences that would fend off all +but the most violent attacks of ennui.</p> + +<p>We were both keenly interested in the experiment. Nothing that happened +on the farm went unchallenged. The milk product for the day was a thing +of interest; the egg count could not go unnoted; a hatch of chickens +must be seen before they left the incubator; a litter of new-born pigs +must be admired; horses and cows were forever doing things which they +should or should not do; men and maids had griefs and joys to share with +mistress or Headman; flowers were blooming, trees were leafing, a robin +had built in the black oak, a gopher was tunnelling the rose bed,—a +thousand things, full of interest, were happening every day. As a place +where things the most unexpected do happen, recommend me to a quiet +farm.</p> + +<p>But we were not to depend entirely upon outside things for diversion. +Books we had galore, and we both loved them. Many a charming evening +have I spent, sometimes alone, more often with two or three congenial +friends, listening to Polly's reading. This is one of her most +delightful accomplishments. Her friends never tire of her voice, and her +voice never tires of her friends. We all grow lazy when she is about; +but there are worse things than indolence. No, we did not mean to drop +out of anything worth while; but we were pretty well provisioned against +a siege, if inclement weather or some other accident should lock us up +at the farm.</p> + +<p>To keep still better hold of the city, I suggested to Tom and Kate that +they should keep open house for us, or any part of us, whenever we were +inclined to take advantage of their hospitality. This would give us city +refuge after late functions of all sorts. The plan has worked admirably. +I devote $1200 a year out of the $5200 of food-and-shelter money to the +support of our city shelter at Kate's house, and the balance, $4000, is +entered at the end of each year on the credit side of the farm ledger. +Nor do I think this in any way unjust. We do not expect to get things +for nothing, and we do not wish to. If the things we pay for now are as +valuable as those we paid for six or eight years ago, we ought not to +find fault with an equal price. I have repeatedly polled the family on +this question, and we all agree that we have lost nothing by the change, +and that we have gained a great deal in several ways. Our friends are of +like opinion; and I am therefore justified in crediting Four Oaks with a +considerable sum for food and shelter. We have bettered our condition +without foregoing anything, and without increasing our expenses. That is +enough.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX</h2> + +<h4>AUTUMN RECKONING</h4> + + +<p>We harvested the crops in the autumn of 1896, and were thankful for the +bountiful yield. Nearly sixteen hundred bushels of oats and twenty-seven +hundred bushels of corn made a proud showing in the granary, when added +to its previous stock. The corn fodder, shredded by our own men and +machine, made the great forage barn look like an overflowing cornucopia, +and the only extra expense attending the harvest was $31 paid for +threshing the oats.</p> + +<p>Three important items of food are consumed on the farm that have to be +purchased each year, and as there is not much fluctuation in the price +paid, we may as well settle the per capita rate for the milch cows and +hogs for once and all. At each year's end we can then easily find the +cash outlay for the herds by multiplying the number of stock by the cost +of keeping one.</p> + +<p>My Holstein cows consume a trifle less than three tons of grain each per +year,—about fifteen pounds a day. Taking the ration for four cows as a +matter of convenience, we have: corn and cob meal, three tons, and +oatmeal, three tons, both kinds raised and ground on the farm, and not +charged in this account; wheat bran, three tons at $18, $54; gluten +meal, two tons at $24, $48; oil meal, one ton, $26; total cash outlay +for four cows, $128, or $32 per head. This estimate is, however, about +$2 too liberal. We will, hereafter, charge each milch cow $30, and will +also charge each hog fattened on the place $1 for shorts and middlings +consumed. This is not exact, but it is near enough, and it greatly +simplifies accounts.</p> + +<p>As I kept twenty-six cows ten months, and ten more for an average of +four and a half months, the feeding for 1896 would be equivalent to one +year for thirty cows, or $900. To this add $120 for swine food and $25 +for grits and oyster shells for the chickens, and we have $1045 paid for +food for stock. Shoeing the horses for the year and repairs to machinery +cost $157. The purchased food for eight employees for twelve months and +for two additional ones for eight months, amounted to $734. The wage +account, including $50 extra to Thompson, was $2358.</p> + +<p>A second hen-house, a duplicate of the first, was built before October. +It was intended that each house should accommodate four hundred laying +hens. We have now on the place five of these houses; but only two of +them, besides the incubator and the brooder-house, were built in 1896. +As offset to the heavy expenditure of this year, I had not much to show. +Seven hundred cockerels were sold in November for $342. In October the +pullets began laying in desultory fashion, and by November they had +settled down to business; and that quarter they gave me 703 dozen eggs +to sell. As these eggs were marketed within twenty-four hours, and under +a guarantee, I had no difficulty in getting thirty cents a dozen, net. +November eggs brought $211, and the December out-put, $252. I sold 600 +bushels of potatoes for $150, and the apples from 150 of the old trees +(which, by the way, were greatly improved this year) brought $450 on the +trees.</p> + +<p>The cows did well. In the thirty-three weeks from May 12 to December 31, +I sold a little more than 6600 pounds of butter, which netted me $2127.</p> + +<p>We had 122 young hogs to sell in December. They had been crowded as fast +as possible to make good weight, and they went to market at an average +of 290 pounds a head. The price was low, but I got the top of the +market,—$3.55 a hundred, which amounted to $1170 after paying charges. +I had reserved twenty-five of the most likely young sows to stay on the +farm, and had transferred eight to the village butcher, who was to +return them in the shape of two barrels of salt pork, thirty-two smoked +hams and shoulders, and a lot of bacon.</p> + +<p>The old sows farrowed again in September and early October, and we went +into the winter with 162 young pigs. I get these details out of the way +now in order to turn to the family and the social side of life at Four +Oaks.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI</h2> + +<h4>THE CHILDREN</h4> + + +<p>The house did not progress as fast as Nelson had promised, and it was +likely to be well toward Christmas before we could occupy it. As the +days shortened, Polly and I found them crowded with interests. Life at +Four Oaks was to mean such a radical change that we could not help +speculating about its influence upon us and upon the children. Would it +be satisfactory to us and to them? Or should we find after a year or two +of experiment that we had been mistaken in believing that we could live +happier lives in the country than in town? A year and a half of outdoor +life and freedom from professional responsibilities had wrought a great +change in me. I could now eat and sleep like a hired man, and it seemed +preposterous to claim that I was going to the country for my health. My +medical adviser, however, insisted that I had not gotten far enough away +from the cause of my breakdown, and that it would be unwise for me to +take up work again for at least another year. In my own mind there was a +fixed opinion that I should never take it up again. I loved it dearly; +but I had given long, hard service to it, and felt that I had earned the +right to freedom from its exacting demands. I have never lost interest +in this, the noblest of professions, but I had done my share, and was +now willing to watch the work of others. In my mind there was no doubt +about the desirability of the change. I have always loved the thought of +country life, and now that my thoughts were taking material shape, I was +keen to push on. Polly looked toward the untrammelled life we hoped to +lead with as great pleasure as I.</p> + +<p>But how about the children? Would it appeal to them with the same force +as to us? The children have thus far been kept in the background. I +wanted to start my factory farm and to get through with most of its dull +details before introducing them to the reader, lest I should be diverted +from the business to the domestic, or social, proposition.</p> + +<p>The farm is laid by for the winter, and most of the details needed for a +just comprehension of our experiment have been given. From this time on +we will deal chiefly with results. We will watch the out-put from the +factory, and commend or find fault as the case may deserve.</p> + +<p>The social side of life is quite as important as the commercial, for +though we gain money, if we lose happiness, what profit have we? Let us +study the children to see what chances for happiness and good fellowship +lie in them.</p> + +<p>Kate is our first-born. She is a bright, beautiful woman of +five-and-twenty, who has had a husband these six years, one daughter for +four years, and, wonderful to relate, another daughter for two years. +She is quick and practical, with strong opinions of her own, prompt with +advice and just as prompt with aid; a woman with a temper, but a friend +to tie to in time of stress. She has the education of a good school, and +what is infinitely better, the cultivation of an observing mind. She is +quick with tongue and pen, but her quickness is so tempered by +unquestioned friendliness that it fastens people to her as with a cord. +She overflows with interests of every description, but she is never too +busy to listen sympathetically to a child or a friend. She is the +practical member of the family, and we rarely do much out of the +ordinary without first talking it over with Kate.</p> + +<p>Tom Hamilton, her husband, is a young man who is getting on in the +world. He is clever in his profession, and sure to succeed beyond the +success of most men. He is quiet in manner, but he seems to have a way +of managing his quick, handsome wife, which is something of a surprise +to me, and to her also, I fancy. They are congenial and happy, and their +children are beings to adore. Tom and Kate are to live in town. They are +too young for the joys of country life, and must needs drag on as they +are, loved and admired by a host of friends. They can, and will, +however, spend much time at Four Oaks; and I need not say they approved +our plans.</p> + +<p>Jack is our second. He was a junior at Yale, and I am shy of saying much +about him lest I be accused of partiality. Enough to say that he is +tall, blond, handsome, and that he has gentle, winning ways that draw +the love of men and women. He is a dreamer of dreams, but he has a +sturdy drop of Puritan blood in his veins that makes him strong in +conviction and brave in action. Jack has never caused me an hour of +anxiety, and I was ever proud to see him in any company.</p> + +<p>Concerning Jane, I must be pardoned in advance for a father's +favoritism. She is my youngest, and to me she seems all that a father +could wish. Of fair height and well moulded, her physique is perfect. +Good health and a happy life had set the stamp of superb womanhood upon +her eighteen years. Any effort to describe her would be vain and +unsatisfactory. Suffice it to say that she is a pure blonde, with eyes, +hair, and skin just to my liking. She is quiet and shy in manner, +deliberate in speech, sensitive beyond measure, wise in intuitive +judgment, clever in history and literature, but always a little in doubt +as to the result of putting seven and eight together, and not +unreasonably dominated by the rules of orthography. She is fond of +outdoor life, in love with horses and dogs, and withal very much of a +home girl. Every one makes much of Jane, and she is not spoiled, but +rather improved by it. She was in her second year at Farmington, and, +like all Farmington students, she cared more for girls than for boys.</p> + +<p>These were the children whom I was to transport from the city, where +they were born, to the quiet life at Four Oaks. After carefully taking +their measures, I felt little hesitation about making the change. They, +of course, had known of the plan, and had often been to the farm; but +they were still to find out what it really meant to live there. A saddle +horse and dogs galore would square me with Jane, beyond question; but +what about Jack? Time must decide that. His plan of life was not yet +formed, and we could afford to wait. We did not have much time in which +to weigh these matters, for the Christmas holidays were near, and the +youngsters would soon be home. We planned to be settled in the new house +when they arrived.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII</h2> + +<h4>THE HOME-COMING</h4> + + +<p>In arranging to move my establishment I was in a quandary as to what it +was best to do for a coachman. Lars had been with me fifteen years. He +came a green Swedish lad, developed into a first-class coachman, married +a nice girl—and for twelve years he and his wife lived happily in the +rooms above my stable. Two boys were born to them, and these lads were +now ten and twelve years of age. Shortly after I bought the farm Lars +was so unfortunate as to lose his good wife, and he and the boys were +left forlorn. A relative came and gave them such care as she could, but +the mother and wife was missed beyond remedy. In his depression Lars +took to drink, and things began to go wrong in the stable. He was not +often drunk, but he was much of the time under the influence of alcohol, +and consequently not reliable. I had done my best for the poor fellow, +and he took my lectures and chidings in the way they were intended, and, +indeed, he tried hard to break loose from the one bad habit, but with no +good results. His evil friends had such strong hold on him that they +could and would lead him astray whenever there was opportunity. Polly +and I had many talks about this matter. She was growing timid under his +driving, and yet she was attached to him for long and faithful service.</p> + +<p>"Let's chance it," she said. "If we get him away from these people who +lead him astray, he may brace up and become a man again."</p> + +<p>"But what about the boys, Polly?" said I.</p> + +<p>"We ought to be able to find something for the boys to do on the farm, +and they can go to school at Exeter. Can't they drive the butter-cart +out each morning and home after school? They're smart chaps, you know, +and used to doing things."</p> + +<p>Polly had found a way, and I was heartily glad of it, for I did not feel +like giving up my hold on the man and the boys. Lars was glad of the +chance to make good again, and he willingly agreed to go. He was to +receive $23 a month. This was less than he was getting in the city, but +it was the wage which we were paying that year at the farm, and he was +content; for the boys were each to receive $5 a month, and to be sent to +school eight months a year for three years.</p> + +<p>This matter arranged, we began to plan for the moving. I had five horses +in my stable,—a span of blacks for the carriage and three single +drivers. Besides the horses, harness, and equipment, there was a large +carriage, a brougham, a Goddard phæton, a runabout, and a cart. I +exchanged the brougham and the Goddard for a station wagon and a park +phæton, as more suitable for country use.</p> + +<p>The barn equipment was all sent in one caravan, Thompson and Zeb coming +into town to help Lars drive out. Our lares and penates were sent by +freight on December 17. Polly had managed to coax another thousand +dollars out of me for things for the house; and these, with the +furniture from our old home, made a brave showing when we gathered +around the big fire in the living room, December 22, for our first night +in the country.</p> + +<p>Tom, Kate, and the grand-girls were with us to spend the holidays, and +so, too, was the lady whom we call Laura. I shall not try to say much +about Laura. She was a somewhat recent friend. How we ever came to know +her well, was half a mystery; and how we ever got on before we knew her +well, was a whole one.</p> + +<p>Roaring fires and shaded lamps gave an air of homelike grace to our new +house, and we decided that we would never economize in either wood or +oil; they seemed to stir the home spirit more than ever did coal or +electricity.</p> + +<p>The day had been a busy one for the ladies, but they were pleased with +results as they looked around the well-ordered house and saw the work of +their hands. Before separating for the night, Kate said:—</p> + +<p>"I'm going to town to-morrow, and I'll pick up Jane and Jack in time to +take the four o'clock train out. Papa will meet us at the station, and +Momee will greet us at the doorstep. Make an illumination, Momee, and we +will carry them by storm. Tom will have to take a later train, but he +will be here in time for dinner."</p> + +<p>The afternoon of the 23d, the children came, and there was no failure in +Kate's plan. The youngsters were delighted with everything. Jane said:—</p> + +<p>"I always wanted to live on a farm. I can have a saddle horse now, and +keep as many dogs as I like, can't I, Dad?"</p> + +<p>"You shall have the horse, and the dogs, too, when you come to stay."</p> + +<p>"Daddy," said Jack, "this will be great for you. Let me finish at an +agricultural college, so that I can be of some practical help."</p> + +<p>"Not on your life, my son! What your daddy doesn't know about farming +wouldn't spoil a cup of tea! While you are at home I will give you daily +instruction in this most wholesome and independent business, which will +be of incalculable benefit to you, and which, I am frank to say, you +cannot get in any agricultural college. College, indeed! I have spent +thousands of hours in dreaming and planning what a farm should be like! +Do you suppose I am going to let these visions become contaminated by +practical knowledge? Not by a long way! I have, in the silent watches +of the night, reduced the art to mathematical exactness, and I can show +you the figures. Don't talk to me about colleges!"</p> + +<p>After supper we took the children through the house. Every part was +inspected, and many were the expressions of pleasure and admiration. +They were delighted with their rooms, and apparently with everything +else. We finally quieted down in front of the open fire and discussed +plans for the holidays. The children decided that it must be a house +party.</p> + +<p>"Florence Marcy is with an aunt for whom she doesn't particularly care, +and Minnie will just jump at the chance of spending a week in the +country," said Jane.</p> + +<p>"You can invite three girls, and Jack can have three men. Of course +Jessie Gordon will be here. We will drive over in the morning and make +sure of her."</p> + +<p>"Jack, whom will you ask? Get some good men out here, won't you?"</p> + +<p>"The best in the world, little sister, and you will have to keep a sharp +lookout or you will lose your heart to one of them. Frank Howard will +count it a lark. He has stuck to the "business" as faithfully as if he +were not heir to it, and he will come sure to-morrow night. Dear old +Phil—my many years' chum—will come because I ask him. These two are +all right, and we can count on them. The other one is Jim Jarvis,—the +finest man in college."</p> + +<p>"Tell us about him, Jack."</p> + +<p>"Jarvis's father lives in Montana, and has a lot of gold mines and other +things to keep him busy. He doesn't have time to pay much attention to +his son, who is growing up after his own fashion. Jim's mother is dead, +and he has neither brother nor sister,—nothing but money and beauty and +health and strength and courage and sense and the stanchest heart that +ever lifted waistcoat! He has been on the eleven three years. They want +him in the boat, but he'll not have it; says it's not good work for a +man. He's in the first division, well toward the front, too, and in the +best society. He's taken a fancy to me, and I'm dead gone on him. He's +the man for you to shun, little woman, unless you wish to be led +captive."</p> + +<p>"There are others, Jack, so don't worry about me. But do you think you +can secure this paragon?"</p> + +<p>"Not a doubt of it! I'll wire him in the morning, and he'll be here as +soon as steam can bring him; he's my best chum, you know."</p> + +<p>This would make our party complete. We were all happy and pleased, and +the evening passed before we knew it.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII</h2> + +<h4>CHRISTMAS EVE</h4> + + +<p>The next day was a busy one for all of us. Polly and Jane drove to the +Gordons and secured Miss Jessie, and then Jane went to town to fetch her +other friends. Jack went with her, after having telegraphed to Jim +Jarvis. They all came home by mid-afternoon, just as a message came from +Jarvis: "Will be on deck at six."</p> + +<p>Florence Marcy and Minnie Henderson were former neighbors and +schoolmates of Jane's. They were fine girls to look at and bright girls +to talk with; blondes, eighteen, high-headed, full of life, and great +girls for a house party. Phil and Frank were good specimens of their +kinds. Frank was a little below medium height, slight, blond, vivacious +to a degree, full of fun, and the most industrious talker within miles; +he would "stir things up" at a funeral. Phil Stone was tall, slender, +dark, quiet, well-dressed, a good dancer, and a very agreeable fellow in +the corner of the room, where his low musical voice was most effective.</p> + +<p>Jessie Gordon came at five o'clock. We were all very fond of Jessie, and +who could help it? She was tall (considerably above the average +height), slender, straight as an arrow, graceful in repose and in +motion. She carried herself like a queen, with a proud kind of shyness +that became her well. Her head was small and well set on a slender neck, +her hair dark, luxurious, wavy, and growing low over a broad forehead, +her eyes soft brown, shaded by heavy brows and lashes. She had a Grecian +nose, and her mouth was a shade too wide, but it was guarded by +singularly perfect and sensitive lips. Her chin was pronounced enough to +give the impression of firmness; indeed, save for the soft eyes and +sensitive mouth, firmness predominated. She was not a great talker, yet +every one loved to listen to her. She laughed with her eyes and lips, +but rarely with her voice. She enjoyed intensely, and could, therefore, +suffer intensely. She was a dear girl in every way.</p> + +<p>All was now ready for the début of Jack's paragon. Jack had driven to +the station to fetch him, and presently the sound of wheels on the +gravel drive announced the arrival of the last guest. I went into the +hall to meet the men.</p> + +<p>"Daddy, I want you to know my chum, Jim Jarvis,—the finest all-round +son of old Eli. Jarvis, this is my daddy,—the finest father that ever +had son!"</p> + +<p>"I'm right glad to meet you, Mr. Jarvis; your renown has preceded you."</p> + +<p>"I fear, Doctor, it has <i>exceeded</i> me as well. Jack is not to be +trusted on all subjects. But, indeed, I thank you for your hospitality; +it was a godsend to me."</p> + +<p>As we entered the living room, Polly came forward and I presented Jarvis +to her.</p> + +<p>"You are more than welcome, Mr. Jarvis! Jack's 'best friend' is certain +of a warm corner at our fireside."</p> + +<p>"Madam, I find no word of thanks, but I <i>do</i> thank you. I have envied +Jack his home letters and the evidences of mother care more than +anything else,—and God knows there are enough other things to envy him +for. I have no mother, and my father is too busy to pay much attention +to me. I wish you would adopt me; I'll try to rival Jack in all that is +dutiful."</p> + +<p>She did adopt him then and there, for who could refuse such a son! Brown +hair, brown eyes, brown skin, a frank, rugged, clean-shaven face, +features strong enough to excite criticism and good enough to bear it; +broad-shouldered, deep-chested, strong in arm and limb, he carried his +six feet of manhood like an Apollo in tweeds. He was introduced to the +girls,—the men he knew,—but he was not so quick in his speeches to +them. Our Hercules was only mildly conscious of his merits, and was +evidently relieved when Jack hurried him off to his room to dress for +dinner. When he was fairly out of hearing there was a chorus of +comments. The girls all declaimed him handsome, and the boys said:—</p> + +<p>"That isn't the best of it,—he's a <i>trump</i>! Wait till you know him."</p> + +<p>Jane was too loyal to Jack to admit that his friend was any handsomer or +in any way a finer fellow than her brother.</p> + +<p>"Who said he was?" said Frank, "Jack Williams is out and out the finest +man I know. We were sizing him up by such fellows as Phil and me."</p> + +<p>"Jack's the most popular man at Yale," said Phil, "but he's too modest +to know it; Jarvis will tell you so. He thinks it's a great snap to have +Jack for his chum."</p> + +<p>These things were music in my ears, for I was quite willing to agree +with the boys, and the mother's eyes were full of joy as she led the way +to the dining room. That was a jolly meal. Nothing was said that could +be remembered, and yet we all talked a great deal and laughed a great +deal more. City, country, farm, college, and seminary were touched with +merry jests. Light wit provoked heavy laughter, and every one was the +better for it. It was nine o'clock before we left the table. I heard +Jarvis say:—</p> + +<p>"Miss Jane, I count it very unkind of Jack not to have let me go to +Farmington with him last term. He used to talk of his 'little sister' as +though she were a miss in short dresses. Jack is a deep and treacherous +fellow!"</p> + +<p>"Rather say, a very prudent brother," said Jane. "However, you may come +to the Elm Tree Inn in the spring term, if Jack will let you."</p> + +<p>"I'll work him all winter," was Jarvis's reply.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV</h2> + +<h4>CHRISTMAS</h4> + + +<p>Christmas light was slow in coming. There was a hush in the air as if +the earth were padded so that even the footsteps of Nature might not be +heard. Out of my window I saw that a great fall of snow had come in the +night. The whole landscape was covered by fleecy down—soft and white as +it used to be when I first saw it on the hills of New England. No wind +had moved it; it lay as it fell, like a white mantle thrown lightly over +the world. Great feathery flakes filled the air and gently descended +upon the earth, like that beautiful Spirit that made the plains of Judea +bright two thousand years ago. It seemed a fitting emblem of that nature +which covered the unloveliness of the world by His own beauty, and +changed the dark spots of earth to pure white.</p> + +<p>It was an ideal Christmas morning,—clean and beautiful. Such a wealth +of purity was in the air that all the world was clothed with it. The +earth accepted the beneficence of the skies, and the trees bent in +thankfulness for their beautiful covering. It was a morning to make one +thoughtful,—to make one thankful, too, for home and friends and +country, and a future that could be earned, where the white folds of +usefulness and purity would cover man's inheritance of selfishness and +passion.</p> + +<p>For an hour I watched the big flakes fall; and, as I watched, I dreamed +the dream of peace for all the world. The brazen trumpet of war was a +thing of the past. The white dove of peace had built her nest in the +cannon's mouth and stopped its awful roar. The federation of the world +was secured by universal intelligence and community of interest. Envy +and selfishness and hypocrisy, and evil doing and evil speaking, were +deeply covered by the snowy mantle that brought "peace on earth and good +will to men."</p> + +<p>My dream was not dispelled by any rude awakening. As the house threw off +the fetters of the night and gradually struggled into activity, it was +in such a fresh and loving manner and with such thoughtful solicitude +for each member of our world, that I walked in my dream all day.</p> + +<p>The snow fell rapidly till noon, and then the sun came forth from the +veil of clouds and cast its southern rays across the white expanse with +an effect that drew exclamations of delight from all who had eyes to +see. No wind stirred the air, but ever and anon a bright avalanche would +slide from bough or bush, sparkle and gleam as the sun caught it, and +then sink gently into the deep lap spread below. The bough would spring +as if to catch its beautiful load, and, failing in this, would throw up +its head and try to look unconcerned,—though quite evidently conscious +of its bereavement.</p> + +<p>The appearance of the sun brought signs of life and activity. The men +improvised a snow-plough, the strong horses floundering in front of it +made roads and paths through the two feet of feathers that hid the +world.</p> + +<p>After lunch, the young people went for a frolic in the snow. Two hours +later the shaking of garments and stamping of feet gave evidence of the +return of the party. Stepping into the hall I was at once surrounded by +the handsomest troupe of Esquimaux that ever invaded the temperate zone. +The snow clung lovingly to their wet clothing and would not be shaken +off; their cheeks were flushed, their eyes bright, and their voices +pitched at an out-of-doors key.</p> + +<p>"Away to your rooms, every one of you, and get into dry clothes," said +I. "Don't dare show yourselves until the dinner bell rings. I'll send +each of you a hot negus,—it's a prescription and must be taken; I'm a +tyrant when professional."</p> + +<p>We saw nothing more of them until dinner. The young ladies came in +white, with their maiden shoulders losing nothing by contact with their +snow-white gowns. All but Miss Jessie, whose dress was a pearl velvet, +buttoned close to her slender throat. I loved this style best, but I +could never believe that anything could be prettier than Jane's white +shoulders.</p> + +<p>The table was loaded, as Christmas tables should be, and, as I asked +God's blessing on it and us, the thought came that the answer had +preceded the request and that we were blessed in unusual degree.</p> + +<p>After dinner the rugs in the great room were rolled up, and the young +folks danced to Laura's music, which could inspire unwilling feet. But +there were none such that night. Tom and Kate led off in the newest and +most fantastic waltz, others followed, and Polly and I were the only +spectators. An hour of this, and then we gathered around the hearth to +hear Polly read "The Christmas Carol." No one reads like Polly. Her low, +soft voice seems never to know fatigue, but runs on like a musical +brook. When the reading was over, a hush of satisfied enjoyment had +taken possession of us all. It was not broken when Miss Jessie turned to +the piano and sang that glorious hymn, "Lead, Kindly Light." Jack was +close beside her, his blue eyes shining with an appreciation of which +any woman might be proud, and his baritone in perfect harmony with her +rich contralto. The young ladies took the higher part, Frank added his +tenor, and even Phil and I leaned heavily on Jarvis's deep bass. My +effort was of short duration; a lump gathered in my throat that caused +me to turn away. Polly was searching fruitlessly for something to dry +the tears that overran her eyes, and I was able to lend her aid, but the +accommodation was of the nature of a "call loan."</p> + +<p>As we separated for the night, Jarvis said: "Lady mother, this day has +been a revelation to me. If I live a hundred years, I shall never forget +it." I was slow in bringing it to a close. As I loitered in my room, I +heard the shuffling of slippered feet in the hall, and a timid knock at +Polly's door. It was quickly opened for Jane and Jessie, and I heard +sobbing voices say:—</p> + +<p>"Momee, we want to cry on your bed," and, "Oh, Mrs. Williams, why can't +all days be like this!"</p> + +<p>Polly's voice was low and indistinct, but I know that it carried strong +and loving counsel; and, as I turned to my pillow, I was still dreaming +the dream of the morning.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXV" id="CHAPTER_XXXV"></a>CHAPTER XXXV</h2> + +<h4>WE CLOSE THE BOOKS FOR '96</h4> + + +<p>The morning after Christmas broke clear, with a wind from the south that +promised to make quick work of the snow. The young people were engaged +for the evening, as indeed for most evenings, in the hospitable village, +and they spent the day on the farm as pleased them best.</p> + +<p>There were many things to interest city-bred folk on a place like Four +Oaks. Everything was new to them, and they wanted to see the workings of +the factory farm in all its detail. They made friends with the men who +had charge of the stock, and spent much time in the stables. Polly and I +saw them occasionally, but they did not need much attention from us. We +have never found it necessary to entertain our friends on the farm. They +seem to do that for themselves. We simply live our lives with them, and +they live theirs with us. This works well both for the guests and for +the hosts.</p> + +<p>The great event of the holiday week was a New Year Eve dance at the +Country Club. Every member was expected to appear in person or by proxy, +as this was the greatest of many functions of the year.</p> + +<p>Sunday was warm and sloppy, and little could be done out of doors. Part +of the household were for church, and the rest lounged until luncheon; +then Polly read "Sonny" until twilight, and Laura played strange music +in the half-dark.</p> + +<p>The next day the men went into town to look about, and to lunch with +some college chums. As they would not return until five, the ladies had +the day to themselves. They read a little, slept a little, and talked +much, and were glad when five o'clock and the men came. Tea was so hot +and fragrant, the house so cosey, and the girls so pretty, that Jack +said:—</p> + +<p>"What chumps we men were to waste the whole day in town!"</p> + +<p>"And what do you expect of men, Mr. Jack?" said Jessie.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know, the old story of pearls and swine, but there are pearls +and pearls."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean that there are more pearls than swine, Mr. Jack? For, if +you do, I will take issue with you."</p> + +<p>"If I am a swine, I will be an æsthetic one and wear the pearl that +comes my way," said Jack, looking steadily into the eyes of the +high-headed girl.</p> + +<p>"Will you have one lump or two?"</p> + +<p>"One," said Jack, as he took his cup.</p> + +<p>The last day of the year came all too quickly for both young and old at +Four Oaks. Polly and I went into hiding in the office in the afternoon +to make up the accounts for the year. As Polly had spent the larger +lump sum, I could face her with greater boldness than on the previous +occasion. Here is an excerpt from the farm ledger:—</p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" summary="Interest table"> +<tr><td align='left'>Expended in 1896</td><td align='right'>$43,309</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Interest on previous account</td><td align='right'>2,200</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>_______</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Total</td><td align='right'>$45,509</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Receipts</td><td align='right'>5,105</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>_______</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Net expense</td><td align='right'>$40,404</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Previous account</td><td align='right'>44,000</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>_______</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>$84,404</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>The farm owes me a little more than $84,000. "Not so good as I hoped, +and not so bad as I feared," said Polly. "We will win out all right, Mr. +Headman, though it does seem a lot of money."</p> + +<p>"Like the Irishman's pig," quoth I. "Pat said, 'It didn't weigh nearly +as much as I expected, but I never thought it would.'"</p> + +<p>There was little to depress us in the past, and nothing in the present, +so we joined the young people for the dance at the Club.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXXVI</h2> + +<h4>OUR FRIENDS</h4> + + +<p>After our guests had departed, to college or school or home, the house +was left almost deserted. We did not shut it up, however. Fires were +bright on all hearths, and lamps were kept burning. We did not mean to +lose the cheeriness of the house, though much of the family had +departed. For a wonder, the days did not seem lonesome. After the fist +break was over, we did not find time to think of our solitude, and as +the weeks passed we wondered what new wings had caused them to fly so +swiftly. Each day had its interests of work or study or social function. +Stormy days and unbroken evenings were given to reading. We consumed +many books, both old and new, and we were not forgotten by our friends. +The dull days of winter did not drag; indeed, they were accepted with +real pleasure. Our lives had hitherto been too much filled with the +hurry and bustle inseparable from the fashionable existence-struggle of +a large city to permit us to settle down with quiet nerves to the real +happiness of home. So much of enjoyment accompanies and depends upon +tranquillity of mind, that we are apt to miss half of it in the turmoil +of work-strife and social-strife that fill the best years of most men +and women.</p> + +<p>It is a pity that all overwrought people cannot have a chance to relax +their nerves, and to learn the possibilities of happiness that are +within them. Most of the jars and bickerings of domestic life, most of +the mental and moral obliquities, depend upon threadbare nerves, either +inherited or uncovered by friction incident to getting on in the world. +I never understood the comforts that follow in the wake of a quiet, +unambitious life, until such a life was forced upon me. When you +discover these comforts for the first time, you marvel that you have +foregone them so long, and are fain to recommend them to all the world.</p> + +<p>Polly and I had gotten on reasonably well up to this time; but before we +became conscious of any change, we found ourselves drawn closer together +by a multitude of small interests common to both. After twenty-five +years of married life it will compensate any man to take a little time +from business and worry that he may become acquainted with his wife. A +few fortunate men do this early in life, and they draw compound interest +on the investment; but most of us feel the cares of life so keenly that +we take them home with us to show in our faces and to sit at our tables +and to blight the growth of that cheerful intercourse which perpetuates +love and cements friendship in the home as well as in the world.</p> + +<p>There were no serious cares nowadays, and time passed so smoothly at +Four Oaks that we wondered at the picnic life that had fallen to us. The +village of Exeter was alive in all things social. The city families who +had farms or country places near the village were so fond of them that +they rarely closed them for more than two or three months, and these +months were as likely to come in summer as in winter.</p> + +<p>Our friends the Gordons made Homestead Farm their permanent residence, +though they kept open house in town. Beyond the Gordons' was the modest +home of an Irish baronet, Sir Thomas O'Hara. Sir Tom was a bachelor of +sixty. He had run through two fortunes (as became an Irish baronet) in +the racing field and at Homburg, and as a young man he had lived ten +years at Limmer's tavern in London. When not in training to ride his own +steeple-chasers, he was putting up his hands against any man in England +who would face him for a few friendly rounds. He was not always +victorious, either in the field, before the green cloth, or in the ring; +but he was always a kind-hearted gentleman who would divide his last +crown with friend or foe, and who could accept a beating with grace and +unruffled spirit.</p> + +<p>He could never ride below the welter weight, and after a few years he +outgrew this weight and was forced to give up the least expensive of +his diversions. The green cloth now received more of his attention, +and, as a matter of course, of his money. Things went badly with him, +and he began to see the end of his second fortune before he called a +halt. Bad times in Ireland seriously reduced his rents, and he was +forced to dispose of his salable estates. Then he came to this country +in the hope of recouping himself, and to get away from the fast set that +surrounded him.</p> + +<p>"I can resist anything but temptation," this warm-hearted Irishman would +say; and that was the keynote of his character.</p> + +<p>Though Sir Tom was only sixty years old, he looked seventy. He was much +broken in health by gout and the fast pace of his early manhood. But his +spirit was untouched by misfortune, disease, or hardship. His courage +was as good as when he served as a subaltern of the Guards in the +trenches before Sebastopol, or presented his body as a mark for the +sledge-hammer blows of Tom Sayers, just for diversion. His constitution +must have been superb, for even in his decrepitude he was good to look +upon: five feet ten, fine body, slightly given to rotundity, legs a +little shrunken in the shanks, but giving unmistakable signs of what +they had been ("not lost, but gone before," as he would say of them), +hands and feet aristocratic in form and well cared for, and a fine head +set on broad shoulders. His hair was thin, and he parted it with great +exactness in the middle. His eyes were brown, large, and of exceeding +softness. His nose was straight in spite of many a contusion, and his +whole expression was that of a high-bred gentleman somewhat the worse +for wear. Sir Tom was perfectly groomed when he came forth from his +chamber, which was usually about ten in the morning.</p> + +<p>Those of us who had access to his rooms often wondered how he ever got +out of them looking so immaculate, for they were a perfectly impassable +jungle to the stranger. Such a tangle of trunks, hand-bags, rug bundles, +clothes, boots, pajamas, newspapers, scrap-books, B. & S. bottles, could +hardly be found anywhere else in the world. He had a fondness for +newspaper clippings, and had trunks of them, sorted into bundles or +pasted in scrap-books. Old volumes of Bell's <i>Life</i> filled more than one +trunk, and on one occasion when he and I were spending a long evening +together, in celebration of his recent recovery from an attack of gout, +and when he had done more than usual justice to the B. & S. bottles and +less than usual justice to his gout, he showed me the record of a +long-gone year in which this same Bell's <i>Life</i> called him the "first +among the gentlemen riders in the United Kingdom," and proved this +assertion by showing how he had won most of the great steeple-chases in +England and Ireland, riding his own horses. This was the nearest +approach to boasting that ever came to my knowledge in the years of our +close friendship, and I would never have thought of it as such had I +not seen that he regarded it as unwarrantable self-praise.</p> + +<p>I have never known a more simple, kind-hearted, agreeable, and lovable +gentleman than this broken-down sporting man and gambler. I loved him as +a brother; and though he has passed out of my life, I still love the +memory of his genial face, his courtesy, his unselfish friendship, more +than words can express. A tender heart and a gentle spirit found strange +housing in a body given over to reckless prodigality. The combination, +tempered by time and exhaustion, showed nothing that was not lovable; +and it is scant praise to say that Sir Thomas was much to me.</p> + +<p>He was just as acceptable to Polly. No woman could fail to appreciate +the homage which he never failed to show to the wife and mother. Many +winter evenings at Four Oaks were made brighter by his presence, and we +grew to expect him at least three nights each week. His plate was placed +on our round table these nights, and he rarely failed to use it; and the +B. & S. bottles were near at hand, and his favorite brand of cigars +within easy reach.</p> + +<p>"I light a 'baccy' by your permission, Mrs. Williams," and a courtly bow +accompanied the words.</p> + +<p>At 9.30 William came to bring Sir Tom home. The leave-taking was always +formal with Polly, but with me it was, "Ta-ta, Williams—see you +later," and our guest would hobble out on his poor crippled feet, waving +his hand gallantly, with a voice as cheery as a boy's.</p> + +<p>Another family whom I wish the reader to know well is the Kyrles. For +more than twenty-five years we have known no joys or sorrows which they +did not feel, and no interests that touched them have failed to leave a +mark on us. We could not have been more intimate or better friends had +the closest blood tie united us. The acquaintance of young married +couples had grown into a friendship that was bearing its best fruit at a +time when best fruit was most appreciated. We do not consider a pleasure +more than half complete until we have told it to Will and Frances Kyrle, +for their delight doubles our happiness.</p> + +<p>They were among the earliest of my patients, and they are easily first +among our friends. I have watched more than a half-dozen of their +children from infancy to adult life, and this alone would be a strong +bond; but in addition to this is the fact that the whole family, from +father to youngest child, possess in a wonderful degree that subtle +sense of true camaraderie which is as rare as it is charming.</p> + +<p>The Kyrles lived in the city, but they were foot-free, and we could +count on having them often. Four Oaks was to be, if we had our way, a +country home for them almost as much as for us. Indeed, one of the +rooms was called the Kyrles' room, and they came to it at will. Enough +about our friends. We must go back to the farm interests, which are, +indeed, the only excuse for this history.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVII</h2> + +<h4>THE HEADMAN'S JOB</h4> + + +<p>Our life at Four Oaks began in earnest in January, 1897. Even during the +winter months there was no lack of employment and interest for the +Headman. I breakfasted at seven, and from that time until noon I was as +busy as if I were working for $20 a month. The master's eye is worth +more than his hand in a factory like mine. My men were, and are, an +unusual lot,—intelligent, sober, and willing,—but they, like others, +are apt to fall into routine ways, and thereby to miss points which an +observing proprietor would not overlook.</p> + +<p>The cows, for instance, were all fed the same ration. Fifteen pounds of +mixed grains was none too much for the big Holstein milk-makers, who +were yielding well and looking in perfect health; but the common cows +were taking on too much flesh and falling off in milk. I at once changed +the ration for these six cows by leaving out the corn entirely and +substituting oat straw for alfalfa in the cut feed. The change brought +good results in five of the cows; the other one did not pick up in her +milk, and after a reasonable trial I sold her.</p> + +<p>The herd was doing excellently for mid-winter,—the yield amounted to a +daily average of 840 pounds throughout the month, and I was able to make +good my contract with the middleman. I could see breakers ahead, +however, and it behooved me to make ready for them. I decided to buy ten +more thoroughbreds in new milk, if I could find them. I wrote to the +people from whom I had purchased the first herd, and after a little +delay secured nine cows in fresh milk and about four years old. This +addition came in February, and kept my milk supply above the danger +point. Since then I have bought no cows. Thirty-four of these +thoroughbreds are still at Four Oaks—two of them have died, and three +have been sold for not keeping up to the standard—and are doing grand +service. Their numbers have been reënforced by twenty of their best +daughters, so there are at this writing fifty-four milch cows and five +yearling heifers in the herd. Most of the calves have been disposed of +as soon as weaned. I have no room for more stock on my place, and it +doesn't pay to keep them to sell as cows. Four Oaks is not a breeding +farm, but a factory farm, and everything has to be subordinated to the +factory idea.</p> + +<p>My thoroughbred calves have brought me an average price of $12 each at +four to six weeks, sold to dairymen, and I am satisfied to do business +in that way. The nine milch cows which I bought to complete the herd +cost, delivered at Four Oaks, $1012.</p> + +<p>All the grain fed to cows, horses, and hogs, and a portion of that fed +to chickens, is ground fine before feeding. The grinding is done in the +granary by a mill with a capacity of forty bushels an hour. We make corn +meal, corn and cob meal, and oatmeal enough for a week's supply in a few +hours. All hay and straw is cut fine, before being fed, by a power +cutter in the forage barn, and from thence is taken by teams in box +racks to the feeding rooms, where it is wetted with hot water and mixed +with the ground feed for the cows and horses, and steamed or cooked with +the ground feed for the hogs and hens.</p> + +<p>Alfalfa is the only hay used for the hens, and wonderfully good it is +for them. Besides feed for the hogs, we have to provide ashes, salt, and +charcoal for them. These three things are kept constantly before them in +narrow troughs set so near the wall that they cannot get their feet into +them.</p> + +<p>We carefully save all wood ashes for the hogs and hens, and we burn our +own charcoal in a pit in the wood lot. Five cords of sound wood make an +abundant supply for a year. I think this side dish constantly before +swine goes a long way toward keeping them healthy. Clean pens, +well-balanced and well-cooked food, pure water, and this medicine can +be counted on to keep a growing and fattening herd healthy during its +nine months of life.</p> + +<p>It is claimed that it is unnatural and artificial to confine these young +things within such narrow limits, and so it is; but the whole scheme is +unnatural, if you please. The pig is born to die, and to die quickly, +for the profit and maintenance of man. What could be more unnatural? +Would he be better reconciled to his fate after spending his nine months +between field and sty? I wot not. The Chester White is an indolent +fellow, and I suspect he loves his comfortable house, his cool stone +porch, his back yard to dig in, his neighbors across the wire fence to +gossip with, and his well-balanced, well-cooked food served under his +own nose three times a day. At least he looks content in his piggery, +and grows faster and puts on more flesh in his 250 days than does his +neighbor of the field. If the hog's profitable life were twice or thrice +as long, I would advocate a wider liberty for the early part of it; but +as it doesn't pay to keep the animal after he is nine months old, the +quickest way to bring him to perfection is the best. One cannot afford +to graze animals of any kind when one is trying to do intensive farming. +It is indirect, it is wasteful of space and energy, and it doesn't force +the highest product. Grazing, as compared with soiling, may be +economical of labor, but as I understand economics that is the one +thing in which we do not wish to economize. The multiplication of +well-paid and well-paying labor is a thing to be specially desired. If +the soiling farm will keep two or three more men employed at good wages, +and at the same time pay better interest than the grazing farm, it +should be looked upon as much the better method. The question of +furnishing landscape for hogs is one that borders too closely on the +æsthetic or the sentimental to gain the approval of the factory-farm +man. What is true of hogs is also true of cows. They are better off +under the constant care of intelligent and interested human beings than +when they follow the rippling brook or wind slowly o'er the lea at their +own sweet pleasure.</p> + +<p>The truth is, the rippling brook doesn't always furnish the best water, +and the lea furnishes very imperfect forage during nine months of the +year. A twenty-acre lot in good grass, in which to take the air, is all +that a well-regulated herd of fifty cows needs. The clean, cool, calm +stable is much to their liking, and the regular diet of a first-class +cow-kitchen insures a uniform flow of milk.</p> + +<p>What is true of hogs and cows is true also of hens. The common opinion +that the farm-raised hen that has free range is healthier or happier +than her sister in a well-ordered hennery is not based on facts. Freedom +to forage for one's self and pick up a precarious living does not always +mean health, happiness, or comfort. The strenuous life on the farm +cannot compare in comfort with the quiet house and the freedom from +anxiety of the well-tended hen. The vicissitudes of life are terrible +for the uncooped chicken. The occupants of air, earth, and water lie in +wait for it. It is fair game for the hawk and the owl; the fox, the +weasel, the rat, the wood pussy, the cat, and the dog are its sworn +enemies. The horse steps on it, the wheel crushes it; it falls into the +cistern or the swill barrel; it is drenched by showers or stiffened by +frosts, and, as the English say, it has a "rather indifferent time of +it." If it survive the summer, and some chickens do, it will roost and +shiver on the limb of an apple tree. Its nest will be accessible only to +the mink and the rat; and, like Rachel, it will mourn for its children, +which are not.</p> + +<p>No, the well-yarded hen has by all odds the best of it. The wonder is +that, with three-fourths of the poultry at large and making its own +living, hens still furnish a product, in this country alone, +$100,000,000 greater in value than the whole world's output of gold. Our +annual production of eggs and poultry foots up to $280,000,000,—$4 +apiece for every man, woman, and child,—and yet people say that hens do +not pay!</p> + +<p>Each flock of forty hens at Four Oaks has a house sixteen feet by +twenty, and a run twenty feet by one hundred. I hear no complaints of +close quarters or lack of freedom, but I do hear continually the song +of contentment, and I see results daily that are more satisfactory than +those of any oil well or mine in which I have ever been interested.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVIII</h2> + +<h4>SPRING OF '97</h4> + + +<p>Sam began to make up his breeding pens in January. He selected 150 of +his favorites, divided them into 10 flocks of 15, added a fine cockerel +to each pen (we do not allow cocks or cockerels to run with the laying +hens), and then began to set the incubator house in order.</p> + +<p>He filled the first incubator on Saturday, January 30, and from that day +until late in April he was able to start a fresh machine about every six +days. Sam reports the total hatch for the year as 1917 chicks, out of +which number he had, when he separated them in the early autumn, 678 +pullets to put in the runs for laying hens, and 653 cockerels to go to +the fattening pens. These figures show that Sam was a first-class +chicken man.</p> + +<p>We secured 300 tons of ice at the side of the lake for $98, having to +pay a little more that year than the last, on account of the heavy fall +of snow.</p> + +<p>The wood-house was replenished, although there was still a good deal of +last year's cut on hand. We did not fell any trees, for there was still +a considerable quantity of dead wood on the ground which should be used +first. I wanted to clear out much of the useless underbrush, but we had +only time to make a beginning in this effort at forestry. We went over +perhaps ten acres across the north line, removing briers and brush. +Everything that looked like a possible future tree was left. Around oak +and hickory stumps we found clumps of bushes springing from living +roots. These we cut away, except one or possibly two of the most +thrifty. We trimmed off the lower branches of those we saved, and left +them to make such trees as they could. I have been amazed to see what a +growth an oak-root sprout will make after its neighbors have been cut +away. There are some hundreds of these trees in the forest at Four Oaks, +from five to six inches in diameter, which did not measure more than one +or two inches five years ago.</p> + +<p>As the underbrush was cleared from the wood lot, I planned to set young +trees to fill vacant spaces. The European larch was used in the first +experiment. In the spring of 1897 I bought four thousand seedling +larches for $80, planted them in nursery rows in the orchard, cultivated +them for two years, and then transplanted them to the forest. The larch +is hardy and grows rapidly; and as it is a valuable tree for many +purposes, it is one of the best for forest planting. I have planted no +others thus far at Four Oaks, as the four thousand from my little +nursery seem to fill all unoccupied spaces.</p> + +<p>Fresh mulching was piled near all the young fruit trees, to be applied +as soon as the frost was out of the ground. Several hundreds of loads of +manure were hauled to the fields, to be spread as soon as the snow +disappeared. I always return manure to the land as soon as it can be +done conveniently. The manure from the hen-house was saved this year to +use on the alfalfa fields, to see how well it would take the place of +commercial fertilizer. I may as well give the result of the experiment +now.</p> + +<p>It was mixed with sand and applied at the rate of eight hundred pounds +an acre for the spring dressing over a portion of the alfalfa, against +four hundred pounds an acre of the fertilizer 3:8:8. After two years I +was convinced that, when used alone, it is not of more than half the +value of the fertilizer.</p> + +<p>My present practice is to use five hundred pounds of hen manure and two +hundred pounds of fertilizer on each acre for the spring dressing, and +two hundred pounds an acre of the fertilizer alone after each cutting +except the last. We have ten or twelve tons of hen manure each year, and +it is nearly all used on the alfalfa or the timothy as spring dressing. +It costs nothing, and it takes off a considerable sum from the +fertilizer account. I am not at all sure that the scientists would +approve this method of using it; I can only give my experience, and say +that it brings me satisfactory crops.</p> + +<p>There was much snow in January and February, and in March much rain. +When the spring opened, therefore, the ground was full of water. This +was fortunate, for April and May were unusually dry months,—only 1.16 +inches of water.</p> + +<p>The dry April brought the ploughs out early; but before we put our hands +to the plough we should make a note of what the first quarter of 1897 +brought into our strong box.</p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="First quarter sales"> +<tr><td align='left'>Sold:</td><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Butter</td><td align='right'>$842.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Eggs</td><td align='right'>401.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cow</td><td align='right'>35.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Two sows</td><td align='right'>19.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>------</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Total</td><td align='right'>$1297.00</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>Fifteen of the young sows farrowed in March, and the other 9 in April, +as also did 18 old ones. The young sows gave us 147 pigs, and the old +ones 161, so that the spring opened with an addition to our stock of 300 +head of young swine.</p> + +<p>Between March 1 and May 10 were born 25 calves, which were all sold +before July 1. The population of our factory farm was increasing so +rapidly that it became necessary to have more help. We already had eight +men and three women, besides the help in the big house. One would think +that eight men could do the work on a farm of 320 acres, and so they +can, most of the time; but in seed-time and harvest they are not +sufficient at Four Oaks. We could not work the teams.</p> + +<p>Up to March, 1897, Sam had full charge of the chickens, and also looked +after the hogs, with the help of Anderson. Judson and French had their +hands full in the cow stables, and Lars was more than busy with the +carriage horses and the driving. Thompson was working foreman, and his +son Zeb and Johnson looked after the farm horses during the winter and +did the general work. From that time on Sam gave his entire time to the +chickens, Anderson his entire time to the hogs, and Johnson began +gardening in real earnest. This left only Thompson and Zeb for general +farm work.</p> + +<p>Again I advertised for two farm hands. I selected two of the most +promising applicants and brought them out to the farm. Thompson +discharged one of them at the end of the first day for persistently +jerking his team, and the other discharged himself at the week's end, to +continue his tramp. Once more I resorted to the city papers. This time I +was more fortunate, for I found a young Swede, square-built and +blond-headed, who said he had worked on his father's farm in the old +country, and had left it because it was too small for the five boys. +Otto was slow of speech and of motion, but he said he could work, and I +hired him. The other man whom I sent to the farm at the same time proved +of no use whatever. He stayed four days, and was dismissed for +innocuous desuetude. Still another man whom I tried did well for five +weeks, and then broke out in a most profound spree, from which he could +not be weaned. He ended up by an assault on Otto in the stable yard. The +Swede was taken by surprise, and was handsomely bowled over by the first +onslaught of his half-drunk, half-crazed antagonist. As soon, however, +as his slow mind took in the fact that he was being pounded, he gathered +his forces, and, with a grunt for a war-cry, rolled his enemy under him, +sat upon his stomach, and, flat-handed, slapped his face until he +shouted for aid. The man left the farm at once, and I commended the +Swede for having used the flat of his hand.</p> + +<p>In spite of bad luck with the new men we were able to plough and seed +144 acres by May 10. Lots Nos. 8, 12, 13, and 14 were planted to corn, +and No. 15 sowed to oats, and the 10 acres on the home lot were divided +between sweet fodder corn, potatoes, and cabbage. The abundant water in +the soil gave the crops a fair start, and June proved an excellent +growing month, a rainfall of nearly four inches putting them beyond +danger from the short water supply of July and August. Indeed, had it +not been for the generosity of June we should have been in a bad way, +for the next three months gave a scant four inches of rain.</p> + +<p>The oats made a good growth, though the straw was rather short, and the +corn did very well indeed,—due largely to thorough cultivation. Twelve +acres of oats were cut for forage, and the rest yielded 33 bushels to +the acre,—a little over 1300 bushels.</p> + +<p>The alfalfa and timothy made a good start. From the former we cut, late +in June, 2¼ tons to the acre, and from the timothy, in July, 2½ +tons,—50 tons of timothy and 45 of alfalfa. Each of these fields +received the usual top-dressing after the crop was cut; but the timothy +did not respond,—the late season was too dry. We cut two more crops +from the alfalfa field, which together made a yield of a little more +than 2 tons. The alfalfa in that dry summer gave me 95 tons of good hay, +proving its superiority as a dry-weather crop.</p> + +<p>Johnson started the one-and-one-half-acre vegetable and fruit garden in +April, and devoted much of his time to it. His primitive hotbeds +gradually emptied themselves into the garden, and we now began to taste +the fruit of our own soil, much to the pleasure of the whole colony. It +is surprising what a real gardener can do with a garden of this size. By +feeding soil and plants liberally, he is able to keep the ground +producing successive crops of vegetables, from the day the frost leaves +it in the spring until it again takes possession in the fall, without +doing any wrong to the land. Indeed, our garden grows better and more +prolific each year in spite of the immense crops that are taken from +it. This can be done only by a person who knows his business, and +Johnson is such a person. He gave much of his time to this practical +patch, but he also worked with Polly among the shrubs on the lawn, and +in her sunken flower garden, which is the pride of her life. We shall +hear more about this flower garden later on.</p> + +<p>The accounts for the second quarter of the year show these items on the +income side:—</p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Accounts for the second quarter"> +<tr><td align='left'>Butter</td><td align='right'>$1052.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Eggs</td><td align='right'>379.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Twenty-five calves</td><td align='right'>275.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>--------</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Total</td><td align='right'>$1706.00</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXXIX</h2> + +<h4>THE YOUNG ORCHARD</h4> + + +<p>One of the most enjoyable occupations of a farmer's life is the care of +young trees. Until your experience in this work is of a personal and +proprietary nature, you will not realize the pleasure it can afford. The +intimate study of plant life, especially if that plant life is yours, is +a never failing source of pleasurable speculation, and a thing upon +which to hang dreams. You grow to know each tree, not only by its shape +and its habit of growth, but also by peculiarities that belong to it as +an individual. The erect, sturdy bearing of one bespeaks a frank, bold +nature, which makes it willing to accept its surroundings and make the +most of them; while the crooked, dwarfish nature of another requires the +utmost care of the husbandman to keep it within the bounds of good +behavior. And yet we often find that the slow-growing, ill-conditioned +young tree, if properly cared for, will bring forth the finest fruit at +maturity.</p> + +<p>To study the character and to watch the development of young trees is a +pleasing and useful occupation for the man who thinks of them as living +things with an inheritance that cannot be ignored. That seeds in all +appearance exactly alike should send forth shoots so unlike, is a wonder +of Nature; and that young shoots in the same soil and with the same care +should show such dissimilarity in development, is a riddle whose answer +is to be found only in the binding laws of heredity. That a tiny bud +inserted under the bark of a well-grown tree can change a sour root to a +sweet bough, ought to make one careful of the buds which one grafts on +the living trunk of one's tree of life. The young orchard can teach many +lessons to him who is willing to be taught; in the hands of him who is +not, the schoolmaster has a very sorry time of it, no matter how he sets +his lessons.</p> + +<p>The side pockets of my jacket are usually weighted down with +pruning-shears, a sharp knife, and a handled copper wire,—always, +indeed, in June, when I walk in my orchard. June is the month of all +months for the prudent orchardist to go thus armed, for the apple-tree +borer is abroad in the land. When the quick eye of the master sees a +little pile of sawdust at the base of a tree, he knows that it is time +for him to sit right down by that tree and kill its enemy. The sharp +knife enlarges the hole, which is the trail of the serpent, and the +sharp-pointed, flexible wire follows the route until it has reached and +transfixed the borer.</p> + +<p>This is the only way. It is the nature of the borer to maim or kill the +tree; it is for the interest of the owner that the tree should live. The +conflict is irrepressible, and the weakest must go to the wall. The +borer evil can be reduced to a minimum by keeping the young trees banked +three or four inches high with firm dirt or ashes; but borers must be +followed with the wire, once they enter the bark.</p> + +<p>The sharp knife and the pruning-shears have other uses in the June +orchard. Limbs and sprouts will come in irregular and improper places, +and they should be nipped out early and thus save labor and mutilation +later on. Sprouts that start from the eyes on the trunk can be removed +by a downward stroke of the gloved hand. All intersecting or crossing +boughs are removed by knife or scissors, and branches which are too +luxuriant in growth are cut or pinched back. Careful guidance of the +tree in June will avoid the necessity of severe correction later on.</p> + +<p>A man ought to plant an orchard, if for no other reason, that he may +have the pleasure of caring for it, and for the companionship of the +trees. This was the second year of growth for my orchard, and I was +gratified by the evidences of thrift and vigor. Fine, spreading heads +adorned the tops of the stubs of trees that had received such +(apparently) cruel treatment eighteen months before. The growth of these +two seasons convinced me that the four-year-old root and the +three-year-old stem, if properly managed, have greater possibilities of +rapid development than roots or stems of more tender age. I think I made +no mistake in planting three-year-old trees.</p> + +<p>As I worked in my orchard I could not help looking forward to the time +when the trees would return a hundred-fold for the care bestowed upon +them. They would begin to bring returns, in a small way, from the fourth +year, and after that the returns would increase rapidly. It is safe to +predict that from the tenth to the fortieth year a well-managed orchard +will give an average yearly income of $100 an acre above all expenses, +including interest on the original cost. A fifty-acre orchard of +well-selected apple trees, near a first-class market and in intelligent +hands, means a net income of $5000, taking one year with another, for +thirty or forty years. What kind of investment will pay better? What +sort of business will give larger returns in health and pleasure?</p> + +<p>I do not mean to convey the idea that forty years is the life of an +orchard; hundreds of years would be more correct. As trees die from +accident or decrepitude, others should take their places. Thus the lease +of life becomes perpetual in hands that are willing to keep adding to +the soil more than the trees and the fruit take from it. Comparatively +few owners of orchards do this, and those who belong to the majority +will find fault with my figures; but the thinking few, who do not expect +to enjoy the fat of the land without making a reasonable return, will +say that I am too conservative,—that a well-placed, well-cared-for, +well-selected, and well-marketed orchard will do much better than my +prophecy. Nature is a good husbandman so far as she goes, but her scheme +contemplates only the perpetuation of the tree, by seeds or by other +means. Nature's plan is to give to each specimen a nutritive ration. +Anything beyond this is thrown away on the individual, and had better be +used for the multiplying of specimens. When man comes to ask something +more than germinating seeds from a plant, he must remove it from the +crowded clump, give it more light and air, <i>and feed it for product</i>. In +other words, he must give it more nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash +than it can use for simple growth and maintenance, and thus make it +burst forth into flower-or fruit-product. Nature produces the apple +tree, but man must cultivate it and feed it if he would be fed and +comforted by it. People who neglect their orchards can get neither +pleasure nor profit from them, and such persons are not competent to sit +in judgment upon the value of an apple tree. Only those who love, +nourish, and profit by their orchards may come into the apple court and +speak with authority.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XL" id="CHAPTER_XL"></a>CHAPTER XL</h2> + +<h4>THE TIMOTHY HARVEST</h4> + + +<p>On Friday, the 25th, the children came home from their schools, and with +them came Jim Jarvis to spend the summer holidays. Our invitation to +Jarvis had been unanimous when he bade us good-by in the winter. Jack +was his chum, Polly had adopted him, I took to him from the first, and +Jane, in her shy way, admired him greatly. The boys took to farm life +like ducks to water. They were hot for any kind of work, and hot, too, +from all kinds. I could not offer anything congenial until the timothy +harvest in July. When this was on, they were happy and useful at the +same time,—a rare combination for boys.</p> + +<p>The timothy harvest is attractive to all, and it would be hard to find a +form of labor which contributes more to the æsthetic sense than does the +gathering of this fragrant grass. At four o'clock on a fine morning, +with the barometer "set fair," Thompson started the mower, and kept it +humming until 6.30, when Zeb, with a fresh team, relieved him. Zeb tried +to cut a little faster than his father, but he was allowed no more +time. Promptly at nine he was called in, and there was to be no more +cutting that day. At eleven o'clock the tedder was started, and in two +hours the cut grass had been turned. At three o'clock the rake gathered +it into windrows, from which it was rolled and piled into heaps, or +cocks, of six hundred or eight hundred pounds each. The cutting of the +morning was in safe bunches before the dew fell, there to go through the +process of sweating until ten o'clock the next day. It was then opened +and fluffed out for four hours, after which all hands and all teams +turned to and hauled it into the forage barn.</p> + +<p>The grass that was cut one morning was safely housed as hay by the +second night, if the weather was favorable; if not, it took little harm +in the haycocks, even from foul weather. It is the sun-bleach that takes +the life out of hay.</p> + +<p>This year we had no trouble in getting fifty tons of as fine timothy hay +as horses could wish to eat or man could wish to see. We began to cut on +Tuesday, the 6th of July, and by Saturday evening the twenty-acre crop +was under cover. The boys blistered their hands with the fork handles, +and their faces, necks, and arms with the sun's rays, and claimed to +like the work and the blisters. Indeed, tossing clean, fragrant hay is +work fit for a prince; and a man never looks to better advantage or more +picturesque than when, redolent with its perfume, he slings a jug over +the crook in his elbow and listens to the gurgle of the home-made ginger +ale as it changes from jug to throat. There may be joys in other drinks, +but for solid comfort and refreshment give me a July hay-field at 3 +P.M., a jug of water at forty-eight degrees, with just the amount of +molasses, vinegar, and ginger that is Polly's secret, and I will give +cards and spades to the broadest goblet of bubbles that was ever poured, +and beat it to a standstill. Add to this a blond head under a broad hat, +a thin white gown, such as grasshoppers love, and you can see why the +emptying of the jug was a satisfying function in our field; for Jane was +the one who presided at these afternoon teas. Often Jane was not alone; +Florence or Jessie, or both, or others, made hay while the sun shone in +those July days, and many a load went to the barn capped with white and +laughter. The young people decided that a hay farm would be ideal—no +end better than a factory farm—and advised me to put all the land into +timothy and clover. I was not too old to see the beauties of +haying-time, with such voluntary labor; but I was too old and too much +interested with my experiment to be cajoled by a lot of youngsters. I +promised them a week of haying in each fifty-two, but that was all the +concession I would make. Laura said:—</p> + +<p>"We are commanded to make hay while the sun shines; and the sun always +shines at Four Oaks, for me."</p> + +<p>It was pretty of her to say that; but what else would one expect from +Laura?</p> + +<p>The twelve acres from which the fodder oats had been cut were ploughed +and fitted for sugar beets and turnips. I was not at all certain that +the beets would do anything if sown so late, but I was going to try. Of +the turnips I could feel more certain, for doth not the poet say:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"The 25th day of July,<br /></span> +<span>Sow your turnips, wet or dry"?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>As the 25th fell on Sunday, I tried to placate the agricultural poet by +sowing half on the 24th and the other half on the 26th, but it was no +use. Whether the turnip god was offended by the fractured rule and +refused his blessing, or whether the dry August and September prevented +full returns, is more than I can say. Certain it is that I had but a +half crop of turnips and a beggarly batch of beets to comfort me and the +hogs.</p> + +<p>Some little consolation, however, was found in Polly's joy over a small +crop of currants which her yearling bushes produced. I also heard rumors +of a few cherries which turned their red cheeks to the sun for one happy +day, and then disappeared. Cock Robin's breast was red the next morning, +and on this circumstantial evidence Polly accused him. He pleaded "not +guilty," and strutted on the lawn with his thumbs in the armholes of his +waistcoat and his suspected breast as much in evidence as a pouter +pigeon's. A jury, mostly of blackbirds, found the charge "not proven," +and the case was dismissed. I was convinced by the result of this trial +that the only safe way would be to provide enough cherries for the birds +and for the people too, and ordered fifty more trees for fall planting. +I found by experience, that if one would have bird neighbors (and who +would not?), he must provide liberally for their wants and also for +their luxuries. I have stolen a march as to the cherries by planting +scores of mulberry trees, both native and Russian. Birds love mulberries +even better than they do cherries, and we now eat our pies in peace. To +make amends for this ruse, I have established a number of drinking +fountains and free baths; all of which have helped to make us friends.</p> + +<p>In August I sold, near the top of a low market, 156 young hogs. At $4.50 +per hundred, the bunch netted me $1807. They did not weigh quite as much +as those sold the previous autumn, and I found two ways of accounting +for this. The first and most probable was that fall pigs do not grow so +fast as those farrowed in the spring. This is sufficient to account for +the fact that the herd average was twenty pounds lighter than that of +its predecessor. I could not, however, get over the notion that +Anderson's nervousness had in some way taken possession of the swine (we +have Holy Writ for a similar case), and that they were wasted in growth +by his spirit of unrest. He was uniformly kind to them and faithful +with their food, but there was lacking that sense of cordial sympathy +which should exist between hog and man if both would appear at their +best. Even when Anderson came to their pens reeking with the rich savor +of the food they loved, their ears would prick up (as much as a Chester +White's ears can), and with a "woof!" they would shoot out the door, +only to return in a moment with the greatest confidence. I never heard +that "woof" and saw the stampede without looking around for the "steep +place" and the "sea," feeling sure that the incident lacked only these +accessories to make it a catastrophe.</p> + +<p>Anderson was good and faithful, and he would work his arms and legs off +for the pigs; but the spirit of unrest entered every herd which he kept, +though neither he nor I saw it clearly enough to go and "tell it in the +city." With other swineherds my hogs averaged from fifteen to eighteen +pounds better than with faithful Anderson, and I am, therefore, +competent to speak of the gross weight of the spirit of contentment.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLI" id="CHAPTER_XLI"></a>CHAPTER XLI</h2> + +<h4>STRIKE AT GORDON'S MINE</h4> + + +<p>Frank Gordon owned a coal mine about six miles west of the village of +Exeter, and four miles from Four Oaks. A village called Gordonville had +sprung up at the mouth of the mine. It was the home of the three hundred +miners and their families,—mostly Huns, but with a sprinkling of +Cornishmen.</p> + +<p>The houses were built by the owner of the mine, and were leased to the +miners at a small yearly rental. They were modest in structure, but they +could be made inviting and neat if the occupants were thrifty. No one +was allowed to sell liquor on the property owned by the Gordons, but +outside of this limit was a fringe of low saloons which did a thriving +business off the improvident miners.</p> + +<p>There had never been a strike at Gordonville, and such a thing seemed +improbable, for Gordon was a kind master, who paid his men promptly and +looked after their interests more than is usual for a capitalist.</p> + +<p>It was, therefore, a distinct surprise when the foreman of the mine +telephoned to Gordon one July morning that the men had struck work. +Gordon did not understand the reason of it, but he expressed himself as +being heartily glad, for financial reasons, that the men had gone out. +He had more than enough coal on the surface and in cars to supply the +demand for the next three months, and it would be money in his pocket to +dispose of his coal without having to pay for the labor of replacing it.</p> + +<p>During the day the reason for the strike was announced. From the +establishment of the mine it had been the custom for the miners to have +their tools sharpened at a shop built and run by the property. This was +done for the accommodation of the men, and the charge for keeping the +tools sharp was ten cents a week for each man, or $5 a year. For twenty +years no fault had been found with the arrangement; it had been looked +upon as satisfactory, especially by the men. A walking delegate, mousing +around the mine, and finding no other cause for complaint, had lighted +upon this practice, and he told the men it was a shame that they should +have to pay ten cents a week out of their hard-earned wages for keeping +their tools sharp. He said that it was the business of the property to +keep the tools sharp, and that the men should not be called upon to pay +for that service; that they ought, in justice to themselves and for the +dignity of associated labor, to demand that this onerous tax be removed; +and, to insure its removal, he declared a strike on. This was the +reason, and the only reason, for the strike at Gordon's mine. Three +hundred men quit work, and three hundred families suffered, many of them +for the necessities of life, simply because a loud-mouthed delegate +assured them that they were being imposed upon.</p> + +<p>Things went on quietly at the mine. There was no riot, no disturbance. +Gordon did not go over, but simply telephoned to the superintendent to +close the shaft houses, shut down the engines, put out the fires, and +let things rest, at the same time saying that he would hold the +superintendent and the bosses responsible for the safety of the plant.</p> + +<p>The men were disappointed, as the days went by, that the owner made no +effort to induce them to resume work. They had believed that he would at +once accede to their demand, and that they would go back to work with +the tax removed. This, however, was not his plan. Weeks passed and the +men became restless. They frequented the saloons more generally, spent +their remaining money for liquor, and went into debt as much as they +were permitted for more liquor. They became noisy and quarrelsome. The +few men who were opposed to the strike could make no headway against +public opinion. These men held aloof from the saloons, husbanded their +money, and confined themselves as much as possible to their own houses.</p> + +<p>Things had gone on in this way for six weeks. The men grew more and +more restless and more dissipated. Again the walking delegate came to +encourage them to hold out. Mounted on an empty coal car, he made an +inflammatory speech to the men, advising them not only to hold out +against the owner, but also to prevent the employment of any other help. +If this should not prove sufficient, he advised them to wreck the mining +property and to fire the mine,—anything to bring the owner to terms.</p> + +<p>Jack and Jarvis went for a long walk one day, and their route took them +near Gordonville. Seeing the men collected in such numbers around a coal +car, they approached, and heard the last half of this inflammatory +speech. As the walking delegate finished, Jack jumped up on the car, and +said:—</p> + +<p>"McGinnis has had his say; now, men, let me have mine. There are always +two sides to a question. You have heard one, let me give you the other. +I am a delegate, self-appointed, from the amalgamated Order of Thinkers, +and I want you to listen to our view of this strike,—and of all +strikes. I want you also to think a little as well as to listen.</p> + +<p>"You have been led into this position by a man whose sole business is to +foment discords between working-men and their employers. The moment +these discords cease, that moment this man loses his job and must work +or starve like the rest of you. He is, therefore, an interested party, +and he is more than likely to be biassed by what seems to be his +interest. He has made no argument; he has simply asserted things which +are not true, and played upon your sympathies, emotions, and passions, +by the use of the stale war-cries—'oppression,' 'down-trodden +working-man,' 'bloated bond-holders,' and, most foolish of all, 'the +conflict between Capital and Labor.' You have not thought this matter +out for yourselves at all. That is why I ask you to join hands for a +little while with the Order of Thinkers and see if there is not some +good way out of this dilemma. McGinnis said that the Company has no +right to charge you for keeping your tools sharp. In one sense this is +true. You have a perfect right to work with dull tools, if you wish to; +you have the right to sharpen your own tools; and you also have the +right to hire any one else to do it for you. You work 'by the ton,' you +own your pickaxes and shovels from handle to blade, and you have the +right to do with them as you please.</p> + +<p>"There are three hundred of you who use tools; you each pay ten cents a +week to the Company for keeping them sharp,—that is, in round numbers, +$1500 a year. There are two smiths at work at $50 a month (that is +$1200), and a helper at $25 a month ($300 more), making just $1500 paid +by the Company in wages. If you will think this matter out, you will see +that there is a dead loss to the Company of the coal used, the wear and +tear of the instruments, and the interest, taxes, insurance, and +degeneration of the plant. Is the Company under obligation to lose this +money for you? Not at all! The Company does this as an accommodation and +a gratuity to you, but not as a duty. Just as much coal would be taken +from the Gordon mine if your tools were never sharpened, only it would +require more men, and you would earn less money apiece. You could not +get this sharpening done at private shops so cheaply, and you cannot do +it yourselves. You have no more right to ask the Company to do this work +for nothing than you have to ask it to buy your tools for you. It would +be just as sensible for you to strike because the Company did not send +each of you ten cents' worth of ice-cream every Sunday morning, as it is +for you to go out on this matter of sharpening tools.</p> + +<p>"But, suppose the Company were in duty bound to do this thing for you, +and suppose it should refuse; would that be a good reason for quitting +work? Not by any means! You are earning an average of $2 a day,—nearly +$16,000 a month. You've 'been out' six weeks. If you gain your point, it +will take you fifteen years to make up what you've already lost. If you +have the sense which God gives geese, you will see that you can't afford +this sort of thing.</p> + +<p>"But the end is not yet. You are likely to stay out six weeks longer, +and each six weeks adds another fifteen years to your struggle to catch +up with your losses. Is this a load which thinking people would impose +upon themselves? Not much! You will lose your battle, for your strike is +badly timed. It seems to be the fate of strikes to be badly timed; they +usually occur when, on account of hard times or over-supply, the +employers would rather stop paying wages than not. That's the case now. +Four months of coal is in yards or on cars, and it's an absolute benefit +to the Company to turn seventy or eighty thousand dollars of dead +product into live money. Don't deceive yourselves with the hope that you +are distressing the owner by your foolish strike; you are putting money +into his pockets while your families suffer for food. There is no great +principle at stake to make your conduct seem noble and to call forth +sympathy for your suffering,—only foolishness and the blind following +of a demagogue whose living depends upon your folly.</p> + +<p>"McGinnis talked to you about the conflict between capital and labor. +That is all rot. There is not and there cannot be such a conflict. Labor +makes capital, and without capital there would be no object in labor. +They are mutually dependent upon each other, and there can be no quarrel +between them, for neither could exist after the death of the other. The +capitalist is only a laborer who has saved a part of his wages, +—either in his generation or in some preceding one. Any man with a +sound mind and a sound body can become a capitalist. When the laborer +has saved one dollar he is a capitalist,—he has money to lend at +interest or to invest in something that will bring a return. The second +dollar is easier saved than the first, and every dollar saved is earning +something on its own account. All persons who have money to invest or to +lend are capitalists. Of course, some are great and some are small, but +all are independent, for they have more than they need for immediate +personal use.</p> + +<p>"I am going to tell you how you may all become capitalists; but first I +want to point out your real enemies. The employer is not your enemy, +capital is not your enemy, but the saloonkeeper is,—and the most deadly +enemy you can possibly have. In that fringe of shanties over yonder live +the powers that keep you down; there are the foes that degrade you and +your families, forcing you to live little better than wild beasts. Your +food is poor, your clothing is in rags, your children are without shoes, +your homes are desolate, there are no schools and no social life. Year +follows year in dreary monotone, and you finally die, and your neighbors +thrust you underground and have an end of you. Misery and wretchedness +fill the measure of your days, and you are forgotten.</p> + +<p>"This dull, brutish condition is self-imposed, and to what end? That +some dozen harpies may fatten on your flesh; that your labor may give +them leisure; that your suffering may give them pleasure; that your +sweat may cool their brows, and your money fill their tills!</p> + +<p>"What do you get in return? Whiskey, to poison your bodies and pervert +your minds; whiskey, to make you fierce beasts or dull brutes; whiskey, +to make your eyes red and your hands unsteady; whiskey, to make your +homes sties and yourselves fit occupants for them; whiskey, to make you +beat your wives and children; whiskey, to cast you into the gutter, the +most loathsome animal in all the world. This is cheap whiskey, but it +costs you dear. All that makes life worth living, all that raises man +above the brute, and all the hope of a future life, are freely given for +this poor whiskey. The man who sells it to you robs you of your money +and also of your manhood. You pay him ten times (often twenty times) as +much as it cost him, and yet he poses as your friend.</p> + +<p>"I'm not going to say anything against beer, for I don't think good beer +is very likely to hurt a man. I will say this, however,—you pay more +than twice what it is worth. This is the point I would make: beer is a +food of some value, and it should be put on a food basis in price. It +isn't more than half as valuable as milk, and it shouldn't cost more +than half as much. You can have good beer at three or four cents a +quart, if you will let whiskey alone.</p> + +<p>"I promised to tell you how to become capitalists, each and every one of +you, and I'll keep my word if you'll listen to me a little longer."</p> + +<p>While Jack had been speaking, some of the men had shown considerable +interest and had gradually crowded their way nearer to the boy. Thirty +or forty Cornishmen and perhaps as many others of the better sort were +close to the car, and seemed anxious to hear what he had to say. Back of +these, however, were the large majority of the miners and the hangers-on +at the saloons, who did not wish to hear, and did not mean that others +should hear, what the boy had to say. Led by McGinnis and the +saloon-keepers, they had kept up such a row that it had been impossible +for any one, except those quite near the car, to hear at all. Now they +determined to stop the talk and to bounce the boy. They made a vigorous +rush for the car with shouts and uplifted hands.</p> + + +<p>A gigantic Cornishman mounted the car, and said, in a voice that could +easily be heard above the shouting of the crowd:—</p> + +<p>"Wait—wait a bit, men! The lad is a brave one, and ye maun own to that! +There be small 'urt in words, and mebbe 'e 'ave tole a bit truth. Me and +me mates 'ere are minded to give un a chance. If ye men don't want to +'ear 'im, you don't 'ave to stay; but don't 'e dare touchen with a +finger, or, by God! Tom Carkeek will kick the stuffin' out en 'e!"</p> + +<p>This was enough to prevent any overt act, for Tom Carkeek was the +champion wrestler in all that county; he was fiercer than fire when +roused, and he would be backed by every Cornishman on the job.</p> + +<p>Jack went on with his talk. "The 'Order of Thinkers' claim that you men +and all of your class spend one-third of your entire wages for whiskey +and beer. There are exceptions, but the figures will hold good. I am +going to call the amount of your wages spent in this way, one-fourth. +The yearly pay-roll of this mine is, in round numbers, $200,000. Fifty +thousand of this goes into the hands of those harpies, who grow rich as +you grow poor. You are surprised at these figures, and yet they are too +small. I counted the saloons over there, and I find there are eleven of +them. Divide $50,000 into eleven parts, and you would give each saloon +less than $5000 a year as a gross business. Not one of those places can +run on the legitimate percentage of a business which does not amount to +more than that. Do you suppose these men are here from charitable +motives or for their health? Not at all. They are here to make money, +and they do it. Five or six hundred dollars is all they pay for the vile +stuff for which they charge you $5000. They rob you of manhood and money +alike.</p> + +<p>"Now, what would be the result if you struck on these robbers? I will +tell you. In the first place, you would save $50,000 each year, and you +would be better men in every way for so doing. You would earn more +money, and your children would wear shoes and go to school. That would +be much, and well worth while; but that is not the best of it. I will +make a proposition to you, and I will promise that it shall be carried +out on my side exactly as I state it.</p> + +<p>"This is a noble property. In ten years it has paid its owner +$500,000,—$50,000 a year. It is sure to go on in this way under good +management. I offer, in the name of the owner, to bond this property to +you for $300,000 for five years at six per cent. Of course this is an +unusual opportunity. The owner has grown rich out of it, and he is now +willing to retire and give others a chance. His offer to you is to sell +the mine for half its value, and, at the same time, to give you five +years in which to pay for it. I will add something to this proposition, +for I feel certain that he will agree to it. It is this: Mr. Gordon will +build and equip a small brewery on this property, in which good, +wholesome beer can be made for you at one cent a glass. You are to pay +for the brewery in the same way that you pay for the other property; it +will cost $25,000. This will make $325,000 which you are to pay during +the next five years. How? Let me tell you.</p> + +<p>"The property will give you a net income of $40,000 or $50,000, and you +will save $50,000 more when you give up whiskey and get your beer for +less than one-fourth of what it now costs you. The general store at +which you have always traded will be run in your interests, and all that +you buy will be cheaper. The market will be a cooperative one, which +will furnish you meat, fattened on your own land, at the lowest price. +Your fruit and vegetables will come from these broad acres, which will +be yours and will cost you but little. You will earn more money because +you will be sober and industrious, and your money will purchase more +because you will deal without a middleman. You will be better clothed, +better fed, and better men. Your wives will take new interest in life, +and there will be carpets on your floors, curtains at your windows, +vegetables behind your cottages, and flowers in front of them.</p> + +<p>"All these things you will have with the money you are now earning, and +at the same time you will be changing from the laborer to the +capitalist. The mine gives you a profit of $40,000, and you save +one-fourth of your wages, which makes $50,000 more,—$90,000 in all. +What are you to do with this? Less than $20,000 will cover the interest. +You will have $70,000 to pay on the principal. This will reduce the +interest for the next year more than $3000. Each year you can do as +well, and by the time the five years have passed you will own the mine, +the land, the brewery, the store, the market, and this blessed +blacksmith shop about which you have had so much fuss, and also a bank +with a paid-up capital of $50,000. You are capitalists, every one of +you, at the end of five years, if you wish to be, and if you are willing +to give up the single item,—whiskey.</p> + +<p>"Do you like the plan? Do you like the prospect? Turn it over and see +what objections you can find. If you are willing to go into it, come +over to Four Oaks some day and we will go more into details. McGinnis +gave you one side of the picture: I have given you the other. You are at +liberty to follow whichever you please."</p> + +<p>Jack and Jarvis jumped off the car and struck out for home. Carkeek and +his Cornishmen followed the lads until they were well clear of the +village, to protect them, and then Carkeek said:—"Me and the others +like for to hear 'e talk, mister, and we like for to 'ear 'e talk more."</p> + +<p>"All right, Goliath," said Jack. "Come over any time and we'll make +plans."</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLII" id="CHAPTER_XLII"></a>CHAPTER XLII</h2> + +<h4>THE RIOT</h4> + + +<p>Two days later the boys, returning from the city, were met by Jane and +Jessie in the big carriage to be driven home. Halfway to Four Oaks the +carriage suddenly halted, and a confused murmur of angry voices gave +warning of trouble. Jack opened the door and stood upon the step.</p> + +<p>"Fifteen or twenty drunken miners block the way,—they are holding the +horses," said he.</p> + +<p>"Let me out; I'll soon clear the road," said Jarvis, trying to force his +way past Jack.</p> + +<p>"Sit still, Hercules; I am slower to wrath than you are. Let me talk to +them," and Jack took three or four steps forward, followed closely by +Jarvis.</p> + +<p>"Well, men, what do you want? There is no good in stopping a carriage on +the highroad."</p> + +<p>"We want work and money and bread," said a great bearded Hun who was +nearest to Jack.</p> + +<p>"This is no way to get either. We have no work to offer, there is no +bread in the carriage, and not much money. You are dead wrong in this +business, and you are likely to get into trouble. I can make some +allowance when I remember the bad whiskey that is in you, but you must +get out of our way; the road is public and we have the right to use it."</p> + +<p>"Not until you have paid toll," said the Hun.</p> + +<p>"That's the rooster who said we drank whiskey and didn't work. He's the +fellow who would rob a poor man of his liberty," came a voice in the +crowd.</p> + +<p>"Knock his block off!"</p> + +<p>"Break his back!"</p> + +<p>"Let me at him," and a score of other friendly offers came from the +drunken crowd.</p> + +<p>Jack stood steadily looking at the ruffians, his blue eyes growing black +with excitement and his hands clenched tightly in the pockets of his +reefer.</p> + +<p>"Slowly, men, slowly," said he. "If you want me, you may have me. There +are ladies in the carriage; let them go on; I'll stay with you as long +as you like. You are brave men, and you have no quarrel with ladies."</p> + +<p>"Ladies, eh!" said the Hun, "ladies! I never saw anything but <i>women</i>. +Let's have a look at them, boys."</p> + +<p>This speech was drunkenly approved, and the men pressed forward. Jack +stood firm, his face was white, but his eyes flamed.</p> + +<p>"Stand off! There are good men who will die for those ladies, and it +will go hard but bad men shall die first."</p> + +<p>The Hun disregarded the warning.</p> + +<p>"I'll have a look into—"</p> + +<p>"Hell!" said the slow-of-wrath Jack, and his fist went straight from the +shoulder and smote the Hun on the point of the jaw. It was a terrible +blow, dealt with all the force of a trained athlete, and inspired by +every impulse which a man holds dear; and the half-drunken brute fell +like a stricken ox. Catching the club from the falling man, Jack made a +sudden lunge forward at the face of the nearest foe.</p> + +<p>"Now, Jim!" he shouted, as the full fever of battle seized him. His +forward lunge had placed another miner <i>hors de combat</i>, and Jarvis +sprang forward and secured the wounded man's bludgeon.</p> + +<p>"Back to back, Jack, and mind your guard!"</p> + +<p>The odds were eighteen to two against the young men, but they did not +heed them. Back to back they stood, and the heavy clubs were like +feathers in their strong hands. Their skill at "single stick" was of +immense advantage, for it built a wall of defence around them. The +crazy-drunk miners rushed upon them with the fierceness of wild beasts; +they crowded in so close as to interfere with their own freedom of +movement; they sought to overpower the two men by weight of numbers and +by showers of blows. Jack and Jim were kept busy guarding their own +heads, and it was only occasionally that they could give an aggressive +blow. When these opportunities came, they were accepted with fierce +delight, and a miner fell with a broken head at every blow. Two fell in +front of Jack and three went down under Jarvis's club. The battle had +now lasted several minutes, and the strain on the young men was telling +on their wind; they struck as hard and parried as well as at first, but +they were breathing rapidly. The young men cheered each other with +joyous words; they felt no need of aid.</p> + +<p>"Beats football hollow!" panted Jarvis.</p> + +<p>"Go in, old man! you're a dandy full-back!" came between strokes from +Jack.</p> + +<p>Let us leave the boys for a minute and see what the girls are doing. +When Jarvis got out of the carriage, he said:—</p> + +<p>"Lars, if there is trouble here, you drive on as soon as you can get +your horses clear. Never mind us; we'll walk home. Get the ladies to +Four Oaks as soon as possible."</p> + +<p>When the battle began, the miners left the horses to attack the men. +This gave a clear road, and Lars was ready to drive on, but the girls +were not in the carriage. They had sprung out in the excitement of the +first sound of blows; and now stood watching with glowing eyes and white +faces the prowess of their champions. For minutes they watched the +conflict with fear and pride combined. When seven or eight minutes had +passed and the champions had not slain all their enemies, some degree of +terror arose in the minds of the young ladies,—terror lest their +knights be overpowered by numbers or become exhausted by slaying,—and +they looked about for aid. Lars, remembering what Jarvis had said, urged +the ladies to get into the carriage and be driven out of danger. They +repelled his advice with scorn. Jane said:—"I won't stir a step until +the men can go with us!"</p> + +<p>Jessie said never a word, but she darted forward toward the fighting +men, stooped, picked up a fallen club, and was back in an instant. +Mounting quickly to the box, she said:—"I can hold the horses. Don't +you think you can help the men, Lars?"</p> + +<p>"I'd like to try, miss," and the coachman's coat was off in a trice and +the club in his hand. He was none too soon!</p> + +<p>Jane, who had mounted the box with Jessie, cried, "Look out, Jack!" +just as a heavy stone crashed against the back of his head. Some brute +in the crowd had sent it with all his force. The stone broke through the +Derby hat and opened a wide gash in Jack's scalp, and sent him to the +ground with a thousand stars glittering before his eyes. Jane gave a sob +and covered her eyes. Jessie swayed as though she would fall, but she +never took her eyes from the fallen man; her lips moved, but she said +nothing; and her face was ghastly white. Jarvis heard the dull thud +against Jack's head and knew that he was falling. Whirling swiftly, he +stopped a savage blow that was aimed at the stricken man, and with a +back-handed cut laid the striker low.</p> + +<p>"All right, Jack; keep down till the stars are gone." He stood with one +sturdy leg on each side of Jack's body and his big club made a charmed +circle about him. It was not more than twenty seconds before the wheels +were out of Jack's head and he was on his feet again, though not quite +steady.</p> + +<p>Jack's fall had given courage to the gang, and they made a furious +attack upon Jarvis, who was now alone and not a little impeded by the +friend at his feet. As Jack struggled to his legs, a furious blow +directed at him was parried by Jarvis's left arm,—his right being busy +guarding his own head. The blow was a fearful one; it broke the small +bone in the forearm, beat down the guard, and came with terrible force +upon poor Jack's left shoulder, disabling it for a minute. At the same +time Jarvis received a nasty blow across the face from an unexpected +quarter. He was staggered by it, but he did not fall. Jack's right arm +was good and very angry; a savage jab with his club into the face of the +man who had struck Jarvis laid him low, and Jack grinned with +satisfaction.</p> + +<p>Things were going hard with the young men. They had, indeed, +disqualified nine of the enemy; but there were still eight or ten more, +and through hard work and harder knocks they had lost more than half +their own fighting strength. At this rate they would be used up +completely while there were still three or four of the enemy on foot. +This was when they needed aid, and aid came.</p> + +<p>No sooner had Lars found himself at liberty and with a club in his hands +than he began to use it with telling effect. He attacked the outer +circle, striking every head he could reach, and such was his +sprightliness that four men fell headlong before the others became aware +of this attack from the rear. This diversion came at the right moment, +and proved effective. There were now but six of the enemy in fighting +condition, and these six were more demoralized by the sudden and unknown +element of a rear attack than by the loss of their thirteen comrades. +They hesitated, and half turned to look, and two of them fell under the +blows of Jack and Jarvis. As the rest turned to escape, the Swede's club +felled one, and the other three ran for dear life. They did not escape, +however, for the long legs of the young men were after them. Young blood +is hot, and the savage fight that had been forced upon these boys had +aroused all that was savage in them. In an instant they overtook two of +the fleeing men, but neither could strike an enemy in the back. Throwing +aside their clubs, each seized his enemy by the shoulder, turned him +face to face and smote him sore, each after his fashion. Then they +laughed, took hold of hands, and walked wearily back to the carriage. +Jarvis's face was covered with blood, and Jack's neck and shoulders were +drenched,—his wound had bled freely. Lars had relieved the ladies on +the box after administering kicks and blows in generous measure to the +dazed and crippled miners, who were crawling off the road or staggering +along it. The Swede had a strain of fierce North blood which was not +easily laid when once aroused, and he glared around the battle-field, +hoping to find signs of resistance. When none were to be seen, he donned +his coachman's coat and sat the box like a sphinx.</p> + +<p>The girls went quickly forward to meet the men. They said little, but +they put their hands on their battered champions in a way to make the +heart of man glad. The men were flushed and proud, as men have been, and +men will be, through all time, when they have striven savagely against +other savages in the sight of their mistresses, and have gained the +victory. Their bruises were numb with exultation and their wounds dumb +with pride. There was no regret for blows given or received,—no +sympathy for fallen foe. The male fights, in the presence of the female, +with savage delight, from the lowest to the highest ranks of creation, +and we must forgive our boys for some cruel exultation as they looked on +the field of strife. Better feelings will come when the blood flows less +rapidly in their veins!</p> + +<p>"We must hurry home," said Jane, "and let papa mend you." Then she +burst into tears. "Oh, I am so sorry and so frightened! Do you feel +<i>very</i> bad, Jack? I know you are suffering dreadfully, Mr. Jarvis. Can't +I do something for you?"</p> + +<p>"My arm is bruised a bit," said Jarvis; "if you don't mind, you can +steady it a little."</p> + +<p>Jane's soft hands clasped themselves tenderly over Jarvis's great fist, +and she felt relieved in the thought that she was doing something for +her hero. She held the great right hand of Hercules tenderly, and Jarvis +never let her know that it was the <i>left</i> arm that had been broken. She +felt certain that he must be suffering agony, for ever and anon his +fingers would close over hers with a spasmodic grip that sent a thrill +of mixed joy and pain to her heart.</p> + +<p>While I was bandaging the broken arm I saw the young lady going through +some pantomimic exercises with her hands, as if seeking to revive the +memory of some previous position; then her face blazed with a light, +half pleasure and half shame, and she disappeared.</p> + +<p>When the carriage arrived at Four Oaks, the story was told in few words, +and I immediately set to work to "mend" the boys. Jack insisted that +Jarvis should receive the first attention, and, indeed, he looked the +worse. But after washing the blood off his face, I found that beyond a +severe bruise, which would disfigure him for a few days, his face and +head were unhurt. His arm was broken and badly contused. After I had +attended to it, he said:—</p> + +<p>"Doctor, I'm as good as new; hope Jack is no worse."</p> + +<p>I carefully washed the blood off Jack's head and neck, and found an ugly +scalp wound at least three inches long. It made me terribly anxious +until I fairly proved that the bone was uninjured. After giving the boy +the tonsure, I put six stitches into the scalp, and he never said a +word. Perhaps the cause of this fortitude could be found in the blazing +eyes of Jessie Gordon, which fixed his as a magnet, while her hands +clasped his tightly. Miss Jessie was as white as snow, but there was no +tremor in hand or eye. When it was all over, her voice was steady and +low as she said:—</p> + +<p>"Jack Williams, in the olden days men fought for women, and they were +called knights. It was counted a noble thing to take peril in defence of +the helpless. I find no record of more knightly deed than you have done +to-day, and I know that no knight could have done it more nobly. I want +you to wear this favor on your hand."</p> + +<p>She kissed his hand and left the room. Jack didn't seem to mind the +wound in his head, but he gave great attention to his hand.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIII" id="CHAPTER_XLIII"></a>CHAPTER XLIII</h2> + +<h4>THE RESULT</h4> + + +<p>As soon as the first report of the battle reached me, I telephoned to +Bill Jackson, asking him to come at once to Four Oaks and to bring a man +with him. When he arrived, attended by his big Irishman, my men had +already put one of the farm teams to a great farm wagon, and had filled +the box nearly full of hay. We gave Jackson a hurried account of the +fight and asked him to go at once and offer relief to the wounded,—if +such relief were needed. Jackson was willing enough to go, but he was +greatly disappointed that he had missed the fight; it seemed unnatural +that there should be a big fight in his neighborhood and he not in it.</p> + +<p>"I'd give a ten-acre lot to have been with you, lads," said the big +farmer as he started off.</p> + +<p>Word had been sent to Dr. High to be ready to care for some broken +heads. Two hours later I drove to the Inn at Exeter and found the doctor +just commencing the work of repair. Thirteen men had been brought in by +the wagon, twelve of them more or less cut and bruised about the head, +and all needing some surgical attention. The thirteenth man was stone +dead. A terrific blow on the back of the head had crushed his skull as +if it had been an egg-shell, and he must have died instantly. After +looking this poor fellow over to make sure that there was no hope for +him, we turned our attention to the wounded. The barn had been turned +into a hospital, and in two hours we had a dozen sore heads well cared +for, and their owners comfortably placed for the night on soft hay +covered by blankets from the Inn. Mrs. French brought tea and gruels for +the thirsty, feverish fellows, and we placed Otto and the big Irishman +on duty as nurses for the night. The coroner had been summoned, and +arrived as we finished our work. He was an energetic official, and lost +no time in getting a jury of six to listen to the statements which the +wounded men would give. To their credit be it said that every one who +gave testimony at all, gave it to the effect that the miners were +crazy-drunk, that they stopped the carriage, provoked the fight, and did +their utmost to disable or destroy the enemy. The coroner would listen +to no further testimony, but gave the case to the jury. In five minutes +their verdict was returned, "justifiable and commendable homicide by +person unknown to the jury."</p> + +<p>The news of a fight and the death of a miner had reached Gordonville, +where it created intense excitement. By the time the inquest was over a +crowd of at least fifty miners had collected near the barn. Much +grumbling and some loud threats were heard. Jackson took it upon himself +to meet these angry men, and no one could have done better. Stepping +upon a box which raised him a foot or two above the crowd, he said:—</p> + +<p>"See here, fellows, I want to say a word to you. My name's Jackson—Bill +Jackson; perhaps some of you know me. If you don't, I'll introduce +myself. I wasn't in this fight,—worse luck for me! but I am wide open +for engagements in that line. Some one inside said that this gang must +be conciliated, and I thought I would come out and do it. I understand +that you feel sore over this affair,—it's natural that you should,—but +you must remember that those boys out at Four Oaks couldn't accommodate +all of you. If you wouldn't mind taking me for a substitute, I'll do my +level best to make it lively for you. You don't need cards of +introduction to me; you needn't be American citizens; you needn't speak +English; all you have to do is to put up your hands or cock your hats, +and I'll know what you mean. If any of you thinks he hasn't had his +share of what's been going on this afternoon, he may just call on Bill +Jackson for the balance. I want to conciliate you if I can! I'm a +good-tempered man, and not the kind to pick a quarrel; but if any of you +low-lived dogs are looking for a fight, I'm not the man to disappoint +you! I came out here to satisfy you in this matter and to send you home +contented, and, by the jumping Jews! I'll do it if I have to break the +head of every dog's son among you! They told me to speak gently to you, +and by thunder, I've done it; but now I'm going to say a word for +myself!</p> + +<p>"A lot of your dirty crowd attacked two of the decentest men in the +county when they were riding with ladies; one of the gang got killed and +the rest got their skulls cracked. Would these boys fight for the girls +they had with them? Hell's blazes! I'll fight for just thinking of it! +Just one of you duffers say 'boo' to me! I'm going right through you!"</p> + +<p>Jackson sprang into the crowd, which parted like water before a strong +swimmer. He cocked his hat, smacked his fists, and invited any or all to +stand up to him. He was crazy for a fight, to get even with Jack and +Jarvis; but no one was willing to favor him. He marched through the gang +lengthways, crossways, and diagonally, but to no purpose. In great +disgust he returned to the barn and reported that the crowd would not be +"conciliated." When we left, however, there were no miners to be seen.</p> + +<p>It was after one o'clock in the morning when I reached home. Going +directly to the room occupied by the boys, I met Polly on the stairs.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you've come," said she, "for I can't do a thing with those +boys; they are too wild for any use."</p> + +<p>Entering the room, I found the lads in bed, but hilarious. They had +sent for Lars and had filled him full of hot stuff and commendation. He +was sitting on the edge of a chair between the two beds, his honest eyes +bulging and his head rolling from the effects of unusual potations. The +lads had tasted the cup, too, but lightly; their high spirits came from +other sources. Victories in war and in love deserve celebration; and +when the two are united, a bit of freedom must be permitted. They sat +bolt upright against the heads of their beds with flushed faces and +shining eyes. They shouted Greek and Latin verse at the bewildered +Swede; they gave him the story of Lars Porsena in the original, and then +in bad Swedish. They called him Lars Porsena,—for had he not fought +gallantly? Then he was Gustavus Adolphus,—for had he not come to the +aid of the Protestants when they were in sore need? And then things got +mixed and the "Royal Swede" was Lars Adolphus or Gustavus Porsena Viking +all in one. The honest fellow was more than half crazed by strong +waters, incomprehensible words, and "jollying up" which the young chaps +had given him.</p> + +<p>"See here, boys, don't you see that you're sending your noble Swede to +his Lutzen before his time,—not dead, indeed, but dead drunk? This +isn't the sort of medicine for either of you; you should have been +asleep three hours ago. I'll take your last victim home."</p> + +<p>We heard no more from any of the fighters until nine in the morning. In +looking them over I found that the Swede had as sore a head as either of +the others, though he had never taken a blow.</p> + +<p>Many friends came to see the boys during the days of their seclusion, to +congratulate them on their fortunate escape, and to compliment them on +their skill and courage. The lads enjoyed being made much of, and their +convalescence was short and cheerful. Of course Sir Tom was the most +constant and most enthusiastic visitor. The warm-hearted Irishman loved +the boys always, but now he seemed to venerate them. The successful club +fight appealed to his national instincts as nothing else could have +done.</p> + +<p>"With twenty years off and a shillalah in me hand I would have been +proud to stand with you. By the Lord, I'm asking too much! I'll yield +the twenty years and only ask for the stick!" And his cane went whirling +around his head, now guarding, now striking, and now with elaborate +flourishes, after the most approved Donny-brook fashion.</p> + +<p>"But, me friend Jarvis, what is this you have on your face? Pond's +Extract! Oh, murder! What is the world coming to when fresh beef and +usquebaugh are crowded to the wall by bad-smelling water! Look at me +nose; it is as straight as God made it, and yet many a time it has been +knocked to one side of me face or spread all over me features. Nothing +but whiskey and raw beef could ever coax it back! It's God's mercy if +you are not deformed for life, me friend. Such privileges are not to be +neglected with impunity. Let me bathe your face with whiskey and put a +beef-steak poultice after it, and I'll have you as handsome as a girl in +three days."</p> + +<p>"Give me the steak and whiskey inside and I'll feel handsome at once," +said Jarvis.</p> + +<p>"Oh, the rashness of youth!" said Sir Tom. "But I'll not say a word +against it. Youth is the greatest luck in the world, and I'll not copper +it."</p> + +<p>And then our sporting friend grew reminiscent and told of a time at +Limmer's when the marquis and he occupied beds in the same room, not +unlike our boys' room—only smoky and dingy—and poulticed their +battered faces with beef, and used usquebaugh inside and outside, after +ten friendly rounds.</p> + +<p>"Queensbary's nose never resumed entirely after that night, but mine +came back like rubber. Maybe it was the beef—maybe it was usquebaugh; +me own preference is in favor of the latter."</p> + +<p>Sir Tom came every day so long as the boys were confined to the place, +and each day he was able to develop some new incident connected with the +battle which called for applause. After hearing Lars tell his story for +the fourth time, he gave him a ten-dollar note, saying:—</p> + +<p>"You did nobly for a Swede, Mr. Gustavus Adolphus, but I would give ten +tenners to have had your place and your shillalah,—a Swede for a +match-lock, but an Irishman for a stick."</p> + +<p>Jack had hardly recovered when he was waited on by a committee from the +mine with a request that he would make another speech. He was asked to +make good his offer of bonding the property, and also to formulate a +plan of cooperation for the guidance of the men. Jack had the plans for +a cooperative mining village well digested, and was anxious to get them +before the miners. As soon as he was fit he went to Gordonville to try +to organize the work. Jarvis of course went with him, and Bill Jackson +and Sir Tom would not be denied; they did not say so, but they looked as +if they thought some diversion might be found. In spite of the influence +of strong whiskey, however, the meeting passed off peacefully. The +results that grew from this effort at reformation were so great and so +far-reaching that they deserve a book for their narration.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIV" id="CHAPTER_XLIV"></a>CHAPTER XLIV</h2> + +<h4>DEEP WATERS</h4> + + +<p>For sharp contrasts give me the dull country. The unexpected is the +usual in small and in great things alike as they happen on a farm, and I +make no apology to the reader for entering them in my narrative. I only +ask him, if he be a city man, to take my word for the truth as to the +general facts. To some elaboration and embellishment I plead guilty, but +the groundwork is truth, and the facts stated are as real as the +foundations of my buildings or the cows in my stalls. If the fortunate +reader be a country man, he will need no assurance from me, for his eyes +have seen and his ears have heard the strange and startling episodes +with which the quiet country-side is filled. I do not dare record all +the adventures which clustered around us at Four Oaks. People who know +only the monotonous life of cities would not believe the half if told, +and I do not wish to invite discredit upon my story of the making of the +factory farm.</p> + +<p>The incidents I have given of the strike at Gordon's mine are +substantially correct, and I would love to follow them to their +sequel,—the coöperative mine; but as that is a story by itself, I +cannot do it now. I promise myself, however, the pleasure of writing a +history of this innovation in coal-mining at an early date. It is worth +the world's knowing that a copartnership can exist between three hundred +equal partners without serious friction, and that community in business +interests on a large scale can be successfully managed without any +effort to control personal liberty, either domestic, social, or +religious. Indeed, I believe the success of this experiment is due +largely to the absence of any attempt to superintend the private +interests of its members,—the only bond being a common financial one, +and the one requisite to membership, ability to save a portion of the +wages earned.</p> + +<p>But to go back to farm matters. In August the ground was stirred for the +second time around the young trees. To do this, the mulch was turned +back and the surface for a space of three feet all around the tree was +loosened by hoe or mattock, and the mulch was then returned. The trees +were vigorous, and their leaves had the polish of health, in spite of +the dry July and August. The mulching must receive the credit for much +of this thrift, for it protected the soil from the rays of the sun and +invited the deep moisture to rise toward the surface. Few people realize +the amount of water that enters into the daily consumption of a tree. It +is said that the four acres of leaf surface of a large elm will +transpire or yield to evaporation eight tons of water in a day, and that +it takes more than five hundred tons of water to produce one ton of hay, +wheat, oats, or other crop. This seems enormous; but an inch of rain on +an acre of ground means more than a hundred tons of water, and +precipitation in our part of the country is about thirty-six inches per +annum, so that we can count on over thirty-six hundred tons of water per +acre to supply this tremendous evaporation of plant life.</p> + +<p>Water-pot and hose look foolish in the face of these figures; indeed, +they are poor makeshifts to keep life in plants during pinching times. A +much more effective method is to keep the soil loose under a heavy +mulch, for then the deep waters will rise. In our climate the tree's +growth for the year is practically completed by July 15, and fortunately +dry times rarely occur so early. We are, therefore, pretty certain to +get the wood growth, no matter how dry the year, since it would take +several years of unusual drought to prevent it. Of course the wood is +not all that we wish for in fruit trees; the fruit is the main thing, +and to secure the best development of it an abundant rainfall is needed +after the wood is grown. If the rain doesn't come in July and August, +heavy mulching must be the fruit-grower's reliance, and a good one it +will prove if the drought doesn't continue more than one year. After +July the new wood hardens and gets ready for the trying winter. If July +and August are very wet, growth may continue until too late for the wood +to harden, and it consequently goes into winter poorly prepared to +resist its rigors. The result is a killing back of the soft wood, but +usually no serious loss to the trees. The effort to stimulate late +summer growth by cultivation and fertilization is all wrong; use manures +and fertilizers freely from March until early June, but not later. The +fall mulch of manure, if used, is more for warmth than for fertility; it +is a blanket for the roots, but much of its value is leached away by the +suns and rains of winter.</p> + +<p>I felt that I had made a mistake in not sowing a cover crop in my +orchard the previous year. There are many excellent reasons for the +cover crop and not one against it. The first reason is that it protects +the land from the rough usage and wash of winter storms; the second, +that it adds humus to the soil; and the third, if one of the legumes is +used, that it collects nitrogen from the air, stores it in each knuckle +and joint, and holds it there until it is liberated by the decay of the +plant. As nitrogen is the most precious of plant foods, and as the +nitrate beds and deposits are rapidly becoming exhausted, we must look +to the useful legumes to help us out until the scientists shall be able +to fix the unlimited but volatile supply which the atmosphere contains, +and thus to remove the certain, though remote, danger of a nitrogen +famine. That this will be done in the near future by electric forces, +and with such economy as to make the product available for agricultural +purposes, is reasonably sure. In the meantime we must use the vetches, +peas, beans, and clovers which are such willing workers.</p> + +<p>The legumes fulfil the three requisites of the cover crop: protection, +humus, and the storing of nitrogen. That was why, when the corn in the +orchard was last cultivated in July, I planted cow peas between the +rows. The peas made a fair growth in spite of the dry season, and after +the corn was cut they furnished fine pasture for the brood sows, that +ate the peas and trampled down the vines. In the spring ploughing this +black mat was turned under, and with it went a store of fertility to +fatten the land. Cow peas were sowed in all the corn land in 1897, and +the rule of the farm is to sow corn-fields with peas, crimson clover, or +some other leguminous plant. As my land is divided almost equally each +year between corn and oats, which follow each other, it gets a cover +crop turned under every two years over the whole of it. Great quantities +of manure are hauled upon the oat stubble in the early spring, and these +fields are planted to corn, while the corn stubble is fertilized by the +cover crop, and oats are sown. The land is taxed heavily every year, but +it increases in fertility and crop-making capacity. For the past two +years my oats have averaged forty-seven bushels and my corn nearly +sixty-eight bushels per acre. There is no waste land in my fields, and +we have made such a strenuous fight against weeds that they no longer +seriously tax the land. The wisdom of the work done on the fence rows is +now apparent. The ploughing and seeding made it easy to keep the brush +and weeds down; hay gathered close to the fences more than pays us for +the mowing; and we have no tall weed heads to load the wind with seeds. +This is a matter which is not sufficiently considered by the majority of +farmers, for weeds are allowed to tax the land almost as much as crops +do, and yet they pay no rent. Fence lines and corners are usually +breeding beds for these pests, and it will pay any landowner to suppress +them.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLV" id="CHAPTER_XLV"></a>CHAPTER XLV</h2> + +<h4>DOGS AND HORSES</h4> + + +<p>It was definitely decided in August that Jane was not to go back to +Farmington. We had all been of two minds over this question, and it was +a comfort to have it settled, though I always suspect that my share of +it was not beyond the suspicion of selfishness.</p> + +<p>Jane was just past nineteen. She had a fair education, so far as books +go, and she did not wish to graduate simply for the honor of a diploma. +Indeed, there were many studies between her and the diploma which she +loathed. She could never understand how a girl of healthy mind could +care for mathematics, exact science, or dead languages. English and +French were enough for her tongue, and history, literature, and +metaphysics enough for her mind.</p> + +<p>"I can learn much more from the books in your library and from the dogs +and horses than I can at school, besides being a thousand times happier; +and oh, Dad, if you will let me have a forge and workshop, I will make +no end of things."</p> + +<p>This was a new idea to me, and I looked into it with some interest. I +knew that Jane was deft with her fingers, but I did not know that she +had a special wish to cultivate this deftness or to put it to practical +use.</p> + +<p>"What can you do with a forge?" said I. "You can't shoe the horses or +sharpen the ploughs. Can you make nails? They are machine-made now, and +you couldn't earn ten cents a week, even at horse-shoe nails."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to make nails, Dad; I want to work in copper and brass, +and iron, too, but in girl fashion. Mary Town has a forge in Hartford, +and I spent lots of Saturdays with her. She says that I am cleverer than +she is, but of course she was jollying me, for she makes beautiful +things; but I can learn, and it's great fun."</p> + +<p>"What kind of things does this young lady make, dear?"</p> + +<p>"Lamp-shades, paper-knives, hinges, bag-tops, buckles, and lots of +things. She could sell them, too, if she had to. It's like learning a +trade, Dad."</p> + +<p>"All right, child, you shall have a forge, if you will agree not to burn +yourself up. Do you roll up your sleeves and wear a leather apron?"</p> + +<p>"Why, of course, just like a blacksmith; only mine will be of soft brown +leather and pinked at the edges."</p> + +<p>So Jane was to have her forge. We selected a site for it at once in the +grove to the east of the house and about 150 yards away, and set the +carpenter at work. The shop proved to be a feature of the place, and +soon became a favorite resort for old and young for five o'clock teas +and small gossiping parties. The house was a shingled cottage, sixteen +by thirty-two, divided into two rooms. The first room, sixteen by +twenty, was the company room, but it contained a work bench as well as +the dainty trappings of a girl's lounging room. In the centre of the +wall that separated the rooms was a huge brick chimney, with a fireplace +in the front room and a forge bed in the rear room, which was the forge +proper.</p> + +<p>I suppose I must charge the $460 which this outfit cost to the farm +account and pay yearly interest on it, for it is a fixture; but I +protest that it is not essential to the construction of a factory farm, +and it may be omitted by those who have no daughter Jane.</p> + +<p>There were other things hinging on Jane's home-staying which made me +think that, from the standpoint of economy, I had made a mistake in not +sending her back to Farmington. It was not long before the dog +proposition was sprung upon me; insidiously at first, until I had half +committed myself, and then with such force and sweep as to take me off +my prudent feet. My own faithful terrier, which had dogged my heels for +three years, seemed a member of the family, and reasonably satisfied my +dog needs. That Jane should wish a terrier of some sort to tug at her +skirts and claw her lace was no more than natural, and I was quite +willing to buy a blue blood and think nothing of the $20 or $30 which it +might cost. We canvassed the list of terriers,—bull, Boston, fox, +Irish, Skye, Scotch, Airedale, and all,—and had much to say in favor of +each. One day Jane said:—</p> + +<p>"Dad, what do you think of the Russian wolf-hound?"</p> + +<p>"Fine as silk," said I, not seeing the trap; "the handsomest dog that +runs."</p> + +<p>"I think so, too. I saw some beauties in the Seabright kennels. Wouldn't +one of them look fine on the lawn?—lemon and white, and so tall and +silky. I saw one down there, and he wasn't a year old, but his tail +looked like a great white ostrich feather, and it touched the ground. +Wouldn't it be grand to have such a dog follow me when I rode. Say, Dad, +why not have one?"</p> + +<p>"What do you suppose a good one would cost?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, but a good bit more than a terrier, if they sell dogs by +size. May I write and find out?"</p> + +<p>"There's no harm in doing that," said I, like the jellyfish that I am.</p> + +<p>Jane wasted no time, but wrote at once, and at least seventeen times +each day, until the reply came, she gave me such vivid accounts of the +beauties of the beasts and of the pleasure she would have in owning +one, that I grew enthusiastic as well, and quite made up my mind that +she should not be disappointed. When the letter came, there was +suppressed excitement until she had read it, and then excitement +unsuppressed.</p> + +<p>"Dad, we can have Alexis, son of Katinka by Peter the Great, for $125! +See what the letter says: 'Eleven months old, tall and strong in +quarters, white, with even lemon markings, better head than Marksman, +and a sure winner in the best of company.' Isn't that great? And I don't +think $125 is much, do you?"</p> + +<p>"Not for a horse or a house, dear, but for a dog—"</p> + +<p>"But you know, Dad, this isn't a common dog. We mustn't think of it as a +dog; it's a barzoi; that isn't too much for a barzoi, is it?"</p> + +<p>"Not for a barzoi, or a yacht either; I guess you will have to have one +or the other."</p> + +<p>"The Seabright man says he has a girl dog by Marksman out of Katrina +that is the very picture of Alexis, only not so large, and he will sell +both to the same person for $200; they are such good friends."</p> + +<p>"Break away, daughter, do you want a steam launch with your yacht?"</p> + +<p>"But just think, Dad, only $75 for this one. You save $50, don't you +see?"</p> + +<p>"Dimly, I must confess, as through a glass darkly. But, dear, I may +come to see it through your eyes and in the light of this altruistic dog +fancier. I'm such a soft one that it's a wonder I'm ever trusted with +money."</p> + +<p>The natural thing occurred once more; the fool and his money parted +company, and two of the most beautiful dogs came to live on our lawn. To +live on our lawn, did I say? Not much! Such wonderful creatures must +have a house and grounds of their own to retire to when they were weary +of using ours, or when our presence bored them. The kennel and runs were +built near the carriage barn, the runs, twenty by one hundred feet, +enclosed with high wire netting. The kennel, eight by sixteen, was a +handsome structure of its kind, with two compartments eight by eight +(for Jane spoke for the future), and beds, benches, and the usual +fixtures which well-bred dogs are supposed to require.</p> + +<p>The house for these dogs cost $200, so I was obliged to add another $400 +to the interest-bearing debt. "If Jane keeps on in this fashion," +thought I, "I shall have to refund at a lower rate,"—and she did keep +on. No sooner were the dogs safely kennelled than she began to think how +fine it would look to be followed by this wonderful pair along the +country roads and through the streets of Exeter. To be followed, she +must have a horse and a saddle and a bridle and a habit; and later on I +found that these things did not grow on the bushes in our neighborhood. +I drew a line at these things, however, and decided that they should not +swell the farm account. Thus I keep from the reader's eye some of the +foolishness of a doting parent who has always been as warm wax in the +hands of his, nearly always, reasonable children.</p> + +<p>In my stable were two Kentucky-bred saddlers of much more than average +quality, for they had strains of warm blood in their veins. There is no +question nowadays as to the value of warm blood in either riding or +driving horses. It gives ability, endurance, courage, and docility +beyond expectation. One-sixteenth thorough blood will, in many animals, +dominate the fifteen-sixteenths of cold blood, and prove its virtue by +unusual endurance, stamina, and wearing capacity.</p> + +<p>The blue-grass region of Kentucky has furnished some of the finest +horses in the world, and I have owned several which gave grand service +until they were eighteen or twenty years old. An honest horseman at +Paris, Kentucky, has sold me a dozen or more, and I was willing to trust +his judgment for a saddler for Jane. My request to him was for a +light-built horse; weight, one thousand pounds; game and spirited, but +safe for a woman, and one broken to jump. Everything else, including +price, was left to him.</p> + +<p>In good time Jane's horse came, and we were well pleased with it, as +indeed we ought to have been. My Paris man wrote: "I send a bay mare +that ought to fill the bill. She is as quiet as a kitten, can run like a +deer, and jump like a kangaroo. My sister has ridden her for four +months, and she is not speaking to me now. If you don't like her, send +her back."</p> + +<p>But I did like her, and I sent, instead, a considerable check. The mare +was a bright bay with a white star on her forehead and white stockings +on her hind feet, stood fifteen hands three inches, weighed 980 pounds, +and looked almost too light built; but when we noted the deep chest, +strong loins, thin legs, and marvellous thighs, we were free to admit +that force and endurance were promised. Jane was delighted.</p> + +<p>"Dad, if I live to be a hundred years old, I will never forget this day. +She's the sweetest horse that ever lived. I must find a nice name for +her, and to-morrow we will take our first ride, you and Tom and Aloha +and I—yes, that's her name."</p> + +<p>We did ride the next day, and many days thereafter; and Aloha proved all +and more than the Kentuckian had promised.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVI" id="CHAPTER_XLVI"></a>CHAPTER XLVI</h2> + +<h4>THE SKIM-MILK TRUST</h4> + + +<p>The third quarter of the year made a better showing than any previous +one, due chiefly to the sale of hogs in August. The hens did well up to +September, when they began to make new clothes for themselves and could +not be bothered with egg-making. There were a few more than seven +hundred in the laying pens, and nearly as many more rapidly approaching +the useful age. The chief advantage in early chickens is that they will +take their places at the nests in October or November while the older +ones are dressmaking. This is important to one who looks for a steady +income from his hens,—October and November being the hardest months to +provide for. A few scattered eggs in the pullet runs showed that the +late February and early March chickens were beginning to have a +realizing sense of their obligations to the world and to the Headman, +and that they were getting into line to accept them. More cotton-seed +meal was added to the morning mash for the old hens, and the corn meal +was reduced a little and the oatmeal increased, as was also the red +pepper; but do what you will or feed what you like, the hen will insist +upon a vacation at this season of the year. You may shorten it, perhaps, +but you cannot prevent it. The only way to keep the egg-basket full is +to have a lot of youngsters coming on who will take up the laying for +October and November.</p> + +<p>We milked thirty-seven cows during July, August, and September, and got +more than a thousand pounds of milk a day. The butter sold amounted to a +trifle more than $375 a month. I think this an excellent showing, +considering the fact that the colony at Four Oaks never numbered less +than twenty-four during that time, and often many more.</p> + +<p>I ought to say that the calves had the first claim to the skim-milk; but +as we never kept many for more than a few weeks, this claim was easily +satisfied. It was like the bonds of a corporation,—the first claim, but +a comparatively small one. The hens came next; they held preferred +stock, and always received a five-pound, semi-daily dividend to each pen +of forty. The growing pigs came last; they held the common stock, which +was often watered by the swill and dish-water from both houses and the +buttermilk and butter-washing from the dairy. I hold that the feeding +value of skim-milk is not less than forty cents a hundred pounds, as we +use it at Four Oaks. This seems a high price when it can often be bought +for fifteen cents a hundred at the factories; but I claim that it is +worth more than twice as much when fed in perfect freshness,—certainly +$4 a day would not buy the skim-milk from my dairy, for it is worth more +than that to me to feed. This by-product is essential to the smooth +running of my factory. Without it the chickens and pigs would not grow +as fast, and it is the best food for laying hens,—nothing else will +give a better egg-yield. The longer my experiment continues, the +stronger is my faith that the combination of cow, hog, and hen, with +fruit as a filler, are ideal for the factory farm. With such a plant +well-started and well-managed, and with favorable surroundings, I do not +see how a man can prevent money from flowing to him in fair abundance. +The record of the fourth quarter is as follows:—</p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Income fourth quarter"> +<tr><td align='left'>Butter</td><td align='right'>$1126.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Eggs</td><td align='right'>351.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Hogs</td><td align='right'>1807.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>--------</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Total</td><td align='right'>$3284.00</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVII" id="CHAPTER_XLVII"></a>CHAPTER XLVII</h2> + +<h4>NABOTH'S VINEYARD</h4> + + +<p>>One hazy, lazy October afternoon, as my friend Kyrle and I sat on the +broad porch hitting our pipes, sipping high balls, and watching the men +and machines in the corn-fields, as all toiling sons of the soil should +do, he said:—</p> + +<p>"Doctor, I don't think you've made any mistake in this business."</p> + +<p>"Lots of them, Kyrle; but none too serious to mend."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I suppose so; but I didn't mean it that way. It was no mistake +when you made the change."</p> + +<p>"You're right, old man. It's done me a heap of good, and Polly and the +youngsters were never so happy. I only wish we had done it earlier."</p> + +<p>"Do you think I could manage a farm?"</p> + +<p>"Why, of course you can; you've managed your business, haven't you? +You've grown rich in a business which is a great sight more taxing. How +have you done it?"</p> + +<p>"By using my head, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"That's just it; if a man will use his head, any business will +go,—farming or making hats. It's the gray matter that counts, and the +fellow that puts a little more of it into his business than his neighbor +does, is the one who'll get on."</p> + +<p>"But farming is different; so much seems to depend upon winds and rains +and frosts and accidents of all sorts that are out of one's line."</p> + +<p>"Not so much as you think, Kyrle. Of course these things cut in, but one +must discount them in farming as in other lines of business. A total +crop failure is an unknown thing in this region; we can count on +sufficient rain for a moderate crop every year, and we know pretty well +when to look for frosts. If a man will do well by his land, the harvest +will come as sure as taxes. All the farmer has to do is to make the best +of what Nature and intelligent cultivation will always produce. But he +must use his gray matter in other ways than in just planning the +rotation of crops. When he finds his raw staples selling for a good deal +less than actual value,—less than he can produce them for, he should go +into the market and buy against higher prices, for he may be absolutely +certain that higher prices will come."</p> + +<p>"But how is one to know? Corn changes so that one can't form much idea +of its actual value."</p> + +<p>"No more than other staples. You know what fur is worth, because you've +watched the fur market for twenty years. If it should fall to half its +present price, you would feel safe in buying a lot. You know that it +would make just as good hats as it ever did, and that the hats, in all +probability, would give you the usual profit. It's the same with corn +and oats. I know their feeding value; and when they fall much below it, +I fill my granary, because for my purpose they are as valuable as if +they cost three times as much. Last year I bought ten thousand bushels +of corn and oats at a tremendously low price. I don't expect to have +such a chance again; but I shall watch the market, and if corn goes +below thirty cents or oats below twenty cents, I will fill my granary to +the roof. I can make them pay big profits on such prices."</p> + +<p>"Will you sell this plant, Williams?"</p> + +<p>"Not for a song, you may be sure."</p> + +<p>"What has it cost you to date?"</p> + +<p>"Don't know exactly,—between $80,000 and $90,000, I reckon; the books +will show."</p> + +<p>"Will you take twenty per cent advance on what the books show? I'm on +the square."</p> + +<p>"Now see here, old man, what would be the good of selling this factory +for $100,000? How could I place the money so that it would bring me half +the things which this farm brings me now? Could I live in a better +house, or have better food, better service, better friends, or a better +way of entertaining them? You know that $5000 or $6000 a year would not +supply half the luxury which we secure at Four Oaks, or give half the +enjoyment to my family or my friends. Don't you see that it makes little +difference what we call our expenses out here, so long as the farm pays +them and gives us a surplus besides? The investment is not large for one +to get a living from, and it makes possible a lot of things which would +be counted rank extravagance in the city. Here's one of them."</p> + +<p>A cavalcade was just entering the home lot. First came Jessie Gordon on +her thoroughbred mare Lightfoot, and with her, Laura on my Jerry. +Laura's foot is as dainty in the stirrup as on the rugs, and she has +Jerry's consent and mine to put it where she likes. Following them were +Jane and Bill Jackson, with Jane's slender mare looking absolutely +delicate beside the big brown gelding that carried Jackson's 190 pounds +with ease. The horses all looked as if there had been "something doing," +and they were hurried to the stables. The ladies laughed and screamed +for a season, as seems necessary for young ladies, and then departed, +leaving us in peace. Jackson filled his pipe before remarking:—</p> + +<p>"I've been over the ridge into the Dunkard settlement, and they have the +cholera there to beat the band. Joe Siegel lost sixty hogs in three +days, and there are not ten well hogs in two miles. What do you think of +that?"</p> + +<p>"That means a hard 'fight mit Siegel,'" said Kyrle.</p> + +<p>"It ought to mean a closer quarantine on this side of the ridge," said +I, "and you must fumigate your clothes before you appear before your +swine, Jackson. It's more likely to be swine plague than cholera at this +time of the year, but it's just as bad; one can hardly tell the +difference, and we must look sharp."</p> + +<p>"How does the contagion travel, Doctor?"</p> + +<p>"On horseback, when such chumps as you can be found. You probably have +some millions of germs up your sleeve now, or, more likely, on your +back, and I wouldn't let you go into my hog pen for a $2000 note. I'm so +well quarantined that I don't much fear contagion; but there's always +danger from infected dust. The wind blows it about, and any mote may be +an automobile for a whole colony of bacteria, which may decide to picnic +in my piggery. This dry weather is bad for us, and if we get heavy winds +from off the ridge, I'm going to whistle for rain."</p> + +<p>"I say, Williams, when you came out here I thought you a tenderfoot, +sure enough, who was likely to pay money for experience; but, by the +jumping Jews! you've given us natives cards and spades."</p> + +<p>"I <i>was</i> a tenderfoot so far as practical experience goes, but I tried +to use the everyday sense which God gave me, and I find that's about all +a man needs to run a business like this."</p> + +<p>"You run it all right, for returns, and that's what we are after; and +I'm beginning to catch on. I want you to tell me, before Kyrle here, +why you gave me that bull two years ago."</p> + +<p>"What's the matter with the bull, Jackson? Isn't he all right?"</p> + +<p>"Sure he's all right, and as fine as silk; but why did you give him to +me? Why didn't you keep him for yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Well, Bill, I thought you would like him, and we were neighbors, and—"</p> + +<p>"You thought I would save you the trouble of keeping him, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"Well, perhaps that did have some influence. You see, this is a factory +farm from fence to fence, except this forty which Polly bosses, and the +utilitarian idea is on top. Keeping the bull didn't exactly run with my +notion of economy, especially when I could conveniently have him kept so +near, and at the same time be generous to a neighbor."</p> + +<p>"That's it, and it's taken me two years to find it out. You're trying to +follow that idea all along the line. You're dead right, and I'm going to +tag on, if you don't mind. I was glad enough for your present at the +time, and I'm glad yet; but I've learned my lesson, and you may bet your +dear life that no man will ever again give me a bull."</p> + +<p>"That's right, Jackson. Now you have struck the key-note; stick to it, +and you will make money twice as fast as you have done. Have a mark, and +keep your eye on it, and your plough will turn a straight furrow."</p> + +<p>Jackson sent for his horse, and just before he mounted, I said, "Are +you thinking of selling your farm?"</p> + +<p>"I used to think of it, but I've been to school lately and can 'do my +sums' better. No, I guess I won't sell the paternal acres; but who wants +to buy?"</p> + +<p>"Kyrle, here, is looking for a farm about the size of yours, and to tell +you the truth I should like him for a neighbor. It's dollars to +doughnuts that I could give him a whole herd of bulls."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, you can't do anything of the kind! I wouldn't take a gold +dollar from you until I had it tested. I'm on to your curves."</p> + +<p>"But seriously, Jackson, I must have more land; my stock will eat me out +of house and home by the time the factory is running full steam. What +would you say to a proposition of $10,000 for one hundred acres along my +north line?"</p> + +<p>"A year ago I would have jumped at it. Now I say 'nit.' I need it all, +Doctor; I told you I was going to tag on. But what's the matter with the +old lady's quarter across your south road?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing's the matter with the land, only she won't sell it at any +price."</p> + +<p>"I know; but that drunken brute of a son will sell as soon as she's +under the sod, and they say the poor old girl is on her last legs,—down +with distemper or some other beastly disease. I'll tell you what I'll +do. I'll sound the renegade son and see how he measures. Some one will +get it before long, and it might as well be you."</p> + +<p>Jackson galloped off, and Kyrle and I sat on the porch and divided the +widow's 160-acre mite. It was a good strip of land, lying a fair mile on +the south road and a quarter of a mile deep. The buildings were of no +value, the fences were ragged to a degree, but I coveted the land. It +was the vineyard of Naboth to me, and I planned its future with my +friend and accessory sitting by. I destroyed the estimable old lady's +house and barns, ran my ploughshares through her garden and flower beds, +and turned the home site into one great field of lusty corn, without so +much as saying by your leave. Thus does the greed of land grow upon one. +But in truth, I saw that I must have more land. My factory would require +more than ten thousand bushels of grain, with forage and green foods in +proportion, to meet its full capacity, and I could not hope to get so +much from the land then under cultivation. Again, in a few years—a very +few—the fifty acres of orchard would be no longer available for crops, +and this would still further reduce my tillable land. With the orchards +out of use, I should have but 124 acres for all crops other than hay. If +I could add this coveted 160, it would give me 250 acres of excellent +land for intensive farming.</p> + +<p>"I should like it on this side of the road," said I, "but I suppose that +will have to do."</p> + +<p>"What will have to do?" asked Kyrle.</p> + +<p>"The 160 acres over there."</p> + +<p>"You unconscionable wretch! Have you evicted the poor widow, and she on +her deathbed? For stiffening the neck and hardening the heart, commend +me to the close-to-nature life of the farmer. I wouldn't own a farm for +worlds. It risks one's immortality. Give me the wicked city for +pasturage—and a friend who will run a farm, at his own risk, and give +me the benefit of it."</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVIII" id="CHAPTER_XLVIII"></a>CHAPTER XLVIII</h2> + +<h4>MAIDS AND MALLARDS</h4> + + +<p>We have so rarely entered our house with the reader that he knows little +of its domestic machinery. So much depends upon this machinery that one +must always take it into consideration when reckoning the pleasures and +even the comforts of life anywhere, and this is especially true in the +country. We have such a lot of people about that our servants cannot +sing the song of lonesomeness that makes dolor for most suburbanites. +They are "churched" as often as they wish, and we pay city wages; but +still it is not all clear sailing in this quarter of Polly's realm. I +fancy that we get on better than some of our neighbors; but we do not +brag, and I usually feel that I am smoking my pipe in a powder magazine. +There is something essentially wrong in the working-girl world, and I am +glad that I was not born to set it right. We cannot down the spirit of +unrest and improvidence that holds possession of cooks and waitresses, +and we needs must suffer it with such patience as we can.</p> + +<p>Two of our house servants were more or less permanent; that is, they +had been with us since we opened the house, and were as content as +restless spirits can be. These were the housekeeper and the cook,—the +hub of the house. The former is a Norwegian, tall, angular, and capable, +with a knot of yellow hair at the back of her head,—ostensibly for +sticking lead pencils into,—and a disposition to keep things snug and +clean. Her duties include the general supervision of both houses and the +special charge of store-rooms, food cellars, and table supplies of all +sorts. She is efficient, she whistles while she works, and I see but +little of her. I suspect that Polly knows her well.</p> + +<p>The cook, Mary, is small, Irish, gray, with the temper of a pepper-pod +and the voice of a guinea-hen suffering from bronchitis, but she can +cook like an angel. She is an artist, and I feel as if the +seven-dollar-a-week stipend were but a "tip" to her, and that sometime +she will present me with a bill for her services. My safeguard, and one +that I cherish, is an angry word from her to the housekeeper. She +jeeringly asserted that she, the cook, got $2 a week more than she, the +housekeeper, did. As every one knows that the housekeeper has $5 a week, +I am holding this evidence against the time when Mary asks for a lump +sum adequate to her deserts. The number of things which Mary can make +out of everything and out of nothing is wonderful; and I am fully +persuaded that all the moneys paid to a really good cook are moneys put +into the bank. I often make trips to the kitchen to tell Mary that "the +dinner was great," or that "Mrs. Kyrle wants the receipt for that +pudding," or that "my friend Kyrle asks if he may see you make a salad +dressing;" but "don't do it, Mary; let the secret die with you." The +cook cackles, like the guinea-hen that she is, but the dishes are none +the worse for the commendation.</p> + +<p>The laundress is just a washerwoman, so far as I know. She undoubtedly +changes with the seasons, but I do not see her, though the clothes are +always bleaching on the grass at the back of the house.</p> + +<p>The maids are as changeable as old-fashioned silk. There are always two +of them; but which two, is beyond me. I tell Polly that Four Oaks is a +sprocket-wheel for maids, with two links of an endless chain always on +top. It makes but little difference which links are up, so the work goes +smoothly. Polly thinks the maids come to Four Oaks just as less +independent folk go to the mountains or the shore, for a vacation, or to +be able to say to the policeman, "I've been to the country." Their +system is past finding out; but no matter what it is, we get our dishes +washed and our beds made without serious inconvenience. The wage account +in the house amounts to just $25 a week. My pet system of an increasing +wage for protracted service doesn't appeal to these birds of passage, +who alight long enough to fill their crops with our wild rice and +celery, and then take wing for other feeding-grounds. This kind of life +seems fitted for mallards and maids, and I have no quarrel with either. +From my view, there are happier instincts than those which impel +migration; but remembering that personal views are best applied to +personal use, I wish both maids and mallards <i>bon voyage</i>.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIX" id="CHAPTER_XLIX"></a>CHAPTER XLIX</h2> + +<h4>THE SUNKEN GARDEN</h4> + + +<p>Extending directly west from the porch for 150 feet is an open pergola, +of simple construction, but fast gaining beauty from the rapid growth of +climbers which Polly and Johnson have planted. It is floored with brick +for the protection of dainty feet, and near the western end cluster +rustic benches, chairs, tables, and such things as women and gardeners +love. Facing the west 50 feet of this pergola is Polly's sunken flower +garden, which is her special pride. It extends south 100 feet, and is +built in the side of the hill so that its eastern wall just shows a +coping above the close-cropped lawn. Of course the western wall is much +higher, as the lawn slopes sharply; but it was filled in so as to make +this wall-enclosed garden quite level. The walls which rise above the +flower beds 4½ feet, are beginning to look decorated, thanks to creeping +vines and other things which a cunning gardener and Polly know. Flowers +of all sorts—annuals, biennials (triennials, perhaps), and +perennials—cover the beds, which are laid out in strange, irregular +fashion, far indeed from my rectangular style. These beds please the +eye of the mistress, and of her friends, too, if they are candid in +their remarks, which I doubt.</p> + +<p>While excavating the garden we found a granite boulder shaped somewhat +like an egg and nearly five feet long. It was a big thing, and not very +shapely; but it came from the soil, and Polly wanted it for the base of +her sun-dial. We placed it, big end down, in the mathematical centre of +the garden (I insisted on that), and sunk it into the ground to make it +solid; then a stone mason fashioned a flat space on the top to +accommodate an old brass dial that Polly had found in Boston. The dial +is not half bad. From the heavy, octagonal brass base rises a slender +quill to cast its shadow on the figured circle, while around this circle +old English characters ask, "Am I not wise, who note only bright hours?" +A plat of sod surrounds the dial, and Polly goes to it at least once a +day to set her watch by the shadow of the quill, though I have told her +a hundred times that it is seventeen minutes off standard time. I am +convinced that this estimable lady wilfully ignores conventional time +and marks her cycles by such divisions as "catalogue time," "seed-buying +time," "planting time," "sprouting time," "spraying time," "flowering +time," "seed-gathering time," "mulching time," and "dreary time," until +the catalogues come again. I know it seemed no time at all until she had +let me in to the tune of $687 for the pergola, walls, and garden. She +bought the sun-dial with her own money, I am thankful to say, and it +doesn't enter into this account. I think it must have cost a pretty +penny, for she had a hat "made over" that spring.</p> + +<p>Polly has planted the lawn with a lot of shade trees and shrubs, and has +added some clumps of fruit trees. Few trees have been planted near the +house; the four fine oaks, from which we take our name, stand without +rivals and give ample shade. The great black oak near the east end of +the porch is a tower of strength and beauty, which is "seen and known of +all men," while the three white oaks farther to the west form a clump +which casts a grateful shade when the sun begins to decline. The seven +acres of forest to the east is left severely alone, save where the +carriage drive winds through it, and Polly watches so closely that the +foot of the Philistine rarely crushes her wild flowers. Its sacredness +recalls the schoolgirl's definition of a virgin forest: "One in which +the hand of man has never dared to put his foot into it." Polly wanders +in this grove for hours; but then she knows where and how things grow, +and her footsteps are followed by flowers. If by chance she brushes one +down, it rises at once, shakes off the dust, and says, "I ought to have +known better than to wander so far from home."</p> + +<p>She keeps a wise eye on the vegetable garden, too, and has stores of +knowledge as to seed-time and harvest and the correct succession of +garden crops. She and Johnson planned a greenhouse, which Nelson built, +for flowers and green stuff through the winter, she said; but I think it +is chiefly a place where she can play in the dirt when the weather is +bad. Anyhow, that glass house cost the farm $442, and the interest and +taxes are going on yet. I as well as Polly had to do some building that +autumn. Three more chicken-houses were built, making five in all. Each +consists in ten compartments twenty feet wide, of which each is intended +to house forty hens. When these houses were completed, I had room for +forty pens of forty each, which was my limit for laying hens. In +addition was one house of ten pens for half-grown chickens and fattening +fowls. It would take the hatch of another year to fill my pens, but one +must provide for the future. These three houses cost, in round numbers, +$2100,—five times as much as Polly's glass house,—but I was not going +to play in them.</p> + +<p>I also built a cow-house on the same plan as the first one, but about +half the size. This was for the dry cows and the heifers. It cost $2230, +and gave me stable room enough for the waiting stock, so that I could +count on forty milch cows all the time, when my herd was once balanced. +Forty cows giving milk, six hundred swine of all ages, putting on fat or +doing whatever other duty came to hand, fifteen or sixteen hundred hens +laying eggs when not otherwise engaged, three thousand apple trees +striving with all their might to get large enough to bear fruit,—these +made up my ideal of a factory farm; and it looked as if one year more +would see it complete.</p> + +<p>No rain fell in October, and my brook became such a little brook that I +dared to correct its ways. We spent a week with teams, ploughs, and +scrapers, cutting the fringe and frills away from it, and reducing it to +severe simplicity. It is strange, but true, that this reversion to +simplicity robbed it of its shy ways and rustic beauty, and left it +boldly staring with open eyes and gaping with wide-stretched mouth at +the men who turned from it. We put in about two thousand feet of tile +drainage on both sides of what Polly called "that ditch," and this +completed the improvements on the low lands. The land, indeed, was not +too low to bear good crops, but it was lightened by under drainage and +yielded more each after year.</p> + +<p>The tiles cost me five cents per foot, or $100 for the whole. The work +was done by my own men.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_L" id="CHAPTER_L"></a>CHAPTER L</h2> + +<h4>THE HEADMAN GENERALIZES</h4> + + +<p>Jackson's prophecy came true. The old lady died, and before the ground +was fairly settled around her the improvident son accepted a cash offer +of $75 per acre for his homestead, and the farm was added to mine. This +was in November. I at once spent $640 for 2-1/2 miles of fencing to +enclose it in one field, charging the farm account with $12,640 for the +land and fence.</p> + +<p>This transaction was a bargain, from my point of view; and it was a good +sale, from the standpoint of the other man, for he put $12,000 away at +five per cent interest, and felt that he need never do a stroke of work +again. A lazy man is easily satisfied.</p> + +<p>In December I sold 283 hogs. It was a choice lot, as much alike as peas +in a pod, and gave an average weight of 276 pounds; but the market was +exceedingly low. I received the highest quotation for the month, $3.60 +per hundred, and the lot netted $2702.</p> + +<p>It seems hard luck to be obliged to sell fine swine at such a price, and +a good many farmers would hold their stock in the hope of a rise; but I +do not think this prudent. When a pig is 250 days old, if he has been +pushed, he has reached his greatest profit-growth; and he should be +sold, even though the market be low. If one could be certain that within +a reasonable time, say thirty days, there would be a marked advance, it +might do to hold; but no one can be sure of this, and it doesn't usually +pay to wait. Market the product when at its best, is the rule at Four +Oaks. The young hog is undoubtedly at his best from eight to nine months +old. He has made a maximum growth on minimum feed, and from that time on +he will eat more and give smaller proportionate returns. There is +danger, too, that he will grow stale; for he has been subjected to a +forcing system which contemplated a definite time limit and which cannot +extend much beyond that limit without risks. Force your swine not longer +than nine months and sell for what you can get, and you will make more +money in the long run than by trying to catch a high market. I sold in +December something more than four hundred cockerels, which brought $215. +The apples from the old trees were good that year, but not so abundant +as the year before, and they brought $337,—$2.25 per tree. The hens +laid few eggs in October and November, though they resumed work in +December; but the pullets did themselves proud. Sam said he gathered +from fourteen to twenty eggs a day from each pen of forty, which is +better than forty per cent. We sold nearly eighteen hundred dozen eggs +during this quarter, for $553. The butter account showed nearly +twenty-eight hundred pounds sold, which brought $894, and the sale of +eleven calves brought $180. These sales closed the credit side of our +ledger for the year.</p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Sales Ledger"> +<tr><td align='left'>Apples</td><td align='right'>$337.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Calves</td><td align='right'>130.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cockerels</td><td align='right'>215.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>1785 doz. eggs</td><td align='right'>553.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>2790 lb. butter</td><td align='right'>894.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>283 hogs</td><td align='right'>2702.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>--------</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Total</td><td align='right'>$4831.00</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>In making up the expense account of that year and the previous one, I +found that I should be able in future to say with a good deal of +exactness what the gross amount would be, without much figuring. The +interest account would steadily decrease, I hoped, while the wage +account would increase as steadily until it approached $5500; that year +it was $4662. Each man who had been on the farm more than six months +received $18 more that year than he did the year before, and this +increase would continue until the maximum wage of $40 a month was +reached; but while some would stay long enough to earn the maximum, +others would drop out, and new men would begin work at $20 a month. I +felt safe, therefore, in fixing $5500 as the maximum wage limit of any +year. Time has proven the correctness of this estimate, for $5372 is the +most I have paid for wages during the seven years since this experiment +was inaugurated.</p> + +<p>The food purchased for cows, hogs, and hens may also be definitely +estimated. It costs about $30 a year for each cow, $1 for each hog, and +thirty cents for each hen. Everything else comes from the land, and is +covered by such fixed charges as interest, wages, taxes, insurance, +repairs, and replenishments. The food for the colony at Four Oaks, +usually bought at wholesale, doesn't cost more than $5 a month per +capita. This seems small to a man who is in the habit of paying cash for +everything that enters his doors; but it amply provides for comforts and +even for luxuries, not only for the household, but also for the stranger +within the gates. In the city, where water and ice cost money and the +daily purchase of food is taxed by three or four middlemen, one cannot +realize the factory farmer's independence of tradesmen. I do not mean +that this sum will furnish terrapin and champagne, but I do not +understand that terrapin and champagne are necessary to comfort, health, +or happiness.</p> + +<p>Let us look for a moment at some of the things which the factory farmer +does not buy, and perhaps we shall see that a comfortable existence need +not demand much more. His cows give him milk, cream, butter, and veal; +his swine give roast pig, fresh pork, salt pork, ham, bacon, sausages, +and lard; his hens give eggs and poultry; his fields yield hulled corn, +samp, and corn meal; his orchards give apples, pears, peaches, quinces, +plums, and cherries; his bushes give currants, gooseberries, +strawberries, raspberries, blackberries; his vines give grapes; his +forests give hickory nuts, butternuts, and hazel nuts; and, best of all, +his garden gives more than twenty varieties of toothsome and wholesome +vegetables in profusion. The whole fruit and vegetable product of the +temperate zone is at his door, and he has but to put forth his hand and +take it. The skilled housewife makes wonderful provision against winter +from the opulence of summer, and her storehouse is crowded with +innumerable glass cells rich in the spoils of orchard and garden. There +is scant use for the grocer and the butcher under such conditions. I am +so well convinced that my estimate of $5 a month is liberal that I have +taxed the account with all the salt used on the farm.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LI" id="CHAPTER_LI"></a>CHAPTER LI</h2> + +<h4>THE GRAND-GIRLS</h4> + + +<p>The click of Jane's hammer began to be heard in November, and hardly a +day passed without some music from this "Forge in the Forest." Sir Tom +made a permanent station of the workshop, where he spent hours in a +comfortable chair, drawing nourishment from the head of his cane and +pleasure from watching the girl at the anvil. I suspect that he planted +himself in the corner of the forge to safeguard Jane; for he had an +abiding fear that she would take fire, and he wished to be near at hand +to put her out. He procured a small Babcock extinguisher and a +half-dozen hand-grenades, and with these instruments he constituted +himself a very efficient volunteer fire department. He made her promise, +also, that she would have definite hours for heavy work, that he might +be on watch; and so fond was she of his company, or rather of his +presence, for he talked but little, that she kept close to the schedule.</p> + +<p>Laura had a favorite corner in the forge, where she often turned a hem +or a couplet. She was equally dexterous at either; and Sir Tom watched +her, too, with an admiring eye. I once heard him say:—</p> + +<p>"Milady Laura, it is the regret of me life that I came into the world a +generation too soon."</p> + +<p>Laura sometimes went away—she called it "going home," but we scoffed +the term—and the doldrums blew until she returned. Sir Tom dined with +us nearly every evening through the fall and early winter; and when he, +and Kate and Tom and the grand-girls, and the Kyrles, and Laura were at +Four Oaks, there was little to be desired. The grand-girls were nearly +five and seven now, and they were a great help to the Headman. My +terrier was no closer to my heels from morning to night than were these +youngsters. They took to country life like the young animals they were, +and made friends with all, from Thompson down. They must needs watch the +sheep as they walked their endless way on the treadmill night and +morning; they thrust their hands into hundreds of nests and placed the +spoils in Sam's big baskets; they watched the calves at their patent +feeders, which deceived the calves, but not the girls; they climbed into +the grain bins and tobogganed on the corn; they haunted the cow-barn at +milking time and wondered much; but the chiefest of their delights was +the beautiful white pig which Anderson gave them. A little movable pen +was provided for this favorite, and the youngsters fed it several times +a day with warm milk from a nursing-bottle, like any other motherless +child. The pig loved its foster-mothers, and squealed for them most of +the time when it was not eating or sleeping; fortunately, a pig can do +much of both. It grew playful and intelligent, and took on strange +little human ways which made one wonder if Darwin were right in his +conclusion that we are all ascended from the ape. I have seen features +and traits of character so distinctly piggish as to rouse my suspicions +that the genealogical line is not free from a cross of <i>sus scrofa</i>. The +pig grew in stature and in wisdom, but not in grace, from day to day, +until it threatened to dominate the place. However, it was lost during +the absence of its friends,—to be replaced by a younger one at the next +visit.</p> + +<p>"Do <i>your</i> pigs get lost when you are away?" asked No. 1.</p> + +<p>"Not often, dear."</p> + +<p>"It's only pet pigs that runds away," said No. 2, "and I don't care, for +it rooted me."</p> + +<p>The pet pig is still a favorite with the grand-girls, but it always runs +away in the fall.</p> + +<p>Kate loved to come to Four Oaks, and she spent so much time there that +she often said:—</p> + +<p>"We have no right to that $1200; we spend four times as much time here +as you all do in town."</p> + +<p>"That's all right daughter, but I wish you would spend twice as much +time here as you do, and I also wish that the $1200 were twice as much +as it is."</p> + +<p>Time was running so smoothly with us that we "knocked on wood" each +morning for fear our luck would break.</p> + +<p>The cottage which had once served as a temporary granary, and which had +been moved to the building line two years before, was now turned into an +overflow house against the time when Jack should come home for the +winter vacation. Polly had decided to have "just as many as we can hold, +and some more," and as the heaviest duties fell upon her, the rest of us +could hardly find fault. The partitions were torn out of the cottage, +and it was opened up into one room, except for the kitchen, which was +turned into a bath-room. Six single iron beds were put up, and the place +was made comfortable by an old-fashioned, air-tight, sheet-iron stove +with a great hole in the top through which big chunks and knots of wood +were fed. This stove would keep fire all night, and, while not up to +latter-day demands, it was quite satisfactory to the warm-blooded boys +who used it. The expense of overhauling the cottage was $214. Tom, Kate, +and the grand-girls were to be with us, of course, and so were the +Kyrles, Sir Tom, Jessie Gordon, Florence, Madeline, and Alice Chase. +Jack was to bring Jarvis and two other men besides Frank and Phil of +last year's party.</p> + +<p>The six boys were bestowed in the cottage, where they made merry +without seriously interrupting sleep in the main house. The others found +comfortable quarters under our roof, except Sir Tom, who would go home +some time in the night, to return before lunch the next day.</p> + +<p>With such a houseful of people, the cook was worked to the bone; but she +gloried in it, and cackled harder than ever. I believe she gave warning +twice during those ten days; but Polly has a way with her which Mary +cannot resist. I do not think we could have driven that cook out of the +house with a club when there was such an opportunity for her to +distinguish herself. Her warnings were simply matters of habit.</p> + +<p>The holidays were filled with such things as a congenial country +house-party can furnish—the wholesomest, jolliest things in the world; +and the end, when it came, was regretted by all. I grew to feel a little +bit jealous of Jarvis's attentions to Jane, for they looked serious, and +she was not made unhappy by them. Jarvis was all that was honest and +manly, but I could not think of giving up Jane, even to the best of +fellows. I wanted her for my old age. I suspect that a loving father can +dig deeper into the mud of selfishness than any other man, and yet feel +all the time that he is doing God service. It is in accord with nature +that a daughter should take the bit in her teeth and bolt away from this +restraining selfishness, but the man who is left by the roadside cannot +always see it in that light.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LII" id="CHAPTER_LII"></a>CHAPTER LII</h2> + +<h4>THE THIRD RECKONING</h4> + + +<p>On the afternoon of December 31 I called a meeting of the committee of +ways and means, and Polly and I locked ourselves in my office. It was +then two and a half years since we commenced the experiment of building +a factory farm, which was to supply us with comforts, luxuries, and +pleasures of life, and yet be self-supporting: a continuous experiment +in economics.</p> + +<p>The building of the factory was practically completed, though not all of +its machinery had yet been installed. We had spent our money +freely,—too freely, perhaps; and we were now ready to watch the +returns. Polly said:—</p> + +<p>"There are some things we are sure of: we like the country, and it likes +us. I have spent the happiest year of my life here. We've entertained +more friends than ever before, and they've been better entertained, so +that we are all right from the social standpoint. You are stronger and +better than ever before, and so am I. Credit the farm with these things, +Mr. Headman, and you'll find that it doesn't owe us such an awful amount +after all."</p> + +<p>"Are these things worth $100,000?"</p> + +<p>"Now, John, you don't mean that you've spent $100,000! What in the world +have you done with it? Just pigs and cows and chickens—"</p> + +<p>"And greenhouses and sunken gardens and pergolas and kickshaws," said I. +"But seriously, Polly, I think that we can show value for all that we +have spent; and the whole amount is not three times what our city house +cost, and that only covered our heads."</p> + +<p>"How do you figure values here?"</p> + +<p>"We get a great deal more than simply shelter out of this place, and we +have tangible values, too. Here are some of them: 480 acres of excellent +land, so well groomed and planted that it is worth of any man's money, +$120 per acre, or $57,600; buildings, water-plant, etc., all as good as +new, $40,000; 44 cows, $4400; 10 heifers nearly two years old, $500; 8 +horses, $1200; 50 brood sows, $1000; 350 young pigs, $1700; 1300 laying +hens, $1300; tools and machinery, $1500; that makes well over $100,000 +in sight, besides all the things you mentioned before."</p> + +<p>"You haven't counted the six horses in my barn."</p> + +<p>"They haven't been charged to the farm, Polly."</p> + +<p>"Or the trees you've planted?"</p> + +<p>"No, they go with the land to increase its value."</p> + +<p>"And my gardens, too?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, they are fixtures and count with the acres. You see, this, land +didn't cost quite $75 an acre, but I hold it $50 better for what we've +done to it; I don't believe Bill Jackson would sell his for less. I +offered him $10,000 for a hundred acres, and he refused. We've put up +the price of real estate in this neighborhood, Mrs. Williams."</p> + +<p>"Well, let's get at the figures. I'm dying to see how we stand."</p> + +<p>"I have summarized them here:—</p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" summary="Accounts"> +<tr><td align='left'>"To additional land and development of plant</td><td align='right'>$20,353.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>To interest on previous investment</td><td align='right'>4,220.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Wages</td><td align='right'>4,662.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Food for twenty-five people</td><td align='right'>1,523.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Food for stock</td><td align='right'>2,120.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Taxes and insurance</td><td align='right'>207.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Shoeing and repairs</td><td align='right'>309.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>------------</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Making in all</td><td align='right'>$33,394.00</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>spent this year.</p> + +<p>"The receipts are:—</p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Income for the year"> +<tr><td align='left'>"First quarter</td><td align='right'>$1,297.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Second quarter</td><td align='right'>1,706.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Third quarter</td><td align='right'>3,284.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fourth quarter</td><td align='right'>4,831.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>------------</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Making</td><td align='right'>$11,118.00</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>"But we agreed to pay $4000 a year to the farm for our food and shelter, +if it did as well by us as the town house did. Shall we do it, Polly?"</p> + +<p>"Why, of course; we've been no end more comfortable here."</p> + +<p>"Well, if we don't expect to get something for nothing, I think we +ought to add it. Adding $4000 will make the returns from the farm +$15,118, leaving $18,276 to add to the interest-bearing debt. Last year +this debt was $84,404. Add this year's deficit, and we have $102,680. A +good deal of money, Polly, but I showed you well over $100,000 in +assets,—at our own price, to be sure, but not far wrong."</p> + +<p>"Will you ever have to increase the debt?"</p> + +<p>"I think not. I believe we shall reduce it a little next year, and each +year thereafter. But, supposing it only pays expenses, how can you put +on as much style on the interest of $100,000 anywhere else as you can +here? It can't be done. When the fruit comes in and this factory is +running full time, it will earn well on toward $25,000 a year, and it +will not cost over $14,000 to run it, interest and all. It won't take +long at that rate to wipe out the interest-bearing debt. You'll be rich, +Polly, before you're ten years older."</p> + +<p>"You are rich now, in imagination and expectation, Mr. Headman, but I'll +bank with you for a while longer. But what's the use of charging the +farm with interest when you credit it with our keeping?"</p> + +<p>"There isn't much reason in that, Polly. It's about as broad as it is +long. I simply like to keep books in that way. We charge the farm with a +little more than $4000 interest, and we credit it with just $4000 for +our food and shelter. We'll keep on in this way because I like it."</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LIII" id="CHAPTER_LIII"></a>CHAPTER LIII</h2> + +<h4>THE MILK MACHINE</h4> + + +<p>In opening the year 1898 I was faced by a larger business proposition +than I had originally planned. When I undertook the experiment of a +factory farm, I placed the limit of capital to be invested at about +$60,000. Now I found that I had exceeded that amount by a good many +thousand dollars, and I knew that the end was not yet. The factory was +not complete, and it would be several years before it would be at its +best in output. While it had cost me more than was originally +contemplated, and while there was yet more money to be spent, there was +still no reason for discouragement. Indeed, I felt so certain of +ultimate profits that I was ready to put as much into it as could +possibly be used to advantage.</p> + +<p>The original plan was for a soiling farm on which I could milk thirty +cows, fatten two hundred hogs, feed a thousand hens, and wait for +thirty-five hundred fruit trees to come to a profitable age. With this +in view, I set apart forty acres of high, dry land, for the +feeding-grounds, twenty acres of which was devoted to the cows; and I +now found that this twenty-acre lot would provide an ample exercise +field for twice that number. It was in grass (timothy, red-top, and blue +grass), and the cows nibbled persistently during the short hours each +day when they were permitted to be on it; but it was never reckoned as +part of their ration. The sod was kept in good condition and the field +free from weeds, by the use of the mowing-machine, set high, every ten +or twenty days, according to the season. Following the mower, we use a +spring-tooth rake which bunched the weeds and gathered or broke up the +droppings; and everything the rake caught was carted to the manure vats. +Our big Holsteins do not suffer from close quarters, so far as I am able +to judge, neither do they take on fat. From thirty minutes to three +hours (depending on the weather), is all the outing they get each day; +but this seems sufficient for their needs. The well-ventilated stable +with its moderate temperature suits the sedentary nature of these milk +machines, and I am satisfied with the results. I cannot, of course, +speak with authority of the comparative merits of soiling <i>versus</i> +grazing, for I have had no experience in the latter; but in theory +soiling appeals to me, and in practice it satisfies me.</p> + +<p>When I found I could keep more cows on the land set apart for them, I +built another cow stable for the dry cows and the heifers, and added +four stalls to my milk stable by turning each of the hospital wards into +two stalls.</p> + +<p>The ten heifers which I reserved in the spring of 1896 were now nearly +two years old. They were expected to "come in" in the early autumn, when +they would supplement the older herd. The cows purchased in 1895 were +now five years old, and quite equal to the large demand which we made +upon them. They had grown to be enormous creatures, from thirteen +hundred to fourteen hundred pounds in weight, and they were proving +their excellence as milk producers by yielding an average of forty +pounds a day. We had, and still have, one remarkable milker, who thinks +nothing of yielding seventy pounds when fresh, and who doesn't fall +below twenty-five pounds when we are forced to dry her off. I have no +doubt that she would be a successful candidate for advanced registration +if we put her to the test. For ten months in each year these cows give +such quantities of milk as would surprise a man not acquainted with this +noble Dutch family. My five common cows were good of their kind, but +they were not in the class with the Holsteins. They were not "robber" +cows, for they fully earned their food; but there was no great profit in +them. To be sure, they did not eat more than two-thirds as much as the +Holsteins; but that fact did not stand to their credit, for the basic +principle of factory farming is to consume as much raw material as +possible and to turn out its equivalent in finished product. The common +cows consumed only two-thirds as much raw material as the Holsteins, +and turned out rather less than two-thirds of their product, while they +occupied an equal amount of floor space; consequently they had to give +place to more competent machines. They were to be sold during the +season.</p> + +<p>Why dairymen can be found who will pay $50 apiece for cows like those I +had for sale (better, indeed, than the average), is beyond my method of +reckoning values. Twice $50 will buy a young cow bred for milk, and she +would prove both bread and milk to the purchaser in most cases. The +question of food should settle itself for the dairyman as it does for +the factory farmer. The more food consumed, the better for each, if the +ratio of milk be the same.</p> + +<p>My Holsteins are great feeders; more than 2 tons of grain, 2-1/2 tons of +hay, and 4 or 5 tons of corn fodder, in addition to a ton of roots or +succulent vegetables, pass through their great mouths each year. The hay +is nearly equally divided between timothy, oat hay, and alfalfa; and +when I began to figure the gross amount that would be required for my 50 +Holstein gourmands, I saw that the widow's farm had been purchased none +too quickly. To provide 100 tons of grain, 125 tons of hay, and 200 or +300 tons of corn fodder for the cows alone, was no slight matter; but I +felt prepared to furnish this amount of raw material to be transmuted +into golden butter. The Four Oaks butter had made a good reputation, and +the four oak leaves stamped on each mould was a sufficient guarantee of +excellence. My city grocer urged a larger product, and I felt safe in +promising it; at the same time, I held him up for a slight advance in +price. Heretofore it had netted me 32 cents a pound, but from January 1, +1898, I was to have 33-1/3 cents for each pound delivered at the station +at Exeter, I agreeing to furnish at least 50 pounds a day, six days in a +week.</p> + +<p>This was not always easily done during the first eight months of that +year, and I will confess to buying 640 pounds to eke out the supply for +the colony; but after the young heifers came in, there was no trouble, +and the purchased butter was more than made up to our local grocer.</p> + +<p>It will be more satisfactory to deal with dairy matters in lump sums +from now on. The contract with the city grocer still holds, and, though +he often urges me to increase my herd, I still limit the supply to 300 +pounds a week,—sometimes a little more, but rarely less. I believe that +38 to 44 cows in full flow of milk will make the best balance in my +factory; and a well-balanced factory is what I am after.</p> + +<p>I am told that animals are not machines, and that they cannot be run as +such. My animals are; and I run them as I would a shop. There is no +sentiment in my management. If a cow or a hog or a hen doesn't work in a +satisfactory way, it ceases to occupy space in my shop, just as would +an imperfect wheel. The utmost kindness is shown to all animals at Four +Oaks. This rule is the most imperative one on the place, and the one in +which no "extenuating circumstances" are taken into account. There are +two equal reasons for this: the first is a deep-rooted aversion to +cruelty in all forms; and the second is, <i>it pays</i>. But kindness to +animals doesn't imply the necessity of keeping useless ones or those +whose usefulness is below one's standard. If a man will use the +intelligence and attention to detail in the management of stock that is +necessary to the successful running of a complicated machine, he will +find that his stock doesn't differ greatly from his machine. The trouble +with most farmers is that they think the living machine can be neglected +with impunity, because it will not immediately destroy itself or others, +and because it is capable of a certain amount of self-maintenance; while +the dead machine has no power of self-support, and must receive careful +and punctual attention to prevent injury to itself and to other +property. If a dairyman will feed his cows as a thresher feeds the +cylinder of his threshing-machine, he will find that the milk will flow +from the one about as steadily as the grain falls from the other.</p> + +<p>Intensive factory farming means the use of the best machines pushed to +the limit of their capacity through the period of their greatest +usefulness, and then replaced by others. Pushing to the limit of +capacity is in no sense cruelty. It is predicated on the perfect health +of the animal, for without perfect condition, neither machine nor animal +can do its best work. It is simply encouraging to a high degree the +special function for which generations of careful breeding have fitted +the animal.</p> + +<p>That there is gratification in giving milk, no well-bred cow or mother +will deny. It is a joyous function to eat large quantities of pleasant +food and turn it into milk. Heredity impels the cow to do this, and it +would take generations of wild life to wean her from it. As well say +that the cataleptic trance of the pointer, when the game bird lies close +and the delicate scent fills his nostrils, is not a joy to him, or that +the Dalmatian at the heels of his horse, or the foxhound when Reynard's +trail is warm, receive no pleasure from their specialties.</p> + +<p>Do these animals feel no joy in the performance of service which is bred +into their bones and which it is unnatural or freakish for them to lack? +No one who has watched the "bred-for-milk" cow can doubt that the joys +of her life are eating, drinking, sleeping, and giving milk. Pushing her +to the limit of her capacity is only intensifying her life, though, +possibly, it may shorten it by a year or two. While she lives she knows +all the happiness of cow life, and knows it to the full. What more can +she ask? She would starve on the buffalo grass which supports her +half-wild sister, "northers" would freeze her, and the snow would bury +her. She is a product of high cow-civilization, and as such she must +have the intelligent care of man or she cannot do her best. With this +care she is a marvellous machine for the making of the only article of +food which in itself is competent to support life in man. If my +Holsteins are not machines, they resemble them so closely that I will +not quarrel with the name.</p> + +<p>What is true of the cow, is true also of the pork-making machine that we +call the hog. His wild and savage progenitor is lost, and we have in his +place a sluggish animal that is a very model as a food producer. His +three pleasures are eating, sleeping, and growing fat. He follows these +pleasures with such persistence that 250 days are enough to perfect him. +It can certainly be no hardship to a pig to encourage him in a life of +sloth and gluttony which appeals to his taste and to my profit.</p> + +<p>Custom and interest make his life ephemeral; I make it comfortable. From +the day of his birth until we separate, I take watchful care of him. +During infancy he is protected from cold and wet, and his mother is +coddled by the most nourishing foods, that she may not fail in her duty +to him. During childhood he is provided with a warm house, a clean bed, +and a yard in which to disport himself, and is fed for growth and bone +on skim-milk, oatmeal, and sweet alfalfa. During his youth, corn meal is +liberally added to his diet, also other dainties which he enjoys and +makes much of; and during his whole life he has access to clean water, +and to the only medicine which a pig needs,—a mixture of ashes, +charcoal, salt, and sulphur.</p> + +<p>When he has spent 250 happy days with me, we part company with feelings +of mutual respect,—he to finish his mission, I to provide for his +successor.</p> + +<p>My early plan was to turn off 200 of this finished product each year, +but I soon found that I could do much better. One can raise a crop of +hogs nearly as quickly as a crop of corn, and with much more profit, if +the food be at hand. There was likely to be an abundance of food. I was +more willing to sell it in pig skins than in any other packages. My plan +was now to turn off, not 200 hogs each year, but 600 or more. I had 60 +well-bred sows, young and old, and I could count on them to farrow at +least three times in two years. The litters ought to average 7 each, say +22 pigs in two years; 60 times 22 are 1320, and half of 1320 is 660. +Yes, at that rate, I could count on about 600 finished hogs to sell each +year. But if my calculations were too high, I could easily keep 10 more +brood sows, for I had sufficient room to keep them healthy.</p> + +<p>The two five-acre lots, Nos. 3 and 5, had been given over to the brood +sows when they were not caring for young litters in the brood-house. +Comfortable shelters and a cemented basin twelve feet by twelve, and one +foot deep, had been built in each lot. The water-pipe that ran through +the chicken lot (No. 4) connected with these basins, as did also a +drain-pipe to the drain in the north lane, so that it was easy to turn +on fresh water and to draw off that which was soiled. Through this +device my brood sows had access to a water bath eight inches deep, +whenever they were in the fields. My hogs, young or old, have never been +permitted to wallow in mud. We have no mud-holes at Four Oaks to grow +stale and breed disease. The breeding hogs have exercise lots and baths, +but the young growing and fattening stock have neither. They are kept in +runs twenty feet by one hundred, in bunches of from twenty to forty, +according to age, from the time they are weaned until they leave the +place for good. This plan, which I did not intend to change, opened a +question in my mind that gave me pause. It was this: Can I hope, even +with the utmost care, to keep the house for growing and fattening swine +free from disease if I keep it constantly full of swine?</p> + +<p>The more I thought about it the less probable it appeared. The pig-house +had cost me $4320. Another would cost as much, if not more, and I did +not like to go to the expense unless it were necessary. I worked over +this problem for several days, and finally came to the conclusion that +I should never feel easy about my swine until I had two houses for them, +besides the brood-house for the sows. I therefore gave the order to +Nelson to build another swine-house as soon as spring opened. My plan +was, and I carried it out, to move all the colonies every three months, +and to have the vacant house thoroughly cleaned, sprayed with a powerful +germicide, and whitewashed. The runs were to be turned over, when the +weather would permit, and the ground sown to oats or rye.</p> + +<p>The new house was finished in June, and the pigs were moved into it on +July 1st with a lease of three months. My mind has been easy on the +question of the health of my hogs ever since; and with reason, for there +has been no epizoötic or other serious form of disease in my piggery, in +spite of the fact that there are often more than 1200 pigs of all +degrees crowded into this five-acre lot. The two pig-houses and the +brood-house, with their runs, cover the whole of the lot, except the +broad street of sixty feet just inside my high quarantine fence, which +encloses the whole of it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LIV" id="CHAPTER_LIV"></a>CHAPTER LIV</h2> + +<h4>BACON AND EGGS</h4> + + +<p>Each hog turned out from my piggery weighing 270 pounds or more, has +eaten of my substance not less than 500 pounds of grain, 250 pounds of +chopped alfalfa, 250 pounds of roots or vegetables, and such quantities +of skimmed milk and swill as have fallen to his share. I could reckon +the approximate cost of these foods, but I will not do so. All but the +middlings and oil meal come from the farm and are paid for by certain +fixed charges heretofore mentioned. The middlings and oil meal are +charged in the "food for animals" account at the rate of $1 a year for +each finished hog.</p> + +<p>The truth is that a large part of the food which enters into the making +of each 300 pounds of live pork, is of slow sale, and that for some of +it there is no sale at all,—for instance, house swill, dish-water, +butter-washings, garden weeds, lawn clippings, and all sorts of coarse +vegetables. A hog makes half his growth out of refuse which has no +value, or not sufficient to warrant the effort and expense of selling +it. He has unequalled facilities for turning non-negotiable scrip into +convertible bonds, and he is the greatest moneymaker on the farm. If +the grain ration were all corn, and if there were a roadside market for +it at 35 cents a bushel, it would cost $3.12; the alfalfa would be worth +$1.45, and the vegetables probably 65 cents, under like conditions, +making a total of $5.22 as a possible gross value of the food which the +hog has eaten. The gross value of these things, however, is far above +their net value when one considers time and expense of sale. The hog +saves all this trouble by tucking under his skin slow-selling remnants +of farm products and making of them finished assets which can be turned +into cash at a day's notice.</p> + +<p>To feed the hogs on the scale now planned, I had to provide for +something like 7000 bushels of grain, chiefly corn and oats, 100 tons of +alfalfa, and an equal amount of vegetables, chiefly sugar beets and +mangel-wurzel. Certainly the widow's land would be needed.</p> + +<p>The poultry had also outgrown my original plans, and I had built with +reference to my larger views. There were five houses on the poultry lot, +each 200 feet long, and each divided into ten equal pens. Four of these +houses were for the laying hens, which were divided into flocks of 40 +each; while the other house was for the growing chickens and for +cockerels being fattened for market.</p> + +<p>There were now on hand more than 1300 pullets and hens, and I instructed +Sam to run his incubator overtime that season, so as to fill our houses +by autumn. I should need 800 or 900 pullets to make our quota good, for +most of the older hens would have to be disposed of in the autumn,—all +but about 200, which would be kept until the following spring to breed +from.</p> + +<p>I believe that a three-year-old hen that has shown the egg habit is the +best fowl to breed from, and it is the custom at Four Oaks to reserve +specially good pens for this purpose. The egg habit is unquestionably as +much a matter of heredity as the milk or the fat producing habit, and +should be as carefully cultivated. With this end in view, Sam added +young cockerels to four of his best-producing flocks on January 1, and +by the 15th he was able to start his incubators.</p> + +<p>Breeding and feeding for eggs is on the same principle as feeding and +breeding for milk. It is no more natural for a hen to lay eggs for human +consumption than it is for the robin to do so, or for the cow to give +more milk than is sufficient for her calf. Man's necessity has made +demands upon both cow and hen, and man's intelligence has converted +individualists into socialists in both of these races. They no longer +live for themselves alone. As the cow, under favorable conditions, finds +pleasure in giving milk, so does the hen under like conditions take +delight in giving eggs,—else why the joyous cackle when leaving her +nest after doing her full duty? She gloats over it, and glories in it, +and announces her satisfaction to the whole yard. It is something to be +proud of, and the cackling hen knows it better than you or I. It can be +no hardship to push this egg machine to the limit of its capacity. It +adds new zest to the life of the hen, and multiplies her opportunities +for well-earned self-congratulation.</p> + +<p>Our hens are fed for eggs, and we get what we feed for. I said of my +hens that I would not ask them to lay more than eight dozen eggs each +year, and I will stick to what I said. But I do not reject voluntary +contributions beyond this number. Indeed, I accept them with thanks, and +give Biddy a word of commendation for her gratuity. Eight dozen eggs a +year will pay a good profit, but if each of my hens wishes to present me +with two dozen more, I slip 62 cents into my pocket and say, "I am very +much obliged to you, miss," or madam, as the case may be. Most of my +hens do remember me in this substantial way, and the White Wyandottes +are in great favor with the Headman.</p> + +<p>The houses in which my hens live are almost as clean as the one I +inhabit (and Polly is tidy to a degree); their food is as carefully +prepared as mine, and more punctually served; their enemies are fended +off, and they are never frightened by dogs or other animals, for the +five-acre lot on which their houses and runs are built is enclosed by a +substantial fence that prevents any interloping; book agents never +disturb their siestas, nor do tree men make their lives hideous with +lithographs of impossible fruit on improbable trees. Whether I am +indebted to one or to all of these conditions for my full egg baskets, I +am unable to say; but I do not purpose to make any change, for my egg +baskets are as full as a reasonable man could wish. As nearly as I can +estimate, my hens give thirty per cent egg returns as a yearly +average—about 120 eggs for each hen in 365 days. This is more than I +ask of them, but I do not refuse their generosity.</p> + +<p>Every egg is worth, in my market, 2-1/2 cents, which means that the +yearly product of each hen could be sold for $3. Something more than two +thousand dozen are consumed by the home colony or the incubators; the +rest find their way to the city in clean cartons of one dozen each, with +a stencil of Four Oaks and a guarantee that they are not twenty-four +hours old when they reach the middleman.</p> + +<p>In return for this $3 a year, what do I give my hens besides a clean +house and yard? A constant supply of fresh water, sharp grits, oyster +shells, and a bath of road dust and sifted ashes, to which is added a +pinch of insect powder. Twice each day five pounds of fresh skim-milk is +given to each flock of forty. In the morning they have a warm mash +composed of (for 1600 hens) 50 pounds of alfalfa hay cut fine and soaked +all night in hot water, 50 pounds of corn meal, 50 pounds of oat meal, +50 pounds of bran, and 20 pounds of either meat meal or cotton-seed +meal. At noon they get 100 pounds of mixed grains—wheat and buckwheat +usually—with some green vegetables to pick at; and at night 125 to 150 +pounds of whole corn. There are variations of this diet from time to +time, but no radical change. I have read much of a balanced ration, but +I fancy a hen will balance her own ration if you give her the chance.</p> + +<p>Milk is one of the most important items on this bill of fare, and all +hens love it. It should be fed entirely fresh, and the crocks or earthen +dishes from which it is eaten should be thoroughly cleansed each day. +Four ounces for each hen is a good daily ration, and we divide this into +two feedings.</p> + +<p>Our 1600 hens eat about 75 tons of grain a year. Add to this the 100 +tons which 50 cows will require, 200 tons for the swine, and 25 tons for +the horses, and we have 400 tons of grain to provide for the stock on +the factory farm. Nearly a fourth of this, in the shape of bran, gluten +meal, oil meal, and meat meal, must be purchased, for we have no way of +producing it. For the other 300 tons we must look to the land or to a +low market. Three hundred tons of mixed grains means something like +13,000 bushels, and I cannot hope to raise this amount from my land at +present.</p> + +<p>Fortunately the grain market was to my liking in January of 1898; and +though there were still more than 7000 bushels in my granary, I +purchased 5000 bushels of corn and as much oats against a higher market. +The corn cost 27 cents a bushel and the oats 22, delivered at Exeter, +the 10,000 bushels amounting to $2450, to be charged to the farm +account.</p> + +<p>I was now prepared to face the food problem, for I had more than 17,000 +bushels of grain to supplement the amount the farm would produce, and to +tide me along until cheap grain should come again, or until my land +should produce enough for my needs. The supply in hand plus that which I +could reasonably expect to raise, would certainly provide for three +years to come, and this is farther than the average farmer looks into +the future. But I claim to be more enterprising than an average farmer, +and determined to keep my eyes open and to take advantage of any +favorable opportunity to strengthen my position.</p> + +<p>In the meantime it was necessary to force my trees, and to secure more +help for the farm work. To push fruit trees to the limit of healthy +growth is practical and wise. They can accomplish as much in growth and +development in three years, when judiciously stimulated, as in five or +six years of the "lick-and-a-promise" kind of care which they usually +receive.</p> + +<p>A tree must be fed first for growth and afterward for fruit, just as a +pig is managed, if one wishes quick returns. To plant a tree and leave +it to the tenderness of nature, with only occasional attention, is to +make the heart sick, for it is certain to prove a case of hope deferred. +In the fulness of time the tree and "happy-go-lucky" nature will prove +themselves equal to the development of fruit; but they will be slow in +doing it. It is quite as well for the tree, and greatly to the advantage +of the horticulturist, to cut two or three years out of this +unprofitable time. All that is necessary to accomplish this is: to keep +the ground loose for a space around the tree somewhat larger than the +spread of its branches; to apply fertilizers rich in nitrogen; to keep +the whole of the cultivated space mulched with good barn-yard manure, +increasing the thickness of the mulch with coarse stuff in the fall, so +as to lengthen the season of root activity; and to draw the mulch aside +about St. Patrick's Day, that the sun's rays may warm the earth as early +as possible. Moderate pruning, nipping back of exuberant branches, and +two sprayings of the foliage with Bordeaux mixture, to keep fungus +enemies in check, comprise all the care required by the growing tree. +This treatment will condense the ordinary growth of five years into +three, and the tree will be all the better for the forcing.</p> + +<p>As soon as fruit spurs and buds begin to show themselves, the treatment +should be modified, but not remitted. Less nitrogen and more phosphoric +acid and potash are to be used, and the mulch should <i>not</i> be removed +in the early spring. The objects now are, to stimulate the fruit buds +and to retard activity in the roots until the danger from late frosts is +past. As a result of this kind of treatment, many varieties of apple +trees will give moderate crops when the roots are seven, and the trunks +are six years old. Fruit buds showed in abundance on many of my trees in +the fall of 1897, especially on the Duchess and the Yellow Transparent, +and I looked for a small apple harvest that year.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LV" id="CHAPTER_LV"></a>CHAPTER LV</h2> + +<h4>THE OLD TIME FARM-HAND</h4> + + +<p>With all my industries thus increasing, the necessity for more help +became imperative. French and Judson had their hands more than full in +the dairy barns, and had to be helped out by Thompson. Anderson could +not give the swine all the attention they needed, and was assisted by +Otto, who proved an excellent swineherd. Sam had the aid of Lars's boys +with the poultry, and very efficient aid it was, considering the time +they could give to it. They had to be off with the market wagon at 7.40, +and did not return from school until 4 P.M. Lars was busy in the +carriage barn; and though we spared him as much as possible from +driving, he had to be helped out by Johnson at such times as the latter +could spare from his greenhouse and hotbeds. Zeb took care of the farm +teams; but the winter's work of distributing forage and grain, getting +up wood and ice, hauling manure, and so forth, had to be done in a +desultory and irregular manner. The spring work would find us wofully +behindhand if I did not look sharp. I had been looking sharp since +January set in, and had experienced, for the first time, real +difficulties in finding anything like good help. Hitherto I had been +especially fortunate in this regard. I had met some reverses, but in the +main good luck had followed me. I had nine good men who seemed contented +and who were all saving money,—an excellent sign of stability and +contentment. Even Lars had not fallen from grace but once, and that +could hardly be charged against him, for Jack and Jarvis had tempted him +beyond resistance; while Sam's nose was quite blanched, and he was to +all appearances firmly seated on the water wagon. Really, I did not know +what labor troubles meant until 1898, but since then I have not had +clear sailing.</p> + +<p>From my previous experience with working-men, I had formed the opinion +that they were reasoning and reasonable human beings,—with +peculiarities, of course; and that as a class they were ready to give +good service for fair wages and decent treatment. In early life I had +been a working-man myself, and I thought I could understand the feelings +and sympathize with the trials of the laborer from the standpoint of +personal experience. I was sorely mistaken. The laboring man of to-day +is a different proposition from the man who did manual labor "before the +war." That he is more intelligent, more provident, happier, or better in +any way, I sincerely doubt; that he is restless, dissatisfied, and less +efficient, I believe; that he is unreasonable in his demands and +regardless of the interests of his employer, I know. There are many +shining exceptions, and to these I look for the ultimate regeneration of +labor; but the rule holds true.</p> + +<p>I do not believe that the principles of life have changed in forty +years. I do not believe that an intelligent, able-bodied man need be a +servant all his life, or that industry and economy miss their rewards, +or that there is any truth in the theory that men cannot rise out of the +rut in which they happen to find themselves. The trouble is with the +man, not with the rut. He spends his time in wallowing rather than in +diligently searching for an outlet or in honestly working his way up to +it. Heredity and environment are heavy weights, but industry and +sobriety can carry off heavier ones. I have sympathy for weakness of +body or mind, and patience for those over whom inheritance has cast a +baleful spell; but I have neither patience nor sympathy for a strong man +who rails at his condition and makes no determined effort to better it.</p> + +<p>The time and money wasted in strikes, agitations, and arbitrations, if +put to practical use, would better the working-man enough faster than +these futile efforts do. I have no quarrel with unions or combinations +of labor, so far as they have the true interests of labor for an object; +but I do quarrel with the spirit of mob rule and the evidences of +conspicuous waste, which have grown so rampant as to overshadow the +helpful hand and to threaten, not the stability of society—for in the +background I see six million conservative sons of the soil who will look +to the stability of things when the time comes—but the unions +themselves.</p> + +<p>I remember my first summer on a farm. It lasted from the first day of +April to the thirty-first day of October, and on the evening of that day +I carried to my father $28, the full wage for seven months. I could not +have spent one cent during that time, for I carried the whole sum home; +but I do not remember that I was conscious of any want. The hours on the +farm were not short; an eight-hour day would have been considered but a +half-day. We worked from sun to sun, and I grew and knew no sorrow or +oppression. The next year I received the munificent wage of $6 a month, +and the following year, $8.</p> + +<p>In after years, in brick-yards, sawmills, lumber woods, or harvest +fields, there was no arbitrary limit put upon the amount of work to be +done. If I chose to do the work of a man and a half, I got $1.50 for +doing it, and it would have been a bold and sturdy delegate who tried to +hold me from it. I felt no need of help from outside. I was fit to care +for myself, and I minded not the long hours, the hard work, or the hard +bed. This life was preliminary to a fuller one, and it served its use. +I know what tired legs and back mean, and I know that one need not have +them always if he will use the ordinary sense which God gives. Genius, +or special cleverness, is not necessary to get a man out of the rut of +hard manual labor. Just plain, everyday sense will do. But before I had +secured the three men for whom I was in search, I began to feel that +this common sense of which we speak so glibly is a rare commodity under +the working-man's hat. I advertised, sent to agencies and intelligence +offices, interviewed and inspected, consulted friends and enemies, and +so generally harrowed my life that I was fit to give up the whole +business and retire into a cave.</p> + +<p>By actual count, I saw more than one hundred men, of all ages, sizes, +and colors. Eight of these were tried, of whom five were found wanting. +Early in February I had settled upon three sober men to add to our +colony. As none of these lasted the year out, I may be forgiven for not +introducing them to the reader. They served their purpose, and mine too, +and then drifted on.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LVI" id="CHAPTER_LVI"></a>CHAPTER LVI</h2> + +<h4>THE SYNDICATE</h4> + + +<p>I do not wish to take credit for things which gave me pleasure in the +doing, or to appear altruistic in my dealings with the people employed +at Four Oaks. I tell of our business and other relations because they +are details of farm history and rightfully belong to these pages. If I +dealt fairly by my men and established relations of mutual confidence +and dependence, it was not in the hope that my ways might be approved +and commended, but because it paid, in more ways than one. I wanted my +men to have a lively interest in the things which were of importance to +me, that their efforts might be intelligent and direct; and I was glad +to enter into their schemes, either for pleasure or for profit, with +such aid as I could give. Cordial understanding between employee and +employer puts life into the contract, and disposes of perfunctory +service, which simply recognizes a definite deed for a definite +compensation. Uninterested labor leaves a load of hay in the field to be +injured, just because the hour for quitting has come, while interested +labor hurries the hay into the barn to make it safe, knowing that the +extra half-hour will be made up to it in some other way.</p> + +<p>It pays the farmer to take his help into a kind of partnership, not +always in his farm, but always in his consideration. That is why my +farm-house was filled with papers and magazines of interest to the men; +that is why I spent many an evening with them talking over our +industries; that is why I purchased an organ for them when I found that +Mrs. French, the dairymaid, could play on it; that is why I talked +economy to them and urged them to place some part of each month's wage +in the Exeter Savings Bank; and that is why, early in 1898, I formulated +a plan for investing their wages at a more profitable rate of interest. +I asked each one to give me a statement of his or her savings up to +date. They were quite willing to do this, and I found that the aggregate +for the eight men and three women was $2530. Anderson, who saved most of +his wages, had an account in a city savings bank, and did not join us in +our syndicate, though he approved of it.</p> + +<p>The money was made up of sums varying from $90, Lena's savings, to $460 +owned by Judson, the buggy man. My proposition was this: Pool the funds, +buy Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific stock, and hold it for one or two +years. The interest would be twice as much as they were getting from +the bank, while the prospect of a decided advance was good. I said to +them:—</p> + +<p>"I have owned Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific stock for more than +three years. I commenced to buy at fifty-seven, and I am still buying, +when I can get hold of a little money that doesn't have to go into this +blessed farm. It is now eighty-one, and it will go higher. I am so sure +of this that I will agree to take the stock from each or all of you at +the price you pay for it at any time during the next two years. There is +no risk in this proposition to you, and there may be a very handsome +return."</p> + +<p>They were pleased with the plan, and we formed a pool to buy thirty +shares of stock. Thompson and I were trustees, and the certificate stood +in our names; but each contributor received a pro-rata interest; Lena, +one thirtieth; Judson, five-thirtieths; and the others between these +extremes. The stock was bought at eighty-two. I may as well explain now +how it came out, for I am not proud of my acumen at the finish. A little +more than a year later the stock reached 122, and I advised the +syndicate to sell. They were all pleased at the time with the handsome +profit they had made, but I suspect they have often figured what they +might have made "if the boss hadn't been such a chump," for we have seen +the stock go above two hundred.</p> + +<p>This was not the only enterprise in which our colony took a small share. +The people at Four Oaks are now content to hold shares in one of the +great trusts, which they bought several points below par, and which pay +1¾. per cent every three months. Even Lena, who held only one share of +the C., R.I., & P. five years ago, has so increased her income-bearing +property that she is now looked upon as a "catch" by her acquaintances. +If I am correctly informed, she has an annual income of $105, +independent of her wages.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LVII" id="CHAPTER_LVII"></a>CHAPTER LVII</h2> + +<h4>THE DEATH OF SIR TOM</h4> + + +<p>At 7.30 on the morning of March 16, Dr. High telephoned me that Sir +Thomas O'Hara was seriously ill, and asked me to come at once. It took +but a few minutes to have Jerry at the door, and, breasting a cold, thin +rain at a sharp gallop, I was at my friend's door before the clock +struck eight. Dr. High met me with a heavy face.</p> + +<p>"Sir Tom is bad," said he, "with double pneumonia, and I am awfully +afraid it will go hard with him."</p> + +<p>I remembered that my friend's pale face had looked a shade paler than +usual the evening before, and that there had been a pinched expression +around the nose and mouth, as if from pain; but Sir Tom had many twinges +from his old enemy, gout, which he did not care to discuss, and I took +little note of his lack of fitness. He touched the brandy bottle a +little oftener than usual, and left for home earlier; but his voice was +as cheery as ever, and we thought only of gout. He was taken with a hard +chill on his way home, which lasted for some time after he was put to +bed; but he would not listen to the requests of William and the faithful +cook that the doctor be summoned. At last he fell into a heavy sleep +from which it was hard to rouse him, and the servants followed their own +desire and called Dr. High. He came as promptly as possible, and did all +that could be done for the sick man.</p> + +<p>A hurried examination convinced me that Dr. High's opinion of the +gravity of the case was correct, and we telephoned at once for a +specialist from the city, and for a trained nurse. After a short +consultation with Dr. High I reëntered my friend's room, and I fear that +my face gave me away, for Sir Tom said:—</p> + +<p>"Be a man, Williams, and tell the whole of it."</p> + +<p>"My dear old man, this is a tough proposition, but you must buck up and +make a game fight. We have sent for Dr. Jones and a nurse, and we will +pull you through, sure."</p> + +<p>"You will try, for sure, but I reckon the call has come for me to cash +in me checks. When that little devil Frost hit me right and left in me +chest last night, I could see me finish; and I heard the banshee in me +sleep, and that means much to a Sligo man."</p> + +<p>"Not to this Sligo man, I hope," said I, though I knew that we were in +deep waters.</p> + +<p>The wise man and the nurse came out on the 10.30 train, the nurse +bringing comfort and aid, but the physician neither. After thoroughly +examining the patient, he simply confirmed our fears.</p> + +<p>"Serious disease to overcome, and only scant vital forces; no reasonable +ground for hope."</p> + +<p>Sir Tom gave me a smile as I entered the room after parting from the +specialist.</p> + +<p>"I've discounted the verdict," said he, "and the foreman needn't draw +such a long face. I've had my fling, like a true Irishman, and I'm ready +to pay the bill. I won't have to come back for anything, Williams; +there's nothing due me; but I must look sharp for William and the old +girl in the kitchen,—faithful souls,—for they will be strangers in a +strange land. Will you send for a lawyer?"</p> + +<p>The lawyer came, and a codicil to Sir Thomas's will made the servants +comfortable for life. All that day and the following night we hung +around the sick bed, hoping for the favorable change that never came. On +the morning of the 17th it was evident that he would not live to see the +sun go down. We had kept all friends away from the sick chamber; but +now, at his request, Polly, Jane, and Laura were summoned, and they +came, with blanched faces and tearful eyes, to kiss the brow and hold +the hands of this dear man. He smiled with contentment on the group, and +said:—</p> + +<p>"Me friends have made such a heaven of this earth that perhaps I have +had me full share."</p> + +<p>"Sir Tom," said I, "shall I send for a priest?"</p> + +<p>"A priest! What could I do with a priest? Me forebears were on the +Orange side of Boyne Water, and we have never changed color."</p> + +<p>"Would you like to see a clergyman?"</p> + +<p>"No, no; just the grip of a friend's hand and these angels around me. +Asking pardon is not me long suit, Williams, but perhaps the time has +come for me to play it. If the good God will be kind to me I will thank +Him, as a gentleman should, and I will take no advantage of His +kindness; but if He cannot see His way clear to do that, I will take +what is coming."</p> + +<p>"Dear Sir Tom," said Jane, with streaming eyes, "God cannot be hard with +you, who have been so good to every one."</p> + +<p>"If there's little harm in me life, there's but scant good, too; I can't +find much credit. Me good angel has had an easy time of it, more's the +pity; but Janie, if you love me, Le Bon Dieu will not be hard on me. He +cannot be severe with a poor Irishman who never stacked the cards, +pulled a race, or turned his back on a friend, and who is loved by an +angel."</p> + +<p>I asked Sir Tom what we should do for him after he had passed away.</p> + +<p>"It would be foine to sleep in the woods just back of Janie's forge, +where I could hear the click of her hammer if the days get lonely; but +there's a little castle, God save the mark, out from Sligo. Me forebears +are there,—the lucky ones,—and me wish is to sleep with them; but I +doubt it can be."</p> + +<p>"Indeed it can be, and it shall be, too," said Polly. "We will all go +with you, Sir Tom, when June comes, and you shall sleep in your own +ground with your own kin."</p> + +<p>"I don't deserve it, Mrs. Williams, indeed I don't, but I would lie +easier there. That sod has known us for a thousand years, and it's the +greenest, softest, kindest sod in all the world; but little I'll mind +when the breath is gone. I'll not be asking that much of you."</p> + +<p>"My dear old chap, we won't lose sight of you until that green sod +covers the stanchest heart that ever beat. Polly is right. We'll go with +you to Sligo,—all of us,—Polly and Jane and Jack and I, and Kate and +the babies, too, if we can get them. You shall not be lonesome."</p> + +<p>"Lonesome, is it? I'll be in the best of company. Me heart is at rest +from this moment, and I'll wait patiently until I can show you Sligo. +This is a fine country, Mrs. Williams, and it has given me the truest +friends in all the world, but the ground is sweet in Sligo."</p> + +<p>His breath came fainter and faster, and we could see that it would soon +cease. After resting a few minutes, Sir Tom said:—</p> + +<p>"Me lady Laura, do you mind that prayer song, the second verse?"</p> + +<p>Laura's voice was sobbing and uncertain as it quavered:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Other refuge have I none,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>but it gained courage and persuasiveness until it filled the room and +the heart of the man with,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Cover my defenceless head,<br /></span> +<span>With the shadow of Thy wing."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>A gentle smile and the relaxing of closed hands completed the story of +our loss, though the real weight of it came days and months later.</p> + +<p>It was long before we could take up our daily duties with anything like +the familiar happiness. Something had gone out of our lives that could +never be replaced, and only time could salve the wounds. The dear man +who had gone was no friend to solemn faces, and living interests must +bury dead memories; but it was a long time before the click of Jane's +hammer was heard in her forge; not until Laura had said, "It will please +<i>him</i>, Jane."</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LVIII" id="CHAPTER_LVIII"></a>CHAPTER LVIII</h2> + +<h4>BACTERIA</h4> + + +<p>January, February, and March passed with more than the usual snow and +rain,—fully ten inches of precipitation; but the spring proved neither +cold nor late. During these three months we sold butter to the amount of +$1283, and $747 worth of eggs; in all, $2030.</p> + +<p>The ploughs were started in the highest land on the 11th of April, and +were kept going steadily until they had turned over nearly 280 acres.</p> + +<p>I decided to put the whole of the widow's field into corn, lots 8, 12, +and 15 (84 acres) into oats, and 50 acres of the orchards into roots and +sweet fodder corn. Number 13 was to be sown with buckwheat as soon as +the rye was cut for green forage. I decided to raise more alfalfa, for +we could feed more to advantage, and it was fast gaining favor in my +establishment. It is so productive and so nutritious that I wonder it is +not more generally used by farmers who make a specialty of feeding +stock. It contains as much protein as most grains, and is wholesome and +highly palatable if properly cured. It should be cut just as it is +coming into flower, and should be cured in the windrow. The leaves are +the most nutritious part of the plant, and they are apt to fall off if +the cutting be deferred, or if the curing be <i>done carelessly</i>.</p> + +<p>Lot No. 9 was to be fitted for alfalfa as soon as the season would +permit. First, it must receive a heavy dressing of manure, to be +ploughed under. The ordinary plough was to be followed in this case by a +subsoiler, to stir the earth as deep as possible. When the seed was +sown, the land was to receive five hundred pounds an acre of high-grade +fertilizer, and one hundred pounds an acre of infected soil.</p> + +<p>The peculiar bacterium that thrives on congenial alfalfa soil is +essential to the highest development of the plant. Without its presence +the grass fails in its chief function—the storing of nitrogen—and +makes but poor growth. When the alfalfa bacteria are abundant, the plant +flourishes and gathers nitrogen in knobs and bunches in its roots and in +the joints of its stems.</p> + +<p>I sent to a very successful alfalfa grower in Ohio for a thousand pounds +of soil from one of his fields, to vaccinate my field with. This is not +always necessary,—indeed, it rarely is, for alfalfa seed usually carry +enough bacteria to inoculate favorable soils; but I wished to see if +this infected soil would improve mine. I have not been able to discover +any marked advantage from its use; the reason being that my soil was so +rich in humus and added manures that the colonies of bacteria on the +seeds were quite sufficient to infect the whole mass. Under less +favorable conditions, artificial inoculation is of great advantage.</p> + +<p>Wonderful are the secrets of nature. The infinitely small things seem to +work for us and the infinitely large ones appear suited to our use; and +yet, perhaps, this is all "seeming" and "appearing." We may ourselves be +simply more advanced bacteria, working blindly toward the solution of an +infinite problem in which we are concerned only as means to an end.</p> + +<p>"Why should the spirit of mortal be proud," until it has settled its +relative position with both Sirius and the micro-organisms, or has +estimated its stature by view-points from the bacterial world and from +the constellation of Lyra. Until we have been able to compare opinions +from these extremes, if indeed they be extremes, we cannot expect to +make a correct estimate of our value in the economy of the universe. I +fancy that we are apt to take ourselves too seriously, and that we will +sometime marvel at the shadow which we did not cast.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LIX" id="CHAPTER_LIX"></a>CHAPTER LIX</h2> + +<h4>MATCH-MAKING</h4> + + +<p>The home lot took on a home look in the spring of 1898. The lawn lost +its appearance of newness; the trees became acquainted with each other; +the shrubs were on intimate terms with their neighbors, and broke into +friendly rivalry of blossoms; the gardens had a settled-down look, as if +they had come to stay; and even the wall flowers were enjoying +themselves. These efforts of nature to make us feel at ease were +thankfully received by Polly and me, and we voted that this was more +like home than anything else we had ever had; and when the fruit trees +put forth their promise of an autumn harvest in great masses of +blossoms, we declared that we had made no mistake in transforming +ourselves from city to country folk.</p> + +<p>"Aristocracy is of the land," said Polly. "It always has been and +always will be the source of dignity and stability. I feel twice as +great a lady as I did in the tall house on B—— Street."</p> + +<p>"So you don't want to go back to that tall house, madam?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed I don't. Why should I?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know why you should, only I remember Lot's wife looked back +toward the city."</p> + +<p>"Don't mention that woman! She didn't know what she wanted. You won't +catch me looking toward the city, except once a week for three or four +hours, and then I hurry back to the farm to see what has happened in my +garden while I've been away."</p> + +<p>"But how about your friends, Polly?"</p> + +<p>"You know as well as I that we haven't lost a friend by living out here, +and that we've tied some of them closer. No, sir! No more city life for +me. It may do for young people, who don't know better, but not for me. +It's too restricted, and there's not enough excitement."</p> + +<p>"Country life fits us like paper on the wall," said I, "but how about +the youngsters? If we insist on keeping children, we must take them into +our scheme of life."</p> + +<p>"Of course we must, but children are an unknown quantity. They are <i>x</i> +in the domestic problem, and we cannot tell what they stand for until +the problem is worked out. I don't see why we can't find the value of +<i>x</i> in the country as easily as in the city. They have had city and +school life, now let them see country life; the <i>x</i> will stand for wide +experience at least."</p> + +<p>"Jane likes it thus far," said I, "and I think she will continue; but I +don't feel so sure about Jack."</p> + +<p>"You're as blind as a bat—or a man. Jane loves country life because +she's young and growing; but there's a subconscious sense which tells +her that she's simply fitting herself to be carried off by that handsome +giant, Jim Jarvis. She doesn't know it, but it's the truth all the same, +and it will come as sure as tide; and when it does come, her life will +be run into other moulds than we have made, no matter how carefully."</p> + +<p>"I wonder where this modern Hercules is most vulnerable. I'll slay him +if I find him mousing around my Jane."</p> + +<p>"You will slay nothing, Mr. Headman, and you know it; you will just take +what's coming to you, as others have done since the world was young."</p> + +<p>"Well, I give fair warning; it's 'hands off Jane,' for lo, these many +years, or some one will be brewing 'harm tea' for himself."</p> + +<p>"You bark so loud no one will believe you can bite," said this saucy, +match-making mother.</p> + +<p>"How about Jack?" said I. "Have you settled the moulds he is to be run +in?"</p> + +<p>"Not entirely; but I am not as one without hope. Jack will be through +college in June, and will go abroad with us for July and August; he will +be as busy as possible with the miners from the moment he comes back; he +is much in love with Jessie, the Gordon's have no other child, the +property is large, Homestead Farm is only three miles, and—"</p> + +<p>"Slow up, Polly! Slow up! Your main line is all right, but your +terminal facilities are bad. Jack is to be educated, travelled, +employed, engaged, married, endowed with Homestead Farm, and all that; +but you mustn't kill off the Gordons. I swing the red lantern in front +of that train of thought. Let Jack and Jessie wait till we are through +with Four Oaks and the Gordons have no further use for Homestead Farm, +before thinking of coupling that property on to this."</p> + +<p>"Don't be a greater goose than you can help," said Polly. "You know what +I mean. Men are so short-sighted! Laura says, 'the Headman ought to have +a small dog and a long stick'; but no matter, I'll keep an eye on the +children, and you needn't worry about country life for them. They'll +take to it kindly."</p> + +<p>"Well, they ought to, if they have any appreciation of the fitness of +things. Did you ever see weather made to order before? I feel as if I +had been measured for it."</p> + +<p>"It suits my garden down to the ground," said Polly, who hates slang.</p> + +<p>"It was planned for the farmer, madam. If it happens to fit the +rose-garden mistress, it is a detail for you to note and be thankful +for, but the great things are outside the rose gardens. Look at that +corn-field! A crow could hide in it anywhere."</p> + +<p>"What have crows hiding got to do with corn, I'd like to know?"</p> + +<p>"When I was a boy the farmers used to say, 'If it will cover a crow's +back on the Fourth of July, it will make good corn,' and I am farmering +with old saws when I can't find new ones."</p> + +<p>"It's all of three weeks yet to the Fourth of July, and your corn will +cover a turkey by that time."</p> + +<p>"I hope so, but we shan't be here to see it, more's the pity, as Sir Tom +would say."</p> + +<p>"Do you know, Kate says she won't go over. She doesn't think it would +pay for so short a trip. Why do you insist upon eight weeks?"</p> + +<p>"Well, now, I like that! When did I ever insist on anything, Mrs. +Williams? Not since I knew you well, did I? But be honest, Polly. Who +has done the cutting down of this trip? You and the youngsters may stay +as long as you please, but I will be back here September 1st unless the +<i>Normania</i> breaks a shaft."</p> + +<p>"I wish we could go <i>over</i> on a German boat. I hate the Cunarders."</p> + +<p>"So do I, but we must land at Queenstown. We must put Sir Tom under the +sod at that little castle out from Sligo. Then we can do Holland and +Belgium, and have a week or ten days in London."</p> + +<p>"That will be enough. I do hope Johnson will take good care of my +flowers; it's the very most important time, you know, and if he neglects +them—"</p> + +<p>"He won't neglect them, Polly; even if he does, they can be easily +replaced. But the hay harvest, now, that's different; if they spoil the +timothy or cut the alfalfa too late!"</p> + +<p>"Bother your alfalfa! What do I care for that? Kate's coming out with +the babies, and I'm going to put her in full charge of the gardens. +She'll look after them, I'm sure. I'll tell you another bit of news: Jim +Jarvis is bound to go with us, Jack says, and he has asked if we'll let +him."</p> + +<p>"How long have you had that up your sleeve, young woman? I don't like it +a little bit! That is why you talked so like an oracle a little while +ago! What does Jane say?"</p> + +<p>"She doesn't say much, but I think she wouldn't object."</p> + +<p>"Of course she can't object. You sick a big brute of a man on to a +little girl, and she don't dare object; but I'll feed him to the fishes +if he worries her."</p> + +<p>"To be sure you will, Mr. Ogre. Anybody would be sure of that to hear +you talk."</p> + +<p>"Don't chaff me, Polly. This is a serious business. If you sell my girl, +I'm going to buy a new one. I'll ask Jessie Gordon to go with us and, if +Jack is half the man I take him to be, he'll replenish our stock of +girls before we get back."</p> + +<p>"Who is match-making now?"</p> + +<p>"I don't care what you call it. I shall take out letters of marque and +reprisal. I won't raise girls to be carried off by the first privateer +that makes sail for them, without making some one else suffer. If +Jarvis goes, Jessie goes, that's flat."</p> + +<p>"I think it will be an excellent plan, Mr. Bad Temper, and I've no doubt +that we can manage it."</p> + +<p>"Don't say 'we' when you talk of managing it. I tell you I'm entirely on +the defensive until some one robs me, then I'll take what is my +neighbor's if I can get it. If it were not for my promise to Sir Tom, I +wouldn't leave the farm for a minute! And I would establish a quarantine +against all giants for at least five years."</p> + +<p>"You know you like Jarvis. He is one of the best."</p> + +<p>"That's all right, Polly. He's as fine as silk, but he isn't fine enough +for our Jane yet."</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LX" id="CHAPTER_LX"></a>CHAPTER LX</h2> + +<h4>"I TOLD YOU SO"</h4> + + +<p>It may be the limitless horizon, it may be the comradery of confinement, +it may be the old superstition of a plank between one and eternity, or +it may be some occult influence of ship and ocean; but certain it is +that there is no such place in all the world as a deck of a +transatlantic liner for softening young hearts, until they lose all +semblance of shape, and for melting them into each other so that out of +twain there comes but one. I think Polly was pleased to watch this +melting process, as it began to show itself in our young people, from +the safe retreat of her steamer chair and behind the covers of her book. +I couldn't find that she read two chapters from any book during the +whole voyage, or that she was miserable or discontented. She just +watched with a comfortable "I told you so" expression of countenance; +and she never mentioned home lot or garden or roses, from dock to dock.</p> + +<p>It is as natural for a woman to make matches as for a robin to build +nests, and I suppose I had as much right to find fault with the one as +with the other. I did not find fault with her, but neither could I +understand her; so I fretted and fumed and smoked, and walked the deck +and bet on everything in sight and out of sight, until the soothing +influence of the sea took hold of me, and then I drifted like the rest +of them.</p> + +<p>No, I will not say "like the rest of them," for I could not forgive this +waste of space given over to water. In other crossings I had not noted +the conspicuous waste with any feeling of loss or regret; but other +crossings had been made before I knew the value of land. I could not get +away from the thought that it would add much to the wealth of the world +if the mountains were removed and cast into the sea. Not only that, but +it would curb to some extent the ragings of this same turbulent sea, +which was rolling and tossing us about for no really good reason that I +could discover. The Atlantic had lost much of its romance and mystery +for me, and I wondered if I had ever felt the enthusiasm which I heard +expressed on all sides.</p> + +<p>"There she spouts!" came from a dozen voices, and the whole passenger +list crowded the port rail, just to see a cow whale throwing up streams +of water, not immensely larger than the streams of milk which my cow +Holsteins throw down. The crowd seemed to take great pleasure in this +sight, but to me it was profitless.</p> + +<p>I have known the day when I could watch the graceful leaps and dives of +a school of porpoises, as it kept with easy fin, alongside of our ocean +greyhound, with pleasure unalloyed by any feeling of non-utility. But +now these "hogs of the sea" reminded me of my Chester Whites, and the +comparison was so much in favor of the hogs of the land, that I turned +from these spectacular, useless things, to meditate upon the price of +pork. Even Mother Carey's chickens gave me no pleasure, for they +reminded me of a far better brood at home, and I cheerfully thanked the +noble Wyandottes who were working every third day so that I could have a +trip to Europe. To be sure, I had European trips before I had +Wyandottes; to have them both the same year was the marvel.</p> + +<p>Before we reached Queenstown, Jarvis had gained some ground by twice +picking me out of the scuppers; but as I resented his steadiness of foot +and strength of hand, it was not worth mentioning. I could see, however, +that these feats were great in Jane's eyes. The double rescue of a +beloved parent, from, not exactly a watery grave, but a damp scupper, +would never be forgotten. The giant let her adore his manly strength and +beauty, and I could only secretly hope that some wave—tidal if +necessary—would take him off his feet and send him into the scuppers. +But he had played football too long to be upset by a watery wave, and I +was balked of my revenge.</p> + +<p>Jack and Jessie were rather a pleasure to me than otherwise. They +settled right down to the heart-softening business in such +matter-of-fact fashion that their hearts must have lost contour before +the voyage was half over. Polly dismissed them from her mind with a sigh +of satisfaction, and I then hoped that she would find some time to +devote to me, but I was disappointed. She assured me that those two were +safely locked in the fold, but that she could not "set her mind at rest" +until the other two were safe. After that she promised to take me in +hand; whether for reward or for punishment left me guessing.</p> + +<p>The six and a half days finally came to an end, and we debarked for +Queenstown. The journey across Ireland was made as quickly as slow +trains and a circuitous route would permit, and we reached Sligo on the +second day. Sir Thomas's agent met us, and we drove at once to the +"little castle out from Sligo." It proved to be a very old little +castle, four miles out, overlooking the bay. It was low and flat, with +thick walls of heavy stone pierced by a few small windows, and a broad +door made of black Irish oak heavily studded with iron. From one corner +rose a square tower, thirty feet or more in height, covered with wild +vines that twined in and out through the narrow, unglazed windows.</p> + +<p>Within was a broad, low hall, from which opened four rooms of nearly +equal size. There was little evidence that the castle had been inhabited +during recent years, though there was an ancient woman care-taker who +opened the great door for us, and then took up the Irish peasant's wail +for the last of the O'Haras. She never ceased her crooning except when +she spoke to us, which was seldom; but she placed us at table in the +state dining room, and served us with stewed kid, potatoes, and goat's +milk. The walls of the dining room were covered with ancient pictures of +the O'Haras, but none so recent as a hundred years. We could well +believe Sir Tom's words, "the sod has known us for a thousand years," +when we looked upon the score of pictures, each of which stood for at +least one generation.</p> + +<p>The agent told us that our friend had never lived at the castle, but +that he had visited the place as a child, and again just before leaving +for America. A wall-enclosed lot about two hundred feet square was "the +kindest sod in all the world to an O'Hara," and here we placed our dear +friend at rest with the "lucky ones" of his race. No one of the race +ever deserved more "luck" than did our Sir Tom. The young clergyman who +read the service assured us that he had found it; and our minds gave the +same evidence, and our hearts said Amen, as we turned from his peaceful +resting-place by the green waters of Sligo Bay.</p> + +<p>Two days later we were comfortably lodged at The Hague, from which we +intended to "do" the little kingdom of Holland by rail, by canal, or on +foot, as we should elect.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXI" id="CHAPTER_LXI"></a>CHAPTER LXI</h2> + +<h4>THE BELGIAN FARMER</h4> + + +<p>Leaving Holland with regret, we crossed the Schelde into Belgium, the +cockpit of Europe. It is here that one sees what intensive farming is +like. No fences to occupy space, no animals roaming at large, nothing +but small strips of land tilled to the utmost, chiefly by hand. Little +machinery is used, and much of the work is done after primitive +fashions; but the land is productive, and it is worked to the top of its +bent.</p> + +<p>The peasant-farmer soils his cows, his sheep, his swine, in a way that +is economical of space and food, if not of labor, and manages to make a +living and to pay rent for his twenty-acre strip of land. His methods do +not appeal to the American farmer, who wastes more grain and forage each +year than would keep the Netherlander, his family, and his stock; but +there is a lesson to be learned from this subdivision and careful +cultivation of land. Belgian methods prove that Mother Earth can care +for a great many children if she be properly husbanded, and that the +sooner we recognize her capacity the better for us.</p> + +<p>Abandoned farms are not known in Belgium and France, though the soil +has been cultivated for a thousand years, and was originally no better +than our New England farms, and not nearly so good as hundreds of those +which are practically given over to "old fields" in Virginia.</p> + +<p>It is neglect that impoverishes land, not use. Intelligent use makes +land better year by year. The only way to wear out land is to starve and +to rob it at the same time. Food for man and beast may be taken from the +soil for thousands of years without depleting it. All it asks in return +is the refuse, carefully saved, properly applied, and thoroughly worked +in to make it available. If, in addition to this, a cover crop of some +leguminous plant be occasionally turned under, the soil may actually +increase in fertility, though it be heavily cropped each year.</p> + +<p>It would pay the young American farmer to study Belgian methods, crude +though they are, for the insight he could gain into the possibilities of +continuous production. The greatest number of people to the square mile +in the inhabited globe live in this little, ill-conditioned kingdom, and +most of them get their living from the soil. It has been the +battle-field of Europe: a thousand armies have harrowed it; human blood +has drenched it from Liège to Ostend; it has been depopulated again and +again. But it springs into new life after each catastrophe, simply +because the soil is prolific of farmers, and they cannot be kept down. +Like the poppies on the field of Waterloo, which renew the blood-red +strife each year, the Belgian peasant-farmer springs new-born from the +soil, which is the only mother he knows.</p> + +<p>After two weeks in Holland, two in Belgium, and two in London, we were +ready to turn our faces toward home.</p> + +<p>We took the train to Southampton, and a small side-wheel steamer carried +us outside Southampton waters, where we tossed about for thirty minutes +before the <i>Normania</i> came to anchor. The wind was blowing half a gale +from the north, and we were glad to get under the lee of the great +vessel to board her.</p> + +<p>The transfer was quickly made, and we were off for New York. The wind +gained strength as the day grew old, but while we were in the Solent the +bluff coast of Devon and Cornwall broke its force sufficiently to permit +us to be comfortable on the port side of the ship.</p> + +<p>As night came on, great clouds rolled up from the northwest and the wind +increased. Darkness, as of Egypt, fell upon us before we passed the +Lizard, and the only things that showed above the raging waters were the +beacon lights, and these looked dim and far away. Occasionally a flash +of lightning threw the waters into relief, and then made the darkness +more impenetrable. As we steamed beyond the Lizard and the protecting +Cornish coast, the full force of the gale, from out the Irish Sea, +struck us. We were going nearly with it, and the good ship pitched and +reared like an angry horse, but did not roll much. Pitching is harder to +bear than rolling, and the decks were quickly vacated.</p> + +<p>I turned into my stateroom soon after ten o'clock, and then happened a +thing which will hold a place in my memory so long as I have one. I did +not feel sleepy, but I was nervous, restless, and half sick. I lay on my +lounge for perhaps half an hour, and then felt impelled to go on deck. I +wrapped myself in a great waterproof ulster, pulled my storm cap over my +ears, and climbed the companionway. Two or three electric bulbs in +sheltered places on deck only served to make the darkness more intense. +I crawled forward of the ladies' cabin, and, supporting myself against +the donkey-engine, peered at the light above the crow's-nest and tried +to think that I could see the man on watch in the nest. I did see him +for an instant, when the next flash of lightning came, and also two +officers on the bridge; and I knew that Captain Bahrens was in the chart +house. When the next flash came, I saw the other lookout man making his +short turns on the narrow space of bow deck, and was tempted to join +him; why, I do not know. I crept past the donkey-engine, holding fast to +it as I went, until I reached the iron gate that closes the narrow +passage to the bow deck. With two silver dollars in my teeth I staggered +across this rail-guarded plank, and when the next flash came I was +sitting at the feet of the lookout man with the two silver dollars in my +outstretched hand. He took the money, and let me crawl forward between +the anchors and the high bulwark of the bows.</p> + +<p>The sensations which this position gave me were strange beyond +description. Darkness was thick around me; at one moment I was carried +upward until I felt that I should be lost in the black sky, and the next +moment the downward motion was so terrible that the blacker water at the +bottom of the sea seemed near. I cannot say that I enjoyed it, but I +could not give it up.</p> + +<p>When the great bow rose, I stood up, and, looking over the bulwark, +tried to see either sky or water, but tried in vain, save when the +lightning revealed them both. When the bow fell, I crouched under the +bulwark and let the sea comb over me. How long I remained at this weird +post, I do not know; but I was driven from it in such terror as I hope +never to feel again.</p> + +<p>An unusually large wave carried me nearer the sky than I liked to be, +and just as the sharp bow of the great iron ship was balancing on its +crest for the desperate plunge, a glare of lightning made sky and sea +like a sheet of flame and curdled the blood in my veins. In the trough +of the sea, under the very foot of the immense steamship, lay a delicate +pleasure-boat, with its mast broken flush with its deck, and its +helpless body the sport of the cruel waves.</p> + +<p>The light did not last longer than it would take me to count five, but +in that time I saw four figures that will always haunt me. Two sailors +in yachting costume were struggling hopelessly with the tiller, and the +wild terror of their faces as they saw the huge destruction that hung +over them is simply unforgettable.</p> + +<p>The other two were different. A strong, blond man, young, handsome, and +brave I know, stood bareheaded in front of the cockpit. With a sudden, +vehement motion he drew the head of a girl to his breast and held it +there as if to shut out the horrible world. There was no fear in his +face,—just pain and distress that he was unable to do more. I am +thankful that I did not see the face of the girl. Her brown hair has +floated in my dreams until I have cried out for help; what would her +face have done?</p> + +<p>In the twinkling of an eye it was over. I heard a sound as when one +breaks an egg on the edge of a cup,—no more. I screamed with horror, +ran across the guarded plank, climbed the gate, and fell headlong and +screaming over the donkey-engine. Picking up my battered self, I +shouted:</p> + +<p>"Bahrens! Bahrens! for God's sake, help! Man overboard! Stop the ship!"</p> + +<p>I reached the ladder to the bridge just as the captain came out of the +chart house.</p> + +<p>"For God's sake, stop the ship! You've run down a boat with four +people! Stop her, can't you!"</p> + +<p>"It can't be done, man. If we've run down a boat, it's all over with it +and all in it. I can't risk a thousand lives without hope of saving one. +This is a gale, Doctor, and we have our hands full."</p> + +<p>I turned from him in horror and despair. I stumbled to my stateroom, +dropped my wet clothing in the middle of the floor, and knew no more +until the trumpet called for breakfast. The rush of green waters was +pounding at my porthole; the experience of the night came back to me +with horror; the reek of my wet clothes sickened my heart, and I rang +for the steward.</p> + +<p>"Take these things away, Gustav, and don't bring them back until they +are dry and pressed."</p> + +<p>"What things does the Herr Doctor speak for?"</p> + +<p>"The wet things there on the floor."</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, but I have seen no things wet."</p> + +<p>"You Dutch chump!" said I, half rising, "what do you mean by +saying—Well, I'll be damned!" There were my clothes, dry and folded, on +the couch, and my ulster and cap on their hook, without evidence of +moisture or use.</p> + +<p>"Gustav, remind me to give you three rix-dollars at breakfast."</p> + +<p>"Danke, Herr Doctor."</p> + +<p>Of such stuff are dreams made. But I will know those terror-stricken +sailors if I do not see them for a hundred years; and I am glad the +dark-haired girl did not realize the horror, but simply knew that the +man loved her; and I often think of the man who did the nice thing when +no one was looking, and whose face was not terrorized by the crack of +doom.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXII" id="CHAPTER_LXII"></a>CHAPTER LXII</h2> + +<h4>HOME-COMING</h4> + + +<p>Even Polly was satisfied with our young people before we entered New +York Bay. If anything in their "left pulmonaries" had remained +unsoftened during the voyage out and the comradery of the Netherlands, +it was melted into non-resistance by the homeward trip. I could not long +hold out against the evidence of happiness that surrounded me, and I +gave a half-grudging consent that Jarvis and Jane might play together +for the next three or four years, if they would not ask to play "for +keeps" until those years had passed. They readily gave the promise, but +every one knows how such promises are kept. The children wore me out in +time, as all children do in all kinds of ways, and got their own ways in +less than half the contract period. I cannot put my finger on any +punishment that has befallen them for this lack of filial consideration, +and I am fifteen-sixteenths reconciled.</p> + +<p>I was downright glad that Jack "made good" with Jessie Gordon. She was +the sort of girl to get out the best that was in him, and I was glad to +have her begin early. Try as I might, I could not feel unhappy that +beautiful September morning as we steamed up the finest waterway to the +finest city in the world. Deny it who will, I claim that our Empire City +and its environments make the most impressive human show. There is more +life, vigor, utility, gorgeousness about it than can be found anywhere +else; and it has the snap and elasticity of youth, which are so +attractive. No man who claims the privilege of American citizenship can +sail up New York Bay without feeling pride in his country and +satisfaction in his birthright. One doesn't disparage other cities and +other countries when he claims that his own is the best.</p> + +<p>We were not specially badly treated at the custom-house,—no worse, +indeed, than smugglers, thieves, or pirates would have been; and we +escaped, after some hours of confinement, without loss of life or +baggage, but with considerable loss of dignity. How can a +self-respecting, middle-aged man (to be polite to myself) stand for +hours in a crowded shed, or lean against a dirty post, or sit on the +sharp edge of his open trunk, waiting for a Superior Being with a gilt +band around his hat, without losing some modicum of dignity? And how, +when this Superior Being calls his number and kicks his trunk, is he to +know that he is a free-born American citizen and a lineal descendant of +Roger Williams? The evidence is entirely from within. How is he to +support a countenance and mien of dignity while the secrets of his +chest are laid bare and the contents of his trunk dumped on the dirty +floor? And how must his eyes droop and his face take on a hang-dog look +when his second-best coat is searched for diamonds, and his favorite +(though worn) pajamas punched for pearls.</p> + +<p>There are concessions to be made for one's great and glorious country, +and the custom-house is one of them. Perhaps we will do better sometime, +and perhaps, though this is unlikely, the customs inspectors of the +future will disguise themselves as gentlemen. We finally passed the +inquisition, and, with stuffed trunks and ruffled spirits, took cabs for +the station, and were presently within the protecting walls at Four +Oaks, there to forget lost dignities in the cultivation of land and new +ones.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXIII" id="CHAPTER_LXIII"></a>CHAPTER LXIII</h2> + +<h4>AN HUNDRED FOLD</h4> + + +<p>Kate declared that she had had the time of her life during her nine +weeks' stay at Four Oaks. "People here every day, and the house full +over Sunday. We've kept the place humming," said she, "and you may be +thankful if you find anything here but a mortgage. When Tom and I get +rich, we are going to be farm people."</p> + +<p>"Don't wait for that, daughter. Start your country home early and let it +grow up with the children. It doesn't take much money to buy the land +and to get fruit trees started. If Tom will give it his care for three +hours a week, he will make it at least pay interest and taxes, and it +will grow in value every year until you are ready to live on it. Think +how our orchards would look now if we had started them ten years ago! +They would be fit to support an average family."</p> + +<p>"There, Dad, don't mount your hobby as soon as ever you get home. But we +<i>have</i> had a good time out here. Do you really think farming is all beer +and skittles?"</p> + +<p>"It has been smooth sailing for me thus far, and I believe it is simply +a business with the usual ups and downs; but I mean to make the ups the +feature in this case."</p> + +<p>"Are you really glad to get back to it? Didn't you want to stay longer?"</p> + +<p>"I had a fine trip, and all that, but I give you this for true; I don't +think it would make me feel badly if I were condemned to stay within +forty miles of this place for the rest of my life."</p> + +<p>"I can't go so far as that with you, Dad, but perhaps I may when I'm +older."</p> + +<p>"Yes, age makes a difference. At forty a man is a fool or a farmer, or +both; at fifty the pull of the land is mighty; at sixty it has full +possession of him; at seventy it draws him down with other forces than +that which Newton discovered, and at eighty it opens for him and kindly +tucks the sod around him. Mother Earth is no stepmother, but warm and +generous to all, and I think a fellow is lucky who comes to her for long +years of bounty before he is compelled to seek her final hospitality."</p> + +<p>"But, Dad, we can't all be farmers."</p> + +<p>"Of course not, and there's the pity of it; but almost every man can +have a plot of ground on which each year he can grow some new thing, if +only a radish or a leaf of lettuce, to add to the real wealth of the +world. I tell you, young lady, that all wealth springs out of the +ground. You think that riches are made in Wall Street, but they are +not; they are only handled and manipulated. Stop the work of the farmer +from April to October of any year, and Wall Street would be a howling +wilderness. The Street makes it easier to exchange a dozen eggs for +three spools of silk, or a pound of butter for a hat pin, but that's +all; it never created half the intrinsic value of twelve eggs or sixteen +ounces of butter. It's only the farmer who is a wealth producer, and +it's high time that he should be recognized as such. He's the husbandman +of all life; without him the world would be depopulated in three years. +You don't half appreciate the profession which your Dad has taken up in +his old age."</p> + +<p>"That sounds all right, but I don't think the farmer would recognize +himself from that description. He doesn't live up to his possibilities, +does he?"</p> + +<p>"Mighty few people do. A farmer may be what he chooses to be. He's under +no greater limitations than a business or a professional man. If he be +content to use his muscle blindly, he will probably fall under his own +harrow. So, too, would the merchant or the lawyer who failed to use his +intelligence in his business. The farmer who cultivates his mind as well +as his land, uses his pencil as often as his plough, and mixes brains +with brawn, will not fall under his own harrow or any other man's. He +will never be the drudge of soil or of season, for to a large extent he +can control the soil and discount the season. No other following gives +such opportunity for independence and self-balance."</p> + +<p>"Almost thou persuadest me to become a farmer," said Kate, as we left +the porch, where I had been admiring my land while I lectured on the +advantages of husbandry.</p> + +<p>Polly came out of the rose garden, where she had been examining her +flowers and setting her watch, and said:—</p> + +<p>"Kate, you and the grand-girls must stay this month out, anyway. It +seems an age since we saw you last."</p> + +<p>"All right, if Dad will agree not to fire farm fancies and figures at me +every time he catches me in an easy-chair."</p> + +<p>"I'll promise, but you don't know what you're missing."</p> + +<p>Four Oaks looked great, and I was tempted to tramp over every acre of +it, saying to each, "You are mine"; but first I had a little talk with +Thompson.</p> + +<p>"Everything has been greased for us this summer," said Thompson. "We got +a bumper crop of hay, and the oats and corn are fine! I allow you've got +fifty-five bushels of oats to the acre in those shocks, and the corn +looks like it stood for more than seventy. We sold nine more calves the +end of June, for $104. Mr. Tom must have a lot of money for you, for in +August we sold the finest bunch of shoates you ever saw,—312 of them. +They were not extra heavy, but they were fine as silk. Mr. Tom said they +netted $4.15 per hundred, and they averaged a little over 260 pounds. I +went down with them, and the buyers tumbled over each other to get them. +I was mighty proud of the bunch, and brought back a check for $3407."</p> + +<p>"Good for you, Thompson! That's the best sale yet."</p> + +<p>"Some of the heifers will be coming in the last of this month or the +first of next. Don't you want to get rid of those five scrub cows?"</p> + +<p>"Better wait six weeks, and then you may sell them. Do you know where +you can place them?"</p> + +<p>"Jackson was looking at them a few days ago, and said he would give $35 +apiece for them; but they are worth more."</p> + +<p>"Not for us, Thompson, and not for him, either, if he saw things just +right. They're good for scrubs; but they don't pay well enough for us, +and if he wants them he can have them at that price about the middle of +October."</p> + +<p>The credit account for the second quarter of 1898 stood:—</p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Credit account second quarter 1898"> +<tr><td align='left'>23 calves</td><td align='right'>$270.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Eggs</td><td align='right'>637.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Butter</td><td align='right'>1314.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>----------</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Total</td><td align='right'>$2221.00</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXIV" id="CHAPTER_LXIV"></a>CHAPTER LXIV</h2> + +<h4>COMFORT ME WITH APPLES</h4> + + +<p>September added a new item to our list of articles sold; small, indeed, +but the beginning of the fourth and last product of our factory +farm,—fruit from our newly planted orchards. The three hundred plum +trees in the chicken runs gave a moderate supply for the colony, and the +dwarf-pear trees yielded a small crop; but these were hardly included in +our scheme. I expected to be able, by and by, to sell $200 or $300 worth +of plums; but the chief income from fruit would come from the fifty +acres of young apple orchards.</p> + +<p>I hope to live to see the time when these young orchards will bring me +at least $5 a year for each tree; and if I round out my expectancy (as +the life-insurance people figure it), I may see them do much better. In +the interim the day of small things must not be despised. In our climate +the Yellow Transparent and the Duchess do not ripen until early +September, and I was therefore at home in time to gather and market the +little crop from my six hundred trees. The apples were carefully picked, +for they do not bear handling well, and the perfect ones were placed in +half-bushel boxes and sent to my city grocer. Not one defective apple +was packed, for I was determined that the Four Oaks stencil should be as +favorably known for fruit as for other products.</p> + +<p>The grocer allowed me fifty cents a box. "The market is glutted with +apples, but not your kind," said he. "Can you send more?" I could not +send more, for my young trees had done their best in producing +ninety-six boxes of perfect fruit. Boxes and transportation came to ten +cents for each box, and I received $38 for my first shipment of fruit.</p> + +<p>I cannot remember any small sum of money that ever pleased me +more,—except the $28 which I earned by seven months of labor in my +fourteenth year; for it was "first fruits" of the last of our +interlacing industries.</p> + +<p>Thirty-eight dollars divided among my trees would give one cent to each; +but four years later these orchards gave net returns of ninety cents for +each tree, and in four years from now they will bring more than twice +that amount. At twelve years of age they will bring an annual income of +$3 each, and this income will steadily increase for ten or fifteen +years. At the time of writing, February, 1903, they are good for $1 a +year, which is five per cent of $20.</p> + +<p>Would I take $20 apiece for these trees? Not much, though that would +mean $70,000. I do not know where I could place $70,000 so that it +would pay five per cent this year, six per cent next year, and twenty +per cent eight or ten years from now. Of course, $70,000 would be an +exorbitant price to pay for an orchard like mine; but it must be +remembered that I am old and cannot wait for trees to grow.</p> + +<p>If a man will buy land at $50 or $60 an acre, plant it to apple trees +(not less than sixty-five to the acre), and bring these trees to an age +when they will produce fruit to the value of $1.50 each, they will not +have cost more than $1.50 per tree for the land, the trees, and the +labor.</p> + +<p>I am too old to begin over again, and I wish to see a handsome income +from my experiment before my eyes are dim; but why on earth young men do +not take to this kind of investment is more than I can see. It is as +safe as government bonds, and infinitely safer than most mercantile +ventures. It is a dignified employment, free from the ordinary risks of +business; and it is not likely to be overdone. All one needs is energy, +a little money, and a good bit of well-directed intelligence. This +combination is common enough to double our rural population, relieve the +congestion in trades and underpaid employments, and add immensely to the +wealth of the country. If we can only get the people headed for the +land, it will do much toward solving the vexing labor problems, and will +draw the teeth of the communists and the anarchists; for no one is so +willing to divide as he who cannot lose by division. To the man who has +a plot of ground which he calls his own, division doesn't appeal with +any but negative force. Neither should it, until all available lands are +occupied. Then he must move up and make room for another man by his +side.</p> + +<p>The sales for the quarter ending September 30 were as follows:—</p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="September quarter sales"> +<tr><td align='left'>96 half-bushel boxes of apples</td><td align='right'>$38.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>9 calves</td><td align='right'>104.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Eggs</td><td align='right'>543.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Butter</td><td align='right'>1293.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Hogs</td><td align='right'>3407.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>----------</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Total</td><td align='right'>$5385.00</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>This was the best total for any three months up to date, and it made me +feel that I was getting pretty nearly out of the woods, so far as +increasing my investment went.</p> + +<p>Including my new hog-house and ten thousand bushels of purchased grain, +the investment, thought I, must represent quite a little more than +$100,000, and I hoped not to go much beyond that sum, for Polly looked +serious when I talked of six figures, though she was reconciled to any +amount which could be stated in five.</p> + +<p>My buildings were all finished, and were good for many years; and if +they burned, the insurance would practically replace them. My granary +was full enough of oats and corn to provide for deficits of years to +come; and my flocks and herds were now at their maximum, since Sam had +turned more than eight hundred pullets into the laying pens. I began to +feel that the factory would soon begin to run full time and to make +material returns for its equipment. It would, of course, be several +years before the fruit would make much showing, but I am a patient man, +and could wait.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXV" id="CHAPTER_LXV"></a>CHAPTER LXV</h2> + +<h4>THE END OF THE THIRD YEAR</h4> + + +<p>"Polly," said I, on the evening of December 31, "let's settle the +accounts for the year, and see how much we must credit to 'experience' +to make the figures balance."</p> + +<p>"Aren't you going to credit anything to health, and good times +generally? If not, you don't play fair."</p> + +<p>"We'll keep those things in reserve, to spring on the enemy at a +critical moment; perhaps they won't be needed."</p> + +<p>"I fancy you will have to bring all your reserves into action this time, +Mr. Headman, for you promised to make a good showing at the end of the +third year."</p> + +<p>"Well, so I will; at least, according to my own estimate; but others may +not see it as I do."</p> + +<p>"Don't let others see it at all, then. The experiment is yours, isn't +it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, for us; but it's more than a personal matter. I want to prove that +a factory farm is sound in theory and safe in practice, and that it will +fit the needs of a whole lot of farmers."</p> + +<p>"I hardly think that 'a whole lot of farmers,' or of any other kind of +people, will put $100,000 into a farm on any terms. Don't you think +you've been a little extravagant?"</p> + +<p>"Only on the home forty, Polly. I will expound this matter to you some +time until you fall asleep, but not to-day. We have other business on +hand. I want to give you this warning to begin with: you are not to jump +to a conclusion or on to my figures until you have fairly considered two +items which enter into this year's expense account. I've built an extra +hog-house and have bought ten thousand bushels of grain, at a total +expense of about $6000. Neither of these items was really needed this +year; but as they are our insurance against disease and famine, I +secured them early and at low prices. They won't appear in the expense +account again,—at least, not for many years,—and they give me a sense +of security that is mighty comforting."</p> + +<p>"But what if Anderson sets fire to your piggery, or lightning strikes +your granary,—how about the expense account then?"</p> + +<p>"What do you suppose fire insurance policies are for? To paper the wall? +No, madam, they are to pay for new buildings if the old ones burn up. I +charge the farm over $200 a year for this security, and it's a binding +contract."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll try and forget the $6000 if you'll get to the figures at +once."</p> + +<p>"All right. First, let me go over the statement for the last quarter of +the year. The sales were: apples, from 150 old trees at $3 per tree, +$450; 10 calves, $115; 360 hens and 500 cockerels, $430; 5 cows (the +common ones, to Jackson) at $35 each, $175; eggs, $827; butter, $1311; +and 281 hogs, rushed to market in December when only about eight months +old and sold for $3.70 per hundred to help swell this account, $2649; +making a total for the fourth quarter of $5957.</p> + +<p>"The items of expense for the year were:—</p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Expenditure for the year"> +<tr><td align='left'>"Interest on investment</td><td align='right'>$5,132.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>New hog-house</td><td align='right'>4,220.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>10,000 bu. of grain</td><td align='right'>2,450.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Food for colony</td><td align='right'>5,322.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Food for stock</td><td align='right'>1,640.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Seeds and fertilizers</td><td align='right'>2,155.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Insurance and taxes</td><td align='right'>730.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Shoeing and repairs</td><td align='right'>349.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Replenishments</td><td align='right'>450.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>------------</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Total</td><td align='right'>$22,760.00</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>"The credit account reads: first quarter, $2030; second quarter, $2221; +third quarter, $5387; fourth quarter, $5957; total, $15,595.</p> + +<p>"If we take out the $6670 for the extra piggery and the grain, the +expense account and the income will almost balance, even leaving out the +$4000 which we agreed to pay for food and shelter. I think that's a fair +showing for the three years, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Possibly it is; but what a lot of money you pay for wages. It's the +largest item."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and it always will be. I don't claim that a factory farm can be +run like a grazing or a grain farm. One of its objects is to furnish +well-paid employment to a lot of people. We've had nine men and two lads +all the year, and three extra men for seven months, three women on the +farm and five in the house,—twenty-two people to whom we've paid wages +this year. Doesn't that count for anything? How many did we keep in the +city?"</p> + +<p>"Four,—three women and a man."</p> + +<p>"Then we give employment to eighteen more people at equally good wages +and in quite as wholesome surroundings. Do you realize, Polly, that the +maids in the house get $1300 out of the $5300,—one quarter of the +whole? Possibly there is a suspicion of extravagance on the home forty."</p> + +<p>"Not a bit of it! You know that you proved to me that it cost us $5200 a +year for board and shelter in the city, and you only credit the farm +with $4000. That other $1200 would more than pay the extra wages. I +really don't think it costs as much to live here as it did on +B——Street, and any one can see the difference."</p> + +<p>"You are right. If we call our plant an even $100,000, which at five per +cent would mean $5000 a year,—where can you get house, lawns, woods, +gardens, horses, dogs, servants, liberty, birds, and sun-dials on a wide +and liberal scale for $5000 a year, except on a farm like this? You +can't buy furs, diamonds, and yachts with such money anyhow or +anywhere, so personal expenditures must be left out of all our +calculations. No, the wage account will always be the large one, and I +am glad it is so, for it is one finger of the helping hand."</p> + +<p>"You haven't finished with the figures yet. You don't know what to add +to our <i>permanent</i> investment."</p> + +<p>"That's quickly done. <i>Nineteen thousand five hundred and ninety-five +dollars</i> from twenty-two thousand seven hundred and sixty dollars leaves +three thousand one hundred and sixty-five dollars to charge to our +investment. I resent the word 'permanent,' which you underscored just +now, for each year we're going to have a surplus to subtract from this +interest-bearing debt."</p> + +<p>"Precious little surplus you'll have for the next few years, with Jack +and Jane getting married, and—"</p> + +<p>"But, Polly, you can't charge weddings to the farm, any more than we can +yachts and diamonds."</p> + +<p>"I don't see why. A wedding is a very important part of one's life, and +I think the farm ought to be <i>made</i> to pay for it."</p> + +<p>"I quite agree with you; but we must add $3165 to the old farm debt, and +take up our increased burden with such courage as we may. In round +figures it is $106,000. Does that frighten you, Polly?"</p> + +<p>"A little, perhaps; but I guess we can manage it. <i>You</i> would have been +frightened three years ago if some one had told you that you would put +$106,000 into a farm of less than five hundred acres."</p> + +<p>"You're right. Spending money on a farm is like other forms of +vice,—hated, then tolerated, then embraced. But seriously, a man would +get a bargain if he secured this property to-day for what it has cost +us. I wouldn't take a bonus of $50,000 and give it up."</p> + +<p>"You'll hardly find a purchaser at that price, and I'm glad you can't, +for I want to live here and nowhere else."</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXVI" id="CHAPTER_LXVI"></a>CHAPTER LXVI</h2> + +<h4>LOOKING BACKWARD</h4> + + +<p>With the close of the third year ends the detailed history of the +factory farm. All I wish to do further is to give a brief synopsis of +the debit and credit accounts for each of the succeeding four years.</p> + +<p>First I will say a word about the people who helped me to start the +factory. Thompson and his wife are still with me, and they are well on +toward the wage limit. Johnson has the gardens and Lars the stables, and +Otto is chief swineherd. French and his wife act as though they were +fixtures on the place, as indeed I hope they are. They have saved a lot +of money, and they are the sort who are inclined to let well enough +alone. Judson is still at Four Oaks, doing as good service as ever; but +I fancy that he is minded to strike out for himself before long. He has +been fortunate in money matters since he gave up the horse and buggy; he +informed me six months ago that he was worth more than $5000.</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't have had five thousand cents if I'd stuck to that darned +old buggy," said he, "and I guess I'll have to thank you for throwing +me down that day."</p> + +<p>Zeb has married Lena, and a little cottage is to be built for them this +winter, just east of the farm-house; and Lena's place is to be filled by +her cousin, who has come from the old country.</p> + +<p>Anderson and Sam both left in 1898,—poor, faithful Anderson because his +heart gave out, and Sam because his beacon called him.</p> + +<p>Lars's boys, now sixteen and eighteen, have full charge of the poultry +plant, and are quite up to Sam in his best days. Of course I have had +all kinds of troubles with all sorts of men; but we have such a strong +force of "reliables" that the atmosphere is not suited to the idler or +the hobo, and we are, therefore, never seriously annoyed. Of one thing I +am certain: no man stays long at our farm-house without apprehending the +uses of napkin and bath-tub, and these are strong missionary forces.</p> + +<p>Through careful tilth and the systematic return of all waste to the +land, the acres at Four Oaks have grown more fertile each year. The soil +was good seven years ago, and we have added fifty per cent to its crop +capacity. The amount of waste to return to the land on a farm like this +is enormous, and if it be handled with care, there will be no occasion +to spend much money for commercial fertilizers. I now buy fertilizers +only for the mid-summer dressing on my timothy and alfalfa fields. The +apple trees are very heavily mulched, even beyond the spread of their +branches, with waste fresh from the vats, and once a year a light +dressing of muriate of potash is applied. The trees have grown as fast +as could be desired, and all of them are now in bearing. The apples from +these young trees sold for enough last year to net ninety cents for each +tree, which is more than the trees have ever cost me.</p> + +<p>In 1898 these orchards yielded $38; in 1899, $165; in 1900, $530; in +1901, $1117. Seven years from the date of planting these trees, which +were then three years old, I had received in money $4720, or $1200 more +than I paid for the fifty acres of land on which they grew. If one would +ask for better returns, all he has to do is to wait; for there is a sort +of geometrical progression inherent in the income from all +well-cared-for orchards, which continues in force for about fifteen +years. There is, however, no rule of progress unless the orchards are +well cared for, and I would not lead any one to the mistake of planting +an orchard and then doing nothing but wait. Cultivate, feed, prune, +spray, dig bores, fight mice, rabbits, aphides, and the thousand other +enemies to trees and fruit, and do these things all the time and then +keep on doing them, and you will win out. Omit all or any of them, and +the chances are that you will fail of big returns.</p> + +<p>But orcharding is not unique in this. Every form of business demands +prompt, timely, and intelligent attention to make it yield its best. The +orchards have been my chief care for seven years; the spraying, +mulching, and cultivation have been done by the men, but I think I have +spent one whole year, during the past seven, among my trees. Do I charge +my orchards for this time? No; for I have gotten as much good from the +trees as they have from me, and honors are easy. A meditative man in his +sixth lustrum can be very happy with pruning-hook and shears among his +young trees. If he cannot, I am sincerely sorry for him.</p> + +<p>I have not increased my plant during the past four years. My stock +consume a little more than I can raise; but there are certain things +which a farm will not produce, and there are other things which one had +best buy, thus letting others work their own specialties.</p> + +<p>If I had more land, would I increase my stock? No, unless I had enough +land to warrant another plant. My feeding-grounds are filled to their +capacity from a sanitary point of view, and it would be foolish to take +risks for moderate returns. If I had as much more land, I would +establish another factory; but this would double my business cares +without adding one item to my happiness. As it is, the farm gives me +enough to keep me keenly interested, and not enough to tire or annoy me. +So far as profits go, it is entirely satisfactory. It feeds and +shelters my family and twenty others in the colony, and also the +stranger within the gates, and it does this year after year without +friction, like a well-oiled machine.</p> + +<p>Not only this. Each year for the past four, it has given a substantial +surplus to be subtracted from the original investment. If I live to be +sixty-eight years of age, the farm will be my creditor for a +considerable sum. I have bought no corn or oats since January, 1898. The +seventeen thousand bushels which I then had in my granary have slowly +grown less, though there has never been a day when we could not have +measured up seven thousand or eight thousand bushels. I shall probably +buy again when the market price pleases me, for I have a horror of +running short; but I shall not sell a bushel, though prices jump to the +sky.</p> + +<p>I have seen the time when my corn and oats would have brought four times +as much as I paid for them, but they were not for sale. They are the raw +material, to be made up in my factory, and they are worth as much to me +at twenty cents a bushel as at eighty cents. What would one think of the +manager of a silk-thread factory who sold his raw silk, just because it +had advanced in price? Silk thread would advance in proportion, and how +does the manager know that he can replace his silk when needed, even at +the advanced price?</p> + +<p>When corn went to eighty cents a bushel, hogs sold for $8.25 a hundred, +and my twenty-cent corn made pork just as fast as eighty-cent corn would +have done, and a great deal cheaper.</p> + +<p>Once I sold some timothy hay, but it was to "discount the season," just +as I bought grain.</p> + +<p>On July 18, 1901, a tremendous rain and wind storm beat down about forty +acres of oats beyond recovery. The next day my mowing machines, working +against the grain, commenced cutting it for hay. Before it was half cut, +I sold to a livery-stable keeper in Exeter fifty tons of bright timothy +for $600. The storm brought me no loss, for the horses did quite as well +on the oat hay as they ever had done on timothy, and $600 more than paid +for the loss of the grain.</p> + +<p>During the first three years of my experiment hogs were very +low,—lower, indeed, than at any other period for forty years. It was +not until 1899 that prices began to improve. During that year my sales +averaged $4.50 a hundred. In 1900 the average was $5.25, in 1901 it was +$6.10, and in 1902 it was just $7. It will be readily appreciated that +there is more profit in pork at seven cents a pound than at three and a +half cents; but how much more is beyond me, for it cost no more to get +my swine to market last year than it did in 1896. I charge each hog $1 +for bran and shorts; this is all the ready money I pay out for him. If +he weighs three hundred pounds (a few do), he is worth $10.50 at $3.50 a +hundred, or $21 at $7 a hundred; and it is a great deal pleasanter to +say $1 from $21, leaves $20, than to say $1 from $10.50 leaves $9.50.</p> + +<p>Of course, $1 a head is but a small part of what the hog has cost when +ready for market, but it is all I charge him with directly, for his +other expenses are carried on the farm accounts. The marked increase in +income during the past four years is wholly due to the advance in the +price of pork and the increased product of the orchards. The expense +account has not varied much.</p> + +<p>The fruit crop is charged with extra labor, packages, and +transportation, before it is entered, and the account shows only net +returns. I have had to buy new machinery, but this has been rather +evenly distributed, and doesn't show prominently in any year.</p> + +<p>In 1900 I lost my forage barn. It was struck by lightning on June 13, +and burned to the ground. Fortunately, there was no wind, and the rain +came in such torrents as to keep the other buildings safe. I had to +scour the country over for hay to last a month, and the expense of this, +together with some addition to the insurance money, cost the farm $1000 +before the new structure was completed. I give below the income and the +outgo for the last four years:—</p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Income and outgo"> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='center'>INCOME</td><td align='left'>EXPENSES</td><td align='left'>TO THE GOOD</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>1899</td><td align='right'>$17,780.00</td><td align='right'>$15,420.00</td><td align='right'>$2,360.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>1900</td><td align='right'>19,460.00</td><td align='right'>16,480.00</td><td align='right'>2,980.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>1901</td><td align='right'>21,424.00</td><td align='right'>15,520.00</td><td align='right'>5,904.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>1902</td><td align='right'>23,365.00</td><td align='right'>15,673.00</td><td align='right'>7,692.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'></td><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>------------</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Making a total</td><td align='left'>to the good of</td><td align='right'>$18,936.00</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>These figures cover only the money received and expended. They take no +account of the $4000 per annum which we agreed to pay the farm for +keeping us, so long as we made it pay interest to us. Four times $4000 +are $16,000 which, added to $18,936, makes almost $35,000 to charge off +from the $106,000 of original investment.</p> + +<p>Polly was wrong when she spoke of it as a <i>permanent</i> investment. Four +years more of seven-dollar pork and thrifty apple growth will make this +balance of $71,000 look very small. The interest is growing rapidly +less, and it will be but a short time before the whole amount will be +taken off the expense account. When this is done, the yearly balance +will be increased by the addition of $5000, and we may be able to make +the farm pay for weddings, as Polly suggested.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXVII" id="CHAPTER_LXVII"></a>CHAPTER LXVII</h2> + +<h4>LOOKING FORWARD</h4> + + +<p>I am not so opinionated as to think that mine is the only method of +farming. On the contrary, I know that it is only one of several good +methods; but that it is a good one, I insist. For a well-to-do, +middle-aged man who was obliged to give up his profession, it offered +change, recreation, employment, and profit. My ability to earn money by +my profession ceased in 1895, and I must needs live at ease on my +income, or adopt some congenial and remunerative employment, if such +could be found. The vision of a factory farm had flitted through my +brain so often that I was glad of the opportunity to test my theories by +putting them into practice. Fortunately I had money, and to spare; for I +had but a vague idea of what money would be needed to carry my +experiment to the point of self-support. I set aside $60,000 as ample, +but I spent nearly twice that amount without blinking. It is quite +likely that I could have secured as good and as prompt returns with +two-thirds of this expenditure. I plead guilty to thirty-three per cent +lack of economy; the extenuating circumstances were, a wish to let the +members of my family do much as they pleased and have good things and +good people around them, and a somewhat luxurious temperament of my own.</p> + +<p>Polly and I were too wise (not to say too old) to adopt farming as a +means of grace through privations. We wanted the good there was in it, +and nothing else; but as a secondary consideration I wished to prove +that it can be made to pay well, even though one-third of the money +expended goes for comforts and kickshaws.</p> + +<p>It is not necessary to spend so much on a five-hundred-acre farm, and a +factory farm need not contain so many acres. Any number of acres from +forty to five hundred, and any number of dollars from $5000 to $100,000, +will do, so long as one holds fast to the rules: good clean fences for +security against trespass by beasts, or weeds; high tilth, and heavy +cropping; no waste or fallow land; conscientious return to the land of +refuse, and a cover crop turned under every second year; the best stock +that money can buy; feed for product, not simply to keep the animals +alive; force product in every way not detrimental to the product itself; +maintain a strict quarantine around your animals, and then depend upon +pure food, water, air, sunlight, and good shelter to keep them healthy; +sell as soon as the product is finished, even though the market doesn't +please you; sell only perfect product under your own brand; buy when the +market pleases you and thus "discount the seasons"; remember that +interdependent industries are the essence of factory farming; employ the +best men you can find, and keep them interested in your affairs; have a +definite object and make everything bend toward that object; plant apple +trees galore and make them your chief care, as in time they will prove +your chief dependence. These are some of the principles of factory +farming, and one doesn't have to be old, or rich, to put them into +practice.</p> + +<p>I would exchange my age, money, and acres for youth and forty acres, and +think that I had the best of the bargain; and I would start the factory +by planting ten acres of orchard, buying two sows, two cows, and two +setting hens. Youth, strength, and hustle are a great sight better than +money, and the wise youth can have a finer farm than mine before he +passes the half-century mark, even though he have but a bare forty to +begin with.</p> + +<p>I do not take it for granted that every man has even a bare forty; but +millions of men who have it not, can have it by a little persistent +self-denial; and when an able-bodied man has forty acres of ground under +his feet, it is up to him whether he will be a comfortable, independent, +self-respecting man or not.</p> + +<p>A great deal of farm land is distant from markets and otherwise limited +in its range of production, but nearly every forty which lies east of +the hundredth meridian is competent to furnish a living for a family of +workers, if the workers be intelligent as well as industrious. Farm +lands are each year being brought closer to markets by steam and +electric roads; telephone and telegraphic wires give immediate service; +and the daily distribution of mails brings the producer into close touch +with the consumer. The day of isolation and seclusion has passed, and +the farmer is a personal factor in the market. He is learning the +advantages of coöperation, both in producing and in disposing of his +wares; he has paid off his mortgage and has money in the bank; he is a +power in politics, and by far the most dependable element in the state. +Like the wrestler of old, who gained new strength whenever his foot +touched the ground, our country gains fresh vigor from every man who +takes to the soil.</p> + +<p>In preaching a hejira to the country, I do not forget the interests of +the children. Let no one dread country life for the young until they +come to the full pith and stature of maturity; for their chances of +doing things worth doing in the world are four to one against those of +children who are city-bred. Four-fifths of the men and women who do +great things are country-bred. This is out of all proportion to the +birth-rate as between country and city, and one is at a loss to account +for the disproportion, unless it is to be credited to environment. Is it +due to pure air and sunshine, making redder blood and more vigorous +development, to broader horizons and freedom from abnormal conventions? +Or does a close relation to primary things give a newness to mind and +body which is granted only to those who apply in person?</p> + +<p>Whatever the reason, it certainly pays to be country-bred. The cities +draw to themselves the cream of these youngsters, which is only natural; +but the cities do not breed them, except as exotics.</p> + +<p>If the unborn would heed my advice, I would say, By all means be born in +the country,—in Ohio if possible. But, if fortune does not prove as +kind to you as I could wish, accept this other advice: Choose the, +country for your foster-mother; go to her for consolation and +rejuvenation, take her bounty gratefully, rest on her fair bosom, and be +content with the fat of the land.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_RURAL_SCIENCE_SERIES" id="THE_RURAL_SCIENCE_SERIES"></a>THE RURAL SCIENCE SERIES</h2> + + +<p>Includes books which state the underlying principles of agriculture in +plain language. They are suitable for consultation alike by the amateur +or professional tiller of the soil, the scientist or the student, and +are freely illustrated and finely made.</p> + +<p>The following volumes are now ready:</p> + + +<p>THE SOIL. By F.H. KING, of the University of Wisconsin. 303 pp. 45 +illustrations. 75 cents.</p> + +<p>THE FERTILITY OF THE LAND. By I.P. ROBERTS, of Cornell University. +Second edition. 421 pp. 45 illustrations. $1.25.</p> + +<p>THE SPRAYING OF PLANTS. By E.G. LODEMAN, late of Cornell University. 399 +pp. 92 illustrations. $1.00.</p> + +<p>MILK AND ITS PRODUCTS. By H.H. WING, of Cornell University. Third +edition. 311 pp. 43 illustrations. $1.00.</p> + +<p>THE PRINCIPLES OF FRUIT-GROWING. By L.H. BAILEY. Third edition. 516 pp. +120 illustrations. $1.25.</p> + +<p>BUSH-FRUITS. By F.W. CARD, of Rhode Island College of Agriculture and +Mechanic Arts. Second edition. 537 pp. 113 illustrations. $1.50.</p> + +<p>FERTILIZERS. By E.B. VOORHEES, of New Jersey Experiment Station. Second +edition. 332 pp. $1.00.</p> + +<p>THE PRINCIPLES OF AGRICULTURE. By L.H. BAILEY. Third edition. 300 pp. 92 +illustrations. $1.25.</p> + +<p>IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE. By F.H. KING, University of Wisconsin. 502 pp. +163 illustrations. $1.50.</p> + +<p>THE FARMSTEAD. By I.P. ROBERTS. 350 pp. 138 illustrations. $1.25.</p> + +<p>RURAL WEALTH AND WELFARE. By GEORGE T. FAIRCHILD, ex-President of the +Agricultural College of Kansas. 381 pp. 14 charts. $1.25.</p> + +<p>THE PRINCIPLES OF VEGETABLE-GARDENING. By L.H. BAILEY. 468 pp. 144 +illustrations. $1.25.</p> + +<p>THE FEEDING OF ANIMALS. By W.H. JORDAN, of New York State Experiment +Station. $1.25 <i>net</i>.</p> + +<p>FARM POULTRY. By GEORGE C. WATSON, of Pennsylvania State College. $1.25 +<i>net</i>.</p> + +<p>CARE OF ANIMALS. By N.S. MAYO, of Connecticut Agricultural College. +$1.25 <i>net</i>.</p> + +<p>New volumes will be added from time to time to the RURAL SCIENCE SERIES. +The following are in preparation:</p> + +<p>PHYSIOLOGY OF PLANTS. By J.C. ARTHUR, Purdue University.</p> + +<p>BREEDING OF ANIMALS. By W.H. BREWER, of Yale University.</p> + +<p>PLANT PATHOLOGY. By B.T. GALLOWAY and associates of U.S. Department of +Agriculture.</p> + +<p>Comprises practical hand-books for the horticulturist, explaining and +illustrating in detail the various important methods which experience +has demonstrated to be the most satisfactory. They may be called manuals +of practice, and though all are prepared by Professor Bailey, of Cornell +University, they include the opinions and methods of successful +specialists in many lines, thus combining the results of the +observations and experiences of numerous students in this and other +lands. They are written in the clear, strong, concise English and in the +entertaining style which characterize the author. The volumes are +compact, uniform in style, clearly printed, and illustrated as the +subject demands. They are of convenient shape for the pocket, and are +substantially bound in flexible green cloth.</p> + +<p>THE HORTICULTURIST'S RULE-BOOK. By L.H. Bailey. Fourth +edition. 312 pp. 75 cts.</p> + +<p>THE NURSERY-BOOK. By L.H. Bailey. Fourth edition. 365 pp. 152 +illustrations. $1.00.</p> + +<p>PLANT-BREEDING. By L H. Bailey. 293 pp. 20 illustrations. +$1.00.</p> + +<p>THE FORCING-BOOK. By L.H. Bailey. 266 pp. 88 illustrations. +$1.00.</p> + +<p>GARDEN MAKING. By L.H. Bailey. Third edition. 417 pp. 256 +illustrations. $1.00.</p> + +<p>THE PRUNING-BOOK. By L.H. Bailey. Second edition. 545 pp. 331 +illustrations. $1.50.</p> + +<p>THE PRACTICAL GARDEN-BOOK. By C.E. Hunn and L.H. +Bailey. 250 pp. Many marginal cuts. $1.00.</p> + +<p><b>The Garden of a Commuter's Wife</b></p> + +<p>Recorded by the Gardener</p> + +<p>WITH EIGHT PHOTOGRAVURE ILLUSTRATIONS</p> + +<p>Cloth 12mo $1.50</p> + +<p>"In brief, the book is delightfully sketchy and chatty, thoroughly +feminine and entrancing. The writer represents herself as a doctor's +daughter in a country town, who has married an Englishman, and after two +years abroad has come home to live. Both husband and wife prefer the +country to the city, and they make of their modest estate a mundane +paradise of which it is a privilege to have a glimpse. Surely it is no +exaggeration to characterize this as one of the very best books of the +holiday season, thus far."—<i>Providence Journal.</i></p> + +<p>"It is written with charm, and is more than a mere treatise on what may +be raised in the small lot of the suburban resident.</p> + +<p>"The author has not only learned to appreciate nature from intimate +association, but has achieved unusual power of communicating these facts +to others. There is something unusually attractive about the +book."—<i>The Philadelphia Inquirer.</i></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>A Woman's Hardy Garden</b></p> + +<p>By HELENA RUTHERFORD ELY</p> + +<p>With many Illustrations from Photographs taken in the Author's Garden by +Professor C.F. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Fat of the Land + The Story of an American Farm + +Author: John Williams Streeter + +Release Date: August 13, 2005 [EBook #16525] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FAT OF THE LAND *** + + + + +Produced by Bill Tozier, Barbara Tozier, Janet Blenkinship +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +THE FAT OF THE LAND + + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE FAT OF THE LAND + +The Story of an American Farm + +BY + +JOHN WILLIAMS STREETER + + + +New York + +THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + +LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. + +1904 + +_All rights reserved_ + +copyright, 1904. + +by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. + +Set up, electrotyped, and published February, 1904. Reprinted March, +April, May, 1904. + +Norwood Press + +J.S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. + + + +To POLLY + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + +I. MY EXCUSE 3 + +II. THE HUNTING OF THE LAND 11 + +III. THE FIRST VISIT TO THE FARM 14 + +IV. THE HIRED MAN 25 + +V. BORING FOR WATER 31 + +VI. WE TAKE POSSESSION 36 + +VII. THE HORSE-AND-BUGGY MAN 45 + +VIII. WE PLAT THE FARM 49 + +IX. HOUSE-CLEANING 54 + +X. FENCED IN 61 + +XI. THE BUILDING LINE 67 + +XII. CARPENTERS QUIT WORK 70 + +XIII. PLANNING FOR THE TREES 78 + +XIV. PLANTING OF THE TREES 88 + +XV. POLLY'S JUDGMENT HALL 94 + +XVI. WINTER WORK 101 + +XVII. WHAT SHALL WE ASK OF THE HEN? 103 + +XVIII. WHITE WYANDOTTES 110 + +XIX. FRIED PORK 116 + +XX. A RATION FOR PRODUCT 121 + +XXI. THE RAZORBACK 126 + +XXII. THE OLD ORCHARD 135 + +XXIII. THE FIRST HATCH 138 + +XXIV. THE HOLSTEIN MILK MACHINE 144 + +XXV. THE DAIRYMAID 150 + +XXVI. LITTLE PIGS 155 + +XXVII. WORK ON THE HOME FORTY 158 + +XXVIII. DISCOUNTING THE MARKET 164 + +XXIX. FROM CITY TO COUNTRY 169 + +XXX. AUTUMN RECKONING 174 + +XXXI. THE CHILDREN 178 + +XXXII. THE HOME-COMING 183 + +XXXIII. CHRISTMAS EVE 189 + +XXXIV. CHRISTMAS 194 + +XXXV. WE CLOSE THE BOOKS FOR '96 199 + +XXXVI. OUR FRIENDS 202 + +XXXVII. THE HEADMAN'S JOB 210 + +XXXVIII. SPRING OF '97 217 + +XXXIX. THE YOUNG ORCHARD 225 + +XL. THE TIMOTHY HARVEST 230 + +XLI. STRIKE AT GORDON'S MINE 236 + +XLII. THE RIOT 250 + +XLIII. THE RESULT 260 + +XLIV. DEEP WATERS 268 + +XLV. DOGS AND HORSES 274 + +XLVI. THE SKIM-MILK TRUST 282 + +XLVII. NABOTH'S VINEYARD 285 + +XLVIII. MAIDS AND MALLARDS 294 + +XLIX. THE SUNKEN GARDEN 298 + +L. THE HEADMAN GENERALIZES 303 + +LI. THE GRAND-GIRLS 308 + +LII. THE THIRD RECKONING 313 + +LIII. THE MILK MACHINE 317 + +LIV. BACON AND EGGS 328 + +LV. THE OLD TIME FARM-HAND 337 + +LVI. THE SYNDICATE 342 + +LVII. THE DEATH OF SIR TOM 346 + +LVIII. BACTERIA 352 + +LIX. MATCH-MAKING 355 + +LX. "I TOLD YOU SO" 362 + +LXI. THE BELGIAN FARMER 367 + +LXII. HOME-COMING 375 + +LXIII. AN HUNDRED FOLD 378 + +LXIV. COMFORT ME WITH APPLES 383 + +LXV. THE END OF THE THIRD YEAR 388 + +LXVI. LOOKING BACKWARD 394 + +LXVII. LOOKING FORWARD 402 + + +THE FAT OF THE LAND + + + + +CHAPTER I + +MY EXCUSE + + +My sixtieth birthday is a thing of yesterday, and I have, therefore, +more than half descended the western slope. I have no quarrel with life +or with time, for both have been polite to me; and I wish to give an +account of the past seven years to prove the politeness of life, and to +show how time has made amends to me for the forced resignation of my +professional ambitions. For twenty-five years, up to 1895, I practised +medicine and surgery in a large city. I loved my profession beyond the +love of most men, and it loved me; at least, it gave me all that a +reasonable man could desire in the way of honors and emoluments. The +thought that I should ever drop out of this attractive, satisfying life, +never seriously occurred to me, though I was conscious of a strong and +persistent force that urged me toward the soil. By choice and by +training I was a physician, and I gloried in my work; but by instinct I +was, am, and always shall be, a farmer. All my life I have had visions +of farms with flocks and herds, but I did not expect to realize my +visions until I came on earth a second time. + +I would never have given up my profession voluntarily; but when it gave +me up, I had to accept the dismissal, surrender my ambitions, and fall +back upon my primary instinct for diversion and happiness. The dismissal +came without warning, like the fall of a tree when no wind shakes the +forest, but it was imperative and peremptory. The doctors (and they were +among the best in the land) said, "No more of this kind of work for +years," and I had to accept their verdict, though I knew that "for +years" meant forever. + +My disappointment lasted longer than the acute attack; but, thanks to +the cheerful spirit of my wife, by early summer of that year I was able +to face the situation with courage that grew as strength increased. +Fortunately we were well to do, and the loss of professional income was +not a serious matter. We were not rich as wealth is counted nowadays; +but we were more than comfortable for ourselves and our children, though +I should never earn another dollar. This is not the common state of the +physician, who gives more and gets less than most other men; it was +simply a happy combination of circumstances. Polly was a small heiress +when we married; I had some money from my maternal grandfather; our +income was larger than our necessities, and our investments had been +fortunate. Fate had set no wolf to howl at our door. + +In June we decided to take to the woods, or rather to the country, to +see what it had in store for us. The more we thought of it, the better I +liked the plan, and Polly was no less happy over it. We talked of it +morning, noon, and night, and my half-smothered instinct grew by what it +fed on. Countless schemes at length resolved themselves into a factory +farm, which should be a source of pleasure as well as of income. It was +of all sizes, shapes, industries, and limits of expenditure, as the +hours passed and enthusiasm waxed or waned. I finally compromised on +from two hundred to three hundred acres of land, with a total +expenditure of not more than $60,000 for the building of my factory. It +was to produce butter, eggs, pork, and apples, all of best quality, and +they were to be sold at best prices. I discoursed at some length on +farms and farmers to Polly, who slept through most of the harangue. She +afterward said that she enjoyed it, but I never knew whether she +referred to my lecture or to her nap. + +If farming be the art of elimination, I want it not. If the farmer and +the farmer's family must, by the nature of the occupation, be deprived +of reasonable leisure and luxury, if the conveniences and amenities must +be shorn close, if comfort must be denied and life be reduced to the +elemental necessities of food and shelter, I want it not. But I do not +believe that this is the case. The wealth of the world comes from the +land, which produces all the direct and immediate essentials for the +preservation of life and the protection of the race. When people cease +to look to the land for support, they lose their independence and fall +under the tyranny of circumstances beyond their control. They are no +longer producers, but consumers; and their prosperity is contingent upon +the prosperity and good will of other people who are more or less alien. +Only when a considerable percentage of a nation is living close to the +land can the highest type of independence and prosperity be enjoyed. +This law applies to the mass and also to the individual. The farmer, who +produces all the necessities and many of the luxuries, and whose +products are in constant demand and never out of vogue, should be +independent in mode of life and prosperous in his fortunes. If this is +not the condition of the average farmer (and I am sorry to say it is +not), the fault is to be found, not in the land, but in the man who +tills it. + +Ninety-five per cent of those who engage in commercial and professional +occupations fail of large success; more than fifty per cent fail +utterly, and are doomed to miserable, dependent lives in the service of +the more fortunate. That farmers do not fail nearly so often is due to +the bounty of the land, the beneficence of Nature, and the +ever-recurring seed-time and harvest, which even the most thoughtless +cannot interrupt. + +The waking dream of my life had been to own and to work land; to own it +free of debt, and to work it with the same intelligence that has made me +successful in my profession. Brains always seemed to me as necessary to +success in farming as in law, or in medicine, or in business. I always +felt that mind should control events in agriculture as in commercial +life; that listlessness, carelessness, lack of thrift and energy, and +waste, were the factors most potent in keeping the farmer poor and +unreasonably harassed by the obligations of life. The men who cultivate +the soil create incalculable wealth; by rights they should be the +nation's healthiest, happiest, most comfortable, and most independent +citizens. Their lives should be long, free from care and distress, and +no more strenuous than is wholesome. That this condition is not general +is due to the fact that the average farmer puts muscle before mind and +brawn before brains, and follows, with unthinking persistence, the crude +and careless traditions of his forefathers. + +Conditions on the farm are gradually changing for the better. The +agricultural colleges, the experiment stations, the lecture courses +which are given all over the country, and the general diffusion of +agricultural and horticultural knowledge, are introducing among farming +communities a more intelligent and more liberal treatment of land. But +these changes are so slow, and there is so much to be done before even +a small percentage of our six millions of farmers begin to realize their +opportunities, that even the weakest effort in this direction may be of +use. This is my only excuse for going minutely into the details of my +experiment in the cultivation of land. The plain and circumstantial +narrative of how Four Oaks grew, in seven years, from a poor, +ill-paying, sadly neglected farm, into a beautiful home and a profitable +investment, must simply stand for what it is worth. It may give useful +hints, to be followed on a smaller or a larger scale, or it may arouse +criticisms which will work for good, both to the critic and to the +author. I do not claim experience, excepting the most limited; I do not +claim originality, except that most of this work was new to me; I do not +claim hardships or difficulties, for I had none; but I do claim that I +made good, that I arrived, that my experiment was physically and +financially a success, and, as such, I am proud of it, and wish to give +it to the world. + +I was fifty-three years old when I began this experiment, and I was +obliged to do quickly whatever I intended to do. I could devote any part +of $60,000 to the experiment without inconvenience. My desire was to +test the capacity of ordinary farm land, when properly treated, to +support an average family in luxury, paying good wages to more than the +usual number of people, keeping open house for many friends, and at the +same time not depleting my bank account. I wished to experiment in +_intensive farming_, using ordinary farm land as other men might do +under similar or modified circumstances. I believed that if I fed the +land, it would feed me. My plan was to sell nothing from the farm except +finished products, such as butter, fruit, eggs, chickens, and hogs. I +believed that best results would be attained by keeping only the best +stock, and, after feeding it liberally, selling it in the most favorable +market. To live on the fat of the land was what I proposed to do; and I +ask your indulgence while I dip into the details of this seven years' +experiment. + +You may say that few persons have the time, inclination, taste, or money +to carry out such an experiment; that the average farmer must make each +year pay, and that the exploiting of this matter is therefore of +interest to a very limited number. Admitting much of this, I still claim +that there is a lesson to every struggling farmer in this narrative. It +should teach the value of brain work on the farm, and the importance of +intelligent cultivation; also the advantages of good seed, good tilth, +good specimens of well-bred stock, good food, and good care. Feed the +land liberally, and it will return you much. Permit no waste in space, +product, time, tools, or strength. Do in a small way, if need be, what I +have done on a large scale, and you will quickly commence to get good +dividends. I have spent much more money than was really necessary on +the place, and in the ornamentation of Four Oaks. This, however, was +part of the experiment. I asked the land not only to supply immediate +necessities, but to minister to my every want, to gratify the eye, and +please the senses by a harmonious fusion of utility and beauty. I wanted +a fine country home and a profitable investment within the same ring +fence. + +Will you follow me through the search for the land, the purchase, and +the tremendous house-cleaning of the first year? After that we will take +up the years as they come, finding something of special interest +attaching naturally to each. I shall have to deal much with figures and +statistics, in a small way, and my pages may look like a school book, +but I cannot avoid this, for in these figures and statistics lies the +practical lesson. Theory alone is of no value. Practical application of +the theory is the test. I am not imaginative. I could not write a +romance if I tried. My strength lies in special detail, and I am willing +to spend a lot of time in working out a problem. I do not claim to have +spent this time and money without making serious mistakes; I have made +many, and I am willing to admit them, as you will see in the following +pages. I do claim, however, that, in spite of mistakes, I have solved +the problem, and have proved that an intelligent farmer can live in +luxury on the fat of the land. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE HUNTING OF THE LAND + + +The location of the farm for this experiment was of the utmost +importance. The land must be within reasonable distance of the city and +near a railroad, consequently within easy touch of the market; and if +possible it must be near a thriving village, to insure good train +service. As to size, I was somewhat uncertain; my minimum limit was 150 +acres and 400 the maximum. The land must be fertile, or capable of being +made so. + +I advertised for a farm of from two hundred to four hundred acres, +within thirty-five miles of town, and convenient to a good line of +transportation. Fifty-seven replies came, of which forty-six were +impossible, eleven worth a second reading, and five worth investigating. +My third trip carried me thirty miles southwest of the city, to a +village almost wholly made up of wealthy people who did business in +town, and who had their permanent or their summer homes in this village. +There were probably twenty-seven or twenty-eight hundred people in the +village, most of whom owned estates of from one to thirty acres, +varying in value from $10,000 to $100,000. These seemed ideal +surroundings. The farm was a trifle more than two miles from the +station, and 320 acres in extent. It lay to the west of a +north-and-south road, abutting on this road for half a mile, while on +the south it was bordered for a mile by a gravelled road, and the west +line was an ordinary country road. The lay of the land in general was a +gentle slope to the west and south from a rather high knoll, the highest +point of which was in the north half of the southeast forty. The land +stretched away to the west, gradually sloping to its lowest point, which +was about two-thirds of the distance to the western boundary. A +straggling brook at its lowest point was more or less rampant in +springtime, though during July and August it contained but little water. + +Westward from the brook the land sloped gradually upward, terminating in +a forest of forty to fifty acres. This forest was in good condition. The +trees were mostly varieties of oak and hickory, with a scattering of +wild cherry, a few maples, both hard and soft, and some lindens. It was +much overgrown with underbrush, weeds, and wild flowers. The land was +generally good, especially the lower parts of it. The soil of the higher +ground was thin, but it lay on top of a friable clay which is fertile +when properly worked and enriched. + +The farm belonged to an unsettled estate, and was much run down, as +little had been done to improve its fertility, and much to deplete it. +There were two sets of buildings, including a house of goodly +proportions, a cottage of no particular value, and some dilapidated +barns. The property could be bought at a bargain. It had been held at +$100 an acre; but as the estate was in process of settlement, and there +was an urgent desire to force a sale, I finally secured it for $71 per +acre. The two renters on the farm still had six months of occupancy +before their leases expired. They were willing to resign their leases if +I would pay a reasonable sum for the standing crops and their stock and +equipments. + +The crops comprised about forty acres of corn, fifty acres of oats, and +five acres of potatoes. The stock was composed of two herds of cows +(seven in one and nine in the other), eleven spring calves, about forty +hogs, and the usual assortment of domestic fowls. The equipment of the +farm in machinery and tools was meagre to the last degree. I offered the +renters $700 and $600, respectively, for their leasehold and other +property. This was more than their value, but I wanted to take +possession at once. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE FIRST VISIT TO THE FARM + + +It was the 8th of July, 1895, when I contracted for the farm; possession +was to be given August 1st. On July 9th, Polly and I boarded an early +train for Exeter, intending to make a day of it in every sense. We +wished to go over the property thoroughly, and to decide on a general +outline of treatment. Polly was as enthusiastic over the experiment as +I, and she is energetic, quick to see, and prompt to perform. She was to +have the planning of the home grounds--the house and the gardens; and +not only the planning, but also the full control. + +A ride of forty-five minutes brought us to Exeter. The service of this +railroad, by the way, is of the best; there is hardly a half-hour in the +day when one cannot make the trip either way, and the fare is moderate: +$8.75 for twenty-five rides,--thirty-five cents a ride. We hired an open +carriage and started for the farm. The first half-mile was over a +well-kept macadam road through that part of the village which lies west +of the railway. The homes bordering this street are of fine proportions, +and beautifully kept. They are the country places of well-to-do people +who love to get away from the noise and dirt of the city. Some of them +have ten or fifteen acres of ground, but this land is for breathing +space and beauty--not for serious cultivation. Beyond these homes we +followed a well-gravelled road leading directly west. This road is +bordered by small farms, most of them given over to dairying interests. + +Presently I called Polly's attention to the fact that the few apple +trees we saw were healthy and well grown, though quite independent of +the farmer's or the pruner's care. This thrifty condition of unkept +apple orchards delighted me. I intended to make apple-growing a +prominent feature in my experiment, and I reasoned that if these trees +did fairly well without cultivation or care, others would do excellently +well with both. + +As we approached the second section line and climbed a rather steep +hill, we got the first glimpse of our possession. At the bottom of the +western slope of this hill we could see the crossing of the +north-and-south road, which we knew to be the east boundary of our land; +while, stretching straight away before us until lost in the distant +wood, lay the well-kept road which for a good mile was our southern +boundary. Descending the hill, we stopped at the crossing of the roads +to take in the outline of the farm from this southeast corner. The +north-and-south road ran level for 150 yards, gradually rose for the +next 250, and then continued nearly level for a mile or more. We saw +what Jane Austen calls "a happy fall of land," with a southern exposure, +which included about two-thirds of the southeast forty, and high land +beyond for the balance of this forty and the forty lying north of it. +There was an irregular fringe of forest trees on this southern slope, +especially well defined along the eastern border. I saw that Polly was +pleased with the view. + +"We must enter the home lot from this level at the foot of the hill," +said she, "wind gracefully through the timber, and come out near those +four large trees on the very highest ground. That will be effective and +easily managed, and will give me a chance at landscape gardening, which +I am just aching to try." + +"All right," said I, "you shall have a free hand. Let's drive around the +boundaries of our land and behold its magnitude before we make other +plans." + +We drove westward, my eyes intent upon the fields, the fences, the +crops, and everything that pertained to the place. I had waited so many +years for the sense of ownership of land that I could hardly realize +that this was not another dream from which I would soon be awakened by +something real. I noticed that the land was fairly smooth except where +it was broken by half-rotted stumps or out-cropping boulders, that the +corn looked well and the oats fair, but the pasture lands were too well +seeded to dock, milkweed, and wild mustard to be attractive, and the +fences were cheap and much broken. + +The woodland near the western limit proved to be practically a virgin +forest, in which oak trees predominated. The undergrowth was dense, +except near the road; it was chiefly hazel, white thorn, dogwood, young +cherry, and second growth hickory and oak. We turned the corner and +followed the woods for half a mile to where a barbed wire fence +separated our forest from the woodland adjoining it. Coming back to the +starting-point we turned north and slowly climbed the hill to the east +of our home lot, silently developing plans. We drove the full half-mile +of our eastern boundary before turning back. + +I looked with special interest at the orchard, which was on the +northeast forty. I had seen it on my first visit, but had given it +little attention, noting merely that the trees were well grown. I now +counted the rows, and found that there were twelve; the trees in each +row had originally been twenty, and as these trees were about +thirty-five feet apart, it was easy to estimate that six acres had been +given to this orchard. The vicissitudes of seventeen years had not been +without effect, and there were irregular gaps in the rows,--here a sick +tree, there a dead one. A careless estimate placed these casualties at +fifty-five or sixty, which I later found was nearly correct. This left +180 trees in fair health; and in spite of the tight sod which covered +their roots and a lamentable lack of pruning, they were well covered +with young fruit. They had been headed high in the old-fashioned way, +which made them look more like forest trees than a modern orchard. They +had done well without a husbandman; what could not others do with one? + +The group of farm buildings on the north forty consisted of a one-story +cottage containing six rooms--sitting room, dining room, kitchen, and a +bedroom opening off each--with a lean-to shed in the rear, and some +woe-begone barns, sheds, and out-buildings that gave the impression of +not caring how they looked. The second group was better. It was south of +the orchard on the home forty, and quite near the road. + +Why does the universal farm-house hang its gable over the public road, +without tree or shrub to cover its boldness? It would look much better, +and give greater comfort to its inmates, if it were more remote. A lawn +leading up to a house, even though not beautiful or well kept, adds +dignity and character to a place out of all proportion to its waste or +expense. I know of nothing that would add so much to the beautification +of the country-side as a building line prohibiting houses and barns +within a hundred yards of a public road. A staring, glaring farm-house, +flanked by a red barn and a pigsty, all crowding the public road as +hard as the path-master will permit, is incongruous and unsightly. With +all outdoors to choose from, why ape the crowded city streets? With much +to apologize for in barn and pigsty, why place them in the seat of +honor? Moreover, many things which take place on the farm gain +enchantment from distance. It is best to leave some scope for the +imagination of the passer-by. These and other things will change as +farmers' lives grow more gracious, and more attention is given to +beautifying country houses. + +The house, whose gables looked up and down the street, was two stories +in height, twenty-five feet by forty in the main, with a one-story ell +running back. Without doubt there was a parlor, sitting room, and four +chambers in the main, with dining room and kitchen in the ell. + +"That will do for the head man's house, if we put it in the right place +and fix it up," said Polly. + +"My young lady, I propose to be the 'head man' on this farm, and I wish +it spelled with a capital H, but I do not expect to live in that house. +It will do first-rate for the farmer and his men, when you have placed +it where you want it, but I intend to live in the big house with you." + +"We'll not disagree about that, Mr. Headman." + +The barns were fairly good, but badly placed. They were not worth the +expense of moving, so I decided to let them stand as they were until we +could build better ones, and then tear them down. + +We drove in through a clump of trees behind the farm-house, and pushed +on about three hundred yards to the crest of the knoll. Here we got out +of the carriage and looked about, with keen interest, in every +direction. The views were wide toward three points of the compass. North +and northwest we could see pleasant lands for at least two miles; +directly west, our eyes could not reach beyond our own forest; to the +south and southwest, fruitful valleys stretched away to a range of +wooded hills four miles distant; but on the east our view was limited by +the fringe of woods which lay between us and the north-and-south road. + +"This is the exact spot for the house," said Polly. "It must face to the +south, with a broad piazza, and the chief entrance must be on the east. +The kitchens and fussy things will be out of sight on the northwest +corner; two stories, a high attic with rooms, and covered all over with +yellow-brown shingles." She had it all settled in a minute. + +"What will the paper on your bedroom wall be like?" I asked. + +"I know perfectly well, but I shan't tell you." + +Seating myself on an out-cropping boulder, I began to study the +geography of the farm. In imagination I stripped it of stock, crops, +buildings, and fences, and saw it as bald as the palm of my hand. I +recited the table of long measure: Sixteen and a half feet, one rod, +perch, or pole; forty rods, one furlong; eight furlongs, one mile. Eight +times 40 is 320; there are 320 rods in a mile, but how much is 16-1/2. +times 320? "Polly, how much is 16-1/2 times 320?" + +"Don't bother me now; I'm busy." + +(Just as if she could have told in her moment of greatest leisure!) I +resorted to paper and pencil, and learned that there are 5280 feet in +each and every mile. My land was, therefore, 5280 feet long and 2640 +feet wide. I must split it in some way, by a road or a lane, to make all +parts accessible. If I divided it by two lanes of twenty feet each, I +could have on either side of these lanes lots 650 feet deep, and these +would be quite manageable. I found that if these lots were 660 feet +long, they would contain ten acres minus the ten feet used for the lane. +This seemed a real discovery, as it simplified my calculations and +relieved me of much mental effort. + +"Polly, I am going to make a map of the place,--lay it out just as I +want it." + +"You may leave the home forty out of your map; I will look after that," +said the lady. + +In my pocket I found three envelopes somewhat the worse for wear. This +is how one of them looked when my map was finished. + +[Illustration:] + +I am not especially haughty about this map, but it settled a matter +which had been chaotic in my mind. My plan was to make the farm a +soiling one; to confine the stock within as limited a space as was +consistent with good health, and to feed cultivated forage and crops. In +drawing my map, the forty which Polly had segregated left the northeast +forty standing alone, and I had to cast about for some good way of +treating it. "Make it your feeding ground," said my good genius, and +thus the wrath of Polly was made to glorify my plans. + +This feeding lot of forty acres is all high land, naturally drained. It +was near the obvious building line, and it seemed suitable in every way. +I drew a line from north to south, cutting it in the middle. The east +twenty I devoted to cows and their belongings; the west twenty was +divided by right lines into lots of five acres each, the southwest one +for the hens and the other three for hogs. + +Looking around for Polly to show her my work, I found she had +disappeared; but soon I saw her white gown among the trees. Joining her, +I said,-- + +"I have mapped seven forties; have you finished one?" + +"I have not," she said. "Mine is of more importance than all of yours; I +will give you a sketch this evening. This bit of woods is better than I +thought. How much of it do you suppose there is?" + +"About seven acres, I reckon, by hook and by crook; enough to amuse you +and furnish a lot of wild-flower seed to be floated over the rest of the +farm." + +"You may plant what seeds you like on the rest of the farm, but I must +have wild flowers. Do you know how long it is since I have had them? Not +since I was a girl!" + +"That is not very long, Polly. You don't look much more than a girl +to-day. You shall have asters and goldenrod and black-eyed Susans to +your heart's content if you will always be as young." + +"I believe Time will turn backward for both of us out here, Mr. Headman. +But I'm as hungry as a wolf. Do you think we can get a glass of milk of +the 'farm lady'?" + +We tried, succeeded, and then started for home. Neither of us had much +to say on the return trip, for our minds were full of unsolved problems. +That evening Polly showed me this plat of the home forty. + +[Illustration:] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE HIRED MAN + + +Modern farming is greatly handicapped by the difficulty of getting good +help. I need not go into the causes which have operated to bring about +this condition; it exists, and it has to be met. I cannot hope to solve +the problem for others, but I can tell how I solved it for myself. I +determined that the men who worked for me should find in me a +considerate friend who would look after their interests in a reasonable +and neighborly fashion. They should be well housed and well fed, and +should have clean beds, clean table linen and an attractively set table, +papers, magazines, and books, and a comfortable room in which to read +them. There should be reasonable work hours and hours for recreation, +and abundant bathing facilities; and everything at Four Oaks should +proclaim the dignity of labor. + +From the men I expected cleanliness, sobriety, uniform kindness to all +animals, cheerful obedience, industry, and a disposition to save their +wages. These demands seemed to me reasonable, and I made up my mind to +adhere to them if I had to try a hundred men. + +The best way to get good farm hands who would be happy and contented, I +thought, was to go to the city and find men who had shot their bolts and +failed of the mark; men who had come up from the farm hoping for easier +or more ambitious lives, but who had failed to find what they sought and +had experienced the unrest of a hand-to-mouth struggle for a living in a +large city; men who were pining for the country, perhaps without knowing +it, and who saw no way to get back to it. I advertised my wants in a +morning paper, and asked my son, who was on vacation, to interview the +applicants. From noon until six o'clock my ante-room was invaded by a +motley procession--delicate boys of fifteen who wanted to go to the +country, old men who thought they could do farm work, clerks and +janitors out of employment, typical tramps and hoboes who diffused very +naughty smells, and a few--a very few--who seemed to know what they +could do and what they really wanted. + +Jack took the names of five promising men, and asked them to come again +the next day. In the morning I interviewed them, dismissed three, and +accepted two on the condition that their references proved satisfactory. +As these men are still at Four Oaks, after seven years of steady +employment, and as I hope they will stay twenty years longer, I feel +that the reader should know them. Much of the smooth sailing at the +farm is due to their personal interest, steadiness of purpose, and +cheerful optimism. + +William Thompson, forty-six years of age, tall, lean, wiry, had been a +farmer all his life. His wife had died three years before, and a year +later, he had lost his farm through an imperfect title. Understanding +machinery and being a fair carpenter, he then came to the city, with +$200 in his pocket, joined the Carpenter's Union, and tried to make a +living at that trade. Between dull business, lock-outs, tie-ups, and +strikes, he was reduced to fifty cents, and owed three dollars for room +rent. He was in dead earnest when he threw his union card on my table +and said:-- + +"I would rather work for fifty cents a day on a farm than take my +chances for six times as much in the union." + +This was the sort of man I wanted: one who had tried other things and +was glad of a chance to return to the land. Thompson said that after he +had spent one lonesome year in the city, he had married a sensible woman +of forty, who was now out at service on account of his hard luck. He +also told of a husky son of two-and-twenty who was at work on a farm +within fifty miles of the city. I liked the man from the first, for he +seemed direct and earnest. I told him to eat up the fifty cents he had +in his pocket and to see me at noon of the following day. Meantime I +looked up one of his references; and when he came, I engaged him, with +the understanding that his time should begin at once. + +The wage agreed upon was $20 a month for the first half-year. If he +proved satisfactory, he was to receive $21 a month for the next six +months, and there was to be a raise of $1 a month for each half-year +that he remained with me until his monthly wage should amount to +$40,--each to give or take a month's notice to quit. This seemed fair to +both. I would not pay more than $20 a month to an untried man, but a +good man is worth more. As I wanted permanent, steady help, I proposed +to offer a fair bonus to secure it. Other things being equal, the man +who has "gotten the hang" of a farm can do better work and get better +results than a stranger. + +The transient farm-hand is a delusion and a snare. He has no interest +except his wages, and he is a breeder of discontent. If the hundreds of +thousands of able-bodied men who are working for scant wages in cities, +or inanely tramping the country, could see the dignity of the labor +which is directly productive, what a change would come over the face of +the country! There are nearly six million farms in this nation, and four +millions of them would be greatly benefited by the addition of another +man to the working force. There is a comfortable living and a minimum of +$180 a year for each of four million men, if they will only seek it and +honestly earn it. Seven hundred millions in wages, and double or treble +that in product and added values, is a consideration not unworthy the +attention of social scientists. To favor an exodus to the land is, I +believe, the highest type of benevolence, and the surest and safest +solution of the labor problem. + +Besides engaging Thompson, I tentatively bespoke the services of his +wife and son. Mrs. Thompson was to come for $15 a month and a +half-dollar raise for each six months, the son on the same terms as the +father. + +The other man whom I engaged that day was William Johnson, a tall, blond +Swede about twenty-six years old. Johnson had learned gardening in the +old country, and had followed it two years in the new. He was then +employed in a market gardener's greenhouse; but he wanted to change from +under glass to out of doors, and to have charge of a lawn, shrubs, +flowers, and a kitchen garden. He spoke brokenly, but intelligently, had +an honest eye, and looked to me like a real "find." Polly, who was to be +his immediate boss, was pleased with him, and we took him with the +understanding that he was to make himself generally useful until the +time came for his special line of work. We now had two men engaged (with +a possible third) and one woman, and my _venire_ was exhausted. + +Two days later I again advertised, and out of a number of applicants +secured one man. Sam Jones was a sturdy-looking fellow of middle age, +with a suspiciously red nose. He had been bred on a farm, had learned +the carpenter's trade, and was especially good at taking care of +chickens. His ambition was to own and run a chicken plant. I hired him +on the same terms as the others, but with misgivings on account of the +florid nose. This was on the 19th or 20th of July, and there were still +ten days before I could enter into possession. The men were told to +report for duty the last day of the month. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +BORING FOR WATER + + +The water supply was the next problem. I determined to have an abundant +and convenient supply of running water in the house, the barns, and the +feeding grounds, and also on the lawn and gardens. I would have no +carrying or hauling of water, and no lack of it. There were four wells +on the place, two of them near the houses and two stock wells in the +lower grounds. Near the well at the large house was a windmill that +pumped water into a small tank, from which it was piped to the barn-yard +and the lower story of the house. The supply was inadequate and not at +all to my liking. + +My plan involved not only finding, raising, and distributing water, but +also the care of waste water and sewage. Inquiring among those who had +deep wells in the village, I found that good water was usually reached +at from 180 to 210 feet. As my well-site was high, I expected to have to +bore deep. I contracted with a well man of good repute for a six-inch +well of 250 feet (or less), piped and finished to the surface, for $2 a +foot; any greater depth to be subject to further agreement. + +It took nearly three months to finish the water system, but it has +proved wonderfully convenient and satisfactory. During seven years I +have not spent more than $50 for changes and repairs. We struck bed-rock +at 197 feet, drilled 27 feet into this rock, and found water which rose +to within 50 feet of the surface and which could not be materially +lowered by the constant use of a three-inch power-pump. The water was +milky white for three days, in spite of much pumping; and then, and ever +after, it ran clear and sweet, with a temperature of 54 deg. F. Well and +water being satisfactory, I cheerfully paid the well man $448 for the +job. + +Meantime I contracted for a tank twelve by twelve feet, to be raised +thirty feet above the well on eight timbers, each ten inches square, +well bolted and braced, for $430,--I to put in the foundation. This +consisted of eight concrete piers, each five feet deep in the clay, +three feet square, and capped at the level of the ground with a +limestone two feet square and eight inches thick. These piers were set +in octagon form around the well, with their centres seven feet from the +middle of the bore, making the spread of the framework fourteen feet at +the ground and ten at the platform. The foundation cost $32. A Rider +eight-inch, hot-air, wood-burning, pumping engine (with a two-inch pipe +leading to the tank, and a four-inch pipe from it), filled the tank +quickly; and it was surprising to see how little fuel it consumed. It +cost $215. + +I have now to confess to a small extravagance. I contracted with a +carpenter to build an ornamental tower, fifty-five feet high, twenty +feet across at the base, and fifteen feet at the top, sheeted and +shingled, with a series of small windows in spiral and a narrow stairway +leading to a balcony that surrounded the tower on a level with the top +of the tank. This tower cost $425; but it was not all extravagance, +because a third of the expense would have been incurred in protecting +the engine and making the tank frost-proof. + +To distribute the water, I had three lines of four-inch pipe leading +from the tank's out-flow pipe. One of these went 250 feet to the house, +with one-inch branches for the gardens and lawn; another led east 375 +feet, past the proposed sites of the cottage, the farm-house, the dairy, +and other buildings in that direction; while the third, about 400 feet +long, led to the horse barn and the other projected buildings. From near +the end of this west pipe a 1-1/2-inch pipe was carried due north +through the centre of the five-acre lot set apart for the hennery, and +into the fields beyond. This pipe was about 700 feet long. Altogether I +used 1100 feet of four-inch, and about 2200 feet of smaller pipe, at a +total cost of $803. All water pipes were placed 4-1/2 feet in the ground +to be out of the reach of frost, and to this day they have received no +further attention. + +The trenches for the pipes were opened by a party of five Italians whom +a railroad friend found for me. These men boarded themselves, slept in +the barn, and did the work for seventy-five cents a rod, the job costing +me $169. + +Opening the sewer trenches cost a little more, for they were as deep as +those for the water, and a little wider. Eight hundred feet of main +sewer, a three-hundred-foot branch to the house, and short branches from +barns, pens, and farm-houses, made in all about fourteen hundred feet, +which cost $83 to open. The sewer ended in the stable yard back of the +horse barn, in a ten-foot catch-basin near the manure pit. A few feet +from this catch-basin was a second, and beyond this a third, all of the +same size, with drain-pipes connecting them about two feet below the +ground. These basins were closely covered at all times, and in winter +they were protected from frost by a thick layer of coarse manure. They +were placed near the site of the manure pit for convenience in cleaning, +which had to be done every three months for the first one, once in six +months for the second and rarely for the third; indeed, the water +flowing from the third was always clear. This waste water was run +through a drain-pipe diagonally across the northwest corner of the big +orchard to an open ditch in the north lane. Opening this drain of forty +rods cost $30. Later I carried this closed drain to the creek, at an +additional expense of $67. The connecting of the water pipes and the +laying of the sewer was done by a local plumber for $50; the drain-pipe +and sewer-pipe cost $112; and the three catch-basins, bricked up and +covered with two-inch plank, cost $63. The filling in of all these +trenches was done by my own men with teams and scrapers, and should not +be figured into this expense account. It must be borne in mind that +while this elaborate water system was being installed, no buildings were +completed and but few were even begun; the big house was not finished +for more than a year. The sites of all the buildings had been decided +on, and the farm-house and the cottage had been moved and remodelled, by +the middle of October, at which date the water plant was completed. An +abundant supply of good water is essential to the comfort of man and +beast, and the money invested in securing it will pay a good interest in +the long run. My water plant cost me a lot of money, $2758; but it +hasn't cost me $10 a year since it was finished. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +WE TAKE POSSESSION + + +My barn was full of horses, but none of them was fit for farm work; so I +engaged a veterinary surgeon to find three suitable teams. By the 25th +of the month he had succeeded, and I inspected the animals and found +them satisfactory, though not so smooth and smart-looking as I had +pictured them. When I compared them, somewhat unfavorably, with the +teams used for city trucks and delivery wagons, he retorted by saying: +"I did not know that you wanted to pay $1200 a pair for your horses. +These six horses will cost you $750, and they are worth it." They were a +sturdy lot, young, well matched, not so large as to be unwieldy, but +heavy enough for almost any work. The lightest was said to weigh 1375 +pounds, and the heaviest not more than a hundred pounds more. Two of the +teams were bay with a sprinkling of white feet, while the other pair was +red roan, and, to my mind, the best looking. + +Four of these horses are still doing service on the farm, after more +than seven years. One of the bays died in the summer of '98, and one of +the roans broke his stifle during the following winter and had to be +shot. The bereaved relicts of these two pairs have taken kindly to each +other, and now walk soberly side by side in double harness. I sometimes +think, however, that I see a difference. The personal relation is not +just as it was in the old union,--no bickerings or disagreements, but +also no jokes and no caresses. The soft nose doesn't seek its neighbor's +neck, there is no resting of chin on friendly withers while half-closed +eyes see visions of cool shades, running brooks, and knee-deep clover; +and the urgent whinney which called one to the other and told of +loneliness when separated is no longer heard. It is pathetic to think +that these good creatures have been robbed of the one thing which gave +color to their lives and lifted them above the dreary treadmill of duty +for duty's sake. The kindly friendship of each for his yoke-fellow is +not the old sympathetic companionship, which will come again only when +the cooling breezes, running brooks, and knee-deep pastures of the good +horse's heaven are reached. + +A horse is wonderfully sensitive for an animal of his size and strength. +He is timid by nature and his courage comes only from his confidence in +man. His speed, strength, and endurance he will willingly give, and give +it to the utmost, if the hand that guides is strong and gentle, and the +voice that controls is firm, confident, and friendly. Lack of courage in +the master takes from the horse his only chance of being brave; lack of +steadiness makes him indirect and futile; lack of kindness frightens him +into actions which are the result of terror at first, and which become +vices only by mismanagement. By nature the horse is good. If he learns +bad manners by associating with bad men, we ought to lay the blame where +it belongs. A kind master will make a kind horse; and I have no respect +for a man who has had the privilege of training a horse from colt-hood +and has failed to turn out a good one. Lack of good sense, or cruelty, +is at the root of these failures. One can forgive lack of sense, for men +are as God made them; but there is no forgiveness for the cruel: cooling +shades and running brooks will not be prominent features in their +ultimate landscapes. + +For harness and farm equipments, tools and machinery, I went to a +reliable firm which made most and handled the rest of the things that +make a well-equipped farm. It is best to do much of one's business +through one house, provided, of course, that the house is dependable. +You become a valued customer whom it is important to please, you receive +discounts, rebates, and concessions that are worth something, and a +community of interest grows up that is worth much. + +My first order to this house was for three heavy wagons with four-inch +tires, three sets of heavy harness, two ploughs and a subsoiler, three +harrows (disk, spring tooth, and flat), a steel land-roller, two +wheelbarrows, an iron scraper, fly nets and other stable equipment, +shovels, spades, hay forks, posthole tools, a hand seeder, a chest of +tools, stock-pails, milk-pails and pans, axes, hatchets, saws of various +kinds, a maul and wedges, six kegs of nails, and three lanterns. The +total amount was $488; but as I received five per cent discount, I paid +only $464. The goods, except the wagons and harnesses, were to go by +freight to Exeter. Polly was to buy the necessary furnishings for the +men's house, the only stipulation I made being that the beds should be +good enough for me to sleep in. On the 25th of July she showed me a list +of the things which she had purchased. It seemed interminable; but she +assured me that she had bought nothing unnecessary, and that she had +been very careful in all her purchases. As I knew that Polly was in the +habit of getting the worth of her money, I paid the bills without more +ado. The list footed up to $495. + +Most of the housekeeping things were to be delivered at the station in +Exeter; the rest were to go on the wagons. On the afternoon of the 30th +the wagons and harnesses were sent to the stable where the horses had +been kept, and the articles to go in these wagons were loaded for an +early start the following morning. The distance from the station in the +city to the station at Exeter is thirty miles, but the stable is three +miles from the city station, the farm two and a half miles from Exeter +station, and the wagon road not so direct as the railroad. The trip to +the farm, therefore, could not be much less than forty miles, and would +require the best part of two days. The three men whom I had engaged +reported for duty, as also did Thompson's son, whom we are to know +hereafter as Zeb. + +Early on the last day of the month the men and teams were off, with +cooked provisions for three days. They were to break the journey +twenty-five miles out, and expected to reach the farm the next +afternoon. Polly and I wished to see them arrive, so we took the train +at 1 P.M. August 1st, and reached Four Oaks at 2.30, taking with us Mrs. +Thompson, who was to cook for the men. + +Before starting I had telephoned a local carpenter to meet me, and to +bring a mason if possible. I found both men on the ground, and explained +to them that there would be abundant work in their lines on the place +for the next year or two, that I was perfectly willing to pay a +reasonable profit on each job, but that I did not propose to make them +rich out of any single contract. + +The first thing to do, I told them, was to move the large farm-house to +the site already chosen, about two hundred yards distant, enlarge it, +and put a first-class cellar under the whole. The principal change +needed in the house was an additional story on the ell, which would give +a chamber eighteen by twenty-six, with closets five feet deep, to be +used as a sleeping room for the men. I intended to change the sitting +room, which ran across the main house, into a dining and reading room +twenty feet by twenty-five, and to improve the shape and convenience of +the kitchen by pantry and lavatory. There must also be a well-appointed +bathroom on the upper floor, and set tubs in the kitchen. My men would +dig the cellar, and the mason was to put in the foundation walls (twelve +inches thick and two feet above ground), the cross or division walls, +and the chimneys. He was also to put down a first-class cement floor +over the whole cellar and approach. The house was to be heated by a +hot-water system; and I afterward let this job to a city man, who put in +a satisfactory plant for $500. + +We had hardly finished with the carpenter and the mason when we saw our +wagons turning into the grounds. We left the contractors to their +measurements, plans, and figures, while we hastened to turn the teams +back, as they must go to the cottage on the north forty. The horses +looked a little done up by the heat and the unaccustomed journey, but +Thompson said: "They're all right,--stood it first-rate." + +The cottage and out-buildings furnished scanty accommodations for men +and beasts, but they were all that we could provide. I told the men to +make themselves and the horses as comfortable as they could, then to +milk the cows and feed the hogs, and call it a day. + +While the others were unloading and getting things into shape, I called +Thompson off for a talk. "Thompson," I said, "you are to have the +oversight of the work here for the present, and I want you to have some +idea of my general plan. This experiment at farming is to last years. We +won't look for results until we are ready to force them, but we are to +get ready as soon as possible. In the meantime, we will have to do +things in an awkward fashion, and not always for immediate effect. We +must build the factory before we can turn out the finished product. The +cows, for instance, must be cared for until we can dispose of them to +advantage. Half of them, I fancy, are 'robber cows,' not worth their +keep (if it costs anything to feed them), and we will certainly not +winter them. Keep your eye on the herd, and be able to tell me if any of +them will pay. Milk them carefully, and use what milk, cream, and butter +you can, but don't waste useful time carting milk to market--feed it to +the hogs rather. If a farmer or a milkman will call for it, sell what +you have to spare for what he will give, and have done with it quickly. +You are to manage the hogs on the same principle. Fatten those which are +ready for it, with anything you find on the place. We will get rid of +the whole bunch as soon as possible. You see, I must first clear the +ground before I can build my factory. Let the hens alone for the +present; you can eat them during the winter. + +"Now, about the crops. The hay in barns and stacks is all right; the +wheat is ready for threshing, but it can wait until the oats are also +ready; the corn is weedy, but it is too late to help it, and the +potatoes are probably covered with bugs. I will send out to-morrow some +Paris green and a couple of blow-guns. There is not much real farm work +to do just now, and you will have time for other things. The first and +most important thing is to dig a cellar to put your house over; your +comfort depends on that. Get the men and horses with plough and scraper +out as early as you can to-morrow morning, and hustle. You have nothing +to do but dig a big hole seven feet deep inside these lines. I count on +you to keep things moving, and I will be out the day after to-morrow." + +The mason had finished his estimate, which was $560. After some +explanations, I concluded that it was a fair price, and agreed to it, +provided the work could be done promptly. The carpenter was not ready to +give me figures; he said, however, that he could get a man to move the +house for $120, and that he would send me by mail that night an itemized +estimate of costs, and also one from a plumber. This seemed like doing a +lot of things in one afternoon, so Polly and I started for town content. + +"Those people can't be very luxurious out there," said Polly, "but they +can have good food and clean beds. They have all out-doors to breathe +in, and I do not see what more one can ask on a fine August evening, do +you, Mr. Headman?" + +I could think of a few things, but I did not mention them, for her first +words recalled some scenes of my early life on a backwoods farm: the log +cabin, with hardly ten nails in it, the latch-string, the wide-mouthed +stone-and-stick chimney, the spring-house with its deep crocks, the +smoke-house made of a hollow gum-tree log, the ladder to the loft where +I slept, and where the snows would drift on the floor through the rifts +in the split clapboards that roofed me over. I wondered if to-day was so +much better than yesterday as conditions would warrant us in expecting. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE HORSE-AND-BUGGY MAN + + +August 3 found me at Four Oaks in the early afternoon. A great hollow +had been dug for the cellar, and Thompson said that it would take but +one more full day to finish it. Piles of material gave evidence that the +mason was alert, and the house-mover had already dropped his long +timbers, winch, and chains by the side of the farm-house. + +While I was discussing matters with Thompson, a smart trap turned into +the lot, and a well-set-up young man sprang out of the stylish runabout +and said,-- + +"Dr. Williams, I hear you want more help on your farm." + +"I can use another man or two to advantage, if they are good ones." + +"Well, I don't want to brag, but I guess I am a good one, all right. I +ain't afraid of work, and there isn't much that I can't do on a farm. +What wages do you pay?" + +I told him my plan of an increasing wage scale, and he did not object. +"That includes horse keep, I suppose?" said he. + +"I do not know what you mean by 'horse keep.'" + +"Why, most of the men on farms around here own a horse and buggy, to use +nights, Sundays, and holidays, and we expect the boss to keep the horse. +This is my rig. It is about the best in the township; cost me $280 for +the outfit." + +"See here, young man, this is another specimen of farm economics, and it +is one of the worst in the lot. Let me do a small example in mental +arithmetic for you. The interest on $280 is $14; the yearly depreciation +of your property, without accidents, is at least $40; horse-shoeing and +repairs, $20; loss of wages (for no man will keep your horse for less +than $4 a month), $48. In addition to this, you will be tempted to spend +at least $5 a month more with a horse than without one; that is $60 +more. You are throwing away $182 every year without adding $1 to your +value as an employee, one ounce of dignity to your employment, or one +foot of gain in your social position, no matter from what point you view +it. + +"Taking it for granted that you receive $25 a month for every month of +the year (and this is admitting too much), you waste more than half on +that blessed rig, and you can make no provision for the future, for +sickness, or for old age. No, I will not keep your horse, nor will I +employ any man whose scheme of life doesn't run further than the +ownership of a horse and buggy." + +"But a fellow must keep up with the procession; he must have some +recreation, and all the men around here have rigs." + +"Not around Four Oaks. Recreation is all right, but find it in ways less +expensive. Read, study, cultivate the best of your kind, plan for the +future and save for it, and you will not lack for recreation. Sell your +horse and buggy for $200, if you cannot get more, put the money at +interest, save $200 out of your wages, and by the end of the year you +will be worth over $400 in hard cash and much more in self-respect. You +can easily add 1200 a year to your savings, without missing anything +worth while; and it will not be long before you can buy a farm, marry a +wife, and make an independent position. I will have no horse-and-buggy +men on my farm. It's up to you." + +"By Jove! I believe you may be right. It looks like a square deal, and +I'll play it, if you'll give me time to sell the outfit." + +"All right, come when you can. I'll find the work." + +That day being Saturday, I told Thompson that I would come out early +Monday morning, bringing with me a rough map of the place as I had +planned it, and we would go over it with a chain and drive some +outlining stakes. I then returned to Exeter, found the carpenter and the +plumber, and accepted their estimates,--$630 and $325, respectively. The +farm-house moved, finished, furnished, and heated, but not painted or +papered, would cost $2630. Painting, papering, window-shades, and odds +and ends cost $275, making a total of $2905. It proved a good +investment, for it was a comfortable and convenient home for the men and +women who afterward occupied it. It has certainly been appreciated by +its occupants, and few have left it without regret. We have always tried +to make it an object lesson of cleanliness and cheerfulness, and I don't +think a man has lived in it for six months without being bettered. It +seemed a good deal of money to put on an old farm-house for farm-hands, +but it proved one of the best investments at Four Oaks, for it kept the +men contented and cheerful workers. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +WE PLAT THE FARM + + +On Monday I was out by ten o'clock, armed with a surveyor's chain. +Thompson had provided a lot of stakes, and we ran the lines, more or +less straight, in general accord with my sketch plan. We walked, +measured, estimated, and drove stakes until noon. At one o'clock we were +at it again, and by four I was fit to drop from fatigue. Farm work was +new to me, and I was soft as soft. I had, however, got the general lay +of the land, and could, by the help of the plan, talk of its future +subdivisions by numerals,--an arrangement that afterward proved definite +and convenient. We adjourned to the shade of the big black oak on the +knoll, and discussed the work in hand. + +"You cannot finish the cellar before to-morrow night," I said, "because +it grows slower as it grows deeper; but that will be doing well enough. +I want you to start two teams ploughing Wednesday morning, and keep them +going every day until the frost stops them. Let Sam take the plough, and +have young Thompson follow with the subsoiler. Have them stick to this +as a regular diet until I call them off. They are to commence in the +wheat stubble where lots six and seven will be. I am going to try +alfalfa in that ground, though I am not at all sure that it will do +well, and the soil must be fitted as well as possible. After it has had +deep ploughing it is to be crossed with the disk harrow; then have it +rolled, disk it again, and then use the flat harrow until it feels as +near like an ash heap as time will permit. We must get the seed in +before September." + +"We will need another team if you keep two ploughing and one on the +harrow," said Thompson. + +"You are right, and that means another $400, but you shall have it. We +must not stop the ploughs for anything. Numbers 10, 11, 14, 1, 2, 3, 4, +5, and much of the home lot, ought to be ploughed before snow flies. +That means about 160 acres,--80 odd days of steady work for the +ploughmen and horses. You will probably find it best to change teams +from time to time. A little variety will make it easier for them. As +soon as 6 and 7 are finished, turn the ploughs into the 40 acres which +make lots 1 to 5. All that must be seeded to pasture grass, for it will +be our feeding-ground, and we'll be late with it if we don't look sharp. + +"We must have more help, by the way. That horse-and-buggy man, Judson, +is almost sure to come, and I will find another. Some of you will have +to bunk in the hay for the present, for I am going to send out a woman +to help your wife. Six men can do a lot of work, but there is a +tremendous lot of work to do. We must fit the ground and plant at least +three thousand apple trees before the end of November, and we ought to +fence this whole plantation. Speaking of fences reminds me that I must +order the cedar posts. Have you any idea how many posts it will take to +fence this farm as we have platted it? I suppose not. Well, I can tell +you. Twenty-two hundred and fifty at one rod apart, or 1850 at twenty +feet apart. These posts must be six feet above and three feet below +ground. They will cost eighteen cents each. That item will be $333, for +there are seven miles of fence, including the line fence between me and +my north neighbor. I am going to build that fence myself, and then I +shall know whose fault it is if his stock breaks through. Of course some +of the old posts are good, but I don't believe one in twenty is long +enough for my purpose." + +"What do you buy cedar posts for, when you have enough better ones on +the place?" asked Thompson. + +"I don't know what you mean." + +"Well, down in the wood yonder there's enough dead white oak, standing +or on the ground, to make three thousand, nine-foot posts, and one +seasoned white oak will outlast two cedars, and it is twice as strong." + +"Well, that's good! How much will it cost to get them out?" + +"About five cents apiece. A couple of smart fellows can make good wages +at that price." + +"Good. We will save thirteen cents each. They will cost $93 instead of +$333. I don't know everything yet, do I, Thompson?" + +"You learn easy, I reckon." + +"Keep your eyes and ears open, and if you find any one who can do this +job, let him have it, for we are going to be too busy with other things +at present. It's time for me to be off. I cannot be out again till +Thursday, for I must find a man, a woman, and a team of horses and all +that goes with them. I'll see you on the 8th at any rate." + +I was dead tired when I reached home; but there wasn't a grain of +depression in my fatigue,--rather a sense of elation. I felt that for +the first time in thirty years real things were doing and I was having a +hand in them. The fatigue was the same old tire that used to come after +a hard day on my father's farm, and the sense was so suggestive of youth +that I could not help feeling younger. I have never gotten away from the +faith that the real seed of life lies hidden in the soil; that the man +who gives it a chance to germinate is a benefactor, and that things done +in connection with land are about the only real things. I have grown +younger, stronger, happier, with each year of personal contact with the +soil. I am thankful for seven years of it, and look forward to twice +seven more. I have lost the softness which nearly wilted me that 5th day +of August, and with the softness has gone twenty or thirty pounds of +useless flesh. I am hard, active, and strong for a man of sixty, and I +can do a fair day's work. To tell the truth, I prefer the moderate work +that falls to the lot of the Headman, rather than the more strenuous +life of the husbandman; but I find an infinite deal to thank the farm +for in health and physical comfort. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +HOUSE-CLEANING + + +After dinner I telephoned the veterinary surgeon that I wanted another +team. He replied that he thought he knew of one that would suit, and +that he would let me know the next day. I also telephoned two "want +ads." to a morning paper, one for an experienced farm-hand, the other +for a woman to do general housework in the country. Polly was to +interview the women who applied, and I was to look after the men. That +night I slept like a hired man. + +Out of the dozen who applied the next day I accepted a Swede by the name +of Anderson. He was about thirty, tall, thin, and nervous. He did not +fit my idea of a stockman, but he looked like a worker, and as I could +furnish the work we soon came to terms. + +A few words more about Anderson. He proved a worker indeed. He had an +insatiable appetite for work, and never knew when to quit. He was not +popular at the farm, for he was too eager in the morning to start and +too loath in the evening to stop. His unbridled passion for work was a +thing to be deplored, as it kept him thin and nervous. I tried to +moderate this propensity, but with no result. Anderson could not be +trusted with horses, or, indeed, with animals of any kind, for he made +them as nervous as himself; but in all other kinds of work he was the +best man ever at Four Oaks. He worked for me nearly three years, and +then suddenly gave out from a pain in his left chest and shortness of +breath. I called a physician for poor Anderson, and the diagnosis was +dilatation of the heart from over-exercise. + +"A rare disease among farm-hands, Dr. Williams," said Dr. High, but my +conscience did not fully forgive me. I asked Anderson to stay at the +farm and see what could be done by rest and care. He declined this, as +well as my offer to send him to a hospital. He expressed the liveliest +gratitude for kindnesses received and others offered, but he said he +must be independent and free. He had nearly $1200 in a savings bank in +the city, and he proposed to use it, or such portion of it as was +necessary. I saw him two months later. He was better, but not able to +work. Hearing nothing from him for three years, a year ago I called at +the bank where I knew he had kept his savings. They had sent sums of +money to him, once to Rio Janeiro and once to Cape Town. For two years +he had not been heard from. Whether he is living or dead I do not know. +I only know that a valuable man and a unique farm-hand has disappeared. +I never think of Anderson without wishing I had been more severe with +him,--more persistent in my efforts to wean him from his real passion. +Peace to his ashes, if he be ashes. + +That same day I telephoned the Agricultural Implement Company to send me +another wagon, with harness and equipment for the team. The veterinary +surgeon reported that he had a span of mares for me to look at, but I +was too much engaged that day to inspect the team, and promised to do so +on the next. + +When I reached home, Polly said she had found nothing in the way of a +general housework girl for the country. She had seen nine women who +wished to do all other kinds of work, but none to fit her wants. + +"What do they come for if they don't want the place we described? Do +they expect we are to change our plans of life to suit their personal +notions?" she asked. + +"It's hard to say what they came for or what they want. Their ways are +past finding out. We will put in another 'ad.' and perhaps have better +luck." + +Wednesday, the 7th, I went to see the new team. I found a pair of +flea-bitten gray Flemish mares, weighing about twenty-eight hundred +pounds. They were four years old, short of leg and long of body, and +looked fit. The surgeon passed them sound, and said he considered them +well worth the price asked,--$300. I was pleased with the team, and +remembered a remark I had heard as a boy from an itinerant Methodist +minister at a time when the itinerant minister was supposed to know all +there was to know about horse-flesh. This was his remark: "There was +never a flea-bitten mare that was a poor horse." In spite of its +ambiguity, the saying made an impression from which I never recovered. I +always expected great things from flea-bitten grays. + +The team, wagon, harness, etc., added $395 to the debit account against +the farm. Polly secured her girl,--a green German who had not been long +enough in America to despise the country. + +"She doesn't know a thing about our ways," said Polly, "but Mrs. +Thompson can train her as she likes. If you can spend time enough with +green girls, they are apt to grow to your liking." + +On Thursday I saw Anderson and the new team safely started for the farm. +Then Polly, the new girl, and I took train for the most interesting spot +on earth. + +Soon after we arrived I lost sight of Polly, who seemed to have business +of her own. I found the mason and his men at work on the cellar wall, +which was almost to the top of the ground. The house was on wheels, and +had made most of its journey. The house mover was in a rage because he +had to put the house on a hole instead of on solid ground, as he had +expected. "I have sent for every stick of timber and every cobbling +block I own, to get this house over that hole; there's no money in this +job for me; you ought to have dug the cellar after the house was +placed," said he. + +I made friends with him by agreeing to pay $30 more for the job. The +house was safely placed, and by Saturday night the foundation walls were +finished. + +Sam and Zeb had made a good beginning on the ploughing, the teams were +doing well for green ones, and the men seemed to understand what good +ploughing meant. Thompson and Johnson had spent parts of two days in the +potato patches in deadly conflict with the bugs. + +"We've done for most of them this time," said Thompson, "but we'll have +to go over the ground again by Monday." + +The next piece of work was to clear the north forty (lots 1 to 5) of all +fences, stumps, stones, and rubbish, and all buildings except the +cottage. The barn was to be torn down, and the horses were to be +temporarily stabled in the old barn on the home lot. Useful timbers and +lumber were to be snugly piled, the manure around the barns was to be +spread under the old apple trees, which were in lot No. 1, and +everything not useful was to be burned. "Make a clean sweep, and leave +it as bare as your hand," I told Thompson. "It must be ready for the +plough as soon as possible." + +Judson, the man with the buggy, reported at noon. He came with bag and +baggage, but not with buggy, and said that he came to stay. + +"Thompson," said I, "you are to put Judson in charge of the roan team to +follow the boys when they are far enough ahead of him. In the meantime +he and the team will be with you and Johnson in this house-cleaning. By +to-morrow night Anderson and the new team will get in, and they, too, +will help on this job. I want you to take personal charge of the gray +team,--neither Johnson nor Anderson is the right sort to handle horses. +The new team will do the trucking about and the regular farm work, while +the other three are kept steadily at the ploughs and harrows." + +The cleaning of the north forty proved a long job. Four men and two +teams worked hard for ten days, and then it was not finished. By that +time the ploughmen had finished 6 and 7, and were ready to begin on No. +1. Judson, with the roans and harrows, was sent to the twenty acres of +ploughed ground, and Zeb and his team were put at the cleaning for three +days, while Sam ploughed the six acres of old orchard with a +_shallow-set_ plough. The feeding roots of these trees would have been +seriously injured if we had followed the deep ploughing practised in the +open. By August 24 about two hundred loads of manure from the +barn-yards, the accumulation of years, had been spread under the apple +trees, and I felt sure it was well bestowed. Manuring, turning the sod, +pruning, and spraying, ought to give a good crop of fruit next year. + +We had several days of rain during this time, which interfered somewhat +with the work, but the rains were gratefully received. I spent much of +my time at Four Oaks, often going every day, and never let more than two +days pass without spending some hours on the farm. To many of my friends +this seemed a waste of time. They said, "Williams is carrying this fad +too far,--spending too much time on it." + +Polly did not agree with them, neither did I. Time is precious only as +we make it so. To do the wholesome, satisfying thing, without direct or +indirect injury to others, is the privilege of every man. To the charge +of neglecting my profession I pleaded not guilty, for my profession had +dismissed me without so much as saying "By your leave." I was obliged to +change my mode of life, and I chose to be a producer rather than a +consumer of things produced by others. I was conserving my health, +pleasing my wife, and at the same time gratifying a desire which had +long possessed me. I have neither apology to make nor regret to record; +for as individuals and as a family we have lived healthier, happier, +more wholesome, and more natural lives on the farm than we ever did in +the city, and that is saying much. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +FENCED IN + + +On the 26th, when I reached the station at Exeter, I found Thompson and +the gray team just starting for the farm with the second load of wire +fencing. I had ordered fifty-six rolls of Page's woven wire fence, forty +rods in each roll. This fence cost me seventy cents a rod, $224 a mile, +or $1568 for the seven miles. Add to this $37 for freight, and the total +amounted to $1605 for the wire to fence my land. I got this facer as I +climbed to the seat beside Thompson. I did not blink, however, for I had +resolved in the beginning to take no account of details until the 31st +day of December, and to spend as much on the farm in that time as I +could without being wasteful. I did not care much what others thought. I +felt that at my age time was precious, and that things must be rushed as +rapidly as possible. + +I was glad of this slow ride with Thompson, for it gave me an +opportunity to study him. I wondered then and afterward why a man of his +general intelligence, industry, and special knowledge of the details of +farming, should fail of success when working for himself. He knew ten +times as much about the business as I did, and yet he had not succeeded +in an independent position. Some quality, like broadness of mind or +directness of purpose, was lacking, which made him incapable of carrying +out a plan, no matter how well conceived. He was like Hooker at +Chancellorsville, whose plan of campaign was perfect, whose orders were +carried out with exactness, whose army fell into line as he wished, and +whose enemy did the obvious thing, yet who failed terribly because the +responsibility of the ultimate was greater than he could bear. As second +in command, or as corps leader, he was superb; in independent command he +was a disastrous failure. + +Thompson, then, was a Joe Hooker on a reduced plane,--good only to +execute another man's plans. Thompson might have rebutted this by saying +that I too might prove a disastrous failure; that as yet I had shown +only ability to spend,--perhaps not always wisely. Such rebuttal would +have had weight seven years ago, but it would not be accepted to-day, +for I have made my campaign and won my battle. The record of the past +seven years shows that I can plan and also execute. + +Thompson told me that he had found two woodsmen (by scouting around on +Sunday) who were glad to take the job of cutting the white-oak posts at +five cents each, and that they were even then at work; and that Nos. 6 +and 7 would be fitted for alfalfa by the end of the week. He added that +the seed ought to be sown as soon thereafter as possible and that a +liberal dressing of commercial fertilizer should be sown before the seed +was harrowed in. + +"I have ordered five tons of fertilizer," I said, "and it ought to be +here this week. Sow four bags to the acre." + +"Four bags,--eight hundred pounds; that's pretty expensive. Costs, I +suppose, $35 to $40 a ton." + +"No; $24." + +"How's that?" + +"Friend at court; factory price; $120 for five tons; $5 freight, making +in all $125. We must use at least eight hundred pounds this fall and +five hundred in the spring. Alfalfa is an experiment, and we must give +it a show." + +"Never saw anything done with alfalfa in this region, but they never +took no pains with it," said Thompson. + +"I hope it will grow for us, for it is great forage if properly managed. +The seed will be out this week, and you had best sow it on Monday, the +2d." + +"How are you going to seed the north forty?" + +"Timothy, red top, and blue grass; heavy seeding, to get rid of the +weeds. These lots will all be used as stock lots. Small ones, you think, +but we will depend almost entirely upon soiling. I hope to keep a fair +sod on these lots, and they will be large enough to give the animals +exercise and keep them healthy. I hope the carpenter is pushing things +on the house. I want to get you into better quarters as soon as +possible, and I want the cottage moved out of the way before we seed the +lot." + +"They're pushing things all right, I guess; that man Nelson is a +hustler." + +When I reached the farm I found Johnson and Anderson tearing down the +old fence that was our eastern boundary. None of the posts were long +enough for my purpose, so all were consigned to the woodpile. + +My neighbor on the north owned just as much land as I did. He inherited +it and a moderate bank account from his father, who in turn had it from +his. The farm was well kept and productive. The house and barns were +substantial and in good repair. The owner did general farming, raised +wheat, corn, and oats to sell, milked twenty cows and sent the milk to +the creamery, sold one or two cows and a dozen calves each year, and +fattened twenty or thirty pigs. He was pretty certain to add a few +hundred dollars to his bank account at the end of each season. He kept +one man all the time and two in summer. He was a bachelor of +twenty-eight, well liked and good to look upon: five feet ten inches in +height, broad of shoulder, deep of chest, and a very Hercules in +strength. His face was handsome, square-jawed and strong. He was +good-natured, but easily roused, and when angry was as fierce as fire. +He had the reputation of being the hardest fighter in the country. His +name was William Jackson, so he was called Bill. I had met Jackson +often, and we had taken kindly to each other. I admired his frank manner +and sturdy physique, and he looked upon me as a good-natured tenderfoot, +who might be companionable, and who would certainly stir up things in +the neighborhood. I went in search of him that afternoon to discuss the +line fence, a full mile of which divided our lands. + +"I want to put a fence along our line which nothing can get over or +under," I said. "I am willing to bear the expense of the new fence if +you will take away the old one and plough eight furrows,--four on your +land and four on mine,--to be seeded to grass before the wires are +stretched. We ought to get rid of the weeds and brush." + +"That is a liberal proposition, Dr. Williams, and of course I accept," +said Jackson; "but I ought to do more. I'll tell you what I'll do. You +are planning to put a ring fence around your land,--three miles in all. +I'll plough the whole business and fit it for the seed. I'll take one of +my men, four horses, and a grub plough, and do it whenever you are +ready." + +This settled the fence matter between Jackson and me. The men who cut +the posts took the job of setting them, stretching the wire, and hanging +the gates, for $400. This included the staples and also the stretching +of three strands of barbed wire above the woven wire; two at six-inch +intervals on the outside, and one inside, level with the top of the +post. Thus my ring fence was six feet high and hard to climb. I have a +serious dislike for trespass, from either man or beast, and my boundary +fence was made to discourage trespassers. I like to have those who enter +my property do so by the ways provided, for "whoso climbeth up any other +way, the same is a thief and a robber." + +The ring fence was finished by the middle of October. The interior +fences were built by my own men during soft weather in winter and +spring; and, as I had already paid for the wire and posts, nothing more +should be charged to the fence account. In round numbers these seven +miles of excellent fence cost me $2100. A lot of money! But the fence is +there to-day as serviceable as when it was set, and it will stand for +twice seven years more. One hundred dollars a year is not a great price +to pay for the security and seclusion which a good fence furnishes. +There was no need of putting up so much interior fence. I would save a +mile or two if I had it to do again; however, I do not dislike my +straight lanes and tightly fenced fields. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE BUILDING LINE + + +Before leaving Four Oaks that day I had a long conversation with Nelson, +the carpenter. I had taken his measure, by inquiry and observation, and +was willing to put work into his hands as fast as he could attend to it. +The first thing was to put him in possession of my plan of a building +line. + +Two hundred feet south of the north line of the home lot a street or +lane was to run due west from the gate on the main road. This was to be +the teaming or business entrance to the farm. Commencing three hundred +feet from the east end of this drive, the structures were to be as +follows: On the south side, first a cold-storage house, then the +farm-house, the cottage, the well, and finally the carriage barn for the +big house. On the north side of the line, opposite the ice-house, the +dairy-house; then a square with a small power-house for its centre, a +woodhouse, a horse barn for the farm horses, a granary and a forage barn +for its four corners. Beyond this square to the west was the fruit-house +and the tool-house--the latter large enough to house all the farm +machinery we should ever need. I have a horror of the economy that +leaves good tools to sky and clouds without protection. This sketch +would not be worked out for a long time, as few of the buildings were +needed at once. It was made for the sake of having a general design to +be carried out when required; and the water and sewer system had been +built with reference to it. + +I told Nelson that a barn to shelter the horses was the first thing to +build, after the house for the men, and that I saw no reason why two or +even three buildings should not be in process of construction at the +same time. He said there would be no difficulty in managing that if he +could get the men and I could get the money. I promised to do my part, +and we went into details. + +I wanted a horse barn for ten horses, with shed room for eight wagons in +front and a small stable yard in the rear; also a sunken manure vat, ten +feet by twenty, with cement walls and floor, the vat to be four feet +deep, two feet in the ground and two feet above it. A vat like this has +been built near each stable where stock is kept, and I find them +perfectly satisfactory. They save the liquid manure, and thus add fifty +per cent to the value of the whole. Open sheds protect from sun and +rain, and they are emptied as often as is necessary, regardless of +season, for I believe that the fields can care for manure better than a +compost heap. + +I also told Nelson to make plans and estimates for a large forage barn, +75 by 150 feet, 25 feet from floor to rafter plate, with a driving floor +through the length of it and mows on either side. A granary, with a +capacity of twenty thousand bushels, a large woodhouse, and a small +house in the centre of this group where the fifteen horse-power engine +could be installed, completed my commissions for that day. + +Plans for these structures were submitted in due time, and the work was +pushed forward as rapidly as possible. The horse barn made a comfortable +home for ten horses, if we should need so many, with food and water +close at hand and every convenience for the care of the animals and +their harness. The forage barn was not expensive,--it was simply to +shelter a large quantity of forage to be drawn upon when needed. The +woodhouse was also inexpensive, though large. Wood was to be the +principal fuel at Four Oaks, since it would cost nothing, and there must +be ample shelter for a large amount. The granary would have to be built +well and substantially, but it was not large. The power-house also was a +small affair. The whole cost of these five buildings was $8550. The +itemized amount is, horse barn, $2000, forage barn, $3400, granary, +$2200, woodhouse, $400, power-house, $550. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +CARPENTERS QUIT WORK + + +On Friday, August 30, I was obliged to go to a western city on business +that would keep me from four to ten days. I turned my face away from the +farm with regret. I could hardly realize that I had spent but one month +in my new life, the old interests had slipped so far behind. I was +reluctant to lose sight, even for a week, of the intensely interesting +things that were doing at Four Oaks. Polly said she would go to Four +Oaks every day, and keep so watchful an eye on the farm that it could +not possibly get away. + +"You're getting a little bit maudlin about that farm, Mr. Headman, and +it will do you good to get away for a few days. There are _some other_ +things in life, though I admit they are few, and we are not to forget +them. I am up to my ears in plans for the house and the home lot; but I +can't quite see what you find so interesting in tearing down old barns +and fences and turning over old sods." + +"Every heart knoweth its own sorrow, Polly, and I have my troubles." + +Friday evening, September 6, I returned from the west. My first +greeting was,-- + +"How's the farm, Polly?" + +"It's there, or was yesterday; I think you'll find things running +smoothly." + +"Have they sowed the alfalfa and cut the oats?" + +"Yes." + +"Finished the farm-house?" + +"No, not quite, but the painters are there, and Nelson has commenced +work on two other buildings." + +"What time can I breakfast? I must catch the 8.10 train, and spend a +long day where things are doing." + +Things were humming at Four Oaks when I arrived. Ten carpenters besides +Nelson and his son were pounding, sawing, and making confusion in all +sorts of ways peculiar to their kind. The ploughmen were busy. Thompson +and the other two men were shocking oats. I spent the day roaming around +the place, watching the work and building castles. I went to the alfalfa +field to see if the seed had sprouted. Disappointed in this, I wandered +down to the brook and planned some abridgment of its meanderings. It +could be straightened and kept within bounds without great expense if +the work were done in a dry season. Polly had asked for a winding brook +with a fringe of willows and dogwood, but I would not make this +concession to her esthetic taste. This farm land must be useful to the +sacrifice of everything else. A winding brook would be all right on the +home lot, if it could be found, but not on the farm. A straight ditch +for drainage was all that I would permit, and I begrudged even that. No +waste land in the cultivated fields, was my motto. I had threshed this +out with Polly and she had yielded, after stipulating that I must keep +my hands off the home forty. + +Over in the woods I found two men at work splitting fence posts. They +seemed expert, and I asked them how many they could make in a day. + +"From 90 to 125, according to the timber. But we must work hard to make +good wages." + +"That applies to other things besides post-splitting, doesn't it?" + +Closer inspection of the wood lot gratified me exceedingly. Little had +been done for it except by Nature, but she had worked with so prodigal a +hand that it showed all kinds of possibilities, both for beauty and for +utility. Before leaving the place, I had a little talk with Nelson. + +"Everything is going on nicely," he said. "I have ten carpenters, and +they are a busy lot. If I can only hold them on to the job, things will +go well." + +"What's the matter? Can't you hold them?" + +"I hope so, but there is a hoisters' strike on in the city, and the +carpenters threaten to go out in sympathy. I hope it won't reach us, +but I'm afraid it will." + +"What will you do if the men go out?" + +"Do the best I can. I can get two non-union men that I know of. They +would like to be on this job now, but these men won't permit it. My son +is a full hand, so there will be four of us; but it will be slow work." + +"See here, Nelson, I can't have this work slack up. We haven't time. +Cold weather will be on before we know it. I'm going to take this bull +by the horns. I'll advertise for carpenters in the Sunday papers. Some +of those who apply will be non-union men, and I'll hold them over for a +few days until we see how the cat jumps. If it comes to the worst, we +can get some men to take the place of Thompson and Sam, who are +carpenters, and set them at the tools. I will not let this work stop, +strike or no strike." + +"If you put non-union men on you will have to feed and sleep them on the +place. The union will make it hot for them." + +"I will take all kinds of care of every man who gives me honest work, +you may be sure." + +When I returned to town I sent this "ad." to two papers: "Wanted: Ten +good carpenters to go to the country." The Sunday papers gave a lurid +account of the sentiment of the Carpenters' Union and its sympathetic +attitude toward the striking hoisters. The forecast was that there would +not be a nail driven if the strike were not settled by Tuesday night. +It seemed that I had not moved a day too soon. On Monday thirty-seven +carpenters applied at my office. Most of them had union tickets and were +not considered. Thirteen, however, were not of the union, and they were +investigated. I hired seven on these conditions: wages to begin the next +day, Tuesday, and to continue through the week, work or no work. If the +strike was ordered, I would take the men to the country and give them +steady work until my jobs were finished. They agreed to these +conditions, and were requested to report at my office on Wednesday +morning to receive two days' pay, and perhaps to be set to work. + +I did not go to the farm until Tuesday afternoon. There was no change in +the strike, and no reason to expect one. The noon papers said that the +Carpenters' Union would declare a sympathetic strike to be on from +Wednesday noon. + +On reaching Four Oaks I called Nelson aside and told him how the land +lay and what I had done. + +"I want you to call the men together," said I, "and let me talk to them. +I must know just how we stand and how they feel." + +Nelson called the men, and I read the reports from two papers on the +impending strike order. + +"Now, men," said I, "we must look this matter in the face in a +businesslike fashion. You have done good work here; your boss is +satisfied, and so am I. It would suit us down to the ground if you +would continue on until all these jobs are finished. We can give you a +lot of work for the best part of the year. You are sure of work and sure +of pay if you stay with us. That is all I have to say until you have +decided for yourselves what you will do if the strike is ordered." + +I left the men for a short time, while they talked things over. It did +not take them long to decide. + +"We must stand by the union," said the spokesman, "but we'll be damned +sorry to quit this job. You see, sir, we can't do any other way. We have +to be in the union to get work, and we have to do as the union says or +we will be kicked out. It is hard, sir, not to do a hit of a hammer for +weeks or months with a family on one's hands and winter coming; but what +can a man do? We don't see our way clear in this matter, but we must do +as the union says." + +"I see how you are fixed," said I, "and I am mighty sorry for you. I am +not going to rail against unions, for they may have done some good; but +they work a serious wrong to the man with a family, for he cannot follow +them without bringing hardships upon his dependent ones. It is not fair +to yoke him up with a single man who has no natural claims to satisfy, +no mouth to feed except his own; but I will talk business. + +"You will be ordered out to-morrow or next day, and you say you will +obey the order. You have an undoubted right to do so. A man is not a +slave, to be made to work against his will; but, on the other hand, is +he not a slave if he is forced to quit against his will? Freedom of +action in personal matters is a right which wise men have fought for and +for which wise men will always fight. Do you find it in the union? What +shall I do when you quit work? How long are you going to stay out? What +will become of my interests while you are following the lead of your +bell-wethers? Shall my work stop because you have been called out for a +holiday? Shall the weeds grow over these walls and my lumber rot while +you sit idly by? Not by a long sight! You have a perfect right to quit +work, and I have a perfect right to continue. + +"The rights which we claim for ourselves we must grant to others. One +man certainly has as defensible a right to work as another man has to be +idle. In the legitimate exercise of personal freedom there is no effort +at coercion, and in this case there shall be none. If you choose to +quit, you will do so without let or hindrance from me; but if you quit, +others will take your places without let or hindrance from you. You will +be paid in full to-night. When you leave, you must take your tools with +you, that there may be no excuse for coming back. When you leave the +place, the incident will be closed so far as you and I are concerned, +and it will not be opened unless I find some of you trying to interfere +with the men I shall engage to take your places. I think you make a +serious mistake in following blind leaders who are doing you material +injury, for sentimental reasons; but you must decide this for +yourselves. If, after sober thought, any of you feel disposed to return, +you can get a job if there is a vacancy; but no man who works for me +during this strike will be displaced by a striker. You may put that in +your pipes and smoke it. Nelson will pay you off to-night." + +The strike was ordered for Wednesday. On the morning of that day the +seven carpenters whom I had engaged arrived at my office ready for work. +I took them to the station and started for Four Oaks. At a station five +miles from Exeter we quitted the train, hired two carriages, and were +driven to the farm without passing through the village. + +We arrived without incident, the men had their dinners, and at one +o'clock the hammers and saws were busy again. We had lost but one half +day. The two non-union men whom Nelson had spoken of were also at work, +and three days later the spokesman of the strikers threw up his card and +joined our force. We had no serious trouble. It was thought wise to keep +the new men on the place until the excitement had passed, and we had to +warn some of the old ones off two or three times, but nothing +disagreeable happened, and from that day to this Four Oaks has remained +non-unionized. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +PLANNING FOR THE TREES + + +The morning of September 17th a small frost fell,--just enough to curl +the leaves of the corn and show that it was time for it to be laid by. +Thompson, Johnson, Anderson, and the two men from the woods, who were +diverted from their post-splitting for the time being, went gayly to the +corn fields and attacked the standing grain in the old-fashioned way. +This was not economical; but I had no corn reaper, and there was none to +hire, for the frost had struck us all at the same time. The five men +were kept busy until the two patches--about forty-three acres--were in +shock. This brought us to the 24th. In the meantime the men and women +moved from the cottage to the more commodious farm-house. Polly had +found excuses for spending $100 more on the furnishings of this +house,--two beds and a lot of other things. Sunday gave the people a +chance to arrange their affairs; and they certainly appreciated their +improved surroundings. + +The cottage was moved to its place on the line, and the last of the +seeding on the north forty was done. Ten tons of fertilizer were sown on +this forty-acre tract (at a cost of $250), and it was then left to +itself, not to be trampled over by man or beast, except for the +stretching of fences or for work around some necessary buildings, until +the middle of the following May. + +We did not sow any wheat that year,--there was too much else to be done +of more importance. There is not much money in wheat-farming unless it +be done on a large scale, and I had no wish to raise more than I could +feed to advantage. Wheat was to be a change food for my fowls; but just +then I had no fowls to feed, and there were more than two hundred +bushels in stacks ready for the threshers, which I could hold for future +hens. + +The ploughmen were now directed to commence deep ploughing on No. +14,--the forty acres set apart for the commercial orchard. This tract of +land lay well for the purpose. Its surface was nearly smooth, with a +descent to the west and southwest that gave natural drainage. I have +been informed that an orchard would do better if the slope were to the +northeast. That may be true, but mine has done well enough thus far, +and, what is more to the point, I had no land with a northeast slope. +The surface soil was thin and somewhat impoverished, but the subsoil was +a friable clay in which almost anything would grow if it was properly +worked and fed. It was my desire to make this square block of forty +acres into a first-class apple orchard for profit. Seven years from +planting is almost too soon to decide how well I have succeeded, but the +results attained and the promises for the future lead me to believe that +there will be no failure in my plan. + +The three essentials for beginning such an orchard are: prepare the land +properly, get good stock (healthy and true to name), and plant it well. +I could do no more this year than to plough deep, smooth the surface, +and plant as well as I knew how. Increased fertility must come from +future cultivation and top dressing. The thing most prominent in my plan +was to get good trees well placed in the ground before cold weather set +in. At my time of life I could not afford to wait for another autumn, or +even until spring. I had, and still have, the opinion that a +fall-planted tree is nearly six months in advance of one planted the +following spring. Of course there can be no above-ground growth during +that time, but important things are being done below the surface. The +roots find time to heal their wounds and to send out small searchers +after food, which will be ready for energetic work as soon as the sun +begins to warm the soil. The earth settles comfortably about these roots +and is moulded to fit them by the autumn rains. If the stem is well +braced by a mound of earth, and if a thick mulch is placed around it, +much will be done below ground before deep frosts interrupt the work; +and if, in the early spring, the mulch and mound are drawn back, the +sun's influence will set the roots at work earlier by far than a spring +tree could be planted. + +Other reasons for fall planting are that the weather is more settled, +the ground is more manageable, help is more easily secured, and the +nurserymen have more time for filling your order. Any time from October +15 until December 10 will answer in our climate, but early November is +the best. I had decided to plant the trees in this orchard twenty-five +feet apart each way. In the forty acres there would be fifty-two rows, +with fifty-two trees in each row,--or twenty-seven hundred in all. I +also decided to have but four varieties of apples in this orchard, and +it was important that they should possess a number of virtues. They must +come into early bearing, for I was too old to wait patiently for +slow-growing trees; they must be of kinds most dependable for yearly +crops, for I had no respect for off years; and they must be good enough +in color, shape, and quality to tempt the most fastidious market. I +studied catalogues and talked with pomologists until my mind was nearly +unsettled, and finally decided upon Jonathan, Wealthy, Rome Beauty, and +Northwestern Greening,--all winter apples, and all red but the last. I +was helped in my decision, so far as the Jonathans and Rome Beauties +were concerned, by the discovery that more than half of the old orchard +was composed of these varieties. + +There is little question as to the wisdom of planting trees of kinds +known to have done well in your neighborhood. They are just as likely to +do well by you as by your neighbor. If the fruit be to your liking, you +can safely plant, for it is no longer an experiment; some one else has +broken that ground for you. + +In casting about for a reliable nurseryman to whom to trust the very +important business of supplying me with young trees, I could not long +keep my attention diverted from Rochester, New York. Perhaps the reason +was that as a child I had frequently ridden over the plank road from +Henrietta to Rochester, and my memory recalled distinctly but three +objects on that road,--the house of Frederick Douglass, Mount Hope +Cemetery, and a nursery of young trees. Everything else was obscure. I +fancy that in fifty years the Douglass house has disappeared, but Mount +Hope Cemetery and the tree nursery seem to mock at time. The soil and +climate near Rochester are especially favorable to the growing of young +trees, and my order went to one of the many reliable firms engaged in +this business. The order was for thirty-four hundred +trees,--twenty-seven hundred for the forty-acre orchard and seven +hundred for the ten acres farthest to the south on the home lot. Polly +had consented to this invasion of her domain, for reasons. She said:-- + +"It is a long way off, rather flat and uninteresting, and I do not see +exactly how to treat it. Apple trees are pretty at most times, and +picturesque when old. You can put them there, if you will seed the +ground and treat it as part of the lawn. I hate your old straight rows, +but I suppose you must have them." + +"Yes, I guess I shall have to have straight rows, but I will agree to +the lawn plan after the third year. You must give me a chance to +cultivate the land for three years." + +Your tree-man must be absolutely reliable. You have to trust him much +and long. Not only do you depend upon him to send you good and healthy +stock, but you must trust, for five years at least, that this stock will +prove true to name. The most discouraging thing which can befall a +horticulturist is to find his new fruit false to purchase labels. After +wait, worry, and work he finds that he has not what he expected, and +that he must begin over again. It is cold comfort for the tree-man to +make good his guarantee to replace all stock found untrue, for five +years of irreplaceable time has passed. When you have spent time, hope, +and expectation as well as money, looking for results which do not come, +your disappointment is out of all proportion to your financial loss, be +that never so great. In the best-managed nurseries there will be +mistakes, but the better the management the fewer the mistakes. Pay good +prices for young trees, and demand the best. There is no economy in +cheap stock, and the sooner the farmer or fruit-grower comprehends this +fact, the better it will be for him. I ordered trees of three years' +growth from the bud,--this would mean four-year-old roots. Perhaps it +would have been as well to buy smaller ones (many wise people have told +me so), but I was in such a hurry! I wanted to pick apples from these +trees at the first possible moment. I argued that a sturdy +three-year-old would have an advantage over its neighbor that was only +two. However small this advantage, I wanted it in my business--my +business being to make a profitable farm in quick time. The ten acres of +the home lot were to be planted with three hundred Yellow Transparent, +three hundred Duchess of Oldenburg, and one hundred mixed varieties for +home use. I selected the Transparent and the Duchess on account of their +disposition to bear early, and because they are good sellers in a near +market, and because a fruit-wise friend was making money from an +eight-year-old orchard of three thousand of these trees, and advised me +not to neglect them. + +My order called for thirty-four hundred three-year-old apple trees of +the highest grade, to be delivered in good condition on the platform at +Exeter for the lump sum of $550. The agreement had been made in August, +and the trees were to be delivered as near the 20th of October as +practicable. Apple trees comprised my entire planting for the autumn of +1895. I wanted to do much other work in that line, but it had to be left +for a more convenient season. Hundreds of fruit trees, shade trees, and +shrubs have since been planted at Four Oaks, but this first setting of +thirty-four hundred apple trees was the most important as well as the +most urgent. + +The orchard was to be a prominent feature in the factory I was building, +and as it would be slower in coming to perfection than any other part, +it was wise to start it betimes. I have kicked myself black and blue for +neglecting to plant an orchard ten years earlier. If I had done this, +and had spent two hours a month in the management of it, it would now be +a thing of beauty and an income-producing joy forever,--or, at least, as +long as my great-grandchildren will need it. + +There is no danger of overdoing orcharding. The demand for fruit +increases faster than the supply, and it is only poor quality or bad +handling that causes a slack market. If the general farmer will become +an expert orchardist, he will find that year by year his ten acres of +fruit will give him a larger profit than any forty acres of grain land; +but to get this result he must be faithful to his trees. Much of the +time they are caring for themselves, and for the owner, too; but there +are times when they require sharp attention, and if they do not get it +promptly and in the right way, they and the owner will suffer. Fruit +growing as a sole occupation requires favorable soil, climate, and +market, and also a considerable degree of aptitude on the part of the +manager, to make it highly profitable. A fruit-grower in our climate +must have other interests if he would make the most of his time. While +waiting for his fruit he can raise food for hens and hogs; and if he +feeds hens and hogs, he should keep as many cows as he can. He will then +use in his own factory all the raw material he can raise. This will +again be returned to the land as a by-product, which will not only +maintain the fertility of the farm, but even increase it. If his cows +are of the best, they will yield butter enough to pay for their food and +to give a profit; the skim milk, fed to the hogs and hens, will give +eggs and pork out of all proportion to its cost; and everything that +grows upon his land can thus be turned off as a finished product for a +liberal price, and yet the land will not be depleted. The orchard is +better for the hens and hogs and cows, and they are better for the +orchard. These industries fit into each other like the folding of hands; +they seem mutually dependent, and yet they are often divorced, or, at +best, only loosely related. This view may seem to be the result of _post +hoc_ reasoning, but I think it is not. I believe I imbibed these notions +with my mother's milk, for I can remember no time when they were not +mine. The psalmist said, "Comfort me with apples"; and the psalmist was +reputed a wise man. With only sufficient wisdom to plant an orchard, I +live in high expectation of finding the same comfort in my old age. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +PLANTING OF THE TREES + + +September proved as dry as August was wet,--only half an inch of water +fell; and the seedings would have been slow to start had they depended +for their moisture upon the clouds. By October 1, however, green had +taken the place of brown on nearly all the sixty acres we had tilled. +The threshers came and threshed the wheat and oats. Of wheat there were +311 bushels, of oats, 1272. We stored this grain in the cottage until +the granary should be ready, and stacked the straw until the forage barn +could receive it. My plan from the first has been to shelter all forage, +even the meanest, and bright oat straw is not low in the scale. + +On the 10th the horse stable was far enough advanced to permit the +horses to be moved, and the old barn was deserted. A neighbor who had +bought this barn at once pulled it down and carted it away. In this +transaction I held out several days for $50, but as my neighbor was +obdurate I finally accepted his offer. The first entry on the credit +side of my farm ledger is, By one old barn, $45. The receipts for +October, November, and December, were:-- + +By one old barn $45.00 + +By apples on trees (153 trees at $1.85 each) 283.00 + +By 480 bushels of potatoes at 30 cents per bushel 144.00 + +By five old sows, not fat 35.00 + +One cow 15.00 + +Three cows 70.00 + +Two cows 35.00 + +Three cows, two heifers, nine calves 187.00 + +Forty-three shoats and gilts, average 162 lb., at 2 cents +per lb 139.00 + +Total $953.00 + +The young hogs had eaten most of my small potatoes and some of my corn +before we parted with them in late November. These sales were made at +the farm, and at low prices, for I was afraid to send such stuff to +market lest some one should find out whence it came. The Four Oaks brand +was to stand for perfection in the future, and I was not willing to +handicap it in the least. Top prices for gilt-edged produce is what +intensive farming means; and if there is money in land, it will be found +close to this line. + +The potatoes had been dug and sold, or stored in the cellar of the +farm-house; the apples from the trees reserved for home use had been +gathered, and we were ready for the fall planting. While waiting for the +stock to arrive, we had time to get in all the hay and most of the straw +into the forage barn, which was now under roof. + +On Saturday, the 26th, word came that sixteen immense boxes had arrived +at Exeter for us. Three teams were sent at once, and each team brought +home two boxes. Three trips were made, and the entire prospective +orchard was safely landed. Monday saw our whole force at work planting +trees. Small stakes had been driven to give the exact centre for each +hole, so that the trees, viewed from any direction, would be in straight +lines. Sam, Zeb, and Judson were to dig the holes, putting the surface +dirt to the right, and the poor earth to the left; I was to prune the +roots and keep tab on the labels; Johnson and Anderson were to set the +trees,--Anderson using a shovel and Johnson his hands, feet, and eyes; +while Thompson was to puddle and distribute the trees. The puddling was +easily done. We sawed an oil barrel in halves, placed these halves on a +stone boat, filled them two-thirds full of water, and added a lot of +fine clay. Into this thin mud the roots of each tree were dipped before +planting. + +My duty was to shorten the roots that were too long, and to cut away the +bruised and broken ones. The top pruning was to be done after the trees +were all set and banked. The stock was fine in every respect,--fully up +to promise. Watching Johnson set his first tree convinced me that he +knew more about planting than I did. He lined and levelled it; he pawed +surface dirt into the hole, and churned the roots up and down; more +dirt, and he tamped it; still more dirt, and he tramped it; yet more +dirt, and he stamped it until the tree stood like a post; then loose +dirt, and he left it. I was sure Johnson knew his business too well to +need advice from a tenderfoot, so I went back to my root pruning. + +We were ten days planting these thirty-four hundred trees, but we did it +well, and the days were short. We finished on the 7th of November. The +trees were now to be top pruned. I told Johnson to cut every tree in the +big orchard back to a three-foot stub, unless there was very good reason +for leaving a few inches (never more than six), and I turned my back on +him and walked away as I said these cruel words. It seemed a shame to +cut these bushy, long-legged, handsome fellows back to dwarfish +insignificance and brutish ugliness, but it had to be done. I wanted +stocky, thrifty, low-headed business trees, and there was no other way +to get them. The trees in the lower, or ten-acre, orchard, were not +treated so severely. Their long legs were left, and their bushy tops +were only moderately curtailed. We would try both high and low heading. + +On the night of November 11 the shredders came and set up their great +machine on the floor of the forage barn, ready to commence work the next +morning. There were ten men in the shredding gang. I furnished six more, +and Bill Jackson came with two others to change work with me; that is, +my men were to help him when the machine reached his farm. We worked +nineteen men and four teams three and a half days on the forty-three +acres of corn, and as a result, had a tremendous mow of shredded corn +fodder and an immense pile of half-husked ears. For the use of the +machine and the wages of the ten men I paid $105. Poor economy! Before +next corn-shredding time I owned a machine,--smaller indeed, but it did +the work as well (though not as quickly), and it cost me only $215, and +was good for ten years. + +The weather had favored me thus far. The wet August had put the ground +into good condition for seeding, and the dry September and October had +permitted our buildings to be pushed forward, but now everything was to +change. A light rain began on the morning of the 15th (I did not permit +it to interrupt the shredding, which was finished by noon), and by night +it had developed into a steady downpour that continued, with +interruptions, for six weeks. November and December of 1895 gave us rain +and snow fall equal to twelve and a half inches of water. Plans at Four +Oaks had to be modified. There was no more use for the ploughs. Nos. 10 +and 11, and much of the home lot were left until spring. I had planned +to mulch heavily all the newly set trees, and for this purpose had +bought six carloads of manure (at a cost of $72); but this manure could +not be hauled across the sodden fields, and must needs be piled in a +great heap for use in the spring. The carpenters worked at disadvantage, +and the farm men could do little more than keep themselves and the +animals comfortable. They did, however, finish one good job between +showers. They tile-drained the routes for the two roads on the home +lot,--the straight one east and west through the building line, about +1000 feet, and the winding carriage drive to the site of the main house, +about 1850 feet. The tile pipe cost $123. They also set a lot of fence +posts in the soft ground. + +Building progressed slowly during the bad weather, but before the end of +December the horse barn, the woodshed, the granary, the forage barn, and +the power-house were completed, and most of the machinery was in place. +The machinery consisted of a fifteen horse-power engine, with shafting +running to the forage barn, the granary, and the woodshed. A power-saw +was set in the end of the shed, a grinding mill in the granary, and a +fodder-cutter in the forage barn. The cost of these items was:-- + +Engine and shafting $187.00 + +Saw 24.00 + +Mill 32.00 + +Feed-cutter and carrier 76.00 + +Total $319.00 + +I gave the services of my two carpenters, Thompson and Sam, during most +of this time to Nelson, for I had but little work for them, and he was +not making much out of his job. + +The last few days of 1895 turned clear and cold, and the barometer set +"fair." The change chirked us up, and we ended the year in good spirits. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +POLLY'S JUDGMENT HALL + + +Before closing the books, we should take account of stock, to see what +we had purchased with our money. Imprimis: 320 acres of good land, +satisfactory to the eye, well fenced and well groomed; 3400 apple trees, +so well planted as to warrant a profitable future; a water and sewer +system as good as a city could supply; farm buildings well planned and +sufficient for the day; an abundance of food for all stock, and to +spare; an intelligent and willing working force; machinery for more than +present necessity; eight excellent horses and their belongings; six +cows, moderately good; two pigs and two score fowls, to be eaten before +spring, and _a lot of fun_. What price I shall have to put against this +last item to make the account balance, I can tell better when I foot the +other side of the ledger. + +But first I must add a few items to the debit account. Moving the +cottage cost $30. I paid $134 for grass seed and seed rye. The wage +account for six men and two women for five months was $735. Their food +account was $277. Of course the farm furnished milk, cream, butter, +vegetables, some fruit, fresh pork, poultry, and eggs. There were also +some small freight bills, which had not been accounted for, amounting to +$31, and $8 had been spent in transportation for the men. Then the farm +must be charged with interest on all money advanced, when I had +completed my additions. The rate was to be five per cent, and the time +three months. + +On the last day of the year I went to the farm to pay up to date all +accounts. I wished to end the year with a clean score. I did not know +what the five months had cost me (I would know that evening), but I did +know that I had had "the time of my life" in the spending, and I would +not whine. I felt a little nervous when I thought of going over the +figures with Polly,--she was such a judicious spender of money. But I +knew her criticism would not be severe, for she was hand-in-glove with +me in the project. I tried to find fault with myself for wastefulness, +but some excellent excuse would always crop up. "Your water tower is +unnecessary." "Yes, but it adds to the landscape, and it has its use." +"You have put up too much fencing." "True, but I wanted to feel secure, +and the old fences were such nests of weeds and rubbish." "You have +spent too much money on the farm-house." "I think not, for the laborer +is worthy of his hire, and also of all reasonable creature comforts." +And thus it went on. I would not acknowledge myself in the wrong; nor, +arguing how I might, could I find aught but good in my labors. I +devoutly hoped to be able to put the matter in the same light when I +stood at the bar in Polly's judgment hall. + +The day was clear, cool, and stimulating. A fair fall of snow lay on the +ground, clean and wholesome, as country snow always is. I wished that +the house was finished (it was not begun), and that the family was with +me in it. "Another Christmas time will find us here, God willing, and +many a one thereafter." + +I spent three hours at the farm, doing a little business and a lot of +mooning, and then returned to town. The children were off directly after +dinner, intent on holiday festivities, so that Polly and I had the house +to ourselves. I felt that we needed it. I invited my partner into the +den, lighted a pipe for consolation, unlocked the drawer in which the +farm ledger is kept, gave a small deprecatory cough, and said:-- + +"My dear, I am afraid I have spent an awful lot of money in the last +five months. You see there is such a quantity of things to do at once, +and they run into no end of money. You know, I--" + +"Of course I know it, and I know that you have got the worth of it, +too." + +Wouldn't that console you! How was I to know that Polly would hail from +that quarter? I would have kissed her hand, if she would have permitted +such liberty; I kissed her lips, and was ready to defend any sum total +which the ledger dare show. + +"Do you know how much it is?" said Polly. + +"Not within a million!" I was reckless then, and hoped the total would +be great, for had not Polly said that she knew I had got the worth of my +money? And who was to gainsay her? "It is more than I planned for, I +know, but I do not see how I could use less without losing precious +time. We started into this thing with the theory that the more we put +into it, without waste, the more we would ultimately get out of it. Our +theory is just as sound to-day as it was five months ago." + +"We will win out all right in the end, Mr. Headman, for we will not put +the price-mark on health, freedom, happiness, or fun, until we have seen +the debit side of the ledger." + +"How much do you want to spend for the house?" said I. + +"Do you mean the house alone?" + +"No; the house and carriage barn. I'll pay for the trees, shrubs, and +kickshaws in the gardens and lawns." + +"You started out with a plan for a $10,000 house, didn't you? Well, I +don't think that's enough. You ought to give me $15,000 for the house +and barn and let me see what I can do with it; and you ought to give it +to me right away, so that you cannot spend it for pigs and foolish farm +things." + +"I'll do it within ten days, Polly; and I won't meddle in your affairs +if you will agree to keep within the limit." + +"It's a bargain," said Polly, "and the house will be much more livable +than this one. What do you think we could sell this one for?" + +"About $33,000 or $34,000, I think." + +"And will you sell it?" + +"Of course, if you don't object." + +"Sell, to be sure; it would be foolish to keep it, for we'll be country +folk in a year." + +"I have a theory," said I, "that when we live on the farm we ought to +credit the farm with what it costs us for food and shelter +here,--providing, of course, that the farm feeds and shelters us as +well." + +"It will do it a great deal better. We will have a better house, better +food, more company, more leisure, more life, and more everything that +counts, than we ever had before." + +"We'll fix the value of those things when we've had experience," said I. +"Now let's get at the figures. I tell you plainly that I don't know what +they foot up,--less than $40,000, I hope." + +"Don't let's worry about them, no matter what they say." + +This from prudent, provident Polly! + +"Certainly not," said I, as bold as a lion. + +"There are thirty-five items on the debit side of the ledger and a few +little ones on the credit side. Hold your breath while I add them. + +"I have spent $44,331 and have received $953, which leaves a debit +balance of $43,378." + +"That isn't so awfully bad, when you think of all the fun you've had." + +"Fun comes high at this time of the year, doesn't it, Polly?" + +"Much depends on what you call high. You have waited and worked a long +time for this. I won't say a word if you spend all you have in the +world. It's yours." + +"Mine and yours and the children's; but I won't spend it all. Seventy or +seventy-five thousand dollars, besides your house and barn money, shall +be my limit. There is still an item of interest to be added to this +account. + +"Interest! Why, John Williams, do you mean to tell me that you borrowed +this money? I thought it was your own to do as you liked with. Have you +got to pay interest on it?" + +"It was mine, but I loaned it to the farm. Before I made this loan I was +getting five per cent on the money. I must now look to the farm for my +five per cent. If it cannot pay this interest promptly, I shall add the +deferred payment to the principal, and it shall bear interest. This must +be done each year until the net income from the farm is greater than the +interest account. Whatever is over will then be used to reduce the +principal." + +"That's a long speech, but I don't think it's very clear. I don't see +why a man should pay interest on his own money. The farm is yours, isn't +it? You bought it with your own money, didn't you? What difference does +it make whether you charge interest or not?" + +"Not the least difference in the world to us, Polly, but a great deal to +the experiment." + +"Oh, yes, I forgot the experiment. And how much interest do you add?" + +"Five hundred and forty-two dollars. Also, $75 to the lawyer and $5 for +recording the deed, making the whole debt of the farm to me $44,000 +even." + +"Does it come out just even $44,000? I believe you've manipulated the +figures." + +"Not on your life! Add them yourself. They were put down at all sorts of +times during the past five months. My dear, I wish you a good-night and +a happy New Year. You have given me a very happy ending for the old +one." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +WINTER WORK + + +The new year opened full of all sorts of interests and new projects. +There were so many things to plan for and to commence at the farm that +we often got a good deal mixed up. I can hardly expect to make a +connected narrative of the various plans and events, so will follow each +one far enough to launch it and then leave it for future development. + +Little snow fell in January and February '96. The weather was average +winter weather, and a good deal of outdoor work was done. On the 2d I +went to the farm to plan with Thompson an outline for the two months. I +had decided to make Thompson the foreman, for I had watched him +carefully for five months and was satisfied that I might go farther and +fare a great deal worse. Indeed, I thought myself very fortunate to have +found such a dependable man. He was temperate and good-natured, and he +had a bluff, hearty way with the other men that made it easy for them to +accept his directions. He was thorough, too, in his work. He knew how a +job should be done, and he was not satisfied until it was finished +correctly. He was not a worker for work's sake, as was Anderson, but he +was willing to put his shoulder to the wheel for results. + +"Wait till I get my shoulder under it," was a favorite expression with +him, and I am frank to say that when this conjunction took place there +was apt to be something doing. Thompson is still at Four Oaks, and it +will be a bad day for the farm when he leaves. + +"Thompson," said I, "you are to be working foreman out here, and I want +you to put your mind on the business and keep it there. I cannot raise +your wages, for I have a system; but you shall have $50 as a Christmas +present if things go well. Will you stay on these terms?" + +"I will stay, all right, Dr. Williams, and I will give the best I've +got. I like the looks of this place, and I want to see how you are going +to work it out." + +That being settled, I told Thompson of some things that must be done +during January and February. + +"You must get out a great lot of wood, have it sawed, and store it in +the shed, more than enough for a year's use. The wood should be taken +from that which is already down. Don't cut any standing trees, even +though they are dead. Use all limbs that are large enough, but pile the +brushwood where it can be burned. We must do wise forestry in these +woods, and we will have an unlimited supply of fuel. I mean that the +wood lot shall grow better rather than worse as the years go by. We +cannot do much for it now, but more in time. You must see to it that the +men are not careless about young trees,--no breaking or knocking down +will be in order. Another thing to look after is the ice supply. I will +get Nelson to build an ice-house directly, and you must look around for +the ice. Have you any idea as to where it can be had?" + +"A big company is getting ice on Round Lake three miles west, and I +suppose they will sell you what you want," said Thompson, "and our teams +can haul it all right." + +"What do you suppose they will charge per ton on their platform?" + +"From twenty-five to forty cents, I reckon." + +"All right, make as good a bargain as you can, and attend to it at the +best time. When the teams are not hauling ice or wood, let them draw +gravel from French's pit. It will be hard to get it out in the winter, +but I guess it can be done, and we will need a lot of it on these roads. +Have it dumped at convenient places, and we will put it on the drives in +the spring. + +"Another thing,--we must have a bridge across the brook on each lane. +You will find timbers and planks enough in the piles from the old barns +to make good bridges, and the men can do the work. Then there is all +that wire for the inside fences to stretch and staple; but mind, no +barbed wire is to be put on top of inside fences. + +"These five jobs will keep you busy for the next two months, for +there'll be only four men besides yourself to do them. I am going to set +Sam at the chicken plant. I'll see you before long, and we'll go over +the cow and hog plans; but you have your work cut out for the next two +months. By the way, how much of an ice-house shall I need?" + +"How many cows are you going to milk?" + +"About forty when we run at full speed; perhaps half that number this +year." + +"Well, then you'd better build a house for four hundred tons. That won't +be too big when you are on full time, and it's a mighty bad thing to run +short of ice." + +I saw Nelson the same day and contracted with him for an ice-house +capable of holding four hundred tons, for $900. The walls of the house +to be of three thicknesses of lumber with two air spaces (one four +inches, the other two) without filling. As a result of the conference +with Thompson, I had, before the first of March, a wood-house full of +wood, which seemed a supply for two years at full steam; an ice-house +nearly full of ice; two serviceable bridges across the brook; the wire +fencing almost completed; and eighty loads of gravel,--about one-third +of what I needed. The whole cash outlay was,-- + +300 tons of ice at 30 cents per ton $90.00 +80 tons of gravel at 25 cents per load 20.00 +Fence staples 19.00 + ------ + Total $129.00 + +The conference with Sam Jones, the hen man, was deferred until my next +visit, and my plans for the cow barn, dairy-house, and hog-house were +left to Nelson for consideration, he promising to give me estimates +within a few days. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +WHAT SHALL WE ASK OF THE HEN? + + +Sam Jones, the chicken-loving man, was as pleased as a boy with a new +top when I began to talk of a hen plant. He had a lot of practical +knowledge of the business, for he had _failed_ in it twice; and I could +furnish any amount of theory, and enough money to prevent disaster. + +In his previous attempts he had invested nearly all his small capital in +a plant that might yield two hundred eggs a day; he had to buy all foods +in small quantities, and therefore at high prices; and he had to give +his whole time to a business which was too small and too much on the +hand-to-mouth order to give him a living profit. My theory of the +business was entirely different. I could plan for results, and, what was +more to the point, I could wait for them. Mistakes, accidents, even +disasters, were disarmed by a bank account; my bread and butter did not +depend upon the temper of a whimsical hen. The food would cost the +minimum. All grains and green food, and most of the animal food, in the +form of skim milk, would be furnished by the farm. I meant also to +develop a plant large enough to warrant the full attention of an +able-bodied man. I felt no hesitation about this venture, for I did not +intend to ask more of my hens than a well-disposed hen ought to be +willing to grant. + +I do not ask a hen to lay a double-yolk every day in the year. That is +too much to expect of a creature in whom the mother instinct is +prominent, and who wishes also to have a new dress for herself at least +once in that time. I do not wish a hen to work overtime for me. If she +will furnish me with eight dozen of her finished product per annum, I +will do the rest. Whatever she does more than that shall redound to her +credit. Two-hundred-eggs-a-year hens are scarcer than hens with teeth, +and I was not looking for the unusual. A hen can easily lay one hundred +eggs in three hundred and sixty-five days, and yet find time for +domestic and social affairs. She can feel that she is not a subject for +charity, while at the same time she retains her self-respect as a hen of +leisure. + +I have the highest regard for this domestic fowl, and I would not for a +great deal impose a too arduous task upon her. I feel like encouraging +her in her peculiar industry, for which she is so eminently fitted, but +not like forcing her into strenuous efforts that would rob her of +vivacity and dull her social and domestic impulses. No; if the hen will +politely present me with one hundred eggs a year, I will thank her and +ask no more. Some one will say: "How can you make hens pay if they don't +lay more than eight dozen eggs a year? Eggs sometimes sell as low as +twelve cents per dozen." + +Four Oaks hens never have laid one-cent eggs, and never will. They would +quit work if such a price were suggested. Ninety per cent of the eggs +from Four Oaks have sold for thirty cents or more per dozen, and the +demand is greater than the supply. The Four Oaks certificate that the +egg is not thirty-six hours old when it reaches the egg cup, makes two +and a half cents look small to those who can afford to pay for the best. +To lack confidence in the egg is a serious matter at the breakfast +table, and a person who can insure perfect trust will not lack +patronage. If, therefore, a hen will lay eight dozen eggs, she is +welcome to say to an acquaintance: "I have just handed the Headman a +two-dollar bill," for she knows that I have not paid fifty cents for her +food. + +Of course the wages of the hen man and his food and the interest on the +plant must be counted, but I do not propose to count them twice. Four +Oaks is a factory where several things are made, each in a measure +dependent on, and useful to, the others, and we cannot itemize costs of +single products because of this mutual dependence. I feel certain that I +could not drop one of the factory's industries without loss to each of +the others. For this reason I kept a very simple set of books. I charged +the farm with all money spent for it, and credited it with all moneys +received. Even now I have no very definite knowledge of what it costs +to keep a hen, a hog, or a cow; nor do I care. Such data are greatly +influenced by location, method of getting supplies, and market +fluctuations. I furnish most of my food, and my own market. My crops +have never entirely failed, and I take little heed whether they be large +or small. They are not for sale as crops, but as finished products. I am +not willing to sell them at any price, for I want them consumed on the +place for the sake of the land. + +Corn has sold for eighty cents a bushel since I began this experiment, +yet at that time I fed as much as ever and was not tempted to sell a +bushel, though I could easily have spared five thousand. When it went +down to twenty-eight cents, I did not care, for corn and oats to me are +simply in transition state,--not commodities to be bought or sold. They +cost me, one year with another, about the same. An abundant harvest +fills my granaries to overflowing; a bad harvest doesn't deplete them, +for I do not sell my surplus for fear that I, too, may have to buy out +of a high market. I have bought corn and oats a few times, but only when +the price was decidedly below my idea of the feeding value of these +grains. I can find more than twenty-eight cents in a bushel of corn, and +more than eighteen cents in thirty-two pounds of oats. But I am away off +my subject. I began to talk about the hen plant, and have wandered to my +favorite fad,--the factory farm. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +WHITE WYANDOTTES + + +"Sam," said I, "I am going to start this poultry plant from just as near +the beginning of things as possible. I want you to dispose of every hen +on the place within the next twenty days, and to burn everything that +has been used in connection with them. We've cleared this land of +disease germs, if there were germs in it, by turning it bottom-side up; +now let's start free from the pestiferous vermin that make a hen's life +unhappy. No stock, either old or young, shall be brought here. When we +want to change our breeding, we'll buy eggs from the best fanciers and +hatch them in our own incubators. It will then be our own fault if we +don't keep our chickens comfortable and free from their enemies. This is +sound theory, and we'll try how it works out in practice. Certainly it +will be easier to keep clean if we start clean. Not one board or piece +of lumber that has been used for any other purpose shall find place in +my hen-houses. Eternal vigilance makes a full egg basket; and a full egg +basket means a lot of money at the year's end. I will never find fault +with you for being too careful Attend to the details in such way as +suits you best, provided the result is thorough and everlasting +cleanliness. Nothing less will win out, and nothing less will meet the +requirements of our factory rules. + +"The first thing to do is to get the incubating cellar made. It ought to +be four feet in the ground and four feet out of it. Make it ten feet by +fifteen, inside measure, and you can easily run five two-hundred-egg +incubators. Build it near the south fence in No. 4,--that's the lot for +the hens. The walls are to be of brick, and we'll have a brick floor put +in, for it's too cold to concrete it now. Gables are to point east and +west, and each is to have a window; put the door in the middle of the +south wall, and shingle the roof. Digging through three feet of frost +will be hard, but it must be done, and done quickly. I want you to start +your incubator lamps before the 3d of February." + +"I can dig the hole without much trouble,--big fire on the ground for +two or three hours will help,--and I can put on the roof and do all the +carpenter work, but I can't lay the brick." + +"I'll look out for that part of the job, but I want you to see that +things are pushed, for I shall have a thousand eggs here by February 1st +and another thousand by the 25th, and these eggs mean money." + +"What do you have to pay for them?" + +"Ten cents apiece,--$200 for two thousand eggs." + +"Well, I should say! Are they hand-painted? I wouldn't have had to quit +business if I could have sold my eggs at a quarter of that price." + +"That's all right, Sam, but you didn't sell White Wyandotte eggs for +hatching. I've contracted with two of the best-known fanciers of +Wyandottes in the country to send me five hundred eggs apiece February +1st and 25th. I don't think the price is high for the stock." + +"Have you decided to keep 'dottes? I hoped you would try Leghorns; +they're great layers." + +"Yes, they're great summer layers, but the American birds will beat them +hollow in winter; and I must have as steady a supply of eggs as +possible. My customers don't stop eating eggs in winter, and they'll be +willing to pay more for them at that season. The Leghorn is too small to +make a good broiler, and as half the chicks come cockerels, we must look +out for that." + +"Why do you throw down the Plymouth Rocks? They're bigger than 'dottes, +and just as good layers." + +"I threw down the barred Plymouth Rocks on account of color; I like +white hens best. It was hard to decide between White Rocks and +Wyandottes, for there's mighty little difference between them as +all-around hens. I really think I chose the 'dottes because the first +reply to my letters was from a man who was breeding them." + +"They are 'beauts,' all of them, and I'll give them a good chance to +spread themselves," said Sam. + +"What percentage of hatch may we expect from purchased eggs?" + +"About sixty chicks out of every hundred eggs, I reckon." + +"That would be doing pretty well, wouldn't it? If we had good luck with +the sixty chicks, how many would grow up?" + +"Fifty ought to." + +"Of these fifty, can we count on twenty-five pullets?" + +"Yes." + +"That's what I was getting at. You think we might, by good luck, raise +twenty-five pullets from each hundred eggs. I'll cut that in the middle +and be satisfied with twelve, or even with ten. At that rate the two +thousand eggs that cost $200 will give me two hundred pullets to begin +the egg-making next November. That's not enough; we ought to raise just +twice that number. I'll spend as much more on eggs to be hatched by the +middle of April or the first of May, and then we can reasonably expect +to go into next winter with four hundred pullets. They will cost the +farm a dollar apiece, but the farm will have four hundred cockerels to +sell at fifty cents each, which will materially reduce the cost." + +"I think you put that pretty low, sir; we ought to raise more than four +hundred pullets out of four thousand eggs." + +"Everything more will be clear gain. I shall be satisfied with four +hundred. We must also get at the brooder house. This is the order in +which I want the buildings to stand in the chicken lot: first, the +incubating house, 10 feet from the south line; 40 feet north of this, +the brooder house; and 120 feet north of that, the first hen-house, with +runs 100 feet deep. We'll build other houses for the birds as we need +them. They are all to face to the south. If the brooder house is 50 feet +long and 15 feet wide, it can easily care for the eight hundred chicks, +and for half as many more, if we are lucky enough to get them. + +"We'll have a five-foot walk against the north wall of this house, and a +ten-foot space north and south through the centre for heating plant and +food. This will leave a space at each side ten by twenty feet, to be cut +into five pens four feet by ten, each of which will mother a hundred +chicks or more. There must be plenty of glass in the south wall, and +we'll use overhead water pipes in each hover. + +"There's no hurry about the poultry-houses. You can build one in the +early summer, and perhaps another in the fall. I expect you to do the +carpenter work on these houses. I'll see the mason at once and have him +ready by the time you've dug the hole. The incubators will be here in +good time, and we want everything ready for work as soon as the eggs +arrive." + +Sam was pleased with his job; it was exactly to his liking. He took real +delight in caring for fowls, and he was especially anxious to prove to +me that it was not so much lack of knowledge as lack of capital that had +caused the downfall of his previous efforts. Sam could not then +understand why one man could sell his eggs at thirty-six cents a dozen +when his neighbor could get only sixteen; he found out later. + +The mason's work for the incubator house and the foundation wall for the +brooder house cost $290. The lumber bill for these two, including doors +and windows, was $464. The five incubators, $65, and the hot-water +heater for the brooder house, $68, made the total $897. Add to this $400 +paid during two months for eggs, and we have $1297 as the cost of +starting the poultry plant. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +FRIED PORK + + +I had given Nelson this sketch as a guide in working out the plan for +the cow barn: Length over all, 130 feet; width, 40 feet. This +parallelogram was to be divided lengthwise into three equal spaces, one +in the centre for a driveway, and one on each side for the cow platforms +and feeding mangers. Twenty feet at the west end of the barn was +partitioned off, one corner for a small granary, the other for a kitchen +in which the food was to be prepared. These rooms were each thirteen +feet by twenty. At the other end of the building, ten feet on each side +was given over to hospital purposes,--a lying-in ward ten feet by +thirteen being on each side of the driveway. + +The foundation for this building was to be of stone, and the entire +floor of cement; and the walls were to be sealed within and sheeted +without, and then covered with ship lap boards, making three thicknesses +of boards. It was to be one story high. An east-and-west passage, +cutting the main drive at right angles, divided the barn at its middle. +At the south end of this passage was a door leading to the dairy-house, +which was on the building line 150 feet away. The four spaces made by +these passages were each subdivided into ten stalls five feet wide. Two +doors on the north and two on the south gave exit for the cows. I had +placed my limit at forty milch cows, and I thought this stable would +furnish suitable quarters for that number. If I had to rebuild, I would +make some modifications. Experience is a good teacher; but the stable +has served its purpose, and I cannot quarrel with the results. The chief +defect is in the distribution of water. The supply is abundant, but it +is let on only in the kitchen, whence it is supplied to the cows by +means of a hose or a barrel swung between wheels. + +[Illustration] + +In the kitchen are appliances for mixing and cooking food, and for +warming the drinking water in winter. Nelson and I discussed the sketch +plan given below, and he found some fault with it. I would not be +dissuaded from my views, however, and Nelson had to yield. I was as +opinionated in those days as a theoretical amateur is apt to be; and it +was hard to give up my theories at the suggestion of a person who had +only experience to guide him. The best plan, as I have long since +learned, is to mix the two and use the solid substance that results from +their combination. + +We located the site of the building, and talked plans until the low sun +of January 8th disappeared in the west. Then we adjourned to the sitting +room of the farm-house to finish the matter so far as was possible. An +hour and a half passed, and we were in fair accord, when Mrs. Thompson +came into the room to say that supper was ready, and to ask us to join +the men at table before starting homeward. I was glad of the +opportunity, for I was curious to know if Mrs. Thompson set a good +table. We went into the dining room just as the farm family was ready to +sit down. There were ten of us,--two women, six men, Nelson, and myself; +and as we sat down, I noticed with pleasure that each had evidently +taken some thought of the obligations which a table ought to impose. The +table was clothed in clean white, and there was a napkin at each plate. +Nelson and I had the only perfectly fresh ones, and this I took as +evidence that napkins were usual. The food was all on the table, and was +very satisfactory to look at. Thompson sat at one end, and before him, +on a great platter, lay two dozen or more pieces of fried salt pork, +crisp in their shells of browned flour, and fit for a king. On one side +of the platter was a heaping dish of steaming potatoes. A knife had +been drawn once around each, just to give it a chance to expand and show +mealy white between the gaping circles that covered its bulk. At the +other side was a boat of milk gravy, which had followed the pork into +the frying-pan and had come forth fit company for the boiled potatoes. I +went back forty years at one jump, and said,-- + +"I now renew my youth. Is there anything better under the sun than fried +salt pork and milk gravy? If there is, don't tell me of it, for I have +worshipped at this shrine for forty years, and my faith must not be +shaken." + +Such a supper twice or thrice a week would warm the cockles of my old +heart; but Polly says, "No modern cook can make these things just right; +and if not just right, they are horrid." That is true; it takes an +artist or a mother to fry salt pork and make milk gravy. + +There were other things on the table,--quantities of bread and butter, +apple sauce (in a dish that would hold half a peck), stacks of fresh +ginger-bread, tea, and great pitchers of milk; but naught could distract +my attention from the _piece de resistance_. Thrice I sent my plate +back, and then could do no more. That meal convinced me that I could +trust Mrs. Thompson. A woman who could fry salt pork as my mother did, +was a woman to be treasured. + +I left the farm-house at 7, and reached home by 8.45. Polly was not +quite pleased with my late hours; she said it did not worry her not to +know where I was, but it was annoying. + +"Can't you have a telephone put into the farm-house? It would be +convenient in a lot of ways." + +"Why, of course; I don't see why it can't be done at once. I'll make +application this very night." + +It was six weeks before we really got a wire to the farm, but after that +we wondered how we ever got along without it. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A RATION FOR PRODUCT + + +Nelson was to commence work on the cow-house at once; at least, the +mason was. I left the job as a whole to Nelson, and he made some sort of +contract with the mason. The agreement was that I should pay $4260 for +the barn complete. The machinery we put into it was very simple,--a +water heater and two cauldrons for cooking food. All three cost about +$60. + +Thompson had selected six cows, from those bought with the place, as +worth wintering. They were now giving from six to eight quarts each, and +were due to come in in April and May. An eight-quart-a-day cow was not +much to my liking, but Thompson said that with good care they would do +better in the spring. "Four of those cows ought to make fine milkers," +he said; "they are built for it,--long bodies, big bags, milk veins that +stand out like crooked welts, light shoulders, slender necks, and lean +heads. They are young, too; and if you'll dehorn them, I believe they'll +make your thoroughbreds hump themselves to keep up with them at the milk +pail. You see, these cows never had more than half a chance to show +what they could do. They have never been 'fed for milk.' Farmers don't +do that much. They think that if a cow doesn't bawl for food or drink +she has enough. I suppose she has enough to keep her from starving, and +perhaps enough to hold her in fair condition, but not enough to do this +and fill the milk pail, too. I read somewhere about a ration for +'maintenance' and one for 'product,' and there was a deal of difference. +Most farmers don't pay much attention to these things, and I guess +that's one reason why they don't get on faster." + +"You've got the whole matter down fine in that 'ration for product,' +Thompson, and that's what we want on this farm. A ration that will +simply keep a cow or a hen in good health leaves no margin for profit. +Cows and hens are machines, and we must treat them as such. Crowd in the +raw material, and you may look for large results in finished product. +The question ought always to be, How much can a cow eat and drink? not, +How little can she get on with? Grain and forage are to be turned into +milk, and the more of these foods our cows eat, the better we like it. +If these machines work imperfectly, we must get rid of them at once and +at any price. It will not pay to keep a cow that persistently falls +below a high standard. We waste time on her, and the smooth running of +the factory is interrupted. I'm going to place a standard on this farm +of nine thousand pounds a year for each matured cow; I don't think that +too high. If a cow falls much below that amount, she must give place to +a better one, for I'm not making this experiment entirely for my health. +The standard isn't too high, yet it's enough to give a fine profit. It +means at least three hundred and fifty pounds of butter a year, and in +this case the butter means at least thirty cents a pound, or more than +$100 a year for each cow. This is all profit, if one wishes to figure it +by itself, for the skimmed milk will more than pay for the food and +care. But why did you say dehorn the cows?" + +"Well, I notice that a man with a club is almost sure to find some use +for it. If he isn't pounding the fence or throwing it at a dog, he's +snipping daisies or knocking the heads off bull-thistles. He's always +doing something with it just because he has it in his hand. It's the +same way with a cow. If she has horns, she'll use them in some way, and +they take her mind off her business. No, sir; a cow will do a lot better +without horns. There's mighty little to distract her attention when her +clubs are gone." + +"What breeds of cows have you handled, Thompson?" + +"Not any thoroughbreds that I know of; mostly common kinds and grade +Jerseys or Holsteins." + +"I'm going to put a small herd of thorough bred Holsteins on the place." + +"Why don't you try thoroughbred Jerseys' They'll give as much butter, +and they won't eat more than half as much." + +"You don't quite catch my idea, Thompson. I want the cow that will eat +the most, if she is, at the same time, willing to pay for her food. I +mean to raise a lot of food, and I want a home market for it. What comes +from the land must go back to it, or it will grow thin. The Holstein +will eat more than the Jersey, and, while she may not make more butter, +she will give twice as much skimmed milk and furnish more fertilizer to +return to the land. Fresh skimmed milk is a food greatly to be prized by +the factory-farm man; and when we run at full speed, we shall have three +hundred thousand pounds of it to feed. + +"I have purchased twenty three-year-old Holstein cows, in calf to +advanced registry bulls, and they are to be delivered to me March 10. I +shall want you to go and fetch them. I also bought a young bull from the +same herd, but not from the same breeding. These twenty-one animals will +cost, by the time they get here, $2200. I shall give the bull to my +neighbor Jackson. He will be proud to have it, and I shall be relieved +of the care of it. Be good to your neighbor, Thompson, if by so doing +you can increase the effectiveness of the factory farm. We will start +the dairy with twenty thoroughbreds and six scrubs. I shall probably buy +and sell from time to time; but of one thing I am certain: if a cow +cannot make our standard, she goes to the butcher, be she mongrel or +thoroughbred. What do you think of Judson as a probable dairyman?" + +"I shouldn't wonder if he would do first-rate. He's a quiet fellow, and +cows like that. He has those roans tagging him all over the place; and +if a horse likes a man, it's because he's nice and quiet in his ways. I +notice that he can milk a cow quicker than the other men, and it ain't +because he don't milk dry--I sneaked after him twice. The cow just gives +down for him better than for the others." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE RAZORBACK + + +We have now launched three of the four principal industries of our +factory farm. The fourth is perhaps the most important of all, if a +single member of a group of mutually dependent industries can have this +distinction. There is no question that the farmer's best friend is the +hog. He will do more for him and ask less of him than any other animal. +All he asks is to be born. That is enough for this non-ruminant +quadruped, who can find his living in the earth, the roadside ditch, or +the forest, and who, out of a supply of grass, roots, or mast, can +furnish ham and bacon to the king's taste and the poor man's +maintenance. The half-wild razorback, with never a clutch of corn to his +back, gives abundant food to the mountaineer over whose forest he +ranges. The cropped or slit ear is the only evidence of human care or +human ownership. He lives the life of a wild beast, and in the autumn he +dies the death of a wild beast; while his flesh, made rich with juices +of acorns, beechnuts, and other sweet masts, nourishes a man whose only +exercise of ownership is slaughter. The hog that can make his own +living, run like a deer, and drink out of a jug, has done more for the +pioneer and the backwoodsman than any other animal. + +Take this semi-wild beast away from his wild haunts, give him food and +care, and he will double his gifts. Add a hundred generations of careful +selection, until his form is so changed that it is beyond recognition, +and again the product will be doubled. The spirit of swine is not +changed by civilization or good breeding; such as it was on that day +when the herd "ran down a steep place and was drowned in the sea," such +it is to-day. A fixed determination to have its own way dominated the +creature then, and a pig-headed desire to be the greatest food-producing +machine in the world is its ruling passion now. That the hog has +succeeded in this is beyond question; for no other food animal can +increase its own weight one hundred and fifty fold in the first eight +months of its life. + +All over the world there is a growing fondness for swine flesh, and the +ever increasing supply doesn't outrun the demand. Since the dispersion +of the tribes of Israel there has been no persistent effort to +depopularize this wonderful food maker. Pig has more often been the food +of the poor than of the rich, but now rich and poor alike do it honor. +Old Ben Jonson said:-- + +"Now pig is meat, and a meat that is nourishing and may be desired, and +consequently eaten: it may be eaten; yea, very exceedingly well eaten." + +Hundreds have praised the rasher of ham, and thousands the flitch of +bacon; it took the stroke of but one pen to make roast pig classical. + +The pig of to-day is so unlike his distant progenitor that he would not +be recognized; if by any chance he were recognized, it would be only +with a grunt of scorn for his unwieldy shape and his unenterprising +spirit. Gone are the fleet legs, great head, bulky snout, terrible jaws, +warlike tusks, open nostrils, flapping ears, gaunt flanks, and racing +sides; and with these has gone everything that told of strength, +freedom, and wild life. In their place has come a cuboidal mass, twice +as long as it is broad or high, with a place in front for mouth and +eyes, and a foolish-looking leg under each corner. A mighty fall from +"freedom's lofty heights," but a wonderfully improved machine. The +modern hog is to his progenitor as the man with the steam-hammer to the +man with the stone-hammer,--infinitely more useful, though not so free. + +It is not easy to overestimate the value of swine to the general farmer; +but to the factory farmer they are indispensable. They furnish a +profitable market for much that could not be sold, and they turn this +waste material into a surprising lot of money in a marvellously short +time. A pig should reach his market before he is nine months old. From +the time he is new-born until he is 250 days old, he should gain at +least one pound a day, which means five cents, in ordinary times. +During this time he has eaten, of things which might possibly have been +sold, perhaps five dollars' worth. At 250 days, with a gain of one pound +a day, he is worth, one year with another, $12.50. This is putting it +too low for my market, but it gives a profit of not less than $6 a head +after paying freight and commissions. It is, then, only a question of +how many to keep and how to keep them. To answer the first half of this +question I would say, Keep just as many as you can keep well. It never +pays to keep stock on half rations of food or care, and pigs are not +exceptions. In answering the other half of the question, how to keep +them, I shall have to go into details of the first building of a piggery +at Four Oaks. + +As in the case of the hens, I determined to start clean. Hogs had been +kept on the farm for years, and, so far as I could learn, there had been +no epizooetic disease. The swine had had free range most of the time, and +the specimens which I bought were healthy and as well grown as could be +expected. They were not what I wanted, either in breed or in +development, so they had been disposed of, all but two. These I now +consigned to the tender care of the butcher, and ordered the sty in +which they had been kept to be burned. + +I had planned to devote lot No. 2 to a piggery. There are five acres in +this lot, and I thought it large enough to keep four or five hundred +pigs of all sizes in good health and good condition for forcing. Some of +the swine, not intended for market, would have more liberty; but close +confinement in clean pens and small runs was to be the rule. To crowd +hogs in this way, and at the same time to keep them free from disease, +would require special vigilance. The ordinary diseases that come from +damp and draughts could be fended off by carefully constructed +buildings. Cleanliness and wholesome food ought to do much, and +isolation should accomplish the rest. I have established a perfect +quarantine about my hog lot, and it has never been broken. After the +first invoices of swine in the winter and spring of 1896, no hog, young +or old, has entered my piggery, save by the way of a sixty-day +quarantine in the wood lot, and very few by that way. + +My pigs are several hundred yards from the public roads, and my +neighbor, Jackson, has planted a young orchard on his land to the north +of my hog lots, and permits no hogs in this planting. I have thus +secured practical isolation. I have rarely sent swine to fairs or stock +shows. In the few instances in which I have broken this rule I have sold +the stock shown, never returning it to Four Oaks. + +Isolation, cleanliness, good food, good water, and a constant supply of +ashes, charcoal, and salt, have kept my herd (thus far) from those +dreadfully fatal diseases that destroy so many swine. If I can keep the +specific micro-organism that causes hog-cholera off my place, I need not +fear the disease. The same is true of swine plague. These diseases are +of bacterial origin, and are communicated by the transference of +bacteria from the infected to the non-infected. I propose to keep my +healthy herd as far removed as possible from all sources of infection. I +have carried these precautions so far that I am often scoffed at. I +require my swineherd, when returning from a fair or a stock show, to +take a full bath and to disinfect his clothing before stepping into the +pig-house. This may seem an unnecessary refinement in precautionary +measures, but I do not think so. It has served me well: no case of +cholera or plague has shown itself at Four Oaks. + +What would I do if disease should appear? I do not know. I think, +however, that I should fight it as hard as possible at close quarters, +killing the seriously ill, and burning all bodies. After the scourge had +passed I would dispose of all stock as best I could, and then burn the +entire plant (fences and all), plough deep, cover the land white as snow +with lime, leave it until spring, plough again, and sow to oats. During +the following summer I would rebuild my plant and start afresh. A whole +year would be lost, and some good buildings, but I think it would pay in +the end. There would be no safety for the herd while a single colony of +cholera or plague bacteria was harbored on the place; and while neither +might, for years, appear in virulent form, yet there would be constant +small losses and constant anxiety. One cannot afford either of these +annoyances, and it is usually wise to take radical measures. If we apply +sound business rules to farm management, we shall at least deserve +success. + +I chose to keep thoroughbred swine for the reason that all the standard +varieties are reasonably certain to breed true to a type which, in each +breed, is as near pork-making perfection as the widest experience can +make it. Most of our good hogs are bred from English or Chinese stock. +Modifications by climate, care, crossing, and wise selection have +procured a number of excellent varieties, which are distinct enough to +warrant separate names, but which are nearly equal as pork-makers. + +In color one could choose between black, black and white, and white and +red. I wanted white swine; not because they are better than swine of +other colors, for I do not think they are, but for aesthetic reasons. My +poultry was to be white, and white predominated in my cows; why should +not my swine be white also,--or as white as their habits would permit? I +am told on all sides that the black hog is the hardiest, that it fattens +easier, and that for these reasons it is a better all-round hog. This +may be true, but I am content with my white ones. When some neighbor +takes a better bunch of hogs to market, or gets a better price for them, +than I do, I may be persuaded to think as he talks. Thus far I have sold +close to the top of the market, and my hogs are never left over. + +Perhaps my hogs eat more than those of my neighbors. I hope they do, for +they weigh more, on a "weight for age" scale, and I do not think they +are "air crammed," for "you cannot fatten capons so." I am more than +satisfied with my Chester Whites. They have given me a fine profit each +year, and I should be ungrateful if I did not speak them fair. + +I wished to get the hog industry started on a liberal scale, and scoured +the country, by letter, for the necessary animals. I found it difficult +to get just what I wanted. Perhaps I wanted too much. This is what I +asked for: A registered young sow due to farrow her second litter in +March or April. By dint of much correspondence and a considerable outlay +of money, I finally secured nineteen animals that answered the +requirements. I got them in twos and threes from scattered sources, and +they cost an average price of $31 per head delivered at Four Oaks. A +young boar, bred in the purple, cost $27. My foundation herd of Chester +Whites thus cost me $614,--too much for an economical start; but, again, +I was in a hurry. + +The hogs began to arrive in February, and were put into temporary +quarters pending the building of the house for the brood sows, which +house must now be described. + +It was a low building, 150 by 30 feet, divided by a six-foot alley-way +into halves, each 150 by 12 feet. Each of these halves was again divided +into fifteen pens 10 by 12 feet, with a 10 by 30 run for each pen. This +was the general plan for the brood-house for thirty sows. At the east +end of this house was a room 15 by 30 feet for cooking food and storing +supplies for a few days. The building was of wood with plank floors. It +stands there yet, and has answered its purpose; but it was never quite +satisfactory. I wanted cement floors and a more sightly building. I +shall probably replace it next year. When it was built the weather was +unfavorable for laying cement, and I did not wish to wait for a more +clement season. The house and the fences for the runs cost $2100. + +On the 6th of March Thompson called me to one of the temporary pens and +showed me a family of the prettiest new-born animals in the world,--a +fine litter of no less than nine new-farrowed pigs. I felt that the +fourth industry was fairly launched, and that we could now work and +wait. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE OLD ORCHARD + + +March was unusually raw even for that uncooked month. The sun had to +cross the line before it could make much impression on the deep frost. +After the 15th, however, we began to find evidences that things were +stirring below ground. The red and yellow willows took on brighter +colors, the bark of the dogwood assumed a higher tone, and the catkins +and lilac buds began to swell with the pride of new sap. + +If our old orchard was to be pruned while dormant, it must be done at +once. Thompson and I spent five days of hard work among the trees, +cutting out all dead limbs, crossing branches, and suckers. We called +the orchard old, but it was so only by comparison, for it was not out of +its teens; and I did not wish to deal harshly with it. A good many +unusual things were being done for it in a short time, and it was not +wise to carry any one of them too far. It had been fertilized and +ploughed in the fall, and now it was to be pruned and sprayed,--all +innovations. The trees were well grown and thrifty. They had given a +fair crop of fruit last year, and they were well worth considerable +attention. They could not hereafter be cultivated, for they were all in +the soiling lot for the cows, but they could be pruned and sprayed. The +lack of cultivation would be compensated by the fertilization incident +to a feeding lot. The trees would give shade and comfort to the cows, +while the cows fed and nourished the trees,--a fair exchange. + +The crop of the year before, though half the apples were stung, had +brought nearly $300. With better care, and consequently better fruit, we +could count on still better results, for the varieties were excellent +(Baldwins, Jonathans, and Rome Beauties); so we trimmed carefully and +burned the rubbish. This precaution, especially in the case of dead +limbs, is important, for most dead wood in young trees is due to +disease, often infectious, and should be burned at once. + +I bought a spraying-pump (for $13), which was fitted to a sound oil +barrel, and we were ready to make the first attack on fungus disease +with the Bordeaux mixture. This was done by Johnson and Anderson late in +the month. Another vigorous spraying with the same mixture when the buds +were swelling, another when the flower petals were falling, and still +another when the fruit was as large as peas (the last two sprayings had +Paris green added to the Bordeaux mixture), and the fight against apple +enemies was ended for that year. + +Thompson had gone for the cows. He left March 9, and returned with the +beauties on Friday the 17th. They were all my fancy had painted +them,--large, gentle-eyed, with black and white hair over soft +butter-yellow skin, and all the points that distinguish these marvellous +milk-machines. They were bestowed as needs must until the cow barn was +completed. One of them had dropped a bull calf two days before leaving +the home farm. The calf had been left, and the mother was in an +uncomfortable condition, with a greatly distended udder and milk +streaming from her four teats, though Thompson had relieved her thrice +while _en route_. + +I was greatly pleased with the cows, but must not spend time on them +now, for things are happening in my factory faster than I can tell of +them. Johnson had built some primitive hotbeds for early vegetables out +of old lumber and oiled muslin. He had filled them with refuse from the +horse stable and had sown his seeds. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE FIRST HATCH + + +On February 3 the incubator lamps were lighted under the first invoice +of one thousand eggs. The incubating cellar was to Sam's liking, and he +felt confident that three weeks of strict attention to temperature, +moisture, and the turning of eggs, would bring results beyond my +expectations. + +After the seventh day, on which he had tested or candled the eggs, he +was willing to promise almost anything in the way of a hatch, up to +seventy-five or eighty per cent. In the intervals of attendance on the +incubators he was hard at work on the brooder-house, which must be ready +for its first occupants by the 25th. Everything went smoothly until the +18th. That morning Sam met me with a long face. + +"Something went wrong with one of my lamps last night," said he. "I +looked at them at ten o'clock and they were all right, but at six this +morning one of the thermometers was registering 122 deg., and the whole +batch was cooked." + +"Not the whole thousand, Sam!" + +"No, but 170 fertile eggs, and that spoils a twenty-dollar bill and a +lot of good time. What in the name of the black man ever got into that +lamp of mine is more than I know. It's just my luck!" + +"It's everybody's luck who tries to raise chickens by wholesale, and we +must copper it. Don't be downed by the first accident, Sam; keep +fighting and you'll win out." + +The brooder-house was ready when the first chicks picked the shells on +the 24th, and within thirty-six hours we had 503 little white balls of +fluff to transfer from the four incubators to the brooder-house. We put +about a hundred together in each of five brooders, fed them cut oats and +wheat with a little coarse corn meal and all the fresh milk they could +drink, and they throve mightily. + +The incubators were filled again on the 26th, and from that hatch we got +552 chicks. On the 21st of March they were again filled, and on the 13th +of April we had 477 more to add to the colony in the brooder-house. For +the last time we started the lamps April 15th, and on the 6th of May we +closed the incubating cellar and found that 2109 chicks had been hatched +from the 4000 eggs. The last hatch was the best of all, giving 607. I +don't think we have ever had as good results since, though to tell the +truth I have not attempted to keep an exact count of eggs incubated. My +opinion is that fifty per cent is a very good average hatch, and that +one should not expect more. + +In September, when the young birds were separated, the census report was +723 pullets and 764 cockerels, showing an infant mortality of 622, or +twenty-nine per cent. The accidents and vicissitudes of early +chickenhood are serious matters to the unmothered chick, and they must +not be overlooked by the breeder who figures his profits on paper. + +After the first year I kept no tabs on the chickens hatched; my desire +was to add each year 600 pullets to my flock, and after the third season +to dispose of as many hens. It doesn't pay to keep hens that are more +than two and a half years old. I have kept from 1200 to 1600 laying hens +for the past six years. I do not know what it costs to feed one or all +of them, but I do know what moneys I have received for eggs, young +cockerels, and old hens, and I am satisfied. + +There is a big profit in keeping hens for eggs if the conditions are +right and the industry is followed, in a businesslike way, in connection +with other lines of business; that is, in a factory farm. If one had to +devote his whole time to the care of his plant, and were obliged to buy +almost every morsel of food which the fowls ate, and if his market were +distant and not of the best, I doubt of great success; but with food at +the lowest and product at the highest, you cannot help making good +money. I do not think I have paid for food used for my fowls in any one +year more than $500; grits, shells, meat meal, and oil meal will cover +the list. I do not wish to induce any man or woman to enter this +business on account of the glowing statements which these pages contain. +I am ideally situated. I am near one of the best markets for fine food; +I can sell all the eggs my hens will lay at high prices; food costs the +minimum, for it comes from my own farm; I utilize skim-milk, the +by-product from another profitable industry, to great advantage; and I +had enough money to carry me safely to the time of product. In other +words, I could build my factory before I needed to look to it for +revenue. I do not claim that this is the only way, but I do claim that +it is the way for the fore-handed middle-aged man who wishes to change +from city to country life without financial loss. Younger people with +less means can accomplish the same results, but they must offset money +by time. The principle of the factory farm will hold as well with the +one as with the other. + +To intensify farming is the only way to get the fat of the land. The +nations of the old world have nearly reached their limit in food +production. They are purchasers in the open market. This country must be +that market; and it behooves us to look to it that the market be well +stocked. There is land enough now and to spare, but will it be so fifty +or a hundred years hence? Our arid lands will be made fertile by +irrigation, but they will add only a small percentage to the amount +already in quasi-cultivation. Our future food supplies must be drawn +largely from the six million farms now under fences. These farms must be +made to yield fourfold their present product, or they will fall short, +not only of the demands made upon them, but also of their possibilities. +That is why I preach the gospel of intensive farming, for grain, hay, +market, and factory farm alike. + +I will put the chickens out of the way for the present, referring to +them from time to time and indicating their general management, the cost +of their houses and food, and the amount of money received for eggs and +fowls. I do not think my plant would win the approval of fanciers, and +it is not in all ways up to date; but it is clean, healthy, and +commodious, and the birds attend as strictly to business as a reasonable +owner could wish. I shall be glad to show it to any one interested +enough to search it out, and to go into the details of the business and +show how I have been able to make it so remunerative. + +Sam is with me no longer. For three years he did good service and saved +money, and the lurid nose grew dim. There is, however, a limit to human +endurance. Like victims of other forms of circular insanity, the +dipsomaniac completes his cycle in an uncertain period and falls upon +bad times. For a month before we parted company I saw signs of relapse +in Sam. He was loquacious at times, at other times morose. He talked +about going into business for himself, and his nose took on new color. I +labored with him, but to no purpose; the spirit of unrest was upon him, +and it had to work its own. I held him firm long enough to secure +another man, and then we parted, he to do business for himself, I to get +on as best I could. Sam painted his nose and raised chickens and other +things until his savings had flown; then he got a position with a woman +who runs a broiler plant, and for two years he has given good service. +He will probably continue in ways of well-doing until the next cycle is +complete, when the beacon light will blaze afresh and he will follow it +on to the rocks. Such a man is more to be pitied than condemned, for his +anchor is sure to drag at times. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE HOLSTEIN MILK MACHINE + + +During the month of March the teams hauled more gravel. They also +distributed the manure that had been purchased in the fall for mulching +the trees. While the ground was still frozen this mulch was placed near +the trees, to be used as soon as the sun had warmed the earth. The mound +of dirt at the base of each tree was of course levelled down before this +dressing was applied. I never afterward purchased stable or stock-yard +manure, though I could often have used it to advantage; for I did not +think it safe to purchase this kind of fertilizer for a farm where large +numbers of animals are kept. The danger from infection is too great. +Large quantities of barnyard manure were furnished yearly out of my own +pits, and I supplemented it with a good deal of the commercial variety. +I try to turn back to the land each year more than I take from it, but I +do not dare to go to a stock-yard for any part of my supply. It was not +until I had mentally established a quarantine for my hogs that I +realized the danger from those six carloads of manure; and I promised +myself then that no such breach of quarantine should again occur. + +The cows arrived on St. Patrick's Day. Our herd was then composed of the +twenty Holstein heifers (coming three years old), and six of the best of +the common cows purchased with the farm. Within forty days the herd was +increased by the addition of twenty-three calves. Twenty-five were born, +but two were dead. Of this number, eighteen were Holsteins eligible for +registration, ten heifers, and eight bulls. Each calf was taken from its +mother on the third day and fed warm skim-milk from a patent feeder +three times a day, all it would drink. When three weeks old, seven of +the Holstein calves and the five from the common cows were sent to +market. They brought $5.25 each above the expense of selling, or $63 for +the bunch. The ten Holstein heifer calves were of course held; and one +bull calf, which had a double cross of Pieterje 2d and Pauline Paul, and +which seemed an unusually fair specimen, was kept for further +development. + +The cow barn was finished about April 1st, and shortly after that the +herd was established in permanent quarters. As the dairy-house was +unfinished, and there was no convenient way of disposing of the milk +which now flowed in abundance, I bought a separator (for $200) and sent +the cream to a factory, using the fresh skim-milk for the calves and +young pigs and chickens. + +From March 22, when I began to sell, until May 10, when my dairy-house +was in working order, I received $203 for cream. Thompson had sold milk +from the old cows, from August to December, 1895, to the amount of $132. +This item should have been entered on the credit side for the last year, +but as it was not, we will make a note of it here. These are the only +sales of milk and cream made from Four Oaks since I bought the land. + +The milk supply from my herd started out at a tremendous rate, +considering the age of the cows. It must be borne in mind that none of +the thoroughbreds was within three years of her (probable) best; yet +they were doing nobly, one going as high as fifty-two pounds of milk in +one day, and none falling below thirty-six as a maximum. The common cows +did nearly as well at first, four of them giving a maximum of thirty-two +pounds each in twenty-four hours. It was easy to see the difference +between the two sorts, however. The old ones had reached maturity and +were doing the best they could; the others were just beginning to +manufacture milk, and were building and regulating their machinery for +that purpose. The Holsteins, though young, were much larger than the old +cows, and were enormous feeders. A third or a half more food passed +their great, coarse mouths than their less aristocratic neighbors could +be coaxed to eat. Food, of course, is the one thing that will make +milk; other things being equal, then the cow that consumes the most food +will produce the most milk. This is the secret of the Holsteins' +wonderful capacity for assimilating enormous quantities of food without +retaining it under their hides in the shape of fat. They have been bred +for centuries with the milk product in view, and they have become +notable machines for that purpose. They are not the cows for people to +keep who have to buy feed in a high market, for they are not easy +keepers in any sense; but for the farmer who raises a lot of grain and +roughage which should be fed at his own door, they are ideal. They will +eat much and return much. + +As to feeding for milk, I have followed nearly the same plan through my +whole experiment. I keep an abundance of roughage, usually shredded +corn, before the cows all the time. When it has been picked over +moderately well, it is thrown out for bedding, and fresh fodder is put +in its place. The finer forages, timothy, red-top, clover, alfalfa, and +oat straw, are always cut fine, wetted, and mixed with grain before +feeding. This food is given three times a day in such quantities as will +be eaten in forty-five minutes. Green forage takes the place of dry in +season, and fresh vegetables are served three times a week in winter. +The grain ration is about as follows: By weight, corn and cob meal, +three parts; oatmeal, three parts; bran, three parts; gluten meal, two +parts; linseed meal, one part. The cash outlay for a ton of this mixture +is about $12; this price, of course, does not include corn and oats, +furnished by the farm. A Holstein cow can digest fifteen pounds of this +grain a day. This means about two and a half tons a year, with a cash +outlay of $30 per annum for each head. Fresh water is always given four +times a day, and much of the time the cows have ready access to it. In +cold weather the water is warmed to about 65 deg. F. The cows are let out in +a twenty-acre field for exercise every day, except in case of severe +storms. They are fed forage in the open when the weather is fine and +insects are not troublesome, and they sometimes sleep in the open on hot +nights; but by far the largest part of their time is spent in their own +stalls away from chilling winds and biting flies. In their stables they +are treated much as fine horses are,--well bedded, well groomed, and +well cared for in all ways. + +A quiet, darkened stable conduces rumination. Loud talking, shouting, or +laughing are not looked upon with favor in our cow barn. On the other +hand, continuous sounds, if at all melodious, seem to soothe the animals +and increase the milk flow. Judson, who has proved to be our best +herdsman, has a low croon in his mouth all the time. It can hardly be +called a tune, though I believe he has faith in it, but it has a +fetching way with the herd. I have never known him to be quick, sharp, +or loud with the cows. When things go wrong, the crooning ceases. When +it is resumed, all is well in the cow world. The other man, French, who +is an excellent milker, and who stands well with the cows, has a half +hiss, half whistle, such as English stable-boys use, except that it runs +up and down five notes and is lost at each end. The cows like it and +seem to admire French for his accomplishment even more than Judson, for +they follow his movements with evident pleasure expressed in their great +ox eyes. + +Rigid rules of cleanliness are carried out in every detail with the +greatest exactness. The house and the animals are cared for all the time +as if on inspection. Before milking, the udders are carefully brushed +and washed, and the milker covers himself entirely with a clean apron. +As each cow is milked, the milker hangs the pail on a spring balance and +registers the exact weight on a blackboard. He then carries the milk +through the door that leads to the dairy-house, and pours it into a tank +on wheels. This ends his responsibility. The dairymaid is then in +charge. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE DAIRYMAID + + +Of course I had trouble in getting a dairymaid. I was not looking for +the bouncing, buxom, red-cheeked, arms-akimbo, butter-colored-hair sort. +I didn't care whether she were red-cheeked and bouncing or not, but for +obvious reasons I didn't want her hair to be butter-colored. What I did +want was a woman who understood creamery processes, and who could and +would make the very giltest of gilt-edged butter. + +I commenced looking for my paragon in January. I interviewed applicants +of both sexes and all nationalities, but there was none perfect; no, not +one. I was not exactly discouraged, but I certainly began to grow +anxious as the time approached when I should need my dairymaid, and need +her badly. One day, while looking over the _Rural New Yorker_ (I was +weaned on that paper), I saw the following advertisement. "Wanted: +Employment on a dairy-farm by a married couple who understand the +business." If this were true, these two persons were just what I needed; +but, was it true? I had tried a score of greater promise and had not +found one that would do. Was I to flush two at once, and would they +fall to my gun? + +A small town in one of the Middle Western states was given as the +address, and I wrote at once. My letter was strong in requirements, and +asked for particulars as to experience, age, references, and +nationality. The reply came promptly, and was more to my liking than any +I had received before. Name, French; Americans, newly married, +twenty-eight and twenty-six respectively; experience four and three +years in creamery and dairy work; references, good; the couple wished to +work together to save money to start a dairy of their own. I was pleased +with the letter, which was an unusual one to come from native-born +Americans. Our people do not often hunt in couples after this manner. I +telegraphed them to come to the city at once. + +It was late in April when I first saw the Frenches. The man was tall and +raw-boned, but good-looking, with a frank manner that inspired +confidence. He was a farmer's son with a fair education, who had saved a +little money, and had married his wife out of hand lest some one else +should carry her off while he was building the nest for her. + +"I took her when I could get her," he said, "and would have done it with +a two-dollar bill in my pocket rather than have taken chances." + +The woman was worthy of such an extreme measure, for she looked capable +of caring for both. She was a fine pattern of a country girl, with a +head full of good sense, and very useful-looking hands and arms. Her +face was good to look upon; it showed strength of character and a +definite object in life. She said she understood the creamery processes +in all their niceties, and that she could make butter good enough for +Queen Victoria. + +The proposition offered by this young couple was by far the best I had +received, and I closed with them at once. I agreed to pay each $25 a +month to start with, and explained my plan of an increasing wage of $1 a +month for each period of six months' service. They thought they ought to +have $30 level. I thought so, too, if they were as good as they +promised. But I had a fondness for my increasing scale, and I held to +it. These people were skilled laborers, and were worth more to begin +with than ordinary farm hands. That is why I gave them $25 a month from +the start. Six hundred dollars a year for a man and wife, with no +expense except for clothing, is good pay. They can easily put away $400 +out of it, and it doesn't take long to get fore-handed. I think the +Frenches have invested $500 a year, on an average, since they came to +Four Oaks. + +It is now time to get at the dairy-house, since the dairy and the +dairymaid are both in evidence. The house was to be on the building +line, and both Polly and I thought it should have attractive features. +We decided to make it of dark red paving brick. It was to be eighteen +feet by thirty, with two rooms on the ground. The first, or south room, +ten feet by eighteen, was fitted for storing fruit, and afforded a +stairway to the rooms above, which were four in number besides the bath. +The larger room was of course the butter factory, and was equipped with +up-to-date appliances,--aerator, Pasteurizer, cooler, separator, Babcock +tester, swing churn, butter-worker, and so on. The house was to have +steep gables and projecting eaves, with a window in each gable, and two +dormer windows in each roof. The walls were to be plastered, and the +ground floor was to be cement. It cost $1375. + +As motive power for the churn and separator, a two-sheep-power treadmill +has proved entirely satisfactory. It is worked by two sturdy wethers who +are harbored in a pleasant house and run, close to the power-house, and +who pay for their food by the sweat of their brows and the wool from +their backs. They do not appear to dislike the "demnition grind," which +lasts but an hour twice a day; they go without reluctance to the tramp +that leads nowhere, and the futile journey which would seem foolish to +anything wiser than a sheep. This sheep-power is one of the curios of +the place. My grand-girls never lose their interest in it, and it has +been photographed and sketched more times than there are fingers and +toes on the sheep. + +The expenditure for equipment, from separator to sheep, was $354. I +made an arrangement with a fancy grocer in the city to furnish him +thirty pounds, more or less, of fresh (unsalted) butter, six days in the +week, at thirty-three cents a pound, I to pay express charges. I bought +six butter-carriers with ice compartments for $3.75 each, $23 in all, +and arranged with the express company to deliver my packages to the +grocer for thirty cents each. The butter netted me thirty-two cents a +pound that year, or about $60 a week. + +In July I bought four thoroughbred Holsteins, four years old, in fresh +milk, and in October, six more, at an average price of $120 a +head,--$1200 in all. These reenforcements made it possible for me to +keep my contract with the middleman, and often to exceed it. + +The dairy industry was now fairly launched and in working order. It had +cost, not to be exact, $7000, and it was reasonably sure to bring back +to the farm about $60 a week in cash, besides furnishing butter for the +family and an immense amount of skim-milk and butter-milk to feed to the +young animals on the place. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +LITTLE PIGS + + +By April 1st all my sows had farrowed. There was much variation in the +number of pigs in these nineteen litters. One noble mother gave me +thirteen, two of which promptly died. Three others farrowed eleven each, +and so down to one ungrateful mother who contributed but five to the +industry at Four Oaks. The average, however, was good; 154 pigs on April +10th were all that a halfway reasonable factory man could expect. + +These youngsters were left with their mothers until eight weeks old; +then they were put, in bunches of thirty, into the real hog-house, which +was by that time completed. It was 200 feet long and 50 feet wide, with +a 10-foot passageway through the length of it. On either side were 10 +pens 20 feet by 20, each connected with a run 20 feet by 120. The house +stood on a platform or bed of cement 90 by 200 feet, which formed the +floor of the house and extended 20 feet outside of each wall, to secure +cleanliness and a dry feeding-place in the open. The cement floor was +expensive ($1120 as first cost), but I think it has paid for itself +several times over in health and comfort to the herd. The structure on +this floor was of the simplest; a double wall only five feet high at the +sides, shingled roof, broken at the ridge to admit windows, and strong +partitions. It cost $3100. As in the brood-sow house, there is a kitchen +at the west end. The 150 little pigs made but a small showing in this +great house, which was intended to shelter six hundred of all sizes, +from the eight-weeks-old baby pig to the nine-months-old +three-hundred-pounder ready for market. + +Pigs destined for market never leave this house until ripe for killing. +At six or seven months a few are chosen to remain on the farm and keep +up its traditions; but the great number live their ephemeral lives of +eight months luxuriously, even opulently, until they have made the ham +and bacon which, poor things, they cannot save, and then pass into the +pork barrel or the smoke-house without a sigh of regret. They toil not, +neither do they spin; but they have a place in the world's economy, and +they fit it perfectly. So long as one animal must eat another, the man +animal should thank the hog animal for his generosity. + +Now that my big hog-house seemed so empty, I would gladly have sent into +the highways and byways to buy young stock to fill it; but I dared not +break my quarantine. I could easily have picked up one hundred or even +two hundred new-weaned pigs, within six or eight miles of my place, at +about $1.50 each, and they would have grown into fat profit by fall; but +I would not take a risk that might bear ill fruit. I had slight +depressions of spirits when I visited my piggery during that summer; but +I chirked up a little in the fall, when the brood sows again made good. +But more of that anon. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +WORK ON THE HOME FORTY + + +April and May made amends for the rudeness of March, and the ploughs +were early afield. Thompson, Zeb, Johnson, and sometimes Anderson, +followed the furrows, first in 10 and 11, and lastly in 13. Number 9 had +a fair clover sod, and was not disturbed. We ploughed in all about 114 +acres, but we did not subsoil. We spent twenty days ploughing and as +many more in fitting the ground for seed. The weather was unusually warm +for the season, and there was plenty of rain. By the middle of May, oats +were showing green in Nos. 8, 10, 11, 12, and 13,--sixty-two acres. The +corn was well planted in 15 and the west three-quarters of +14,--eighty-two acres. The other ten acres in the young orchard was +planted to fodder corn, sown in drills so that it could be cultivated in +one direction. + +The ten-acre orchard on the south side of the home lot was used for +potatoes, sugar beets, cabbages, turnips, etc., to furnish a winter +supply of vegetables for the stock. + +The outlook for alfalfa was not bright. In the early spring we +fertilized it again, using five hundred pounds to the acre, though it +seemed like a conspicuous waste. The warm rains and days of April and +May brought a fine crop of weeds; and about the middle of May I turned +Anderson loose in the fields with a scythe, and he mowed down everything +in sight. + +After that things soon began to look better in the alfalfa fields. As +the season was favorable, we were able to cut a crop of over a ton to +the acre early in July, and nearly as much in the latter part of August. +We cut forty tons from these twenty acres within a year from seeding, +but I suspect that was unusual luck. I had used thirteen hundred pounds +of commercial fertilizer to the acre, and the season was very favorable +for the growth of the plant. I have since cut these fields three times +each year, with an average yield of five tons to the acre for the whole +crop. + +I like alfalfa, both as green and as dry forage. When we use it green, +we let it lie in swath for twenty-four hours, that it may wilt +thoroughly before feeding. It is then fit food for hens, hogs, and, in +limited quantities, for cows, and is much relished. When used dry, it is +always cut fine and mixed with ground grains. In this shape it is fed +liberally to hens and hogs, and also to milch cows; for the latter it +forms half of the cut-food ration. + +While the crops are growing, we will find time to note the changes on +the home lot. Nearly in front of the farm-house, and fifty yards +distant, was a space well fitted for the kitchen garden. We marked off a +plat two hundred feet by three hundred, about one and a half acres, +carted a lot of manure on it, and ploughed it as deep as the subsoiler +would reach. This was done as soon as the frost permitted. We expected +this garden to supply vegetables and small fruits for the whole colony +at Four Oaks. An acre and a half can be made exceedingly productive if +properly managed. + +Along the sides of this garden we planted two rows of currant and +gooseberry bushes, six feet between rows, and the plants four feet apart +in the rows. The ends of the plat were left open for convenience in +horse cultivation. Ten feet outside these rows of bush fruit was planted +a line of quince trees, thirty on each side, and twenty feet beyond +these a row of cherry trees, twenty in each row. + +Near the west boundary of the home lot, and north of the lane that +enters it, I planted two acres of dwarf pear trees--Bartlett and +Duchess,--three hundred trees to the acre. I also planted six hundred +plum trees--Abundance, Wickson, and Gold--in the chicken runs on lot 4. +After May 1, when he was relieved from his farm duties, Johnson had +charge of the planting and also of the gardening, and he took up his +special work with energy and pleasure. + +The drives on the home lot were slightly rounded with ploughs and +scraper, and then covered with gravel. The open slope intended for the +lawn was now to be treated. It comprised about ten acres, irregular in +form and surface, and would require a good deal of work to whip it into +shape. A lawn need not be perfectly graded,--in fact, natural +inequalities with dips and rises are much more attractive; but we had to +take out the asperities. We ploughed it thoroughly, removed all stumps +and stones, levelled and sloped it as much as pleased Polly, harrowed it +twice a week until late August, sowed it heavily to grass seed, rolled +it, and left it. + +Polly had the house in her mind's eye. She held repeated conversations +with Nelson, and was as full of plans and secrets as she could hold. By +agreement, she was to have a free hand to the extent of $15,000 for the +house and the carriage barn. I never really examined the plans, though I +saw the blue prints of what appeared to be a large house with a driving +entrance on the east and a great wide porch along the whole south side. +I did not know until it was nearly finished how large, convenient, and +comfortable it was to be. A hall, a great living-room, the dining room, +a small reception room, and an office, bedroom, and bath for me, were +all on the ground floor, besides a huge wing for the kitchen and other +useful offices. + +Above stairs there was room for the family and a goodly number of +friends. We had agreed that the house should be simple in all ways, with +no hard wood except floors, and no ornamentation except paint and paper. +It must be larger than our needs, for we looked forward to delightful +visits from many friends. We were to have more leisure than ever before +for social life, and we desired to make the most of our opportunities. + +A country house is by all odds the finest place to entertain friends and +to be entertained by them. They come on invitation, not as a matter of +form, and they stay long enough to put by questions of weather, clothes, +and servant-girls, and to get right down to good old-fashioned visiting. +Real heart-to-heart talks are everyday occurrences in country visits, +while they are exceptional in city calls. We meant to make much of our +friends at Four Oaks, and to have them make much of us. We have +discovered new values even in old friends, since we began to live with +them, weeks at a time, under the same roof. Their interests are ours, +and our plans are warmly taken up by them. There is nothing like it +among the turmoils and interruptions of town life, and the older we grow +the more we need this sort of rest among our friends. The guest book at +the farm will show very few weeks, in the past six years, when friends +haven't been with us, and Polly and I feel that the pleasure we have +received from this source ought to be placed on the credit side of the +farm ledger. + +Another reason for a company house was that Jack and Jane would shortly +be out of school. It was not at all in accord with our plan that they +should miss any pleasure by our change. Indeed, we hoped that the change +would be to their liking and to their advantage. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +DISCOUNTING THE MARKET + + +We broke ground for the house late in May, and Nelson said that we +should be in it by Thanksgiving Day. Soon after the plans were settled +Polly informed me that she should not spend much money on the stable. + +"Can't do it," she said, "and do what I ought to on the house. I will +give you room for six horses; the rest, if you have more, must go to the +farm barn. I cannot spend more than $1100 or $1200 on the barn." + +Polly was boss of this department, and I was content to let her have her +way. She had already mulcted me to the extent of $436 for trees, plants, +and shrubs which were even then grouped on the lawn after a fashion that +pleased her. I need not go into the details of the lawn planting, the +flower garden, the pergola, and so forth. I have a suspicion that Polly +has in mind a full account of the "fight for the home forty," in a form +greatly better than I could give it, and it is only fair that she should +tell her own story. I am not the only one who admires her landscape, her +flower gardens, and her woodcraft. Many others do honor to her tastes +and to the evidence of thought which the home lot shows. She disclaims +great credit, for she says, "One has only to live with a place to find +out what it needs." + +As I look back to the beginning of my experiment, I see only one bit of +good luck that attended it. Building material was cheap during the +months in which I had to build so much. Nothing else specially favored +me, while in one respect my experiment was poorly timed. The price of +pork was unusually low. For three years, from 1896, the price of hogs +never reached $5 per hundred pounds in our market,--a thing +unprecedented for thirty years. I never sold below three and a half +cents, but the showing would have been wonderfully bettered could I have +added another cent or two per pound for all the pork I fattened. The +average price for the past twenty-five years is well above five cents a +pound for choice lots. Corn and all other foods were also cheap; but +this made little difference with me, because I was not a seller of +grain. + +In 1896 I was, however, a buyer of both corn and oats. In September of +that year corn sold on 'Change at 19-1/2 cents a bushel, and oats at +14-3/4. These prices were so much below the food value of these grains +that I was tempted to buy. I sent a cash order to a commission house for +five thousand bushels of each. I stored this grain in my granary, +against the time of need, at a total expense of $1850,--21 cents a +bushel for corn and 16 for oats. I had storage room and to spare, and I +knew that I could get more than a third of a cent out of each pound of +corn, and more than half a cent out of each pound of oats. I recalled +the story of a man named Joseph who did some corn business in Egypt a +good many years ago, much in this line, and who did well in the +transaction. There was no dream of fat kine in my case; but I knew +something of the values of grains, and it did not take a reader of +riddles to show me that when I could buy cheaper than I could raise, it +was a good time to purchase. + +As I said once before, there have been no serious crop failures at Four +Oaks,--indeed, we can show better than an average yield each year; but +this extra corn in my cribs has given me confidence in following my plan +of very liberal feeding. With this grain on hand I was able to cut +twenty acres of oats in Nos. 10 and 11 for forage. This was done when +the grain was in the milk, and I secured about sixty tons of excellent +hay, much loved by horses. We got from No. 9 a little less than twelve +tons of clover,--alfalfa furnished forty tons; and there was nearly +twenty tons of old hay left over from that originally purchased. With +all this forage, good of its kind, there was, however, no timothy or red +top, which is by all odds the best hay for horses. I determined to +remedy this lack before another year. As soon as the oats were off lots +10 and 11, they were ploughed and crossed with the disk harrow. From +then until September 1, these fields were harrowed each week in half +lap, so that by the time we were ready to seed them they were in +excellent condition and free from weeds. About September 1 they were +sown to timothy and red top, fifteen pounds each to the acre, +top-dressed with five hundred pounds of fertilizer, harrowed once more, +rolled, and left until spring, when another dose of fertilizer was used. + +I wished to establish twenty acres of timothy and as much alfalfa, to +furnish the hay supply for the farm. With one hundred tons of alfalfa +and sixty of timothy, which I could reasonably expect, I could get on +splendidly. + +From the first I have practised feeding my hay crop for immediate +returns. The land receives five hundred pounds of fertilizer per acre +when it is sown, a like amount again in the spring, and, as soon as a +crop is cut, three hundred pounds an acre more. This usually gives a +second crop of timothy about September 1, if the season is at all +favorable. The alfalfa is cut at least three times, and for each cutting +it receives three hundred pounds of plant food per acre. In the course +of a year I spend from $10 to $12 an acre for my grass land. In return I +get from each acre of timothy, in two cuttings, about three and a half +tons; worth, at an average selling price, $12 a ton. The alfalfa yields +nearly five tons per acre, and has a feeding value of $10 a ton. I have +sold timothy hay a few times, but I feel half ashamed to say so, for it +is against my view of justice to the land. I find oat hay cheaper to +raise than timothy, and, as it is quite as well liked by the horses, I +have been tempted to turn a part of my timothy crop into money directly +from the field. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +FROM CITY TO COUNTRY + + +In early July I went through my young orchard, which had been cut back +so ruthlessly the previous autumn, and carefully planned a head for each +tree. Quite a bunch of sprouts had started from near the top of each +stub, and were growing luxuriantly. Out of each bunch I selected three +or four to form the head; the rest were rubbed off or cut out with a +sharp knife or pruning shears. It surprised me to see what a growth some +of these sprouts had made; sixteen or eighteen inches was not uncommon. +Big roots and big bodies were pushing great quantities of sap toward the +tops. + +Of course I bought farm machinery during this first season,--mower, +reaper, corn reaper, shredder, and so on. In October I took account of +expenditures for machinery, grass seed, and fertilizer, and found that I +had invested $833. I had also, at an expense of $850, built a large shed +or tool-house for farm implements. It is one of the rules at Four Oaks +to grease and house all tools when not in actual use. I believe the +observation of this rule has paid for the shed. + +In October 1896 I had a good offer for my town house, and accepted it. +I had purchased the property eleven years before for $22,000, but, as it +was in bad condition, I had at once spent $9000 on it and the stable. I +sold it for $34,000, with the understanding that I could occupy it for +the balance of the year if I wished. + +After selling the house, I calculated the cost of the elementary +necessities, food and shelter, which I had been willing to pay during +many years of residence in the city. The record ran about like this:-- + +Interest at 5% on house valued at $34,000 $1700.00 +Yearly taxes on same 340.00 +Insurance 80.00 +Fuel and light 250.00 +Wages for one man and three women 1200.00 +Street sprinkling, watchman, etc. 90.00 +Food, including water, ice, etc. 1550.00 + ________ + Making a total of $5210.00 + +It cost me $100 a week to shelter and feed my family in the city. This, +of course, took no account of personal expenses,--travel, sight-seeing, +clothing, books, gifts, or the thousand and one things which enter more +or less prominently into the everyday life of the family. + +If the farm was to furnish food and shelter for us in the future, it +would be no more than fair to credit it with some portion of this +expenditure, which was to cease when we left the city home. What portion +of it could be justly credited to the farm was to be decided by +comparative comforts after a year of experience. I did not plan our +exodus for the sake of economy, or because I found it necessary to +retrench; our rate of living was no higher than we were willing and able +to afford. Our object was to change occupation and mode of life without +financial loss, and without moulting a single comfort. We wished to end +our days close to the land, and we hoped to prove that this could be +done with both grace and profit. I had no desire to lose touch with the +city, and there was no necessity for doing so. Four Oaks is less than an +hour from the heart of town. I could leave it, spend two or three hours +in town, and be back in time for luncheon without special effort; and +Polly would think nothing of a shopping trip and friends home with her +to dinner. The people of Exeter were nearly all city people who were so +fortunate as not to be slaves to long hours. They were rich by work or +by inheritance, and they gracefully accepted the _otium cum dignitate_ +which this condition permitted. Social life was at its best in Exeter, +and many of its people were old acquaintances of ours. A noted country +club spread its broad acres within two miles of our door, and I had been +favorably posted for membership. It did not look as though we should be +thrust entirely upon our own resources in the country; but at the worst +we had resources within our own walls and fences that would fend off all +but the most violent attacks of ennui. + +We were both keenly interested in the experiment. Nothing that happened +on the farm went unchallenged. The milk product for the day was a thing +of interest; the egg count could not go unnoted; a hatch of chickens +must be seen before they left the incubator; a litter of new-born pigs +must be admired; horses and cows were forever doing things which they +should or should not do; men and maids had griefs and joys to share with +mistress or Headman; flowers were blooming, trees were leafing, a robin +had built in the black oak, a gopher was tunnelling the rose bed,--a +thousand things, full of interest, were happening every day. As a place +where things the most unexpected do happen, recommend me to a quiet +farm. + +But we were not to depend entirely upon outside things for diversion. +Books we had galore, and we both loved them. Many a charming evening +have I spent, sometimes alone, more often with two or three congenial +friends, listening to Polly's reading. This is one of her most +delightful accomplishments. Her friends never tire of her voice, and her +voice never tires of her friends. We all grow lazy when she is about; +but there are worse things than indolence. No, we did not mean to drop +out of anything worth while; but we were pretty well provisioned against +a siege, if inclement weather or some other accident should lock us up +at the farm. + +To keep still better hold of the city, I suggested to Tom and Kate that +they should keep open house for us, or any part of us, whenever we were +inclined to take advantage of their hospitality. This would give us city +refuge after late functions of all sorts. The plan has worked admirably. +I devote $1200 a year out of the $5200 of food-and-shelter money to the +support of our city shelter at Kate's house, and the balance, $4000, is +entered at the end of each year on the credit side of the farm ledger. +Nor do I think this in any way unjust. We do not expect to get things +for nothing, and we do not wish to. If the things we pay for now are as +valuable as those we paid for six or eight years ago, we ought not to +find fault with an equal price. I have repeatedly polled the family on +this question, and we all agree that we have lost nothing by the change, +and that we have gained a great deal in several ways. Our friends are of +like opinion; and I am therefore justified in crediting Four Oaks with a +considerable sum for food and shelter. We have bettered our condition +without foregoing anything, and without increasing our expenses. That is +enough. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +AUTUMN RECKONING + + +We harvested the crops in the autumn of 1896, and were thankful for the +bountiful yield. Nearly sixteen hundred bushels of oats and twenty-seven +hundred bushels of corn made a proud showing in the granary, when added +to its previous stock. The corn fodder, shredded by our own men and +machine, made the great forage barn look like an overflowing cornucopia, +and the only extra expense attending the harvest was $31 paid for +threshing the oats. + +Three important items of food are consumed on the farm that have to be +purchased each year, and as there is not much fluctuation in the price +paid, we may as well settle the per capita rate for the milch cows and +hogs for once and all. At each year's end we can then easily find the +cash outlay for the herds by multiplying the number of stock by the cost +of keeping one. + +My Holstein cows consume a trifle less than three tons of grain each per +year,--about fifteen pounds a day. Taking the ration for four cows as a +matter of convenience, we have: corn and cob meal, three tons, and +oatmeal, three tons, both kinds raised and ground on the farm, and not +charged in this account; wheat bran, three tons at $18, $54; gluten +meal, two tons at $24, $48; oil meal, one ton, $26; total cash outlay +for four cows, $128, or $32 per head. This estimate is, however, about +$2 too liberal. We will, hereafter, charge each milch cow $30, and will +also charge each hog fattened on the place $1 for shorts and middlings +consumed. This is not exact, but it is near enough, and it greatly +simplifies accounts. + +As I kept twenty-six cows ten months, and ten more for an average of +four and a half months, the feeding for 1896 would be equivalent to one +year for thirty cows, or $900. To this add $120 for swine food and $25 +for grits and oyster shells for the chickens, and we have $1045 paid for +food for stock. Shoeing the horses for the year and repairs to machinery +cost $157. The purchased food for eight employees for twelve months and +for two additional ones for eight months, amounted to $734. The wage +account, including $50 extra to Thompson, was $2358. + +A second hen-house, a duplicate of the first, was built before October. +It was intended that each house should accommodate four hundred laying +hens. We have now on the place five of these houses; but only two of +them, besides the incubator and the brooder-house, were built in 1896. +As offset to the heavy expenditure of this year, I had not much to show. +Seven hundred cockerels were sold in November for $342. In October the +pullets began laying in desultory fashion, and by November they had +settled down to business; and that quarter they gave me 703 dozen eggs +to sell. As these eggs were marketed within twenty-four hours, and under +a guarantee, I had no difficulty in getting thirty cents a dozen, net. +November eggs brought $211, and the December out-put, $252. I sold 600 +bushels of potatoes for $150, and the apples from 150 of the old trees +(which, by the way, were greatly improved this year) brought $450 on the +trees. + +The cows did well. In the thirty-three weeks from May 12 to December 31, +I sold a little more than 6600 pounds of butter, which netted me $2127. + +We had 122 young hogs to sell in December. They had been crowded as fast +as possible to make good weight, and they went to market at an average +of 290 pounds a head. The price was low, but I got the top of the +market,--$3.55 a hundred, which amounted to $1170 after paying charges. +I had reserved twenty-five of the most likely young sows to stay on the +farm, and had transferred eight to the village butcher, who was to +return them in the shape of two barrels of salt pork, thirty-two smoked +hams and shoulders, and a lot of bacon. + +The old sows farrowed again in September and early October, and we went +into the winter with 162 young pigs. I get these details out of the way +now in order to turn to the family and the social side of life at Four +Oaks. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE CHILDREN + + +The house did not progress as fast as Nelson had promised, and it was +likely to be well toward Christmas before we could occupy it. As the +days shortened, Polly and I found them crowded with interests. Life at +Four Oaks was to mean such a radical change that we could not help +speculating about its influence upon us and upon the children. Would it +be satisfactory to us and to them? Or should we find after a year or two +of experiment that we had been mistaken in believing that we could live +happier lives in the country than in town? A year and a half of outdoor +life and freedom from professional responsibilities had wrought a great +change in me. I could now eat and sleep like a hired man, and it seemed +preposterous to claim that I was going to the country for my health. My +medical adviser, however, insisted that I had not gotten far enough away +from the cause of my breakdown, and that it would be unwise for me to +take up work again for at least another year. In my own mind there was a +fixed opinion that I should never take it up again. I loved it dearly; +but I had given long, hard service to it, and felt that I had earned the +right to freedom from its exacting demands. I have never lost interest +in this, the noblest of professions, but I had done my share, and was +now willing to watch the work of others. In my mind there was no doubt +about the desirability of the change. I have always loved the thought of +country life, and now that my thoughts were taking material shape, I was +keen to push on. Polly looked toward the untrammelled life we hoped to +lead with as great pleasure as I. + +But how about the children? Would it appeal to them with the same force +as to us? The children have thus far been kept in the background. I +wanted to start my factory farm and to get through with most of its dull +details before introducing them to the reader, lest I should be diverted +from the business to the domestic, or social, proposition. + +The farm is laid by for the winter, and most of the details needed for a +just comprehension of our experiment have been given. From this time on +we will deal chiefly with results. We will watch the out-put from the +factory, and commend or find fault as the case may deserve. + +The social side of life is quite as important as the commercial, for +though we gain money, if we lose happiness, what profit have we? Let us +study the children to see what chances for happiness and good fellowship +lie in them. + +Kate is our first-born. She is a bright, beautiful woman of +five-and-twenty, who has had a husband these six years, one daughter for +four years, and, wonderful to relate, another daughter for two years. +She is quick and practical, with strong opinions of her own, prompt with +advice and just as prompt with aid; a woman with a temper, but a friend +to tie to in time of stress. She has the education of a good school, and +what is infinitely better, the cultivation of an observing mind. She is +quick with tongue and pen, but her quickness is so tempered by +unquestioned friendliness that it fastens people to her as with a cord. +She overflows with interests of every description, but she is never too +busy to listen sympathetically to a child or a friend. She is the +practical member of the family, and we rarely do much out of the +ordinary without first talking it over with Kate. + +Tom Hamilton, her husband, is a young man who is getting on in the +world. He is clever in his profession, and sure to succeed beyond the +success of most men. He is quiet in manner, but he seems to have a way +of managing his quick, handsome wife, which is something of a surprise +to me, and to her also, I fancy. They are congenial and happy, and their +children are beings to adore. Tom and Kate are to live in town. They are +too young for the joys of country life, and must needs drag on as they +are, loved and admired by a host of friends. They can, and will, +however, spend much time at Four Oaks; and I need not say they approved +our plans. + +Jack is our second. He was a junior at Yale, and I am shy of saying much +about him lest I be accused of partiality. Enough to say that he is +tall, blond, handsome, and that he has gentle, winning ways that draw +the love of men and women. He is a dreamer of dreams, but he has a +sturdy drop of Puritan blood in his veins that makes him strong in +conviction and brave in action. Jack has never caused me an hour of +anxiety, and I was ever proud to see him in any company. + +Concerning Jane, I must be pardoned in advance for a father's +favoritism. She is my youngest, and to me she seems all that a father +could wish. Of fair height and well moulded, her physique is perfect. +Good health and a happy life had set the stamp of superb womanhood upon +her eighteen years. Any effort to describe her would be vain and +unsatisfactory. Suffice it to say that she is a pure blonde, with eyes, +hair, and skin just to my liking. She is quiet and shy in manner, +deliberate in speech, sensitive beyond measure, wise in intuitive +judgment, clever in history and literature, but always a little in doubt +as to the result of putting seven and eight together, and not +unreasonably dominated by the rules of orthography. She is fond of +outdoor life, in love with horses and dogs, and withal very much of a +home girl. Every one makes much of Jane, and she is not spoiled, but +rather improved by it. She was in her second year at Farmington, and, +like all Farmington students, she cared more for girls than for boys. + +These were the children whom I was to transport from the city, where +they were born, to the quiet life at Four Oaks. After carefully taking +their measures, I felt little hesitation about making the change. They, +of course, had known of the plan, and had often been to the farm; but +they were still to find out what it really meant to live there. A saddle +horse and dogs galore would square me with Jane, beyond question; but +what about Jack? Time must decide that. His plan of life was not yet +formed, and we could afford to wait. We did not have much time in which +to weigh these matters, for the Christmas holidays were near, and the +youngsters would soon be home. We planned to be settled in the new house +when they arrived. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +THE HOME-COMING + + +In arranging to move my establishment I was in a quandary as to what it +was best to do for a coachman. Lars had been with me fifteen years. He +came a green Swedish lad, developed into a first-class coachman, married +a nice girl--and for twelve years he and his wife lived happily in the +rooms above my stable. Two boys were born to them, and these lads were +now ten and twelve years of age. Shortly after I bought the farm Lars +was so unfortunate as to lose his good wife, and he and the boys were +left forlorn. A relative came and gave them such care as she could, but +the mother and wife was missed beyond remedy. In his depression Lars +took to drink, and things began to go wrong in the stable. He was not +often drunk, but he was much of the time under the influence of alcohol, +and consequently not reliable. I had done my best for the poor fellow, +and he took my lectures and chidings in the way they were intended, and, +indeed, he tried hard to break loose from the one bad habit, but with no +good results. His evil friends had such strong hold on him that they +could and would lead him astray whenever there was opportunity. Polly +and I had many talks about this matter. She was growing timid under his +driving, and yet she was attached to him for long and faithful service. + +"Let's chance it," she said. "If we get him away from these people who +lead him astray, he may brace up and become a man again." + +"But what about the boys, Polly?" said I. + +"We ought to be able to find something for the boys to do on the farm, +and they can go to school at Exeter. Can't they drive the butter-cart +out each morning and home after school? They're smart chaps, you know, +and used to doing things." + +Polly had found a way, and I was heartily glad of it, for I did not feel +like giving up my hold on the man and the boys. Lars was glad of the +chance to make good again, and he willingly agreed to go. He was to +receive $23 a month. This was less than he was getting in the city, but +it was the wage which we were paying that year at the farm, and he was +content; for the boys were each to receive $5 a month, and to be sent to +school eight months a year for three years. + +This matter arranged, we began to plan for the moving. I had five horses +in my stable,--a span of blacks for the carriage and three single +drivers. Besides the horses, harness, and equipment, there was a large +carriage, a brougham, a Goddard phaeton, a runabout, and a cart. I +exchanged the brougham and the Goddard for a station wagon and a park +phaeton, as more suitable for country use. + +The barn equipment was all sent in one caravan, Thompson and Zeb coming +into town to help Lars drive out. Our lares and penates were sent by +freight on December 17. Polly had managed to coax another thousand +dollars out of me for things for the house; and these, with the +furniture from our old home, made a brave showing when we gathered +around the big fire in the living room, December 22, for our first night +in the country. + +Tom, Kate, and the grand-girls were with us to spend the holidays, and +so, too, was the lady whom we call Laura. I shall not try to say much +about Laura. She was a somewhat recent friend. How we ever came to know +her well, was half a mystery; and how we ever got on before we knew her +well, was a whole one. + +Roaring fires and shaded lamps gave an air of homelike grace to our new +house, and we decided that we would never economize in either wood or +oil; they seemed to stir the home spirit more than ever did coal or +electricity. + +The day had been a busy one for the ladies, but they were pleased with +results as they looked around the well-ordered house and saw the work of +their hands. Before separating for the night, Kate said:-- + +"I'm going to town to-morrow, and I'll pick up Jane and Jack in time to +take the four o'clock train out. Papa will meet us at the station, and +Momee will greet us at the doorstep. Make an illumination, Momee, and we +will carry them by storm. Tom will have to take a later train, but he +will be here in time for dinner." + +The afternoon of the 23d, the children came, and there was no failure in +Kate's plan. The youngsters were delighted with everything. Jane said:-- + +"I always wanted to live on a farm. I can have a saddle horse now, and +keep as many dogs as I like, can't I, Dad?" + +"You shall have the horse, and the dogs, too, when you come to stay." + +"Daddy," said Jack, "this will be great for you. Let me finish at an +agricultural college, so that I can be of some practical help." + +"Not on your life, my son! What your daddy doesn't know about farming +wouldn't spoil a cup of tea! While you are at home I will give you daily +instruction in this most wholesome and independent business, which will +be of incalculable benefit to you, and which, I am frank to say, you +cannot get in any agricultural college. College, indeed! I have spent +thousands of hours in dreaming and planning what a farm should be like! +Do you suppose I am going to let these visions become contaminated by +practical knowledge? Not by a long way! I have, in the silent watches +of the night, reduced the art to mathematical exactness, and I can show +you the figures. Don't talk to me about colleges!" + +After supper we took the children through the house. Every part was +inspected, and many were the expressions of pleasure and admiration. +They were delighted with their rooms, and apparently with everything +else. We finally quieted down in front of the open fire and discussed +plans for the holidays. The children decided that it must be a house +party. + +"Florence Marcy is with an aunt for whom she doesn't particularly care, +and Minnie will just jump at the chance of spending a week in the +country," said Jane. + +"You can invite three girls, and Jack can have three men. Of course +Jessie Gordon will be here. We will drive over in the morning and make +sure of her." + +"Jack, whom will you ask? Get some good men out here, won't you?" + +"The best in the world, little sister, and you will have to keep a sharp +lookout or you will lose your heart to one of them. Frank Howard will +count it a lark. He has stuck to the "business" as faithfully as if he +were not heir to it, and he will come sure to-morrow night. Dear old +Phil--my many years' chum--will come because I ask him. These two are +all right, and we can count on them. The other one is Jim Jarvis,--the +finest man in college." + +"Tell us about him, Jack." + +"Jarvis's father lives in Montana, and has a lot of gold mines and other +things to keep him busy. He doesn't have time to pay much attention to +his son, who is growing up after his own fashion. Jim's mother is dead, +and he has neither brother nor sister,--nothing but money and beauty and +health and strength and courage and sense and the stanchest heart that +ever lifted waistcoat! He has been on the eleven three years. They want +him in the boat, but he'll not have it; says it's not good work for a +man. He's in the first division, well toward the front, too, and in the +best society. He's taken a fancy to me, and I'm dead gone on him. He's +the man for you to shun, little woman, unless you wish to be led +captive." + +"There are others, Jack, so don't worry about me. But do you think you +can secure this paragon?" + +"Not a doubt of it! I'll wire him in the morning, and he'll be here as +soon as steam can bring him; he's my best chum, you know." + +This would make our party complete. We were all happy and pleased, and +the evening passed before we knew it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +CHRISTMAS EVE + + +The next day was a busy one for all of us. Polly and Jane drove to the +Gordons and secured Miss Jessie, and then Jane went to town to fetch her +other friends. Jack went with her, after having telegraphed to Jim +Jarvis. They all came home by mid-afternoon, just as a message came from +Jarvis: "Will be on deck at six." + +Florence Marcy and Minnie Henderson were former neighbors and +schoolmates of Jane's. They were fine girls to look at and bright girls +to talk with; blondes, eighteen, high-headed, full of life, and great +girls for a house party. Phil and Frank were good specimens of their +kinds. Frank was a little below medium height, slight, blond, vivacious +to a degree, full of fun, and the most industrious talker within miles; +he would "stir things up" at a funeral. Phil Stone was tall, slender, +dark, quiet, well-dressed, a good dancer, and a very agreeable fellow in +the corner of the room, where his low musical voice was most effective. + +Jessie Gordon came at five o'clock. We were all very fond of Jessie, and +who could help it? She was tall (considerably above the average +height), slender, straight as an arrow, graceful in repose and in +motion. She carried herself like a queen, with a proud kind of shyness +that became her well. Her head was small and well set on a slender neck, +her hair dark, luxurious, wavy, and growing low over a broad forehead, +her eyes soft brown, shaded by heavy brows and lashes. She had a Grecian +nose, and her mouth was a shade too wide, but it was guarded by +singularly perfect and sensitive lips. Her chin was pronounced enough to +give the impression of firmness; indeed, save for the soft eyes and +sensitive mouth, firmness predominated. She was not a great talker, yet +every one loved to listen to her. She laughed with her eyes and lips, +but rarely with her voice. She enjoyed intensely, and could, therefore, +suffer intensely. She was a dear girl in every way. + +All was now ready for the debut of Jack's paragon. Jack had driven to +the station to fetch him, and presently the sound of wheels on the +gravel drive announced the arrival of the last guest. I went into the +hall to meet the men. + +"Daddy, I want you to know my chum, Jim Jarvis,--the finest all-round +son of old Eli. Jarvis, this is my daddy,--the finest father that ever +had son!" + +"I'm right glad to meet you, Mr. Jarvis; your renown has preceded you." + +"I fear, Doctor, it has _exceeded_ me as well. Jack is not to be +trusted on all subjects. But, indeed, I thank you for your hospitality; +it was a godsend to me." + +As we entered the living room, Polly came forward and I presented Jarvis +to her. + +"You are more than welcome, Mr. Jarvis! Jack's 'best friend' is certain +of a warm corner at our fireside." + +"Madam, I find no word of thanks, but I _do_ thank you. I have envied +Jack his home letters and the evidences of mother care more than +anything else,--and God knows there are enough other things to envy him +for. I have no mother, and my father is too busy to pay much attention +to me. I wish you would adopt me; I'll try to rival Jack in all that is +dutiful." + +She did adopt him then and there, for who could refuse such a son! Brown +hair, brown eyes, brown skin, a frank, rugged, clean-shaven face, +features strong enough to excite criticism and good enough to bear it; +broad-shouldered, deep-chested, strong in arm and limb, he carried his +six feet of manhood like an Apollo in tweeds. He was introduced to the +girls,--the men he knew,--but he was not so quick in his speeches to +them. Our Hercules was only mildly conscious of his merits, and was +evidently relieved when Jack hurried him off to his room to dress for +dinner. When he was fairly out of hearing there was a chorus of +comments. The girls all declaimed him handsome, and the boys said:-- + +"That isn't the best of it,--he's a _trump_! Wait till you know him." + +Jane was too loyal to Jack to admit that his friend was any handsomer or +in any way a finer fellow than her brother. + +"Who said he was?" said Frank, "Jack Williams is out and out the finest +man I know. We were sizing him up by such fellows as Phil and me." + +"Jack's the most popular man at Yale," said Phil, "but he's too modest +to know it; Jarvis will tell you so. He thinks it's a great snap to have +Jack for his chum." + +These things were music in my ears, for I was quite willing to agree +with the boys, and the mother's eyes were full of joy as she led the way +to the dining room. That was a jolly meal. Nothing was said that could +be remembered, and yet we all talked a great deal and laughed a great +deal more. City, country, farm, college, and seminary were touched with +merry jests. Light wit provoked heavy laughter, and every one was the +better for it. It was nine o'clock before we left the table. I heard +Jarvis say:-- + +"Miss Jane, I count it very unkind of Jack not to have let me go to +Farmington with him last term. He used to talk of his 'little sister' as +though she were a miss in short dresses. Jack is a deep and treacherous +fellow!" + +"Rather say, a very prudent brother," said Jane. "However, you may come +to the Elm Tree Inn in the spring term, if Jack will let you." + +"I'll work him all winter," was Jarvis's reply. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +CHRISTMAS + + +Christmas light was slow in coming. There was a hush in the air as if +the earth were padded so that even the footsteps of Nature might not be +heard. Out of my window I saw that a great fall of snow had come in the +night. The whole landscape was covered by fleecy down--soft and white as +it used to be when I first saw it on the hills of New England. No wind +had moved it; it lay as it fell, like a white mantle thrown lightly over +the world. Great feathery flakes filled the air and gently descended +upon the earth, like that beautiful Spirit that made the plains of Judea +bright two thousand years ago. It seemed a fitting emblem of that nature +which covered the unloveliness of the world by His own beauty, and +changed the dark spots of earth to pure white. + +It was an ideal Christmas morning,--clean and beautiful. Such a wealth +of purity was in the air that all the world was clothed with it. The +earth accepted the beneficence of the skies, and the trees bent in +thankfulness for their beautiful covering. It was a morning to make one +thoughtful,--to make one thankful, too, for home and friends and +country, and a future that could be earned, where the white folds of +usefulness and purity would cover man's inheritance of selfishness and +passion. + +For an hour I watched the big flakes fall; and, as I watched, I dreamed +the dream of peace for all the world. The brazen trumpet of war was a +thing of the past. The white dove of peace had built her nest in the +cannon's mouth and stopped its awful roar. The federation of the world +was secured by universal intelligence and community of interest. Envy +and selfishness and hypocrisy, and evil doing and evil speaking, were +deeply covered by the snowy mantle that brought "peace on earth and good +will to men." + +My dream was not dispelled by any rude awakening. As the house threw off +the fetters of the night and gradually struggled into activity, it was +in such a fresh and loving manner and with such thoughtful solicitude +for each member of our world, that I walked in my dream all day. + +The snow fell rapidly till noon, and then the sun came forth from the +veil of clouds and cast its southern rays across the white expanse with +an effect that drew exclamations of delight from all who had eyes to +see. No wind stirred the air, but ever and anon a bright avalanche would +slide from bough or bush, sparkle and gleam as the sun caught it, and +then sink gently into the deep lap spread below. The bough would spring +as if to catch its beautiful load, and, failing in this, would throw up +its head and try to look unconcerned,--though quite evidently conscious +of its bereavement. + +The appearance of the sun brought signs of life and activity. The men +improvised a snow-plough, the strong horses floundering in front of it +made roads and paths through the two feet of feathers that hid the +world. + +After lunch, the young people went for a frolic in the snow. Two hours +later the shaking of garments and stamping of feet gave evidence of the +return of the party. Stepping into the hall I was at once surrounded by +the handsomest troupe of Esquimaux that ever invaded the temperate zone. +The snow clung lovingly to their wet clothing and would not be shaken +off; their cheeks were flushed, their eyes bright, and their voices +pitched at an out-of-doors key. + +"Away to your rooms, every one of you, and get into dry clothes," said +I. "Don't dare show yourselves until the dinner bell rings. I'll send +each of you a hot negus,--it's a prescription and must be taken; I'm a +tyrant when professional." + +We saw nothing more of them until dinner. The young ladies came in +white, with their maiden shoulders losing nothing by contact with their +snow-white gowns. All but Miss Jessie, whose dress was a pearl velvet, +buttoned close to her slender throat. I loved this style best, but I +could never believe that anything could be prettier than Jane's white +shoulders. + +The table was loaded, as Christmas tables should be, and, as I asked +God's blessing on it and us, the thought came that the answer had +preceded the request and that we were blessed in unusual degree. + +After dinner the rugs in the great room were rolled up, and the young +folks danced to Laura's music, which could inspire unwilling feet. But +there were none such that night. Tom and Kate led off in the newest and +most fantastic waltz, others followed, and Polly and I were the only +spectators. An hour of this, and then we gathered around the hearth to +hear Polly read "The Christmas Carol." No one reads like Polly. Her low, +soft voice seems never to know fatigue, but runs on like a musical +brook. When the reading was over, a hush of satisfied enjoyment had +taken possession of us all. It was not broken when Miss Jessie turned to +the piano and sang that glorious hymn, "Lead, Kindly Light." Jack was +close beside her, his blue eyes shining with an appreciation of which +any woman might be proud, and his baritone in perfect harmony with her +rich contralto. The young ladies took the higher part, Frank added his +tenor, and even Phil and I leaned heavily on Jarvis's deep bass. My +effort was of short duration; a lump gathered in my throat that caused +me to turn away. Polly was searching fruitlessly for something to dry +the tears that overran her eyes, and I was able to lend her aid, but the +accommodation was of the nature of a "call loan." + +As we separated for the night, Jarvis said: "Lady mother, this day has +been a revelation to me. If I live a hundred years, I shall never forget +it." I was slow in bringing it to a close. As I loitered in my room, I +heard the shuffling of slippered feet in the hall, and a timid knock at +Polly's door. It was quickly opened for Jane and Jessie, and I heard +sobbing voices say:-- + +"Momee, we want to cry on your bed," and, "Oh, Mrs. Williams, why can't +all days be like this!" + +Polly's voice was low and indistinct, but I know that it carried strong +and loving counsel; and, as I turned to my pillow, I was still dreaming +the dream of the morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +WE CLOSE THE BOOKS FOR '96 + + +The morning after Christmas broke clear, with a wind from the south that +promised to make quick work of the snow. The young people were engaged +for the evening, as indeed for most evenings, in the hospitable village, +and they spent the day on the farm as pleased them best. + +There were many things to interest city-bred folk on a place like Four +Oaks. Everything was new to them, and they wanted to see the workings of +the factory farm in all its detail. They made friends with the men who +had charge of the stock, and spent much time in the stables. Polly and I +saw them occasionally, but they did not need much attention from us. We +have never found it necessary to entertain our friends on the farm. They +seem to do that for themselves. We simply live our lives with them, and +they live theirs with us. This works well both for the guests and for +the hosts. + +The great event of the holiday week was a New Year Eve dance at the +Country Club. Every member was expected to appear in person or by proxy, +as this was the greatest of many functions of the year. + +Sunday was warm and sloppy, and little could be done out of doors. Part +of the household were for church, and the rest lounged until luncheon; +then Polly read "Sonny" until twilight, and Laura played strange music +in the half-dark. + +The next day the men went into town to look about, and to lunch with +some college chums. As they would not return until five, the ladies had +the day to themselves. They read a little, slept a little, and talked +much, and were glad when five o'clock and the men came. Tea was so hot +and fragrant, the house so cosey, and the girls so pretty, that Jack +said:-- + +"What chumps we men were to waste the whole day in town!" + +"And what do you expect of men, Mr. Jack?" said Jessie. + +"Yes, I know, the old story of pearls and swine, but there are pearls +and pearls." + +"Do you mean that there are more pearls than swine, Mr. Jack? For, if +you do, I will take issue with you." + +"If I am a swine, I will be an aesthetic one and wear the pearl that +comes my way," said Jack, looking steadily into the eyes of the +high-headed girl. + +"Will you have one lump or two?" + +"One," said Jack, as he took his cup. + +The last day of the year came all too quickly for both young and old at +Four Oaks. Polly and I went into hiding in the office in the afternoon +to make up the accounts for the year. As Polly had spent the larger +lump sum, I could face her with greater boldness than on the previous +occasion. Here is an excerpt from the farm ledger:-- + +Expended in 1896 $43,309 +Interest on previous account 2,200 + _______ + Total $45,509 +Receipts 5,105 + _______ +Net expense $40,404 +Previous account 44,000 + _______ + $84,404 + +The farm owes me a little more than $84,000. "Not so good as I hoped, +and not so bad as I feared," said Polly. "We will win out all right, Mr. +Headman, though it does seem a lot of money." + +"Like the Irishman's pig," quoth I. "Pat said, 'It didn't weigh nearly +as much as I expected, but I never thought it would.'" + +There was little to depress us in the past, and nothing in the present, +so we joined the young people for the dance at the Club. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +OUR FRIENDS + + +After our guests had departed, to college or school or home, the house +was left almost deserted. We did not shut it up, however. Fires were +bright on all hearths, and lamps were kept burning. We did not mean to +lose the cheeriness of the house, though much of the family had +departed. For a wonder, the days did not seem lonesome. After the fist +break was over, we did not find time to think of our solitude, and as +the weeks passed we wondered what new wings had caused them to fly so +swiftly. Each day had its interests of work or study or social function. +Stormy days and unbroken evenings were given to reading. We consumed +many books, both old and new, and we were not forgotten by our friends. +The dull days of winter did not drag; indeed, they were accepted with +real pleasure. Our lives had hitherto been too much filled with the +hurry and bustle inseparable from the fashionable existence-struggle of +a large city to permit us to settle down with quiet nerves to the real +happiness of home. So much of enjoyment accompanies and depends upon +tranquillity of mind, that we are apt to miss half of it in the turmoil +of work-strife and social-strife that fill the best years of most men +and women. + +It is a pity that all overwrought people cannot have a chance to relax +their nerves, and to learn the possibilities of happiness that are +within them. Most of the jars and bickerings of domestic life, most of +the mental and moral obliquities, depend upon threadbare nerves, either +inherited or uncovered by friction incident to getting on in the world. +I never understood the comforts that follow in the wake of a quiet, +unambitious life, until such a life was forced upon me. When you +discover these comforts for the first time, you marvel that you have +foregone them so long, and are fain to recommend them to all the world. + +Polly and I had gotten on reasonably well up to this time; but before we +became conscious of any change, we found ourselves drawn closer together +by a multitude of small interests common to both. After twenty-five +years of married life it will compensate any man to take a little time +from business and worry that he may become acquainted with his wife. A +few fortunate men do this early in life, and they draw compound interest +on the investment; but most of us feel the cares of life so keenly that +we take them home with us to show in our faces and to sit at our tables +and to blight the growth of that cheerful intercourse which perpetuates +love and cements friendship in the home as well as in the world. + +There were no serious cares nowadays, and time passed so smoothly at +Four Oaks that we wondered at the picnic life that had fallen to us. The +village of Exeter was alive in all things social. The city families who +had farms or country places near the village were so fond of them that +they rarely closed them for more than two or three months, and these +months were as likely to come in summer as in winter. + +Our friends the Gordons made Homestead Farm their permanent residence, +though they kept open house in town. Beyond the Gordons' was the modest +home of an Irish baronet, Sir Thomas O'Hara. Sir Tom was a bachelor of +sixty. He had run through two fortunes (as became an Irish baronet) in +the racing field and at Homburg, and as a young man he had lived ten +years at Limmer's tavern in London. When not in training to ride his own +steeple-chasers, he was putting up his hands against any man in England +who would face him for a few friendly rounds. He was not always +victorious, either in the field, before the green cloth, or in the ring; +but he was always a kind-hearted gentleman who would divide his last +crown with friend or foe, and who could accept a beating with grace and +unruffled spirit. + +He could never ride below the welter weight, and after a few years he +outgrew this weight and was forced to give up the least expensive of +his diversions. The green cloth now received more of his attention, +and, as a matter of course, of his money. Things went badly with him, +and he began to see the end of his second fortune before he called a +halt. Bad times in Ireland seriously reduced his rents, and he was +forced to dispose of his salable estates. Then he came to this country +in the hope of recouping himself, and to get away from the fast set that +surrounded him. + +"I can resist anything but temptation," this warm-hearted Irishman would +say; and that was the keynote of his character. + +Though Sir Tom was only sixty years old, he looked seventy. He was much +broken in health by gout and the fast pace of his early manhood. But his +spirit was untouched by misfortune, disease, or hardship. His courage +was as good as when he served as a subaltern of the Guards in the +trenches before Sebastopol, or presented his body as a mark for the +sledge-hammer blows of Tom Sayers, just for diversion. His constitution +must have been superb, for even in his decrepitude he was good to look +upon: five feet ten, fine body, slightly given to rotundity, legs a +little shrunken in the shanks, but giving unmistakable signs of what +they had been ("not lost, but gone before," as he would say of them), +hands and feet aristocratic in form and well cared for, and a fine head +set on broad shoulders. His hair was thin, and he parted it with great +exactness in the middle. His eyes were brown, large, and of exceeding +softness. His nose was straight in spite of many a contusion, and his +whole expression was that of a high-bred gentleman somewhat the worse +for wear. Sir Tom was perfectly groomed when he came forth from his +chamber, which was usually about ten in the morning. + +Those of us who had access to his rooms often wondered how he ever got +out of them looking so immaculate, for they were a perfectly impassable +jungle to the stranger. Such a tangle of trunks, hand-bags, rug bundles, +clothes, boots, pajamas, newspapers, scrap-books, B. & S. bottles, could +hardly be found anywhere else in the world. He had a fondness for +newspaper clippings, and had trunks of them, sorted into bundles or +pasted in scrap-books. Old volumes of Bell's _Life_ filled more than one +trunk, and on one occasion when he and I were spending a long evening +together, in celebration of his recent recovery from an attack of gout, +and when he had done more than usual justice to the B. & S. bottles and +less than usual justice to his gout, he showed me the record of a +long-gone year in which this same Bell's _Life_ called him the "first +among the gentlemen riders in the United Kingdom," and proved this +assertion by showing how he had won most of the great steeple-chases in +England and Ireland, riding his own horses. This was the nearest +approach to boasting that ever came to my knowledge in the years of our +close friendship, and I would never have thought of it as such had I +not seen that he regarded it as unwarrantable self-praise. + +I have never known a more simple, kind-hearted, agreeable, and lovable +gentleman than this broken-down sporting man and gambler. I loved him as +a brother; and though he has passed out of my life, I still love the +memory of his genial face, his courtesy, his unselfish friendship, more +than words can express. A tender heart and a gentle spirit found strange +housing in a body given over to reckless prodigality. The combination, +tempered by time and exhaustion, showed nothing that was not lovable; +and it is scant praise to say that Sir Thomas was much to me. + +He was just as acceptable to Polly. No woman could fail to appreciate +the homage which he never failed to show to the wife and mother. Many +winter evenings at Four Oaks were made brighter by his presence, and we +grew to expect him at least three nights each week. His plate was placed +on our round table these nights, and he rarely failed to use it; and the +B. & S. bottles were near at hand, and his favorite brand of cigars +within easy reach. + +"I light a 'baccy' by your permission, Mrs. Williams," and a courtly bow +accompanied the words. + +At 9.30 William came to bring Sir Tom home. The leave-taking was always +formal with Polly, but with me it was, "Ta-ta, Williams--see you +later," and our guest would hobble out on his poor crippled feet, waving +his hand gallantly, with a voice as cheery as a boy's. + +Another family whom I wish the reader to know well is the Kyrles. For +more than twenty-five years we have known no joys or sorrows which they +did not feel, and no interests that touched them have failed to leave a +mark on us. We could not have been more intimate or better friends had +the closest blood tie united us. The acquaintance of young married +couples had grown into a friendship that was bearing its best fruit at a +time when best fruit was most appreciated. We do not consider a pleasure +more than half complete until we have told it to Will and Frances Kyrle, +for their delight doubles our happiness. + +They were among the earliest of my patients, and they are easily first +among our friends. I have watched more than a half-dozen of their +children from infancy to adult life, and this alone would be a strong +bond; but in addition to this is the fact that the whole family, from +father to youngest child, possess in a wonderful degree that subtle +sense of true camaraderie which is as rare as it is charming. + +The Kyrles lived in the city, but they were foot-free, and we could +count on having them often. Four Oaks was to be, if we had our way, a +country home for them almost as much as for us. Indeed, one of the +rooms was called the Kyrles' room, and they came to it at will. Enough +about our friends. We must go back to the farm interests, which are, +indeed, the only excuse for this history. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +THE HEADMAN'S JOB + + +Our life at Four Oaks began in earnest in January, 1897. Even during the +winter months there was no lack of employment and interest for the +Headman. I breakfasted at seven, and from that time until noon I was as +busy as if I were working for $20 a month. The master's eye is worth +more than his hand in a factory like mine. My men were, and are, an +unusual lot,--intelligent, sober, and willing,--but they, like others, +are apt to fall into routine ways, and thereby to miss points which an +observing proprietor would not overlook. + +The cows, for instance, were all fed the same ration. Fifteen pounds of +mixed grains was none too much for the big Holstein milk-makers, who +were yielding well and looking in perfect health; but the common cows +were taking on too much flesh and falling off in milk. I at once changed +the ration for these six cows by leaving out the corn entirely and +substituting oat straw for alfalfa in the cut feed. The change brought +good results in five of the cows; the other one did not pick up in her +milk, and after a reasonable trial I sold her. + +The herd was doing excellently for mid-winter,--the yield amounted to a +daily average of 840 pounds throughout the month, and I was able to make +good my contract with the middleman. I could see breakers ahead, +however, and it behooved me to make ready for them. I decided to buy ten +more thoroughbreds in new milk, if I could find them. I wrote to the +people from whom I had purchased the first herd, and after a little +delay secured nine cows in fresh milk and about four years old. This +addition came in February, and kept my milk supply above the danger +point. Since then I have bought no cows. Thirty-four of these +thoroughbreds are still at Four Oaks--two of them have died, and three +have been sold for not keeping up to the standard--and are doing grand +service. Their numbers have been reenforced by twenty of their best +daughters, so there are at this writing fifty-four milch cows and five +yearling heifers in the herd. Most of the calves have been disposed of +as soon as weaned. I have no room for more stock on my place, and it +doesn't pay to keep them to sell as cows. Four Oaks is not a breeding +farm, but a factory farm, and everything has to be subordinated to the +factory idea. + +My thoroughbred calves have brought me an average price of $12 each at +four to six weeks, sold to dairymen, and I am satisfied to do business +in that way. The nine milch cows which I bought to complete the herd +cost, delivered at Four Oaks, $1012. + +All the grain fed to cows, horses, and hogs, and a portion of that fed +to chickens, is ground fine before feeding. The grinding is done in the +granary by a mill with a capacity of forty bushels an hour. We make corn +meal, corn and cob meal, and oatmeal enough for a week's supply in a few +hours. All hay and straw is cut fine, before being fed, by a power +cutter in the forage barn, and from thence is taken by teams in box +racks to the feeding rooms, where it is wetted with hot water and mixed +with the ground feed for the cows and horses, and steamed or cooked with +the ground feed for the hogs and hens. + +Alfalfa is the only hay used for the hens, and wonderfully good it is +for them. Besides feed for the hogs, we have to provide ashes, salt, and +charcoal for them. These three things are kept constantly before them in +narrow troughs set so near the wall that they cannot get their feet into +them. + +We carefully save all wood ashes for the hogs and hens, and we burn our +own charcoal in a pit in the wood lot. Five cords of sound wood make an +abundant supply for a year. I think this side dish constantly before +swine goes a long way toward keeping them healthy. Clean pens, +well-balanced and well-cooked food, pure water, and this medicine can +be counted on to keep a growing and fattening herd healthy during its +nine months of life. + +It is claimed that it is unnatural and artificial to confine these young +things within such narrow limits, and so it is; but the whole scheme is +unnatural, if you please. The pig is born to die, and to die quickly, +for the profit and maintenance of man. What could be more unnatural? +Would he be better reconciled to his fate after spending his nine months +between field and sty? I wot not. The Chester White is an indolent +fellow, and I suspect he loves his comfortable house, his cool stone +porch, his back yard to dig in, his neighbors across the wire fence to +gossip with, and his well-balanced, well-cooked food served under his +own nose three times a day. At least he looks content in his piggery, +and grows faster and puts on more flesh in his 250 days than does his +neighbor of the field. If the hog's profitable life were twice or thrice +as long, I would advocate a wider liberty for the early part of it; but +as it doesn't pay to keep the animal after he is nine months old, the +quickest way to bring him to perfection is the best. One cannot afford +to graze animals of any kind when one is trying to do intensive farming. +It is indirect, it is wasteful of space and energy, and it doesn't force +the highest product. Grazing, as compared with soiling, may be +economical of labor, but as I understand economics that is the one +thing in which we do not wish to economize. The multiplication of +well-paid and well-paying labor is a thing to be specially desired. If +the soiling farm will keep two or three more men employed at good wages, +and at the same time pay better interest than the grazing farm, it +should be looked upon as much the better method. The question of +furnishing landscape for hogs is one that borders too closely on the +aesthetic or the sentimental to gain the approval of the factory-farm +man. What is true of hogs is also true of cows. They are better off +under the constant care of intelligent and interested human beings than +when they follow the rippling brook or wind slowly o'er the lea at their +own sweet pleasure. + +The truth is, the rippling brook doesn't always furnish the best water, +and the lea furnishes very imperfect forage during nine months of the +year. A twenty-acre lot in good grass, in which to take the air, is all +that a well-regulated herd of fifty cows needs. The clean, cool, calm +stable is much to their liking, and the regular diet of a first-class +cow-kitchen insures a uniform flow of milk. + +What is true of hogs and cows is true also of hens. The common opinion +that the farm-raised hen that has free range is healthier or happier +than her sister in a well-ordered hennery is not based on facts. Freedom +to forage for one's self and pick up a precarious living does not always +mean health, happiness, or comfort. The strenuous life on the farm +cannot compare in comfort with the quiet house and the freedom from +anxiety of the well-tended hen. The vicissitudes of life are terrible +for the uncooped chicken. The occupants of air, earth, and water lie in +wait for it. It is fair game for the hawk and the owl; the fox, the +weasel, the rat, the wood pussy, the cat, and the dog are its sworn +enemies. The horse steps on it, the wheel crushes it; it falls into the +cistern or the swill barrel; it is drenched by showers or stiffened by +frosts, and, as the English say, it has a "rather indifferent time of +it." If it survive the summer, and some chickens do, it will roost and +shiver on the limb of an apple tree. Its nest will be accessible only to +the mink and the rat; and, like Rachel, it will mourn for its children, +which are not. + +No, the well-yarded hen has by all odds the best of it. The wonder is +that, with three-fourths of the poultry at large and making its own +living, hens still furnish a product, in this country alone, +$100,000,000 greater in value than the whole world's output of gold. Our +annual production of eggs and poultry foots up to $280,000,000,--$4 +apiece for every man, woman, and child,--and yet people say that hens do +not pay! + +Each flock of forty hens at Four Oaks has a house sixteen feet by +twenty, and a run twenty feet by one hundred. I hear no complaints of +close quarters or lack of freedom, but I do hear continually the song +of contentment, and I see results daily that are more satisfactory than +those of any oil well or mine in which I have ever been interested. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +SPRING OF '97 + + +Sam began to make up his breeding pens in January. He selected 150 of +his favorites, divided them into 10 flocks of 15, added a fine cockerel +to each pen (we do not allow cocks or cockerels to run with the laying +hens), and then began to set the incubator house in order. + +He filled the first incubator on Saturday, January 30, and from that day +until late in April he was able to start a fresh machine about every six +days. Sam reports the total hatch for the year as 1917 chicks, out of +which number he had, when he separated them in the early autumn, 678 +pullets to put in the runs for laying hens, and 653 cockerels to go to +the fattening pens. These figures show that Sam was a first-class +chicken man. + +We secured 300 tons of ice at the side of the lake for $98, having to +pay a little more that year than the last, on account of the heavy fall +of snow. + +The wood-house was replenished, although there was still a good deal of +last year's cut on hand. We did not fell any trees, for there was still +a considerable quantity of dead wood on the ground which should be used +first. I wanted to clear out much of the useless underbrush, but we had +only time to make a beginning in this effort at forestry. We went over +perhaps ten acres across the north line, removing briers and brush. +Everything that looked like a possible future tree was left. Around oak +and hickory stumps we found clumps of bushes springing from living +roots. These we cut away, except one or possibly two of the most +thrifty. We trimmed off the lower branches of those we saved, and left +them to make such trees as they could. I have been amazed to see what a +growth an oak-root sprout will make after its neighbors have been cut +away. There are some hundreds of these trees in the forest at Four Oaks, +from five to six inches in diameter, which did not measure more than one +or two inches five years ago. + +As the underbrush was cleared from the wood lot, I planned to set young +trees to fill vacant spaces. The European larch was used in the first +experiment. In the spring of 1897 I bought four thousand seedling +larches for $80, planted them in nursery rows in the orchard, cultivated +them for two years, and then transplanted them to the forest. The larch +is hardy and grows rapidly; and as it is a valuable tree for many +purposes, it is one of the best for forest planting. I have planted no +others thus far at Four Oaks, as the four thousand from my little +nursery seem to fill all unoccupied spaces. + +Fresh mulching was piled near all the young fruit trees, to be applied +as soon as the frost was out of the ground. Several hundreds of loads of +manure were hauled to the fields, to be spread as soon as the snow +disappeared. I always return manure to the land as soon as it can be +done conveniently. The manure from the hen-house was saved this year to +use on the alfalfa fields, to see how well it would take the place of +commercial fertilizer. I may as well give the result of the experiment +now. + +It was mixed with sand and applied at the rate of eight hundred pounds +an acre for the spring dressing over a portion of the alfalfa, against +four hundred pounds an acre of the fertilizer 3:8:8. After two years I +was convinced that, when used alone, it is not of more than half the +value of the fertilizer. + +My present practice is to use five hundred pounds of hen manure and two +hundred pounds of fertilizer on each acre for the spring dressing, and +two hundred pounds an acre of the fertilizer alone after each cutting +except the last. We have ten or twelve tons of hen manure each year, and +it is nearly all used on the alfalfa or the timothy as spring dressing. +It costs nothing, and it takes off a considerable sum from the +fertilizer account. I am not at all sure that the scientists would +approve this method of using it; I can only give my experience, and say +that it brings me satisfactory crops. + +There was much snow in January and February, and in March much rain. +When the spring opened, therefore, the ground was full of water. This +was fortunate, for April and May were unusually dry months,--only 1.16 +inches of water. + +The dry April brought the ploughs out early; but before we put our hands +to the plough we should make a note of what the first quarter of 1897 +brought into our strong box. + +Sold: + Butter . . . . $842.00 + Eggs . . . . 401.00 + Cow . . . . 35.00 + Two sows . . . 19.00 + Total . . . $1297.00 + +Fifteen of the young sows farrowed in March, and the other 9 in April, +as also did 18 old ones. The young sows gave us 147 pigs, and the old +ones 161, so that the spring opened with an addition to our stock of 300 +head of young swine. + +Between March 1 and May 10 were born 25 calves, which were all sold +before July 1. The population of our factory farm was increasing so +rapidly that it became necessary to have more help. We already had eight +men and three women, besides the help in the big house. One would think +that eight men could do the work on a farm of 320 acres, and so they +can, most of the time; but in seed-time and harvest they are not +sufficient at Four Oaks. We could not work the teams. + +Up to March, 1897, Sam had full charge of the chickens, and also looked +after the hogs, with the help of Anderson. Judson and French had their +hands full in the cow stables, and Lars was more than busy with the +carriage horses and the driving. Thompson was working foreman, and his +son Zeb and Johnson looked after the farm horses during the winter and +did the general work. From that time on Sam gave his entire time to the +chickens, Anderson his entire time to the hogs, and Johnson began +gardening in real earnest. This left only Thompson and Zeb for general +farm work. + +Again I advertised for two farm hands. I selected two of the most +promising applicants and brought them out to the farm. Thompson +discharged one of them at the end of the first day for persistently +jerking his team, and the other discharged himself at the week's end, to +continue his tramp. Once more I resorted to the city papers. This time I +was more fortunate, for I found a young Swede, square-built and +blond-headed, who said he had worked on his father's farm in the old +country, and had left it because it was too small for the five boys. +Otto was slow of speech and of motion, but he said he could work, and I +hired him. The other man whom I sent to the farm at the same time proved +of no use whatever. He stayed four days, and was dismissed for +innocuous desuetude. Still another man whom I tried did well for five +weeks, and then broke out in a most profound spree, from which he could +not be weaned. He ended up by an assault on Otto in the stable yard. The +Swede was taken by surprise, and was handsomely bowled over by the first +onslaught of his half-drunk, half-crazed antagonist. As soon, however, +as his slow mind took in the fact that he was being pounded, he gathered +his forces, and, with a grunt for a war-cry, rolled his enemy under him, +sat upon his stomach, and, flat-handed, slapped his face until he +shouted for aid. The man left the farm at once, and I commended the +Swede for having used the flat of his hand. + +In spite of bad luck with the new men we were able to plough and seed +144 acres by May 10. Lots Nos. 8, 12, 13, and 14 were planted to corn, +and No. 15 sowed to oats, and the 10 acres on the home lot were divided +between sweet fodder corn, potatoes, and cabbage. The abundant water in +the soil gave the crops a fair start, and June proved an excellent +growing month, a rainfall of nearly four inches putting them beyond +danger from the short water supply of July and August. Indeed, had it +not been for the generosity of June we should have been in a bad way, +for the next three months gave a scant four inches of rain. + +The oats made a good growth, though the straw was rather short, and the +corn did very well indeed,--due largely to thorough cultivation. Twelve +acres of oats were cut for forage, and the rest yielded 33 bushels to +the acre,--a little over 1300 bushels. + +The alfalfa and timothy made a good start. From the former we cut, late +in June, 21/4 tons to the acre, and from the timothy, in July, 21/2 +tons,--50 tons of timothy and 45 of alfalfa. Each of these fields +received the usual top-dressing after the crop was cut; but the timothy +did not respond,--the late season was too dry. We cut two more crops +from the alfalfa field, which together made a yield of a little more +than 2 tons. The alfalfa in that dry summer gave me 95 tons of good hay, +proving its superiority as a dry-weather crop. + +Johnson started the one-and-one-half-acre vegetable and fruit garden in +April, and devoted much of his time to it. His primitive hotbeds +gradually emptied themselves into the garden, and we now began to taste +the fruit of our own soil, much to the pleasure of the whole colony. It +is surprising what a real gardener can do with a garden of this size. By +feeding soil and plants liberally, he is able to keep the ground +producing successive crops of vegetables, from the day the frost leaves +it in the spring until it again takes possession in the fall, without +doing any wrong to the land. Indeed, our garden grows better and more +prolific each year in spite of the immense crops that are taken from +it. This can be done only by a person who knows his business, and +Johnson is such a person. He gave much of his time to this practical +patch, but he also worked with Polly among the shrubs on the lawn, and +in her sunken flower garden, which is the pride of her life. We shall +hear more about this flower garden later on. + +The accounts for the second quarter of the year show these items on the +income side:-- + +Butter $1052.00 +Eggs 379.00 +Twenty-five calves 275.00 + -------- +Total $1706.00 + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +THE YOUNG ORCHARD + + +One of the most enjoyable occupations of a farmer's life is the care of +young trees. Until your experience in this work is of a personal and +proprietary nature, you will not realize the pleasure it can afford. The +intimate study of plant life, especially if that plant life is yours, is +a never failing source of pleasurable speculation, and a thing upon +which to hang dreams. You grow to know each tree, not only by its shape +and its habit of growth, but also by peculiarities that belong to it as +an individual. The erect, sturdy bearing of one bespeaks a frank, bold +nature, which makes it willing to accept its surroundings and make the +most of them; while the crooked, dwarfish nature of another requires the +utmost care of the husbandman to keep it within the bounds of good +behavior. And yet we often find that the slow-growing, ill-conditioned +young tree, if properly cared for, will bring forth the finest fruit at +maturity. + +To study the character and to watch the development of young trees is a +pleasing and useful occupation for the man who thinks of them as living +things with an inheritance that cannot be ignored. That seeds in all +appearance exactly alike should send forth shoots so unlike, is a wonder +of Nature; and that young shoots in the same soil and with the same care +should show such dissimilarity in development, is a riddle whose answer +is to be found only in the binding laws of heredity. That a tiny bud +inserted under the bark of a well-grown tree can change a sour root to a +sweet bough, ought to make one careful of the buds which one grafts on +the living trunk of one's tree of life. The young orchard can teach many +lessons to him who is willing to be taught; in the hands of him who is +not, the schoolmaster has a very sorry time of it, no matter how he sets +his lessons. + +The side pockets of my jacket are usually weighted down with +pruning-shears, a sharp knife, and a handled copper wire,--always, +indeed, in June, when I walk in my orchard. June is the month of all +months for the prudent orchardist to go thus armed, for the apple-tree +borer is abroad in the land. When the quick eye of the master sees a +little pile of sawdust at the base of a tree, he knows that it is time +for him to sit right down by that tree and kill its enemy. The sharp +knife enlarges the hole, which is the trail of the serpent, and the +sharp-pointed, flexible wire follows the route until it has reached and +transfixed the borer. + +This is the only way. It is the nature of the borer to maim or kill the +tree; it is for the interest of the owner that the tree should live. The +conflict is irrepressible, and the weakest must go to the wall. The +borer evil can be reduced to a minimum by keeping the young trees banked +three or four inches high with firm dirt or ashes; but borers must be +followed with the wire, once they enter the bark. + +The sharp knife and the pruning-shears have other uses in the June +orchard. Limbs and sprouts will come in irregular and improper places, +and they should be nipped out early and thus save labor and mutilation +later on. Sprouts that start from the eyes on the trunk can be removed +by a downward stroke of the gloved hand. All intersecting or crossing +boughs are removed by knife or scissors, and branches which are too +luxuriant in growth are cut or pinched back. Careful guidance of the +tree in June will avoid the necessity of severe correction later on. + +A man ought to plant an orchard, if for no other reason, that he may +have the pleasure of caring for it, and for the companionship of the +trees. This was the second year of growth for my orchard, and I was +gratified by the evidences of thrift and vigor. Fine, spreading heads +adorned the tops of the stubs of trees that had received such +(apparently) cruel treatment eighteen months before. The growth of these +two seasons convinced me that the four-year-old root and the +three-year-old stem, if properly managed, have greater possibilities of +rapid development than roots or stems of more tender age. I think I made +no mistake in planting three-year-old trees. + +As I worked in my orchard I could not help looking forward to the time +when the trees would return a hundred-fold for the care bestowed upon +them. They would begin to bring returns, in a small way, from the fourth +year, and after that the returns would increase rapidly. It is safe to +predict that from the tenth to the fortieth year a well-managed orchard +will give an average yearly income of $100 an acre above all expenses, +including interest on the original cost. A fifty-acre orchard of +well-selected apple trees, near a first-class market and in intelligent +hands, means a net income of $5000, taking one year with another, for +thirty or forty years. What kind of investment will pay better? What +sort of business will give larger returns in health and pleasure? + +I do not mean to convey the idea that forty years is the life of an +orchard; hundreds of years would be more correct. As trees die from +accident or decrepitude, others should take their places. Thus the lease +of life becomes perpetual in hands that are willing to keep adding to +the soil more than the trees and the fruit take from it. Comparatively +few owners of orchards do this, and those who belong to the majority +will find fault with my figures; but the thinking few, who do not expect +to enjoy the fat of the land without making a reasonable return, will +say that I am too conservative,--that a well-placed, well-cared-for, +well-selected, and well-marketed orchard will do much better than my +prophecy. Nature is a good husbandman so far as she goes, but her scheme +contemplates only the perpetuation of the tree, by seeds or by other +means. Nature's plan is to give to each specimen a nutritive ration. +Anything beyond this is thrown away on the individual, and had better be +used for the multiplying of specimens. When man comes to ask something +more than germinating seeds from a plant, he must remove it from the +crowded clump, give it more light and air, _and feed it for product_. In +other words, he must give it more nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash +than it can use for simple growth and maintenance, and thus make it +burst forth into flower-or fruit-product. Nature produces the apple +tree, but man must cultivate it and feed it if he would be fed and +comforted by it. People who neglect their orchards can get neither +pleasure nor profit from them, and such persons are not competent to sit +in judgment upon the value of an apple tree. Only those who love, +nourish, and profit by their orchards may come into the apple court and +speak with authority. + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +THE TIMOTHY HARVEST + + +On Friday, the 25th, the children came home from their schools, and with +them came Jim Jarvis to spend the summer holidays. Our invitation to +Jarvis had been unanimous when he bade us good-by in the winter. Jack +was his chum, Polly had adopted him, I took to him from the first, and +Jane, in her shy way, admired him greatly. The boys took to farm life +like ducks to water. They were hot for any kind of work, and hot, too, +from all kinds. I could not offer anything congenial until the timothy +harvest in July. When this was on, they were happy and useful at the +same time,--a rare combination for boys. + +The timothy harvest is attractive to all, and it would be hard to find a +form of labor which contributes more to the aesthetic sense than does the +gathering of this fragrant grass. At four o'clock on a fine morning, +with the barometer "set fair," Thompson started the mower, and kept it +humming until 6.30, when Zeb, with a fresh team, relieved him. Zeb tried +to cut a little faster than his father, but he was allowed no more +time. Promptly at nine he was called in, and there was to be no more +cutting that day. At eleven o'clock the tedder was started, and in two +hours the cut grass had been turned. At three o'clock the rake gathered +it into windrows, from which it was rolled and piled into heaps, or +cocks, of six hundred or eight hundred pounds each. The cutting of the +morning was in safe bunches before the dew fell, there to go through the +process of sweating until ten o'clock the next day. It was then opened +and fluffed out for four hours, after which all hands and all teams +turned to and hauled it into the forage barn. + +The grass that was cut one morning was safely housed as hay by the +second night, if the weather was favorable; if not, it took little harm +in the haycocks, even from foul weather. It is the sun-bleach that takes +the life out of hay. + +This year we had no trouble in getting fifty tons of as fine timothy hay +as horses could wish to eat or man could wish to see. We began to cut on +Tuesday, the 6th of July, and by Saturday evening the twenty-acre crop +was under cover. The boys blistered their hands with the fork handles, +and their faces, necks, and arms with the sun's rays, and claimed to +like the work and the blisters. Indeed, tossing clean, fragrant hay is +work fit for a prince; and a man never looks to better advantage or more +picturesque than when, redolent with its perfume, he slings a jug over +the crook in his elbow and listens to the gurgle of the home-made ginger +ale as it changes from jug to throat. There may be joys in other drinks, +but for solid comfort and refreshment give me a July hay-field at 3 +P.M., a jug of water at forty-eight degrees, with just the amount of +molasses, vinegar, and ginger that is Polly's secret, and I will give +cards and spades to the broadest goblet of bubbles that was ever poured, +and beat it to a standstill. Add to this a blond head under a broad hat, +a thin white gown, such as grasshoppers love, and you can see why the +emptying of the jug was a satisfying function in our field; for Jane was +the one who presided at these afternoon teas. Often Jane was not alone; +Florence or Jessie, or both, or others, made hay while the sun shone in +those July days, and many a load went to the barn capped with white and +laughter. The young people decided that a hay farm would be ideal--no +end better than a factory farm--and advised me to put all the land into +timothy and clover. I was not too old to see the beauties of +haying-time, with such voluntary labor; but I was too old and too much +interested with my experiment to be cajoled by a lot of youngsters. I +promised them a week of haying in each fifty-two, but that was all the +concession I would make. Laura said:-- + +"We are commanded to make hay while the sun shines; and the sun always +shines at Four Oaks, for me." + +It was pretty of her to say that; but what else would one expect from +Laura? + +The twelve acres from which the fodder oats had been cut were ploughed +and fitted for sugar beets and turnips. I was not at all certain that +the beets would do anything if sown so late, but I was going to try. Of +the turnips I could feel more certain, for doth not the poet say:-- + + "The 25th day of July, + Sow your turnips, wet or dry"? + +As the 25th fell on Sunday, I tried to placate the agricultural poet by +sowing half on the 24th and the other half on the 26th, but it was no +use. Whether the turnip god was offended by the fractured rule and +refused his blessing, or whether the dry August and September prevented +full returns, is more than I can say. Certain it is that I had but a +half crop of turnips and a beggarly batch of beets to comfort me and the +hogs. + +Some little consolation, however, was found in Polly's joy over a small +crop of currants which her yearling bushes produced. I also heard rumors +of a few cherries which turned their red cheeks to the sun for one happy +day, and then disappeared. Cock Robin's breast was red the next morning, +and on this circumstantial evidence Polly accused him. He pleaded "not +guilty," and strutted on the lawn with his thumbs in the armholes of his +waistcoat and his suspected breast as much in evidence as a pouter +pigeon's. A jury, mostly of blackbirds, found the charge "not proven," +and the case was dismissed. I was convinced by the result of this trial +that the only safe way would be to provide enough cherries for the birds +and for the people too, and ordered fifty more trees for fall planting. +I found by experience, that if one would have bird neighbors (and who +would not?), he must provide liberally for their wants and also for +their luxuries. I have stolen a march as to the cherries by planting +scores of mulberry trees, both native and Russian. Birds love mulberries +even better than they do cherries, and we now eat our pies in peace. To +make amends for this ruse, I have established a number of drinking +fountains and free baths; all of which have helped to make us friends. + +In August I sold, near the top of a low market, 156 young hogs. At $4.50 +per hundred, the bunch netted me $1807. They did not weigh quite as much +as those sold the previous autumn, and I found two ways of accounting +for this. The first and most probable was that fall pigs do not grow so +fast as those farrowed in the spring. This is sufficient to account for +the fact that the herd average was twenty pounds lighter than that of +its predecessor. I could not, however, get over the notion that +Anderson's nervousness had in some way taken possession of the swine (we +have Holy Writ for a similar case), and that they were wasted in growth +by his spirit of unrest. He was uniformly kind to them and faithful +with their food, but there was lacking that sense of cordial sympathy +which should exist between hog and man if both would appear at their +best. Even when Anderson came to their pens reeking with the rich savor +of the food they loved, their ears would prick up (as much as a Chester +White's ears can), and with a "woof!" they would shoot out the door, +only to return in a moment with the greatest confidence. I never heard +that "woof" and saw the stampede without looking around for the "steep +place" and the "sea," feeling sure that the incident lacked only these +accessories to make it a catastrophe. + +Anderson was good and faithful, and he would work his arms and legs off +for the pigs; but the spirit of unrest entered every herd which he kept, +though neither he nor I saw it clearly enough to go and "tell it in the +city." With other swineherds my hogs averaged from fifteen to eighteen +pounds better than with faithful Anderson, and I am, therefore, +competent to speak of the gross weight of the spirit of contentment. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +STRIKE AT GORDON'S MINE + + +Frank Gordon owned a coal mine about six miles west of the village of +Exeter, and four miles from Four Oaks. A village called Gordonville had +sprung up at the mouth of the mine. It was the home of the three hundred +miners and their families,--mostly Huns, but with a sprinkling of +Cornishmen. + +The houses were built by the owner of the mine, and were leased to the +miners at a small yearly rental. They were modest in structure, but they +could be made inviting and neat if the occupants were thrifty. No one +was allowed to sell liquor on the property owned by the Gordons, but +outside of this limit was a fringe of low saloons which did a thriving +business off the improvident miners. + +There had never been a strike at Gordonville, and such a thing seemed +improbable, for Gordon was a kind master, who paid his men promptly and +looked after their interests more than is usual for a capitalist. + +It was, therefore, a distinct surprise when the foreman of the mine +telephoned to Gordon one July morning that the men had struck work. +Gordon did not understand the reason of it, but he expressed himself as +being heartily glad, for financial reasons, that the men had gone out. +He had more than enough coal on the surface and in cars to supply the +demand for the next three months, and it would be money in his pocket to +dispose of his coal without having to pay for the labor of replacing it. + +During the day the reason for the strike was announced. From the +establishment of the mine it had been the custom for the miners to have +their tools sharpened at a shop built and run by the property. This was +done for the accommodation of the men, and the charge for keeping the +tools sharp was ten cents a week for each man, or $5 a year. For twenty +years no fault had been found with the arrangement; it had been looked +upon as satisfactory, especially by the men. A walking delegate, mousing +around the mine, and finding no other cause for complaint, had lighted +upon this practice, and he told the men it was a shame that they should +have to pay ten cents a week out of their hard-earned wages for keeping +their tools sharp. He said that it was the business of the property to +keep the tools sharp, and that the men should not be called upon to pay +for that service; that they ought, in justice to themselves and for the +dignity of associated labor, to demand that this onerous tax be removed; +and, to insure its removal, he declared a strike on. This was the +reason, and the only reason, for the strike at Gordon's mine. Three +hundred men quit work, and three hundred families suffered, many of them +for the necessities of life, simply because a loud-mouthed delegate +assured them that they were being imposed upon. + +Things went on quietly at the mine. There was no riot, no disturbance. +Gordon did not go over, but simply telephoned to the superintendent to +close the shaft houses, shut down the engines, put out the fires, and +let things rest, at the same time saying that he would hold the +superintendent and the bosses responsible for the safety of the plant. + +The men were disappointed, as the days went by, that the owner made no +effort to induce them to resume work. They had believed that he would at +once accede to their demand, and that they would go back to work with +the tax removed. This, however, was not his plan. Weeks passed and the +men became restless. They frequented the saloons more generally, spent +their remaining money for liquor, and went into debt as much as they +were permitted for more liquor. They became noisy and quarrelsome. The +few men who were opposed to the strike could make no headway against +public opinion. These men held aloof from the saloons, husbanded their +money, and confined themselves as much as possible to their own houses. + +Things had gone on in this way for six weeks. The men grew more and +more restless and more dissipated. Again the walking delegate came to +encourage them to hold out. Mounted on an empty coal car, he made an +inflammatory speech to the men, advising them not only to hold out +against the owner, but also to prevent the employment of any other help. +If this should not prove sufficient, he advised them to wreck the mining +property and to fire the mine,--anything to bring the owner to terms. + +Jack and Jarvis went for a long walk one day, and their route took them +near Gordonville. Seeing the men collected in such numbers around a coal +car, they approached, and heard the last half of this inflammatory +speech. As the walking delegate finished, Jack jumped up on the car, and +said:-- + +"McGinnis has had his say; now, men, let me have mine. There are always +two sides to a question. You have heard one, let me give you the other. +I am a delegate, self-appointed, from the amalgamated Order of Thinkers, +and I want you to listen to our view of this strike,--and of all +strikes. I want you also to think a little as well as to listen. + +"You have been led into this position by a man whose sole business is to +foment discords between working-men and their employers. The moment +these discords cease, that moment this man loses his job and must work +or starve like the rest of you. He is, therefore, an interested party, +and he is more than likely to be biassed by what seems to be his +interest. He has made no argument; he has simply asserted things which +are not true, and played upon your sympathies, emotions, and passions, +by the use of the stale war-cries--'oppression,' 'down-trodden +working-man,' 'bloated bond-holders,' and, most foolish of all, 'the +conflict between Capital and Labor.' You have not thought this matter +out for yourselves at all. That is why I ask you to join hands for a +little while with the Order of Thinkers and see if there is not some +good way out of this dilemma. McGinnis said that the Company has no +right to charge you for keeping your tools sharp. In one sense this is +true. You have a perfect right to work with dull tools, if you wish to; +you have the right to sharpen your own tools; and you also have the +right to hire any one else to do it for you. You work 'by the ton,' you +own your pickaxes and shovels from handle to blade, and you have the +right to do with them as you please. + +"There are three hundred of you who use tools; you each pay ten cents a +week to the Company for keeping them sharp,--that is, in round numbers, +$1500 a year. There are two smiths at work at $50 a month (that is +$1200), and a helper at $25 a month ($300 more), making just $1500 paid +by the Company in wages. If you will think this matter out, you will see +that there is a dead loss to the Company of the coal used, the wear and +tear of the instruments, and the interest, taxes, insurance, and +degeneration of the plant. Is the Company under obligation to lose this +money for you? Not at all! The Company does this as an accommodation and +a gratuity to you, but not as a duty. Just as much coal would be taken +from the Gordon mine if your tools were never sharpened, only it would +require more men, and you would earn less money apiece. You could not +get this sharpening done at private shops so cheaply, and you cannot do +it yourselves. You have no more right to ask the Company to do this work +for nothing than you have to ask it to buy your tools for you. It would +be just as sensible for you to strike because the Company did not send +each of you ten cents' worth of ice-cream every Sunday morning, as it is +for you to go out on this matter of sharpening tools. + +"But, suppose the Company were in duty bound to do this thing for you, +and suppose it should refuse; would that be a good reason for quitting +work? Not by any means! You are earning an average of $2 a day,--nearly +$16,000 a month. You've 'been out' six weeks. If you gain your point, it +will take you fifteen years to make up what you've already lost. If you +have the sense which God gives geese, you will see that you can't afford +this sort of thing. + +"But the end is not yet. You are likely to stay out six weeks longer, +and each six weeks adds another fifteen years to your struggle to catch +up with your losses. Is this a load which thinking people would impose +upon themselves? Not much! You will lose your battle, for your strike is +badly timed. It seems to be the fate of strikes to be badly timed; they +usually occur when, on account of hard times or over-supply, the +employers would rather stop paying wages than not. That's the case now. +Four months of coal is in yards or on cars, and it's an absolute benefit +to the Company to turn seventy or eighty thousand dollars of dead +product into live money. Don't deceive yourselves with the hope that you +are distressing the owner by your foolish strike; you are putting money +into his pockets while your families suffer for food. There is no great +principle at stake to make your conduct seem noble and to call forth +sympathy for your suffering,--only foolishness and the blind following +of a demagogue whose living depends upon your folly. + +"McGinnis talked to you about the conflict between capital and labor. +That is all rot. There is not and there cannot be such a conflict. Labor +makes capital, and without capital there would be no object in labor. +They are mutually dependent upon each other, and there can be no quarrel +between them, for neither could exist after the death of the other. The +capitalist is only a laborer who has saved a part of his wages, +--either in his generation or in some preceding one. Any man with a +sound mind and a sound body can become a capitalist. When the laborer +has saved one dollar he is a capitalist,--he has money to lend at +interest or to invest in something that will bring a return. The second +dollar is easier saved than the first, and every dollar saved is earning +something on its own account. All persons who have money to invest or to +lend are capitalists. Of course, some are great and some are small, but +all are independent, for they have more than they need for immediate +personal use. + +"I am going to tell you how you may all become capitalists; but first I +want to point out your real enemies. The employer is not your enemy, +capital is not your enemy, but the saloonkeeper is,--and the most deadly +enemy you can possibly have. In that fringe of shanties over yonder live +the powers that keep you down; there are the foes that degrade you and +your families, forcing you to live little better than wild beasts. Your +food is poor, your clothing is in rags, your children are without shoes, +your homes are desolate, there are no schools and no social life. Year +follows year in dreary monotone, and you finally die, and your neighbors +thrust you underground and have an end of you. Misery and wretchedness +fill the measure of your days, and you are forgotten. + +"This dull, brutish condition is self-imposed, and to what end? That +some dozen harpies may fatten on your flesh; that your labor may give +them leisure; that your suffering may give them pleasure; that your +sweat may cool their brows, and your money fill their tills! + +"What do you get in return? Whiskey, to poison your bodies and pervert +your minds; whiskey, to make you fierce beasts or dull brutes; whiskey, +to make your eyes red and your hands unsteady; whiskey, to make your +homes sties and yourselves fit occupants for them; whiskey, to make you +beat your wives and children; whiskey, to cast you into the gutter, the +most loathsome animal in all the world. This is cheap whiskey, but it +costs you dear. All that makes life worth living, all that raises man +above the brute, and all the hope of a future life, are freely given for +this poor whiskey. The man who sells it to you robs you of your money +and also of your manhood. You pay him ten times (often twenty times) as +much as it cost him, and yet he poses as your friend. + +"I'm not going to say anything against beer, for I don't think good beer +is very likely to hurt a man. I will say this, however,--you pay more +than twice what it is worth. This is the point I would make: beer is a +food of some value, and it should be put on a food basis in price. It +isn't more than half as valuable as milk, and it shouldn't cost more +than half as much. You can have good beer at three or four cents a +quart, if you will let whiskey alone. + +"I promised to tell you how to become capitalists, each and every one of +you, and I'll keep my word if you'll listen to me a little longer." + +While Jack had been speaking, some of the men had shown considerable +interest and had gradually crowded their way nearer to the boy. Thirty +or forty Cornishmen and perhaps as many others of the better sort were +close to the car, and seemed anxious to hear what he had to say. Back of +these, however, were the large majority of the miners and the hangers-on +at the saloons, who did not wish to hear, and did not mean that others +should hear, what the boy had to say. Led by McGinnis and the +saloon-keepers, they had kept up such a row that it had been impossible +for any one, except those quite near the car, to hear at all. Now they +determined to stop the talk and to bounce the boy. They made a vigorous +rush for the car with shouts and uplifted hands. + + +A gigantic Cornishman mounted the car, and said, in a voice that could +easily be heard above the shouting of the crowd:-- + +"Wait--wait a bit, men! The lad is a brave one, and ye maun own to that! +There be small 'urt in words, and mebbe 'e 'ave tole a bit truth. Me and +me mates 'ere are minded to give un a chance. If ye men don't want to +'ear 'im, you don't 'ave to stay; but don't 'e dare touchen with a +finger, or, by God! Tom Carkeek will kick the stuffin' out en 'e!" + +This was enough to prevent any overt act, for Tom Carkeek was the +champion wrestler in all that county; he was fiercer than fire when +roused, and he would be backed by every Cornishman on the job. + +Jack went on with his talk. "The 'Order of Thinkers' claim that you men +and all of your class spend one-third of your entire wages for whiskey +and beer. There are exceptions, but the figures will hold good. I am +going to call the amount of your wages spent in this way, one-fourth. +The yearly pay-roll of this mine is, in round numbers, $200,000. Fifty +thousand of this goes into the hands of those harpies, who grow rich as +you grow poor. You are surprised at these figures, and yet they are too +small. I counted the saloons over there, and I find there are eleven of +them. Divide $50,000 into eleven parts, and you would give each saloon +less than $5000 a year as a gross business. Not one of those places can +run on the legitimate percentage of a business which does not amount to +more than that. Do you suppose these men are here from charitable +motives or for their health? Not at all. They are here to make money, +and they do it. Five or six hundred dollars is all they pay for the vile +stuff for which they charge you $5000. They rob you of manhood and money +alike. + +"Now, what would be the result if you struck on these robbers? I will +tell you. In the first place, you would save $50,000 each year, and you +would be better men in every way for so doing. You would earn more +money, and your children would wear shoes and go to school. That would +be much, and well worth while; but that is not the best of it. I will +make a proposition to you, and I will promise that it shall be carried +out on my side exactly as I state it. + +"This is a noble property. In ten years it has paid its owner +$500,000,--$50,000 a year. It is sure to go on in this way under good +management. I offer, in the name of the owner, to bond this property to +you for $300,000 for five years at six per cent. Of course this is an +unusual opportunity. The owner has grown rich out of it, and he is now +willing to retire and give others a chance. His offer to you is to sell +the mine for half its value, and, at the same time, to give you five +years in which to pay for it. I will add something to this proposition, +for I feel certain that he will agree to it. It is this: Mr. Gordon will +build and equip a small brewery on this property, in which good, +wholesome beer can be made for you at one cent a glass. You are to pay +for the brewery in the same way that you pay for the other property; it +will cost $25,000. This will make $325,000 which you are to pay during +the next five years. How? Let me tell you. + +"The property will give you a net income of $40,000 or $50,000, and you +will save $50,000 more when you give up whiskey and get your beer for +less than one-fourth of what it now costs you. The general store at +which you have always traded will be run in your interests, and all that +you buy will be cheaper. The market will be a cooperative one, which +will furnish you meat, fattened on your own land, at the lowest price. +Your fruit and vegetables will come from these broad acres, which will +be yours and will cost you but little. You will earn more money because +you will be sober and industrious, and your money will purchase more +because you will deal without a middleman. You will be better clothed, +better fed, and better men. Your wives will take new interest in life, +and there will be carpets on your floors, curtains at your windows, +vegetables behind your cottages, and flowers in front of them. + +"All these things you will have with the money you are now earning, and +at the same time you will be changing from the laborer to the +capitalist. The mine gives you a profit of $40,000, and you save +one-fourth of your wages, which makes $50,000 more,--$90,000 in all. +What are you to do with this? Less than $20,000 will cover the interest. +You will have $70,000 to pay on the principal. This will reduce the +interest for the next year more than $3000. Each year you can do as +well, and by the time the five years have passed you will own the mine, +the land, the brewery, the store, the market, and this blessed +blacksmith shop about which you have had so much fuss, and also a bank +with a paid-up capital of $50,000. You are capitalists, every one of +you, at the end of five years, if you wish to be, and if you are willing +to give up the single item,--whiskey. + +"Do you like the plan? Do you like the prospect? Turn it over and see +what objections you can find. If you are willing to go into it, come +over to Four Oaks some day and we will go more into details. McGinnis +gave you one side of the picture: I have given you the other. You are at +liberty to follow whichever you please." + +Jack and Jarvis jumped off the car and struck out for home. Carkeek and +his Cornishmen followed the lads until they were well clear of the +village, to protect them, and then Carkeek said:--"Me and the others +like for to hear 'e talk, mister, and we like for to 'ear 'e talk more." + +"All right, Goliath," said Jack. "Come over any time and we'll make +plans." + + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +THE RIOT + + +Two days later the boys, returning from the city, were met by Jane and +Jessie in the big carriage to be driven home. Halfway to Four Oaks the +carriage suddenly halted, and a confused murmur of angry voices gave +warning of trouble. Jack opened the door and stood upon the step. + +"Fifteen or twenty drunken miners block the way,--they are holding the +horses," said he. + +"Let me out; I'll soon clear the road," said Jarvis, trying to force his +way past Jack. + +"Sit still, Hercules; I am slower to wrath than you are. Let me talk to +them," and Jack took three or four steps forward, followed closely by +Jarvis. + +"Well, men, what do you want? There is no good in stopping a carriage on +the highroad." + +"We want work and money and bread," said a great bearded Hun who was +nearest to Jack. + +"This is no way to get either. We have no work to offer, there is no +bread in the carriage, and not much money. You are dead wrong in this +business, and you are likely to get into trouble. I can make some +allowance when I remember the bad whiskey that is in you, but you must +get out of our way; the road is public and we have the right to use it." + +"Not until you have paid toll," said the Hun. + +"That's the rooster who said we drank whiskey and didn't work. He's the +fellow who would rob a poor man of his liberty," came a voice in the +crowd. + +"Knock his block off!" + +"Break his back!" + +"Let me at him," and a score of other friendly offers came from the +drunken crowd. + +Jack stood steadily looking at the ruffians, his blue eyes growing black +with excitement and his hands clenched tightly in the pockets of his +reefer. + +"Slowly, men, slowly," said he. "If you want me, you may have me. There +are ladies in the carriage; let them go on; I'll stay with you as long +as you like. You are brave men, and you have no quarrel with ladies." + +"Ladies, eh!" said the Hun, "ladies! I never saw anything but _women_. +Let's have a look at them, boys." + +This speech was drunkenly approved, and the men pressed forward. Jack +stood firm, his face was white, but his eyes flamed. + +"Stand off! There are good men who will die for those ladies, and it +will go hard but bad men shall die first." + +The Hun disregarded the warning. + +"I'll have a look into--" + +"Hell!" said the slow-of-wrath Jack, and his fist went straight from the +shoulder and smote the Hun on the point of the jaw. It was a terrible +blow, dealt with all the force of a trained athlete, and inspired by +every impulse which a man holds dear; and the half-drunken brute fell +like a stricken ox. Catching the club from the falling man, Jack made a +sudden lunge forward at the face of the nearest foe. + +"Now, Jim!" he shouted, as the full fever of battle seized him. His +forward lunge had placed another miner _hors de combat_, and Jarvis +sprang forward and secured the wounded man's bludgeon. + +"Back to back, Jack, and mind your guard!" + +The odds were eighteen to two against the young men, but they did not +heed them. Back to back they stood, and the heavy clubs were like +feathers in their strong hands. Their skill at "single stick" was of +immense advantage, for it built a wall of defence around them. The +crazy-drunk miners rushed upon them with the fierceness of wild beasts; +they crowded in so close as to interfere with their own freedom of +movement; they sought to overpower the two men by weight of numbers and +by showers of blows. Jack and Jim were kept busy guarding their own +heads, and it was only occasionally that they could give an aggressive +blow. When these opportunities came, they were accepted with fierce +delight, and a miner fell with a broken head at every blow. Two fell in +front of Jack and three went down under Jarvis's club. The battle had +now lasted several minutes, and the strain on the young men was telling +on their wind; they struck as hard and parried as well as at first, but +they were breathing rapidly. The young men cheered each other with +joyous words; they felt no need of aid. + +"Beats football hollow!" panted Jarvis. + +"Go in, old man! you're a dandy full-back!" came between strokes from +Jack. + +Let us leave the boys for a minute and see what the girls are doing. +When Jarvis got out of the carriage, he said:-- + +"Lars, if there is trouble here, you drive on as soon as you can get +your horses clear. Never mind us; we'll walk home. Get the ladies to +Four Oaks as soon as possible." + +When the battle began, the miners left the horses to attack the men. +This gave a clear road, and Lars was ready to drive on, but the girls +were not in the carriage. They had sprung out in the excitement of the +first sound of blows; and now stood watching with glowing eyes and white +faces the prowess of their champions. For minutes they watched the +conflict with fear and pride combined. When seven or eight minutes had +passed and the champions had not slain all their enemies, some degree of +terror arose in the minds of the young ladies,--terror lest their +knights be overpowered by numbers or become exhausted by slaying,--and +they looked about for aid. Lars, remembering what Jarvis had said, urged +the ladies to get into the carriage and be driven out of danger. They +repelled his advice with scorn. Jane said:--"I won't stir a step until +the men can go with us!" + +Jessie said never a word, but she darted forward toward the fighting +men, stooped, picked up a fallen club, and was back in an instant. +Mounting quickly to the box, she said:--"I can hold the horses. Don't +you think you can help the men, Lars?" + +"I'd like to try, miss," and the coachman's coat was off in a trice and +the club in his hand. He was none too soon! + +Jane, who had mounted the box with Jessie, cried, "Look out, Jack!" +just as a heavy stone crashed against the back of his head. Some brute +in the crowd had sent it with all his force. The stone broke through the +Derby hat and opened a wide gash in Jack's scalp, and sent him to the +ground with a thousand stars glittering before his eyes. Jane gave a sob +and covered her eyes. Jessie swayed as though she would fall, but she +never took her eyes from the fallen man; her lips moved, but she said +nothing; and her face was ghastly white. Jarvis heard the dull thud +against Jack's head and knew that he was falling. Whirling swiftly, he +stopped a savage blow that was aimed at the stricken man, and with a +back-handed cut laid the striker low. + +"All right, Jack; keep down till the stars are gone." He stood with one +sturdy leg on each side of Jack's body and his big club made a charmed +circle about him. It was not more than twenty seconds before the wheels +were out of Jack's head and he was on his feet again, though not quite +steady. + +Jack's fall had given courage to the gang, and they made a furious +attack upon Jarvis, who was now alone and not a little impeded by the +friend at his feet. As Jack struggled to his legs, a furious blow +directed at him was parried by Jarvis's left arm,--his right being busy +guarding his own head. The blow was a fearful one; it broke the small +bone in the forearm, beat down the guard, and came with terrible force +upon poor Jack's left shoulder, disabling it for a minute. At the same +time Jarvis received a nasty blow across the face from an unexpected +quarter. He was staggered by it, but he did not fall. Jack's right arm +was good and very angry; a savage jab with his club into the face of the +man who had struck Jarvis laid him low, and Jack grinned with +satisfaction. + +Things were going hard with the young men. They had, indeed, +disqualified nine of the enemy; but there were still eight or ten more, +and through hard work and harder knocks they had lost more than half +their own fighting strength. At this rate they would be used up +completely while there were still three or four of the enemy on foot. +This was when they needed aid, and aid came. + +No sooner had Lars found himself at liberty and with a club in his hands +than he began to use it with telling effect. He attacked the outer +circle, striking every head he could reach, and such was his +sprightliness that four men fell headlong before the others became aware +of this attack from the rear. This diversion came at the right moment, +and proved effective. There were now but six of the enemy in fighting +condition, and these six were more demoralized by the sudden and unknown +element of a rear attack than by the loss of their thirteen comrades. +They hesitated, and half turned to look, and two of them fell under the +blows of Jack and Jarvis. As the rest turned to escape, the Swede's club +felled one, and the other three ran for dear life. They did not escape, +however, for the long legs of the young men were after them. Young blood +is hot, and the savage fight that had been forced upon these boys had +aroused all that was savage in them. In an instant they overtook two of +the fleeing men, but neither could strike an enemy in the back. Throwing +aside their clubs, each seized his enemy by the shoulder, turned him +face to face and smote him sore, each after his fashion. Then they +laughed, took hold of hands, and walked wearily back to the carriage. +Jarvis's face was covered with blood, and Jack's neck and shoulders were +drenched,--his wound had bled freely. Lars had relieved the ladies on +the box after administering kicks and blows in generous measure to the +dazed and crippled miners, who were crawling off the road or staggering +along it. The Swede had a strain of fierce North blood which was not +easily laid when once aroused, and he glared around the battle-field, +hoping to find signs of resistance. When none were to be seen, he donned +his coachman's coat and sat the box like a sphinx. + +The girls went quickly forward to meet the men. They said little, but +they put their hands on their battered champions in a way to make the +heart of man glad. The men were flushed and proud, as men have been, and +men will be, through all time, when they have striven savagely against +other savages in the sight of their mistresses, and have gained the +victory. Their bruises were numb with exultation and their wounds dumb +with pride. There was no regret for blows given or received,--no +sympathy for fallen foe. The male fights, in the presence of the female, +with savage delight, from the lowest to the highest ranks of creation, +and we must forgive our boys for some cruel exultation as they looked on +the field of strife. Better feelings will come when the blood flows less +rapidly in their veins! + +"We must hurry home," said Jane, "and let papa mend you." Then she +burst into tears. "Oh, I am so sorry and so frightened! Do you feel +_very_ bad, Jack? I know you are suffering dreadfully, Mr. Jarvis. Can't +I do something for you?" + +"My arm is bruised a bit," said Jarvis; "if you don't mind, you can +steady it a little." + +Jane's soft hands clasped themselves tenderly over Jarvis's great fist, +and she felt relieved in the thought that she was doing something for +her hero. She held the great right hand of Hercules tenderly, and Jarvis +never let her know that it was the _left_ arm that had been broken. She +felt certain that he must be suffering agony, for ever and anon his +fingers would close over hers with a spasmodic grip that sent a thrill +of mixed joy and pain to her heart. + +While I was bandaging the broken arm I saw the young lady going through +some pantomimic exercises with her hands, as if seeking to revive the +memory of some previous position; then her face blazed with a light, +half pleasure and half shame, and she disappeared. + +When the carriage arrived at Four Oaks, the story was told in few words, +and I immediately set to work to "mend" the boys. Jack insisted that +Jarvis should receive the first attention, and, indeed, he looked the +worse. But after washing the blood off his face, I found that beyond a +severe bruise, which would disfigure him for a few days, his face and +head were unhurt. His arm was broken and badly contused. After I had +attended to it, he said:-- + +"Doctor, I'm as good as new; hope Jack is no worse." + +I carefully washed the blood off Jack's head and neck, and found an ugly +scalp wound at least three inches long. It made me terribly anxious +until I fairly proved that the bone was uninjured. After giving the boy +the tonsure, I put six stitches into the scalp, and he never said a +word. Perhaps the cause of this fortitude could be found in the blazing +eyes of Jessie Gordon, which fixed his as a magnet, while her hands +clasped his tightly. Miss Jessie was as white as snow, but there was no +tremor in hand or eye. When it was all over, her voice was steady and +low as she said:-- + +"Jack Williams, in the olden days men fought for women, and they were +called knights. It was counted a noble thing to take peril in defence of +the helpless. I find no record of more knightly deed than you have done +to-day, and I know that no knight could have done it more nobly. I want +you to wear this favor on your hand." + +She kissed his hand and left the room. Jack didn't seem to mind the +wound in his head, but he gave great attention to his hand. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +THE RESULT + + +As soon as the first report of the battle reached me, I telephoned to +Bill Jackson, asking him to come at once to Four Oaks and to bring a man +with him. When he arrived, attended by his big Irishman, my men had +already put one of the farm teams to a great farm wagon, and had filled +the box nearly full of hay. We gave Jackson a hurried account of the +fight and asked him to go at once and offer relief to the wounded,--if +such relief were needed. Jackson was willing enough to go, but he was +greatly disappointed that he had missed the fight; it seemed unnatural +that there should be a big fight in his neighborhood and he not in it. + +"I'd give a ten-acre lot to have been with you, lads," said the big +farmer as he started off. + +Word had been sent to Dr. High to be ready to care for some broken +heads. Two hours later I drove to the Inn at Exeter and found the doctor +just commencing the work of repair. Thirteen men had been brought in by +the wagon, twelve of them more or less cut and bruised about the head, +and all needing some surgical attention. The thirteenth man was stone +dead. A terrific blow on the back of the head had crushed his skull as +if it had been an egg-shell, and he must have died instantly. After +looking this poor fellow over to make sure that there was no hope for +him, we turned our attention to the wounded. The barn had been turned +into a hospital, and in two hours we had a dozen sore heads well cared +for, and their owners comfortably placed for the night on soft hay +covered by blankets from the Inn. Mrs. French brought tea and gruels for +the thirsty, feverish fellows, and we placed Otto and the big Irishman +on duty as nurses for the night. The coroner had been summoned, and +arrived as we finished our work. He was an energetic official, and lost +no time in getting a jury of six to listen to the statements which the +wounded men would give. To their credit be it said that every one who +gave testimony at all, gave it to the effect that the miners were +crazy-drunk, that they stopped the carriage, provoked the fight, and did +their utmost to disable or destroy the enemy. The coroner would listen +to no further testimony, but gave the case to the jury. In five minutes +their verdict was returned, "justifiable and commendable homicide by +person unknown to the jury." + +The news of a fight and the death of a miner had reached Gordonville, +where it created intense excitement. By the time the inquest was over a +crowd of at least fifty miners had collected near the barn. Much +grumbling and some loud threats were heard. Jackson took it upon himself +to meet these angry men, and no one could have done better. Stepping +upon a box which raised him a foot or two above the crowd, he said:-- + +"See here, fellows, I want to say a word to you. My name's Jackson--Bill +Jackson; perhaps some of you know me. If you don't, I'll introduce +myself. I wasn't in this fight,--worse luck for me! but I am wide open +for engagements in that line. Some one inside said that this gang must +be conciliated, and I thought I would come out and do it. I understand +that you feel sore over this affair,--it's natural that you should,--but +you must remember that those boys out at Four Oaks couldn't accommodate +all of you. If you wouldn't mind taking me for a substitute, I'll do my +level best to make it lively for you. You don't need cards of +introduction to me; you needn't be American citizens; you needn't speak +English; all you have to do is to put up your hands or cock your hats, +and I'll know what you mean. If any of you thinks he hasn't had his +share of what's been going on this afternoon, he may just call on Bill +Jackson for the balance. I want to conciliate you if I can! I'm a +good-tempered man, and not the kind to pick a quarrel; but if any of you +low-lived dogs are looking for a fight, I'm not the man to disappoint +you! I came out here to satisfy you in this matter and to send you home +contented, and, by the jumping Jews! I'll do it if I have to break the +head of every dog's son among you! They told me to speak gently to you, +and by thunder, I've done it; but now I'm going to say a word for +myself! + +"A lot of your dirty crowd attacked two of the decentest men in the +county when they were riding with ladies; one of the gang got killed and +the rest got their skulls cracked. Would these boys fight for the girls +they had with them? Hell's blazes! I'll fight for just thinking of it! +Just one of you duffers say 'boo' to me! I'm going right through you!" + +Jackson sprang into the crowd, which parted like water before a strong +swimmer. He cocked his hat, smacked his fists, and invited any or all to +stand up to him. He was crazy for a fight, to get even with Jack and +Jarvis; but no one was willing to favor him. He marched through the gang +lengthways, crossways, and diagonally, but to no purpose. In great +disgust he returned to the barn and reported that the crowd would not be +"conciliated." When we left, however, there were no miners to be seen. + +It was after one o'clock in the morning when I reached home. Going +directly to the room occupied by the boys, I met Polly on the stairs. + +"I'm glad you've come," said she, "for I can't do a thing with those +boys; they are too wild for any use." + +Entering the room, I found the lads in bed, but hilarious. They had +sent for Lars and had filled him full of hot stuff and commendation. He +was sitting on the edge of a chair between the two beds, his honest eyes +bulging and his head rolling from the effects of unusual potations. The +lads had tasted the cup, too, but lightly; their high spirits came from +other sources. Victories in war and in love deserve celebration; and +when the two are united, a bit of freedom must be permitted. They sat +bolt upright against the heads of their beds with flushed faces and +shining eyes. They shouted Greek and Latin verse at the bewildered +Swede; they gave him the story of Lars Porsena in the original, and then +in bad Swedish. They called him Lars Porsena,--for had he not fought +gallantly? Then he was Gustavus Adolphus,--for had he not come to the +aid of the Protestants when they were in sore need? And then things got +mixed and the "Royal Swede" was Lars Adolphus or Gustavus Porsena Viking +all in one. The honest fellow was more than half crazed by strong +waters, incomprehensible words, and "jollying up" which the young chaps +had given him. + +"See here, boys, don't you see that you're sending your noble Swede to +his Lutzen before his time,--not dead, indeed, but dead drunk? This +isn't the sort of medicine for either of you; you should have been +asleep three hours ago. I'll take your last victim home." + +We heard no more from any of the fighters until nine in the morning. In +looking them over I found that the Swede had as sore a head as either of +the others, though he had never taken a blow. + +Many friends came to see the boys during the days of their seclusion, to +congratulate them on their fortunate escape, and to compliment them on +their skill and courage. The lads enjoyed being made much of, and their +convalescence was short and cheerful. Of course Sir Tom was the most +constant and most enthusiastic visitor. The warm-hearted Irishman loved +the boys always, but now he seemed to venerate them. The successful club +fight appealed to his national instincts as nothing else could have +done. + +"With twenty years off and a shillalah in me hand I would have been +proud to stand with you. By the Lord, I'm asking too much! I'll yield +the twenty years and only ask for the stick!" And his cane went whirling +around his head, now guarding, now striking, and now with elaborate +flourishes, after the most approved Donny-brook fashion. + +"But, me friend Jarvis, what is this you have on your face? Pond's +Extract! Oh, murder! What is the world coming to when fresh beef and +usquebaugh are crowded to the wall by bad-smelling water! Look at me +nose; it is as straight as God made it, and yet many a time it has been +knocked to one side of me face or spread all over me features. Nothing +but whiskey and raw beef could ever coax it back! It's God's mercy if +you are not deformed for life, me friend. Such privileges are not to be +neglected with impunity. Let me bathe your face with whiskey and put a +beef-steak poultice after it, and I'll have you as handsome as a girl in +three days." + +"Give me the steak and whiskey inside and I'll feel handsome at once," +said Jarvis. + +"Oh, the rashness of youth!" said Sir Tom. "But I'll not say a word +against it. Youth is the greatest luck in the world, and I'll not copper +it." + +And then our sporting friend grew reminiscent and told of a time at +Limmer's when the marquis and he occupied beds in the same room, not +unlike our boys' room--only smoky and dingy--and poulticed their +battered faces with beef, and used usquebaugh inside and outside, after +ten friendly rounds. + +"Queensbary's nose never resumed entirely after that night, but mine +came back like rubber. Maybe it was the beef--maybe it was usquebaugh; +me own preference is in favor of the latter." + +Sir Tom came every day so long as the boys were confined to the place, +and each day he was able to develop some new incident connected with the +battle which called for applause. After hearing Lars tell his story for +the fourth time, he gave him a ten-dollar note, saying:-- + +"You did nobly for a Swede, Mr. Gustavus Adolphus, but I would give ten +tenners to have had your place and your shillalah,--a Swede for a +match-lock, but an Irishman for a stick." + +Jack had hardly recovered when he was waited on by a committee from the +mine with a request that he would make another speech. He was asked to +make good his offer of bonding the property, and also to formulate a +plan of cooperation for the guidance of the men. Jack had the plans for +a cooperative mining village well digested, and was anxious to get them +before the miners. As soon as he was fit he went to Gordonville to try +to organize the work. Jarvis of course went with him, and Bill Jackson +and Sir Tom would not be denied; they did not say so, but they looked as +if they thought some diversion might be found. In spite of the influence +of strong whiskey, however, the meeting passed off peacefully. The +results that grew from this effort at reformation were so great and so +far-reaching that they deserve a book for their narration. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + +DEEP WATERS + + +For sharp contrasts give me the dull country. The unexpected is the +usual in small and in great things alike as they happen on a farm, and I +make no apology to the reader for entering them in my narrative. I only +ask him, if he be a city man, to take my word for the truth as to the +general facts. To some elaboration and embellishment I plead guilty, but +the groundwork is truth, and the facts stated are as real as the +foundations of my buildings or the cows in my stalls. If the fortunate +reader be a country man, he will need no assurance from me, for his eyes +have seen and his ears have heard the strange and startling episodes +with which the quiet country-side is filled. I do not dare record all +the adventures which clustered around us at Four Oaks. People who know +only the monotonous life of cities would not believe the half if told, +and I do not wish to invite discredit upon my story of the making of the +factory farm. + +The incidents I have given of the strike at Gordon's mine are +substantially correct, and I would love to follow them to their +sequel,--the cooeperative mine; but as that is a story by itself, I +cannot do it now. I promise myself, however, the pleasure of writing a +history of this innovation in coal-mining at an early date. It is worth +the world's knowing that a copartnership can exist between three hundred +equal partners without serious friction, and that community in business +interests on a large scale can be successfully managed without any +effort to control personal liberty, either domestic, social, or +religious. Indeed, I believe the success of this experiment is due +largely to the absence of any attempt to superintend the private +interests of its members,--the only bond being a common financial one, +and the one requisite to membership, ability to save a portion of the +wages earned. + +But to go back to farm matters. In August the ground was stirred for the +second time around the young trees. To do this, the mulch was turned +back and the surface for a space of three feet all around the tree was +loosened by hoe or mattock, and the mulch was then returned. The trees +were vigorous, and their leaves had the polish of health, in spite of +the dry July and August. The mulching must receive the credit for much +of this thrift, for it protected the soil from the rays of the sun and +invited the deep moisture to rise toward the surface. Few people realize +the amount of water that enters into the daily consumption of a tree. It +is said that the four acres of leaf surface of a large elm will +transpire or yield to evaporation eight tons of water in a day, and that +it takes more than five hundred tons of water to produce one ton of hay, +wheat, oats, or other crop. This seems enormous; but an inch of rain on +an acre of ground means more than a hundred tons of water, and +precipitation in our part of the country is about thirty-six inches per +annum, so that we can count on over thirty-six hundred tons of water per +acre to supply this tremendous evaporation of plant life. + +Water-pot and hose look foolish in the face of these figures; indeed, +they are poor makeshifts to keep life in plants during pinching times. A +much more effective method is to keep the soil loose under a heavy +mulch, for then the deep waters will rise. In our climate the tree's +growth for the year is practically completed by July 15, and fortunately +dry times rarely occur so early. We are, therefore, pretty certain to +get the wood growth, no matter how dry the year, since it would take +several years of unusual drought to prevent it. Of course the wood is +not all that we wish for in fruit trees; the fruit is the main thing, +and to secure the best development of it an abundant rainfall is needed +after the wood is grown. If the rain doesn't come in July and August, +heavy mulching must be the fruit-grower's reliance, and a good one it +will prove if the drought doesn't continue more than one year. After +July the new wood hardens and gets ready for the trying winter. If July +and August are very wet, growth may continue until too late for the wood +to harden, and it consequently goes into winter poorly prepared to +resist its rigors. The result is a killing back of the soft wood, but +usually no serious loss to the trees. The effort to stimulate late +summer growth by cultivation and fertilization is all wrong; use manures +and fertilizers freely from March until early June, but not later. The +fall mulch of manure, if used, is more for warmth than for fertility; it +is a blanket for the roots, but much of its value is leached away by the +suns and rains of winter. + +I felt that I had made a mistake in not sowing a cover crop in my +orchard the previous year. There are many excellent reasons for the +cover crop and not one against it. The first reason is that it protects +the land from the rough usage and wash of winter storms; the second, +that it adds humus to the soil; and the third, if one of the legumes is +used, that it collects nitrogen from the air, stores it in each knuckle +and joint, and holds it there until it is liberated by the decay of the +plant. As nitrogen is the most precious of plant foods, and as the +nitrate beds and deposits are rapidly becoming exhausted, we must look +to the useful legumes to help us out until the scientists shall be able +to fix the unlimited but volatile supply which the atmosphere contains, +and thus to remove the certain, though remote, danger of a nitrogen +famine. That this will be done in the near future by electric forces, +and with such economy as to make the product available for agricultural +purposes, is reasonably sure. In the meantime we must use the vetches, +peas, beans, and clovers which are such willing workers. + +The legumes fulfil the three requisites of the cover crop: protection, +humus, and the storing of nitrogen. That was why, when the corn in the +orchard was last cultivated in July, I planted cow peas between the +rows. The peas made a fair growth in spite of the dry season, and after +the corn was cut they furnished fine pasture for the brood sows, that +ate the peas and trampled down the vines. In the spring ploughing this +black mat was turned under, and with it went a store of fertility to +fatten the land. Cow peas were sowed in all the corn land in 1897, and +the rule of the farm is to sow corn-fields with peas, crimson clover, or +some other leguminous plant. As my land is divided almost equally each +year between corn and oats, which follow each other, it gets a cover +crop turned under every two years over the whole of it. Great quantities +of manure are hauled upon the oat stubble in the early spring, and these +fields are planted to corn, while the corn stubble is fertilized by the +cover crop, and oats are sown. The land is taxed heavily every year, but +it increases in fertility and crop-making capacity. For the past two +years my oats have averaged forty-seven bushels and my corn nearly +sixty-eight bushels per acre. There is no waste land in my fields, and +we have made such a strenuous fight against weeds that they no longer +seriously tax the land. The wisdom of the work done on the fence rows is +now apparent. The ploughing and seeding made it easy to keep the brush +and weeds down; hay gathered close to the fences more than pays us for +the mowing; and we have no tall weed heads to load the wind with seeds. +This is a matter which is not sufficiently considered by the majority of +farmers, for weeds are allowed to tax the land almost as much as crops +do, and yet they pay no rent. Fence lines and corners are usually +breeding beds for these pests, and it will pay any landowner to suppress +them. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV + +DOGS AND HORSES + + +It was definitely decided in August that Jane was not to go back to +Farmington. We had all been of two minds over this question, and it was +a comfort to have it settled, though I always suspect that my share of +it was not beyond the suspicion of selfishness. + +Jane was just past nineteen. She had a fair education, so far as books +go, and she did not wish to graduate simply for the honor of a diploma. +Indeed, there were many studies between her and the diploma which she +loathed. She could never understand how a girl of healthy mind could +care for mathematics, exact science, or dead languages. English and +French were enough for her tongue, and history, literature, and +metaphysics enough for her mind. + +"I can learn much more from the books in your library and from the dogs +and horses than I can at school, besides being a thousand times happier; +and oh, Dad, if you will let me have a forge and workshop, I will make +no end of things." + +This was a new idea to me, and I looked into it with some interest. I +knew that Jane was deft with her fingers, but I did not know that she +had a special wish to cultivate this deftness or to put it to practical +use. + +"What can you do with a forge?" said I. "You can't shoe the horses or +sharpen the ploughs. Can you make nails? They are machine-made now, and +you couldn't earn ten cents a week, even at horse-shoe nails." + +"I don't want to make nails, Dad; I want to work in copper and brass, +and iron, too, but in girl fashion. Mary Town has a forge in Hartford, +and I spent lots of Saturdays with her. She says that I am cleverer than +she is, but of course she was jollying me, for she makes beautiful +things; but I can learn, and it's great fun." + +"What kind of things does this young lady make, dear?" + +"Lamp-shades, paper-knives, hinges, bag-tops, buckles, and lots of +things. She could sell them, too, if she had to. It's like learning a +trade, Dad." + +"All right, child, you shall have a forge, if you will agree not to burn +yourself up. Do you roll up your sleeves and wear a leather apron?" + +"Why, of course, just like a blacksmith; only mine will be of soft brown +leather and pinked at the edges." + +So Jane was to have her forge. We selected a site for it at once in the +grove to the east of the house and about 150 yards away, and set the +carpenter at work. The shop proved to be a feature of the place, and +soon became a favorite resort for old and young for five o'clock teas +and small gossiping parties. The house was a shingled cottage, sixteen +by thirty-two, divided into two rooms. The first room, sixteen by +twenty, was the company room, but it contained a work bench as well as +the dainty trappings of a girl's lounging room. In the centre of the +wall that separated the rooms was a huge brick chimney, with a fireplace +in the front room and a forge bed in the rear room, which was the forge +proper. + +I suppose I must charge the $460 which this outfit cost to the farm +account and pay yearly interest on it, for it is a fixture; but I +protest that it is not essential to the construction of a factory farm, +and it may be omitted by those who have no daughter Jane. + +There were other things hinging on Jane's home-staying which made me +think that, from the standpoint of economy, I had made a mistake in not +sending her back to Farmington. It was not long before the dog +proposition was sprung upon me; insidiously at first, until I had half +committed myself, and then with such force and sweep as to take me off +my prudent feet. My own faithful terrier, which had dogged my heels for +three years, seemed a member of the family, and reasonably satisfied my +dog needs. That Jane should wish a terrier of some sort to tug at her +skirts and claw her lace was no more than natural, and I was quite +willing to buy a blue blood and think nothing of the $20 or $30 which it +might cost. We canvassed the list of terriers,--bull, Boston, fox, +Irish, Skye, Scotch, Airedale, and all,--and had much to say in favor of +each. One day Jane said:-- + +"Dad, what do you think of the Russian wolf-hound?" + +"Fine as silk," said I, not seeing the trap; "the handsomest dog that +runs." + +"I think so, too. I saw some beauties in the Seabright kennels. Wouldn't +one of them look fine on the lawn?--lemon and white, and so tall and +silky. I saw one down there, and he wasn't a year old, but his tail +looked like a great white ostrich feather, and it touched the ground. +Wouldn't it be grand to have such a dog follow me when I rode. Say, Dad, +why not have one?" + +"What do you suppose a good one would cost?" + +"I don't know, but a good bit more than a terrier, if they sell dogs by +size. May I write and find out?" + +"There's no harm in doing that," said I, like the jellyfish that I am. + +Jane wasted no time, but wrote at once, and at least seventeen times +each day, until the reply came, she gave me such vivid accounts of the +beauties of the beasts and of the pleasure she would have in owning +one, that I grew enthusiastic as well, and quite made up my mind that +she should not be disappointed. When the letter came, there was +suppressed excitement until she had read it, and then excitement +unsuppressed. + +"Dad, we can have Alexis, son of Katinka by Peter the Great, for $125! +See what the letter says: 'Eleven months old, tall and strong in +quarters, white, with even lemon markings, better head than Marksman, +and a sure winner in the best of company.' Isn't that great? And I don't +think $125 is much, do you?" + +"Not for a horse or a house, dear, but for a dog--" + +"But you know, Dad, this isn't a common dog. We mustn't think of it as a +dog; it's a barzoi; that isn't too much for a barzoi, is it?" + +"Not for a barzoi, or a yacht either; I guess you will have to have one +or the other." + +"The Seabright man says he has a girl dog by Marksman out of Katrina +that is the very picture of Alexis, only not so large, and he will sell +both to the same person for $200; they are such good friends." + +"Break away, daughter, do you want a steam launch with your yacht?" + +"But just think, Dad, only $75 for this one. You save $50, don't you +see?" + +"Dimly, I must confess, as through a glass darkly. But, dear, I may +come to see it through your eyes and in the light of this altruistic dog +fancier. I'm such a soft one that it's a wonder I'm ever trusted with +money." + +The natural thing occurred once more; the fool and his money parted +company, and two of the most beautiful dogs came to live on our lawn. To +live on our lawn, did I say? Not much! Such wonderful creatures must +have a house and grounds of their own to retire to when they were weary +of using ours, or when our presence bored them. The kennel and runs were +built near the carriage barn, the runs, twenty by one hundred feet, +enclosed with high wire netting. The kennel, eight by sixteen, was a +handsome structure of its kind, with two compartments eight by eight +(for Jane spoke for the future), and beds, benches, and the usual +fixtures which well-bred dogs are supposed to require. + +The house for these dogs cost $200, so I was obliged to add another $400 +to the interest-bearing debt. "If Jane keeps on in this fashion," +thought I, "I shall have to refund at a lower rate,"--and she did keep +on. No sooner were the dogs safely kennelled than she began to think how +fine it would look to be followed by this wonderful pair along the +country roads and through the streets of Exeter. To be followed, she +must have a horse and a saddle and a bridle and a habit; and later on I +found that these things did not grow on the bushes in our neighborhood. +I drew a line at these things, however, and decided that they should not +swell the farm account. Thus I keep from the reader's eye some of the +foolishness of a doting parent who has always been as warm wax in the +hands of his, nearly always, reasonable children. + +In my stable were two Kentucky-bred saddlers of much more than average +quality, for they had strains of warm blood in their veins. There is no +question nowadays as to the value of warm blood in either riding or +driving horses. It gives ability, endurance, courage, and docility +beyond expectation. One-sixteenth thorough blood will, in many animals, +dominate the fifteen-sixteenths of cold blood, and prove its virtue by +unusual endurance, stamina, and wearing capacity. + +The blue-grass region of Kentucky has furnished some of the finest +horses in the world, and I have owned several which gave grand service +until they were eighteen or twenty years old. An honest horseman at +Paris, Kentucky, has sold me a dozen or more, and I was willing to trust +his judgment for a saddler for Jane. My request to him was for a +light-built horse; weight, one thousand pounds; game and spirited, but +safe for a woman, and one broken to jump. Everything else, including +price, was left to him. + +In good time Jane's horse came, and we were well pleased with it, as +indeed we ought to have been. My Paris man wrote: "I send a bay mare +that ought to fill the bill. She is as quiet as a kitten, can run like a +deer, and jump like a kangaroo. My sister has ridden her for four +months, and she is not speaking to me now. If you don't like her, send +her back." + +But I did like her, and I sent, instead, a considerable check. The mare +was a bright bay with a white star on her forehead and white stockings +on her hind feet, stood fifteen hands three inches, weighed 980 pounds, +and looked almost too light built; but when we noted the deep chest, +strong loins, thin legs, and marvellous thighs, we were free to admit +that force and endurance were promised. Jane was delighted. + +"Dad, if I live to be a hundred years old, I will never forget this day. +She's the sweetest horse that ever lived. I must find a nice name for +her, and to-morrow we will take our first ride, you and Tom and Aloha +and I--yes, that's her name." + +We did ride the next day, and many days thereafter; and Aloha proved all +and more than the Kentuckian had promised. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI + +THE SKIM-MILK TRUST + + +The third quarter of the year made a better showing than any previous +one, due chiefly to the sale of hogs in August. The hens did well up to +September, when they began to make new clothes for themselves and could +not be bothered with egg-making. There were a few more than seven +hundred in the laying pens, and nearly as many more rapidly approaching +the useful age. The chief advantage in early chickens is that they will +take their places at the nests in October or November while the older +ones are dressmaking. This is important to one who looks for a steady +income from his hens,--October and November being the hardest months to +provide for. A few scattered eggs in the pullet runs showed that the +late February and early March chickens were beginning to have a +realizing sense of their obligations to the world and to the Headman, +and that they were getting into line to accept them. More cotton-seed +meal was added to the morning mash for the old hens, and the corn meal +was reduced a little and the oatmeal increased, as was also the red +pepper; but do what you will or feed what you like, the hen will insist +upon a vacation at this season of the year. You may shorten it, perhaps, +but you cannot prevent it. The only way to keep the egg-basket full is +to have a lot of youngsters coming on who will take up the laying for +October and November. + +We milked thirty-seven cows during July, August, and September, and got +more than a thousand pounds of milk a day. The butter sold amounted to a +trifle more than $375 a month. I think this an excellent showing, +considering the fact that the colony at Four Oaks never numbered less +than twenty-four during that time, and often many more. + +I ought to say that the calves had the first claim to the skim-milk; but +as we never kept many for more than a few weeks, this claim was easily +satisfied. It was like the bonds of a corporation,--the first claim, but +a comparatively small one. The hens came next; they held preferred +stock, and always received a five-pound, semi-daily dividend to each pen +of forty. The growing pigs came last; they held the common stock, which +was often watered by the swill and dish-water from both houses and the +buttermilk and butter-washing from the dairy. I hold that the feeding +value of skim-milk is not less than forty cents a hundred pounds, as we +use it at Four Oaks. This seems a high price when it can often be bought +for fifteen cents a hundred at the factories; but I claim that it is +worth more than twice as much when fed in perfect freshness,--certainly +$4 a day would not buy the skim-milk from my dairy, for it is worth more +than that to me to feed. This by-product is essential to the smooth +running of my factory. Without it the chickens and pigs would not grow +as fast, and it is the best food for laying hens,--nothing else will +give a better egg-yield. The longer my experiment continues, the +stronger is my faith that the combination of cow, hog, and hen, with +fruit as a filler, are ideal for the factory farm. With such a plant +well-started and well-managed, and with favorable surroundings, I do not +see how a man can prevent money from flowing to him in fair abundance. +The record of the fourth quarter is as follows:-- + +Butter $1126.00 +Eggs 351.00 +Hogs 1807.00 + -------- + Total $3284.00 + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + +NABOTH'S VINEYARD + + +>One hazy, lazy October afternoon, as my friend Kyrle and I sat on the +broad porch hitting our pipes, sipping high balls, and watching the men +and machines in the corn-fields, as all toiling sons of the soil should +do, he said:-- + +"Doctor, I don't think you've made any mistake in this business." + +"Lots of them, Kyrle; but none too serious to mend." + +"Yes, I suppose so; but I didn't mean it that way. It was no mistake +when you made the change." + +"You're right, old man. It's done me a heap of good, and Polly and the +youngsters were never so happy. I only wish we had done it earlier." + +"Do you think I could manage a farm?" + +"Why, of course you can; you've managed your business, haven't you? +You've grown rich in a business which is a great sight more taxing. How +have you done it?" + +"By using my head, I suppose." + +"That's just it; if a man will use his head, any business will +go,--farming or making hats. It's the gray matter that counts, and the +fellow that puts a little more of it into his business than his neighbor +does, is the one who'll get on." + +"But farming is different; so much seems to depend upon winds and rains +and frosts and accidents of all sorts that are out of one's line." + +"Not so much as you think, Kyrle. Of course these things cut in, but one +must discount them in farming as in other lines of business. A total +crop failure is an unknown thing in this region; we can count on +sufficient rain for a moderate crop every year, and we know pretty well +when to look for frosts. If a man will do well by his land, the harvest +will come as sure as taxes. All the farmer has to do is to make the best +of what Nature and intelligent cultivation will always produce. But he +must use his gray matter in other ways than in just planning the +rotation of crops. When he finds his raw staples selling for a good deal +less than actual value,--less than he can produce them for, he should go +into the market and buy against higher prices, for he may be absolutely +certain that higher prices will come." + +"But how is one to know? Corn changes so that one can't form much idea +of its actual value." + +"No more than other staples. You know what fur is worth, because you've +watched the fur market for twenty years. If it should fall to half its +present price, you would feel safe in buying a lot. You know that it +would make just as good hats as it ever did, and that the hats, in all +probability, would give you the usual profit. It's the same with corn +and oats. I know their feeding value; and when they fall much below it, +I fill my granary, because for my purpose they are as valuable as if +they cost three times as much. Last year I bought ten thousand bushels +of corn and oats at a tremendously low price. I don't expect to have +such a chance again; but I shall watch the market, and if corn goes +below thirty cents or oats below twenty cents, I will fill my granary to +the roof. I can make them pay big profits on such prices." + +"Will you sell this plant, Williams?" + +"Not for a song, you may be sure." + +"What has it cost you to date?" + +"Don't know exactly,--between $80,000 and $90,000, I reckon; the books +will show." + +"Will you take twenty per cent advance on what the books show? I'm on +the square." + +"Now see here, old man, what would be the good of selling this factory +for $100,000? How could I place the money so that it would bring me half +the things which this farm brings me now? Could I live in a better +house, or have better food, better service, better friends, or a better +way of entertaining them? You know that $5000 or $6000 a year would not +supply half the luxury which we secure at Four Oaks, or give half the +enjoyment to my family or my friends. Don't you see that it makes little +difference what we call our expenses out here, so long as the farm pays +them and gives us a surplus besides? The investment is not large for one +to get a living from, and it makes possible a lot of things which would +be counted rank extravagance in the city. Here's one of them." + +A cavalcade was just entering the home lot. First came Jessie Gordon on +her thoroughbred mare Lightfoot, and with her, Laura on my Jerry. +Laura's foot is as dainty in the stirrup as on the rugs, and she has +Jerry's consent and mine to put it where she likes. Following them were +Jane and Bill Jackson, with Jane's slender mare looking absolutely +delicate beside the big brown gelding that carried Jackson's 190 pounds +with ease. The horses all looked as if there had been "something doing," +and they were hurried to the stables. The ladies laughed and screamed +for a season, as seems necessary for young ladies, and then departed, +leaving us in peace. Jackson filled his pipe before remarking:-- + +"I've been over the ridge into the Dunkard settlement, and they have the +cholera there to beat the band. Joe Siegel lost sixty hogs in three +days, and there are not ten well hogs in two miles. What do you think of +that?" + +"That means a hard 'fight mit Siegel,'" said Kyrle. + +"It ought to mean a closer quarantine on this side of the ridge," said +I, "and you must fumigate your clothes before you appear before your +swine, Jackson. It's more likely to be swine plague than cholera at this +time of the year, but it's just as bad; one can hardly tell the +difference, and we must look sharp." + +"How does the contagion travel, Doctor?" + +"On horseback, when such chumps as you can be found. You probably have +some millions of germs up your sleeve now, or, more likely, on your +back, and I wouldn't let you go into my hog pen for a $2000 note. I'm so +well quarantined that I don't much fear contagion; but there's always +danger from infected dust. The wind blows it about, and any mote may be +an automobile for a whole colony of bacteria, which may decide to picnic +in my piggery. This dry weather is bad for us, and if we get heavy winds +from off the ridge, I'm going to whistle for rain." + +"I say, Williams, when you came out here I thought you a tenderfoot, +sure enough, who was likely to pay money for experience; but, by the +jumping Jews! you've given us natives cards and spades." + +"I _was_ a tenderfoot so far as practical experience goes, but I tried +to use the everyday sense which God gave me, and I find that's about all +a man needs to run a business like this." + +"You run it all right, for returns, and that's what we are after; and +I'm beginning to catch on. I want you to tell me, before Kyrle here, +why you gave me that bull two years ago." + +"What's the matter with the bull, Jackson? Isn't he all right?" + +"Sure he's all right, and as fine as silk; but why did you give him to +me? Why didn't you keep him for yourself?" + +"Well, Bill, I thought you would like him, and we were neighbors, and--" + +"You thought I would save you the trouble of keeping him, didn't you?" + +"Well, perhaps that did have some influence. You see, this is a factory +farm from fence to fence, except this forty which Polly bosses, and the +utilitarian idea is on top. Keeping the bull didn't exactly run with my +notion of economy, especially when I could conveniently have him kept so +near, and at the same time be generous to a neighbor." + +"That's it, and it's taken me two years to find it out. You're trying to +follow that idea all along the line. You're dead right, and I'm going to +tag on, if you don't mind. I was glad enough for your present at the +time, and I'm glad yet; but I've learned my lesson, and you may bet your +dear life that no man will ever again give me a bull." + +"That's right, Jackson. Now you have struck the key-note; stick to it, +and you will make money twice as fast as you have done. Have a mark, and +keep your eye on it, and your plough will turn a straight furrow." + +Jackson sent for his horse, and just before he mounted, I said, "Are +you thinking of selling your farm?" + +"I used to think of it, but I've been to school lately and can 'do my +sums' better. No, I guess I won't sell the paternal acres; but who wants +to buy?" + +"Kyrle, here, is looking for a farm about the size of yours, and to tell +you the truth I should like him for a neighbor. It's dollars to +doughnuts that I could give him a whole herd of bulls." + +"Indeed, you can't do anything of the kind! I wouldn't take a gold +dollar from you until I had it tested. I'm on to your curves." + +"But seriously, Jackson, I must have more land; my stock will eat me out +of house and home by the time the factory is running full steam. What +would you say to a proposition of $10,000 for one hundred acres along my +north line?" + +"A year ago I would have jumped at it. Now I say 'nit.' I need it all, +Doctor; I told you I was going to tag on. But what's the matter with the +old lady's quarter across your south road?" + +"Nothing's the matter with the land, only she won't sell it at any +price." + +"I know; but that drunken brute of a son will sell as soon as she's +under the sod, and they say the poor old girl is on her last legs,--down +with distemper or some other beastly disease. I'll tell you what I'll +do. I'll sound the renegade son and see how he measures. Some one will +get it before long, and it might as well be you." + +Jackson galloped off, and Kyrle and I sat on the porch and divided the +widow's 160-acre mite. It was a good strip of land, lying a fair mile on +the south road and a quarter of a mile deep. The buildings were of no +value, the fences were ragged to a degree, but I coveted the land. It +was the vineyard of Naboth to me, and I planned its future with my +friend and accessory sitting by. I destroyed the estimable old lady's +house and barns, ran my ploughshares through her garden and flower beds, +and turned the home site into one great field of lusty corn, without so +much as saying by your leave. Thus does the greed of land grow upon one. +But in truth, I saw that I must have more land. My factory would require +more than ten thousand bushels of grain, with forage and green foods in +proportion, to meet its full capacity, and I could not hope to get so +much from the land then under cultivation. Again, in a few years--a very +few--the fifty acres of orchard would be no longer available for crops, +and this would still further reduce my tillable land. With the orchards +out of use, I should have but 124 acres for all crops other than hay. If +I could add this coveted 160, it would give me 250 acres of excellent +land for intensive farming. + +"I should like it on this side of the road," said I, "but I suppose that +will have to do." + +"What will have to do?" asked Kyrle. + +"The 160 acres over there." + +"You unconscionable wretch! Have you evicted the poor widow, and she on +her deathbed? For stiffening the neck and hardening the heart, commend +me to the close-to-nature life of the farmer. I wouldn't own a farm for +worlds. It risks one's immortality. Give me the wicked city for +pasturage--and a friend who will run a farm, at his own risk, and give +me the benefit of it." + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII + +MAIDS AND MALLARDS + + +We have so rarely entered our house with the reader that he knows little +of its domestic machinery. So much depends upon this machinery that one +must always take it into consideration when reckoning the pleasures and +even the comforts of life anywhere, and this is especially true in the +country. We have such a lot of people about that our servants cannot +sing the song of lonesomeness that makes dolor for most suburbanites. +They are "churched" as often as they wish, and we pay city wages; but +still it is not all clear sailing in this quarter of Polly's realm. I +fancy that we get on better than some of our neighbors; but we do not +brag, and I usually feel that I am smoking my pipe in a powder magazine. +There is something essentially wrong in the working-girl world, and I am +glad that I was not born to set it right. We cannot down the spirit of +unrest and improvidence that holds possession of cooks and waitresses, +and we needs must suffer it with such patience as we can. + +Two of our house servants were more or less permanent; that is, they +had been with us since we opened the house, and were as content as +restless spirits can be. These were the housekeeper and the cook,--the +hub of the house. The former is a Norwegian, tall, angular, and capable, +with a knot of yellow hair at the back of her head,--ostensibly for +sticking lead pencils into,--and a disposition to keep things snug and +clean. Her duties include the general supervision of both houses and the +special charge of store-rooms, food cellars, and table supplies of all +sorts. She is efficient, she whistles while she works, and I see but +little of her. I suspect that Polly knows her well. + +The cook, Mary, is small, Irish, gray, with the temper of a pepper-pod +and the voice of a guinea-hen suffering from bronchitis, but she can +cook like an angel. She is an artist, and I feel as if the +seven-dollar-a-week stipend were but a "tip" to her, and that sometime +she will present me with a bill for her services. My safeguard, and one +that I cherish, is an angry word from her to the housekeeper. She +jeeringly asserted that she, the cook, got $2 a week more than she, the +housekeeper, did. As every one knows that the housekeeper has $5 a week, +I am holding this evidence against the time when Mary asks for a lump +sum adequate to her deserts. The number of things which Mary can make +out of everything and out of nothing is wonderful; and I am fully +persuaded that all the moneys paid to a really good cook are moneys put +into the bank. I often make trips to the kitchen to tell Mary that "the +dinner was great," or that "Mrs. Kyrle wants the receipt for that +pudding," or that "my friend Kyrle asks if he may see you make a salad +dressing;" but "don't do it, Mary; let the secret die with you." The +cook cackles, like the guinea-hen that she is, but the dishes are none +the worse for the commendation. + +The laundress is just a washerwoman, so far as I know. She undoubtedly +changes with the seasons, but I do not see her, though the clothes are +always bleaching on the grass at the back of the house. + +The maids are as changeable as old-fashioned silk. There are always two +of them; but which two, is beyond me. I tell Polly that Four Oaks is a +sprocket-wheel for maids, with two links of an endless chain always on +top. It makes but little difference which links are up, so the work goes +smoothly. Polly thinks the maids come to Four Oaks just as less +independent folk go to the mountains or the shore, for a vacation, or to +be able to say to the policeman, "I've been to the country." Their +system is past finding out; but no matter what it is, we get our dishes +washed and our beds made without serious inconvenience. The wage account +in the house amounts to just $25 a week. My pet system of an increasing +wage for protracted service doesn't appeal to these birds of passage, +who alight long enough to fill their crops with our wild rice and +celery, and then take wing for other feeding-grounds. This kind of life +seems fitted for mallards and maids, and I have no quarrel with either. +From my view, there are happier instincts than those which impel +migration; but remembering that personal views are best applied to +personal use, I wish both maids and mallards _bon voyage_. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX + +THE SUNKEN GARDEN + + +Extending directly west from the porch for 150 feet is an open pergola, +of simple construction, but fast gaining beauty from the rapid growth of +climbers which Polly and Johnson have planted. It is floored with brick +for the protection of dainty feet, and near the western end cluster +rustic benches, chairs, tables, and such things as women and gardeners +love. Facing the west 50 feet of this pergola is Polly's sunken flower +garden, which is her special pride. It extends south 100 feet, and is +built in the side of the hill so that its eastern wall just shows a +coping above the close-cropped lawn. Of course the western wall is much +higher, as the lawn slopes sharply; but it was filled in so as to make +this wall-enclosed garden quite level. The walls which rise above the +flower beds 41/2 feet, are beginning to look decorated, thanks to creeping +vines and other things which a cunning gardener and Polly know. Flowers +of all sorts--annuals, biennials (triennials, perhaps), and +perennials--cover the beds, which are laid out in strange, irregular +fashion, far indeed from my rectangular style. These beds please the +eye of the mistress, and of her friends, too, if they are candid in +their remarks, which I doubt. + +While excavating the garden we found a granite boulder shaped somewhat +like an egg and nearly five feet long. It was a big thing, and not very +shapely; but it came from the soil, and Polly wanted it for the base of +her sun-dial. We placed it, big end down, in the mathematical centre of +the garden (I insisted on that), and sunk it into the ground to make it +solid; then a stone mason fashioned a flat space on the top to +accommodate an old brass dial that Polly had found in Boston. The dial +is not half bad. From the heavy, octagonal brass base rises a slender +quill to cast its shadow on the figured circle, while around this circle +old English characters ask, "Am I not wise, who note only bright hours?" +A plat of sod surrounds the dial, and Polly goes to it at least once a +day to set her watch by the shadow of the quill, though I have told her +a hundred times that it is seventeen minutes off standard time. I am +convinced that this estimable lady wilfully ignores conventional time +and marks her cycles by such divisions as "catalogue time," "seed-buying +time," "planting time," "sprouting time," "spraying time," "flowering +time," "seed-gathering time," "mulching time," and "dreary time," until +the catalogues come again. I know it seemed no time at all until she had +let me in to the tune of $687 for the pergola, walls, and garden. She +bought the sun-dial with her own money, I am thankful to say, and it +doesn't enter into this account. I think it must have cost a pretty +penny, for she had a hat "made over" that spring. + +Polly has planted the lawn with a lot of shade trees and shrubs, and has +added some clumps of fruit trees. Few trees have been planted near the +house; the four fine oaks, from which we take our name, stand without +rivals and give ample shade. The great black oak near the east end of +the porch is a tower of strength and beauty, which is "seen and known of +all men," while the three white oaks farther to the west form a clump +which casts a grateful shade when the sun begins to decline. The seven +acres of forest to the east is left severely alone, save where the +carriage drive winds through it, and Polly watches so closely that the +foot of the Philistine rarely crushes her wild flowers. Its sacredness +recalls the schoolgirl's definition of a virgin forest: "One in which +the hand of man has never dared to put his foot into it." Polly wanders +in this grove for hours; but then she knows where and how things grow, +and her footsteps are followed by flowers. If by chance she brushes one +down, it rises at once, shakes off the dust, and says, "I ought to have +known better than to wander so far from home." + +She keeps a wise eye on the vegetable garden, too, and has stores of +knowledge as to seed-time and harvest and the correct succession of +garden crops. She and Johnson planned a greenhouse, which Nelson built, +for flowers and green stuff through the winter, she said; but I think it +is chiefly a place where she can play in the dirt when the weather is +bad. Anyhow, that glass house cost the farm $442, and the interest and +taxes are going on yet. I as well as Polly had to do some building that +autumn. Three more chicken-houses were built, making five in all. Each +consists in ten compartments twenty feet wide, of which each is intended +to house forty hens. When these houses were completed, I had room for +forty pens of forty each, which was my limit for laying hens. In +addition was one house of ten pens for half-grown chickens and fattening +fowls. It would take the hatch of another year to fill my pens, but one +must provide for the future. These three houses cost, in round numbers, +$2100,--five times as much as Polly's glass house,--but I was not going +to play in them. + +I also built a cow-house on the same plan as the first one, but about +half the size. This was for the dry cows and the heifers. It cost $2230, +and gave me stable room enough for the waiting stock, so that I could +count on forty milch cows all the time, when my herd was once balanced. +Forty cows giving milk, six hundred swine of all ages, putting on fat or +doing whatever other duty came to hand, fifteen or sixteen hundred hens +laying eggs when not otherwise engaged, three thousand apple trees +striving with all their might to get large enough to bear fruit,--these +made up my ideal of a factory farm; and it looked as if one year more +would see it complete. + +No rain fell in October, and my brook became such a little brook that I +dared to correct its ways. We spent a week with teams, ploughs, and +scrapers, cutting the fringe and frills away from it, and reducing it to +severe simplicity. It is strange, but true, that this reversion to +simplicity robbed it of its shy ways and rustic beauty, and left it +boldly staring with open eyes and gaping with wide-stretched mouth at +the men who turned from it. We put in about two thousand feet of tile +drainage on both sides of what Polly called "that ditch," and this +completed the improvements on the low lands. The land, indeed, was not +too low to bear good crops, but it was lightened by under drainage and +yielded more each after year. + +The tiles cost me five cents per foot, or $100 for the whole. The work +was done by my own men. + + + + +CHAPTER L + +THE HEADMAN GENERALIZES + + +Jackson's prophecy came true. The old lady died, and before the ground +was fairly settled around her the improvident son accepted a cash offer +of $75 per acre for his homestead, and the farm was added to mine. This +was in November. I at once spent $640 for 2-1/2 miles of fencing to +enclose it in one field, charging the farm account with $12,640 for the +land and fence. + +This transaction was a bargain, from my point of view; and it was a good +sale, from the standpoint of the other man, for he put $12,000 away at +five per cent interest, and felt that he need never do a stroke of work +again. A lazy man is easily satisfied. + +In December I sold 283 hogs. It was a choice lot, as much alike as peas +in a pod, and gave an average weight of 276 pounds; but the market was +exceedingly low. I received the highest quotation for the month, $3.60 +per hundred, and the lot netted $2702. + +It seems hard luck to be obliged to sell fine swine at such a price, and +a good many farmers would hold their stock in the hope of a rise; but I +do not think this prudent. When a pig is 250 days old, if he has been +pushed, he has reached his greatest profit-growth; and he should be +sold, even though the market be low. If one could be certain that within +a reasonable time, say thirty days, there would be a marked advance, it +might do to hold; but no one can be sure of this, and it doesn't usually +pay to wait. Market the product when at its best, is the rule at Four +Oaks. The young hog is undoubtedly at his best from eight to nine months +old. He has made a maximum growth on minimum feed, and from that time on +he will eat more and give smaller proportionate returns. There is +danger, too, that he will grow stale; for he has been subjected to a +forcing system which contemplated a definite time limit and which cannot +extend much beyond that limit without risks. Force your swine not longer +than nine months and sell for what you can get, and you will make more +money in the long run than by trying to catch a high market. I sold in +December something more than four hundred cockerels, which brought $215. +The apples from the old trees were good that year, but not so abundant +as the year before, and they brought $337,--$2.25 per tree. The hens +laid few eggs in October and November, though they resumed work in +December; but the pullets did themselves proud. Sam said he gathered +from fourteen to twenty eggs a day from each pen of forty, which is +better than forty per cent. We sold nearly eighteen hundred dozen eggs +during this quarter, for $553. The butter account showed nearly +twenty-eight hundred pounds sold, which brought $894, and the sale of +eleven calves brought $180. These sales closed the credit side of our +ledger for the year. + +Apples $337.00 +Calves 130.00 +Cockerels 215.00 +1785 doz. eggs 553.00 +2790 lb. butter 894.00 +283 hogs 2702.00 + -------- + Total $4831.00 + +In making up the expense account of that year and the previous one, I +found that I should be able in future to say with a good deal of +exactness what the gross amount would be, without much figuring. The +interest account would steadily decrease, I hoped, while the wage +account would increase as steadily until it approached $5500; that year +it was $4662. Each man who had been on the farm more than six months +received $18 more that year than he did the year before, and this +increase would continue until the maximum wage of $40 a month was +reached; but while some would stay long enough to earn the maximum, +others would drop out, and new men would begin work at $20 a month. I +felt safe, therefore, in fixing $5500 as the maximum wage limit of any +year. Time has proven the correctness of this estimate, for $5372 is the +most I have paid for wages during the seven years since this experiment +was inaugurated. + +The food purchased for cows, hogs, and hens may also be definitely +estimated. It costs about $30 a year for each cow, $1 for each hog, and +thirty cents for each hen. Everything else comes from the land, and is +covered by such fixed charges as interest, wages, taxes, insurance, +repairs, and replenishments. The food for the colony at Four Oaks, +usually bought at wholesale, doesn't cost more than $5 a month per +capita. This seems small to a man who is in the habit of paying cash for +everything that enters his doors; but it amply provides for comforts and +even for luxuries, not only for the household, but also for the stranger +within the gates. In the city, where water and ice cost money and the +daily purchase of food is taxed by three or four middlemen, one cannot +realize the factory farmer's independence of tradesmen. I do not mean +that this sum will furnish terrapin and champagne, but I do not +understand that terrapin and champagne are necessary to comfort, health, +or happiness. + +Let us look for a moment at some of the things which the factory farmer +does not buy, and perhaps we shall see that a comfortable existence need +not demand much more. His cows give him milk, cream, butter, and veal; +his swine give roast pig, fresh pork, salt pork, ham, bacon, sausages, +and lard; his hens give eggs and poultry; his fields yield hulled corn, +samp, and corn meal; his orchards give apples, pears, peaches, quinces, +plums, and cherries; his bushes give currants, gooseberries, +strawberries, raspberries, blackberries; his vines give grapes; his +forests give hickory nuts, butternuts, and hazel nuts; and, best of all, +his garden gives more than twenty varieties of toothsome and wholesome +vegetables in profusion. The whole fruit and vegetable product of the +temperate zone is at his door, and he has but to put forth his hand and +take it. The skilled housewife makes wonderful provision against winter +from the opulence of summer, and her storehouse is crowded with +innumerable glass cells rich in the spoils of orchard and garden. There +is scant use for the grocer and the butcher under such conditions. I am +so well convinced that my estimate of $5 a month is liberal that I have +taxed the account with all the salt used on the farm. + + + + +CHAPTER LI + +THE GRAND-GIRLS + + +The click of Jane's hammer began to be heard in November, and hardly a +day passed without some music from this "Forge in the Forest." Sir Tom +made a permanent station of the workshop, where he spent hours in a +comfortable chair, drawing nourishment from the head of his cane and +pleasure from watching the girl at the anvil. I suspect that he planted +himself in the corner of the forge to safeguard Jane; for he had an +abiding fear that she would take fire, and he wished to be near at hand +to put her out. He procured a small Babcock extinguisher and a +half-dozen hand-grenades, and with these instruments he constituted +himself a very efficient volunteer fire department. He made her promise, +also, that she would have definite hours for heavy work, that he might +be on watch; and so fond was she of his company, or rather of his +presence, for he talked but little, that she kept close to the schedule. + +Laura had a favorite corner in the forge, where she often turned a hem +or a couplet. She was equally dexterous at either; and Sir Tom watched +her, too, with an admiring eye. I once heard him say:-- + +"Milady Laura, it is the regret of me life that I came into the world a +generation too soon." + +Laura sometimes went away--she called it "going home," but we scoffed +the term--and the doldrums blew until she returned. Sir Tom dined with +us nearly every evening through the fall and early winter; and when he, +and Kate and Tom and the grand-girls, and the Kyrles, and Laura were at +Four Oaks, there was little to be desired. The grand-girls were nearly +five and seven now, and they were a great help to the Headman. My +terrier was no closer to my heels from morning to night than were these +youngsters. They took to country life like the young animals they were, +and made friends with all, from Thompson down. They must needs watch the +sheep as they walked their endless way on the treadmill night and +morning; they thrust their hands into hundreds of nests and placed the +spoils in Sam's big baskets; they watched the calves at their patent +feeders, which deceived the calves, but not the girls; they climbed into +the grain bins and tobogganed on the corn; they haunted the cow-barn at +milking time and wondered much; but the chiefest of their delights was +the beautiful white pig which Anderson gave them. A little movable pen +was provided for this favorite, and the youngsters fed it several times +a day with warm milk from a nursing-bottle, like any other motherless +child. The pig loved its foster-mothers, and squealed for them most of +the time when it was not eating or sleeping; fortunately, a pig can do +much of both. It grew playful and intelligent, and took on strange +little human ways which made one wonder if Darwin were right in his +conclusion that we are all ascended from the ape. I have seen features +and traits of character so distinctly piggish as to rouse my suspicions +that the genealogical line is not free from a cross of _sus scrofa_. The +pig grew in stature and in wisdom, but not in grace, from day to day, +until it threatened to dominate the place. However, it was lost during +the absence of its friends,--to be replaced by a younger one at the next +visit. + +"Do _your_ pigs get lost when you are away?" asked No. 1. + +"Not often, dear." + +"It's only pet pigs that runds away," said No. 2, "and I don't care, for +it rooted me." + +The pet pig is still a favorite with the grand-girls, but it always runs +away in the fall. + +Kate loved to come to Four Oaks, and she spent so much time there that +she often said:-- + +"We have no right to that $1200; we spend four times as much time here +as you all do in town." + +"That's all right daughter, but I wish you would spend twice as much +time here as you do, and I also wish that the $1200 were twice as much +as it is." + +Time was running so smoothly with us that we "knocked on wood" each +morning for fear our luck would break. + +The cottage which had once served as a temporary granary, and which had +been moved to the building line two years before, was now turned into an +overflow house against the time when Jack should come home for the +winter vacation. Polly had decided to have "just as many as we can hold, +and some more," and as the heaviest duties fell upon her, the rest of us +could hardly find fault. The partitions were torn out of the cottage, +and it was opened up into one room, except for the kitchen, which was +turned into a bath-room. Six single iron beds were put up, and the place +was made comfortable by an old-fashioned, air-tight, sheet-iron stove +with a great hole in the top through which big chunks and knots of wood +were fed. This stove would keep fire all night, and, while not up to +latter-day demands, it was quite satisfactory to the warm-blooded boys +who used it. The expense of overhauling the cottage was $214. Tom, Kate, +and the grand-girls were to be with us, of course, and so were the +Kyrles, Sir Tom, Jessie Gordon, Florence, Madeline, and Alice Chase. +Jack was to bring Jarvis and two other men besides Frank and Phil of +last year's party. + +The six boys were bestowed in the cottage, where they made merry +without seriously interrupting sleep in the main house. The others found +comfortable quarters under our roof, except Sir Tom, who would go home +some time in the night, to return before lunch the next day. + +With such a houseful of people, the cook was worked to the bone; but she +gloried in it, and cackled harder than ever. I believe she gave warning +twice during those ten days; but Polly has a way with her which Mary +cannot resist. I do not think we could have driven that cook out of the +house with a club when there was such an opportunity for her to +distinguish herself. Her warnings were simply matters of habit. + +The holidays were filled with such things as a congenial country +house-party can furnish--the wholesomest, jolliest things in the world; +and the end, when it came, was regretted by all. I grew to feel a little +bit jealous of Jarvis's attentions to Jane, for they looked serious, and +she was not made unhappy by them. Jarvis was all that was honest and +manly, but I could not think of giving up Jane, even to the best of +fellows. I wanted her for my old age. I suspect that a loving father can +dig deeper into the mud of selfishness than any other man, and yet feel +all the time that he is doing God service. It is in accord with nature +that a daughter should take the bit in her teeth and bolt away from this +restraining selfishness, but the man who is left by the roadside cannot +always see it in that light. + + + + +CHAPTER LII + +THE THIRD BECKONING + + +On the afternoon of December 31 I called a meeting of the committee of +ways and means, and Polly and I locked ourselves in my office. It was +then two and a half years since we commenced the experiment of building +a factory farm, which was to supply us with comforts, luxuries, and +pleasures of life, and yet be self-supporting: a continuous experiment +in economics. + +The building of the factory was practically completed, though not all of +its machinery had yet been installed. We had spent our money +freely,--too freely, perhaps; and we were now ready to watch the +returns. Polly said:-- + +"There are some things we are sure of: we like the country, and it likes +us. I have spent the happiest year of my life here. We've entertained +more friends than ever before, and they've been better entertained, so +that we are all right from the social standpoint. You are stronger and +better than ever before, and so am I. Credit the farm with these things, +Mr. Headman, and you'll find that it doesn't owe us such an awful amount +after all." + +"Are these things worth $100,000?" + +"Now, John, you don't mean that you've spent $100,000! What in the world +have you done with it? Just pigs and cows and chickens--" + +"And greenhouses and sunken gardens and pergolas and kickshaws," said I. +"But seriously, Polly, I think that we can show value for all that we +have spent; and the whole amount is not three times what our city house +cost, and that only covered our heads." + +"How do you figure values here?" + +"We get a great deal more than simply shelter out of this place, and we +have tangible values, too. Here are some of them: 480 acres of excellent +land, so well groomed and planted that it is worth of any man's money, +$120 per acre, or $57,600; buildings, water-plant, etc., all as good as +new, $40,000; 44 cows, $4400; 10 heifers nearly two years old, $500; 8 +horses, $1200; 50 brood sows, $1000; 350 young pigs, $1700; 1300 laying +hens, $1300; tools and machinery, $1500; that makes well over $100,000 +in sight, besides all the things you mentioned before." + +"You haven't counted the six horses in my barn." + +"They haven't been charged to the farm, Polly." + +"Or the trees you've planted?" + +"No, they go with the land to increase its value." + +"And my gardens, too?" + +"Yes, they are fixtures and count with the acres. You see, this, land +didn't cost quite $75 an acre, but I hold it $50 better for what we've +done to it; I don't believe Bill Jackson would sell his for less. I +offered him $10,000 for a hundred acres, and he refused. We've put up +the price of real estate in this neighborhood, Mrs. Williams." + +"Well, let's get at the figures. I'm dying to see how we stand." + +"I have summarized them here:-- + +"To additional land and development of plant $20,353.00 +To interest on previous investment 4,220.00 +Wages 4,662.00 +Food for twenty-five people 1,523.00 +Food for stock 2,120.00 +Taxes and insurance 207.00 +Shoeing and repairs 309.00 + ---------- + "Making in all $33,394.00 + +spent this year. + +"The receipts are:-- + +"First quarter $1,297.00 +Second quarter 1,706.00 +Third quarter 3,284.00 +Fourth quarter 4,831.00 + --------- + "Making $11,118.00 + +"But we agreed to pay $4000 a year to the farm for our food and shelter, +if it did as well by us as the town house did. Shall we do it, Polly?" + +"Why, of course; we've been no end more comfortable here." + +"Well, if we don't expect to get something for nothing, I think we +ought to add it. Adding $4000 will make the returns from the farm +$15,118, leaving $18,276 to add to the interest-bearing debt. Last year +this debt was $84,404. Add this year's deficit, and we have $102,680. A +good deal of money, Polly, but I showed you well over $100,000 in +assets,--at our own price, to be sure, but not far wrong." + +"Will you ever have to increase the debt?" + +"I think not. I believe we shall reduce it a little next year, and each +year thereafter. But, supposing it only pays expenses, how can you put +on as much style on the interest of $100,000 anywhere else as you can +here? It can't be done. When the fruit comes in and this factory is +running full time, it will earn well on toward $25,000 a year, and it +will not cost over $14,000 to run it, interest and all. It won't take +long at that rate to wipe out the interest-bearing debt. You'll be rich, +Polly, before you're ten years older." + +"You are rich now, in imagination and expectation, Mr. Headman, but I'll +bank with you for a while longer. But what's the use of charging the +farm with interest when you credit it with our keeping?" + +"There isn't much reason in that, Polly. It's about as broad as it is +long. I simply like to keep books in that way. We charge the farm with a +little more than $4000 interest, and we credit it with just $4000 for +our food and shelter. We'll keep on in this way because I like it." + + + + +CHAPTER LIII + +THE MILK MACHINE + + +In opening the year 1898 I was faced by a larger business proposition +than I had originally planned. When I undertook the experiment of a +factory farm, I placed the limit of capital to be invested at about +$60,000. Now I found that I had exceeded that amount by a good many +thousand dollars, and I knew that the end was not yet. The factory was +not complete, and it would be several years before it would be at its +best in output. While it had cost me more than was originally +contemplated, and while there was yet more money to be spent, there was +still no reason for discouragement. Indeed, I felt so certain of +ultimate profits that I was ready to put as much into it as could +possibly be used to advantage. + +The original plan was for a soiling farm on which I could milk thirty +cows, fatten two hundred hogs, feed a thousand hens, and wait for +thirty-five hundred fruit trees to come to a profitable age. With this +in view, I set apart forty acres of high, dry land, for the +feeding-grounds, twenty acres of which was devoted to the cows; and I +now found that this twenty-acre lot would provide an ample exercise +field for twice that number. It was in grass (timothy, red-top, and blue +grass), and the cows nibbled persistently during the short hours each +day when they were permitted to be on it; but it was never reckoned as +part of their ration. The sod was kept in good condition and the field +free from weeds, by the use of the mowing-machine, set high, every ten +or twenty days, according to the season. Following the mower, we use a +spring-tooth rake which bunched the weeds and gathered or broke up the +droppings; and everything the rake caught was carted to the manure vats. +Our big Holsteins do not suffer from close quarters, so far as I am able +to judge, neither do they take on fat. From thirty minutes to three +hours (depending on the weather), is all the outing they get each day; +but this seems sufficient for their needs. The well-ventilated stable +with its moderate temperature suits the sedentary nature of these milk +machines, and I am satisfied with the results. I cannot, of course, +speak with authority of the comparative merits of soiling _versus_ +grazing, for I have had no experience in the latter; but in theory +soiling appeals to me, and in practice it satisfies me. + +When I found I could keep more cows on the land set apart for them, I +built another cow stable for the dry cows and the heifers, and added +four stalls to my milk stable by turning each of the hospital wards into +two stalls. + +The ten heifers which I reserved in the spring of 1896 were now nearly +two years old. They were expected to "come in" in the early autumn, when +they would supplement the older herd. The cows purchased in 1895 were +now five years old, and quite equal to the large demand which we made +upon them. They had grown to be enormous creatures, from thirteen +hundred to fourteen hundred pounds in weight, and they were proving +their excellence as milk producers by yielding an average of forty +pounds a day. We had, and still have, one remarkable milker, who thinks +nothing of yielding seventy pounds when fresh, and who doesn't fall +below twenty-five pounds when we are forced to dry her off. I have no +doubt that she would be a successful candidate for advanced registration +if we put her to the test. For ten months in each year these cows give +such quantities of milk as would surprise a man not acquainted with this +noble Dutch family. My five common cows were good of their kind, but +they were not in the class with the Holsteins. They were not "robber" +cows, for they fully earned their food; but there was no great profit in +them. To be sure, they did not eat more than two-thirds as much as the +Holsteins; but that fact did not stand to their credit, for the basic +principle of factory farming is to consume as much raw material as +possible and to turn out its equivalent in finished product. The common +cows consumed only two-thirds as much raw material as the Holsteins, +and turned out rather less than two-thirds of their product, while they +occupied an equal amount of floor space; consequently they had to give +place to more competent machines. They were to be sold during the +season. + +Why dairymen can be found who will pay $50 apiece for cows like those I +had for sale (better, indeed, than the average), is beyond my method of +reckoning values. Twice $50 will buy a young cow bred for milk, and she +would prove both bread and milk to the purchaser in most cases. The +question of food should settle itself for the dairyman as it does for +the factory farmer. The more food consumed, the better for each, if the +ratio of milk be the same. + +My Holsteins are great feeders; more than 2 tons of grain, 2-1/2 tons of +hay, and 4 or 5 tons of corn fodder, in addition to a ton of roots or +succulent vegetables, pass through their great mouths each year. The hay +is nearly equally divided between timothy, oat hay, and alfalfa; and +when I began to figure the gross amount that would be required for my 50 +Holstein gourmands, I saw that the widow's farm had been purchased none +too quickly. To provide 100 tons of grain, 125 tons of hay, and 200 or +300 tons of corn fodder for the cows alone, was no slight matter; but I +felt prepared to furnish this amount of raw material to be transmuted +into golden butter. The Four Oaks butter had made a good reputation, and +the four oak leaves stamped on each mould was a sufficient guarantee of +excellence. My city grocer urged a larger product, and I felt safe in +promising it; at the same time, I held him up for a slight advance in +price. Heretofore it had netted me 32 cents a pound, but from January 1, +1898, I was to have 33-1/3 cents for each pound delivered at the station +at Exeter, I agreeing to furnish at least 50 pounds a day, six days in a +week. + +This was not always easily done during the first eight months of that +year, and I will confess to buying 640 pounds to eke out the supply for +the colony; but after the young heifers came in, there was no trouble, +and the purchased butter was more than made up to our local grocer. + +It will be more satisfactory to deal with dairy matters in lump sums +from now on. The contract with the city grocer still holds, and, though +he often urges me to increase my herd, I still limit the supply to 300 +pounds a week,--sometimes a little more, but rarely less. I believe that +38 to 44 cows in full flow of milk will make the best balance in my +factory; and a well-balanced factory is what I am after. + +I am told that animals are not machines, and that they cannot be run as +such. My animals are; and I run them as I would a shop. There is no +sentiment in my management. If a cow or a hog or a hen doesn't work in a +satisfactory way, it ceases to occupy space in my shop, just as would +an imperfect wheel. The utmost kindness is shown to all animals at Four +Oaks. This rule is the most imperative one on the place, and the one in +which no "extenuating circumstances" are taken into account. There are +two equal reasons for this: the first is a deep-rooted aversion to +cruelty in all forms; and the second is, _it pays_. But kindness to +animals doesn't imply the necessity of keeping useless ones or those +whose usefulness is below one's standard. If a man will use the +intelligence and attention to detail in the management of stock that is +necessary to the successful running of a complicated machine, he will +find that his stock doesn't differ greatly from his machine. The trouble +with most farmers is that they think the living machine can be neglected +with impunity, because it will not immediately destroy itself or others, +and because it is capable of a certain amount of self-maintenance; while +the dead machine has no power of self-support, and must receive careful +and punctual attention to prevent injury to itself and to other +property. If a dairyman will feed his cows as a thresher feeds the +cylinder of his threshing-machine, he will find that the milk will flow +from the one about as steadily as the grain falls from the other. + +Intensive factory farming means the use of the best machines pushed to +the limit of their capacity through the period of their greatest +usefulness, and then replaced by others. Pushing to the limit of +capacity is in no sense cruelty. It is predicated on the perfect health +of the animal, for without perfect condition, neither machine nor animal +can do its best work. It is simply encouraging to a high degree the +special function for which generations of careful breeding have fitted +the animal. + +That there is gratification in giving milk, no well-bred cow or mother +will deny. It is a joyous function to eat large quantities of pleasant +food and turn it into milk. Heredity impels the cow to do this, and it +would take generations of wild life to wean her from it. As well say +that the cataleptic trance of the pointer, when the game bird lies close +and the delicate scent fills his nostrils, is not a joy to him, or that +the Dalmatian at the heels of his horse, or the foxhound when Reynard's +trail is warm, receive no pleasure from their specialties. + +Do these animals feel no joy in the performance of service which is bred +into their bones and which it is unnatural or freakish for them to lack? +No one who has watched the "bred-for-milk" cow can doubt that the joys +of her life are eating, drinking, sleeping, and giving milk. Pushing her +to the limit of her capacity is only intensifying her life, though, +possibly, it may shorten it by a year or two. While she lives she knows +all the happiness of cow life, and knows it to the full. What more can +she ask? She would starve on the buffalo grass which supports her +half-wild sister, "northers" would freeze her, and the snow would bury +her. She is a product of high cow-civilization, and as such she must +have the intelligent care of man or she cannot do her best. With this +care she is a marvellous machine for the making of the only article of +food which in itself is competent to support life in man. If my +Holsteins are not machines, they resemble them so closely that I will +not quarrel with the name. + +What is true of the cow, is true also of the pork-making machine that we +call the hog. His wild and savage progenitor is lost, and we have in his +place a sluggish animal that is a very model as a food producer. His +three pleasures are eating, sleeping, and growing fat. He follows these +pleasures with such persistence that 250 days are enough to perfect him. +It can certainly be no hardship to a pig to encourage him in a life of +sloth and gluttony which appeals to his taste and to my profit. + +Custom and interest make his life ephemeral; I make it comfortable. From +the day of his birth until we separate, I take watchful care of him. +During infancy he is protected from cold and wet, and his mother is +coddled by the most nourishing foods, that she may not fail in her duty +to him. During childhood he is provided with a warm house, a clean bed, +and a yard in which to disport himself, and is fed for growth and bone +on skim-milk, oatmeal, and sweet alfalfa. During his youth, corn meal is +liberally added to his diet, also other dainties which he enjoys and +makes much of; and during his whole life he has access to clean water, +and to the only medicine which a pig needs,--a mixture of ashes, +charcoal, salt, and sulphur. + +When he has spent 250 happy days with me, we part company with feelings +of mutual respect,--he to finish his mission, I to provide for his +successor. + +My early plan was to turn off 200 of this finished product each year, +but I soon found that I could do much better. One can raise a crop of +hogs nearly as quickly as a crop of corn, and with much more profit, if +the food be at hand. There was likely to be an abundance of food. I was +more willing to sell it in pig skins than in any other packages. My plan +was now to turn off, not 200 hogs each year, but 600 or more. I had 60 +well-bred sows, young and old, and I could count on them to farrow at +least three times in two years. The litters ought to average 7 each, say +22 pigs in two years; 60 times 22 are 1320, and half of 1320 is 660. +Yes, at that rate, I could count on about 600 finished hogs to sell each +year. But if my calculations were too high, I could easily keep 10 more +brood sows, for I had sufficient room to keep them healthy. + +The two five-acre lots, Nos. 3 and 5, had been given over to the brood +sows when they were not caring for young litters in the brood-house. +Comfortable shelters and a cemented basin twelve feet by twelve, and one +foot deep, had been built in each lot. The water-pipe that ran through +the chicken lot (No. 4) connected with these basins, as did also a +drain-pipe to the drain in the north lane, so that it was easy to turn +on fresh water and to draw off that which was soiled. Through this +device my brood sows had access to a water bath eight inches deep, +whenever they were in the fields. My hogs, young or old, have never been +permitted to wallow in mud. We have no mud-holes at Four Oaks to grow +stale and breed disease. The breeding hogs have exercise lots and baths, +but the young growing and fattening stock have neither. They are kept in +runs twenty feet by one hundred, in bunches of from twenty to forty, +according to age, from the time they are weaned until they leave the +place for good. This plan, which I did not intend to change, opened a +question in my mind that gave me pause. It was this: Can I hope, even +with the utmost care, to keep the house for growing and fattening swine +free from disease if I keep it constantly full of swine? + +The more I thought about it the less probable it appeared. The pig-house +had cost me $4320. Another would cost as much, if not more, and I did +not like to go to the expense unless it were necessary. I worked over +this problem for several days, and finally came to the conclusion that +I should never feel easy about my swine until I had two houses for them, +besides the brood-house for the sows. I therefore gave the order to +Nelson to build another swine-house as soon as spring opened. My plan +was, and I carried it out, to move all the colonies every three months, +and to have the vacant house thoroughly cleaned, sprayed with a powerful +germicide, and whitewashed. The runs were to be turned over, when the +weather would permit, and the ground sown to oats or rye. + +The new house was finished in June, and the pigs were moved into it on +July 1st with a lease of three months. My mind has been easy on the +question of the health of my hogs ever since; and with reason, for there +has been no epizooetic or other serious form of disease in my piggery, in +spite of the fact that there are often more than 1200 pigs of all +degrees crowded into this five-acre lot. The two pig-houses and the +brood-house, with their runs, cover the whole of the lot, except the +broad street of sixty feet just inside my high quarantine fence, which +encloses the whole of it. + + + + +CHAPTER LIV + +BACON AND EGGS + + +Each hog turned out from my piggery weighing 270 pounds or more, has +eaten of my substance not less than 500 pounds of grain, 250 pounds of +chopped alfalfa, 250 pounds of roots or vegetables, and such quantities +of skimmed milk and swill as have fallen to his share. I could reckon +the approximate cost of these foods, but I will not do so. All but the +middlings and oil meal come from the farm and are paid for by certain +fixed charges heretofore mentioned. The middlings and oil meal are +charged in the "food for animals" account at the rate of $1 a year for +each finished hog. + +The truth is that a large part of the food which enters into the making +of each 300 pounds of live pork, is of slow sale, and that for some of +it there is no sale at all,--for instance, house swill, dish-water, +butter-washings, garden weeds, lawn clippings, and all sorts of coarse +vegetables. A hog makes half his growth out of refuse which has no +value, or not sufficient to warrant the effort and expense of selling +it. He has unequalled facilities for turning non-negotiable scrip into +convertible bonds, and he is the greatest moneymaker on the farm. If +the grain ration were all corn, and if there were a roadside market for +it at 35 cents a bushel, it would cost $3.12; the alfalfa would be worth +$1.45, and the vegetables probably 65 cents, under like conditions, +making a total of $5.22 as a possible gross value of the food which the +hog has eaten. The gross value of these things, however, is far above +their net value when one considers time and expense of sale. The hog +saves all this trouble by tucking under his skin slow-selling remnants +of farm products and making of them finished assets which can be turned +into cash at a day's notice. + +To feed the hogs on the scale now planned, I had to provide for +something like 7000 bushels of grain, chiefly corn and oats, 100 tons of +alfalfa, and an equal amount of vegetables, chiefly sugar beets and +mangel-wurzel. Certainly the widow's land would be needed. + +The poultry had also outgrown my original plans, and I had built with +reference to my larger views. There were five houses on the poultry lot, +each 200 feet long, and each divided into ten equal pens. Four of these +houses were for the laying hens, which were divided into flocks of 40 +each; while the other house was for the growing chickens and for +cockerels being fattened for market. + +There were now on hand more than 1300 pullets and hens, and I instructed +Sam to run his incubator overtime that season, so as to fill our houses +by autumn. I should need 800 or 900 pullets to make our quota good, for +most of the older hens would have to be disposed of in the autumn,--all +but about 200, which would be kept until the following spring to breed +from. + +I believe that a three-year-old hen that has shown the egg habit is the +best fowl to breed from, and it is the custom at Four Oaks to reserve +specially good pens for this purpose. The egg habit is unquestionably as +much a matter of heredity as the milk or the fat producing habit, and +should be as carefully cultivated. With this end in view, Sam added +young cockerels to four of his best-producing flocks on January 1, and +by the 15th he was able to start his incubators. + +Breeding and feeding for eggs is on the same principle as feeding and +breeding for milk. It is no more natural for a hen to lay eggs for human +consumption than it is for the robin to do so, or for the cow to give +more milk than is sufficient for her calf. Man's necessity has made +demands upon both cow and hen, and man's intelligence has converted +individualists into socialists in both of these races. They no longer +live for themselves alone. As the cow, under favorable conditions, finds +pleasure in giving milk, so does the hen under like conditions take +delight in giving eggs,--else why the joyous cackle when leaving her +nest after doing her full duty? She gloats over it, and glories in it, +and announces her satisfaction to the whole yard. It is something to be +proud of, and the cackling hen knows it better than you or I. It can be +no hardship to push this egg machine to the limit of its capacity. It +adds new zest to the life of the hen, and multiplies her opportunities +for well-earned self-congratulation. + +Our hens are fed for eggs, and we get what we feed for. I said of my +hens that I would not ask them to lay more than eight dozen eggs each +year, and I will stick to what I said. But I do not reject voluntary +contributions beyond this number. Indeed, I accept them with thanks, and +give Biddy a word of commendation for her gratuity. Eight dozen eggs a +year will pay a good profit, but if each of my hens wishes to present me +with two dozen more, I slip 62 cents into my pocket and say, "I am very +much obliged to you, miss," or madam, as the case may be. Most of my +hens do remember me in this substantial way, and the White Wyandottes +are in great favor with the Headman. + +The houses in which my hens live are almost as clean as the one I +inhabit (and Polly is tidy to a degree); their food is as carefully +prepared as mine, and more punctually served; their enemies are fended +off, and they are never frightened by dogs or other animals, for the +five-acre lot on which their houses and runs are built is enclosed by a +substantial fence that prevents any interloping; book agents never +disturb their siestas, nor do tree men make their lives hideous with +lithographs of impossible fruit on improbable trees. Whether I am +indebted to one or to all of these conditions for my full egg baskets, I +am unable to say; but I do not purpose to make any change, for my egg +baskets are as full as a reasonable man could wish. As nearly as I can +estimate, my hens give thirty per cent egg returns as a yearly +average--about 120 eggs for each hen in 365 days. This is more than I +ask of them, but I do not refuse their generosity. + +Every egg is worth, in my market, 2-1/2 cents, which means that the +yearly product of each hen could be sold for $3. Something more than two +thousand dozen are consumed by the home colony or the incubators; the +rest find their way to the city in clean cartons of one dozen each, with +a stencil of Four Oaks and a guarantee that they are not twenty-four +hours old when they reach the middleman. + +In return for this $3 a year, what do I give my hens besides a clean +house and yard? A constant supply of fresh water, sharp grits, oyster +shells, and a bath of road dust and sifted ashes, to which is added a +pinch of insect powder. Twice each day five pounds of fresh skim-milk is +given to each flock of forty. In the morning they have a warm mash +composed of (for 1600 hens) 50 pounds of alfalfa hay cut fine and soaked +all night in hot water, 50 pounds of corn meal, 50 pounds of oat meal, +50 pounds of bran, and 20 pounds of either meat meal or cotton-seed +meal. At noon they get 100 pounds of mixed grains--wheat and buckwheat +usually--with some green vegetables to pick at; and at night 125 to 150 +pounds of whole corn. There are variations of this diet from time to +time, but no radical change. I have read much of a balanced ration, but +I fancy a hen will balance her own ration if you give her the chance. + +Milk is one of the most important items on this bill of fare, and all +hens love it. It should be fed entirely fresh, and the crocks or earthen +dishes from which it is eaten should be thoroughly cleansed each day. +Four ounces for each hen is a good daily ration, and we divide this into +two feedings. + +Our 1600 hens eat about 75 tons of grain a year. Add to this the 100 +tons which 50 cows will require, 200 tons for the swine, and 25 tons for +the horses, and we have 400 tons of grain to provide for the stock on +the factory farm. Nearly a fourth of this, in the shape of bran, gluten +meal, oil meal, and meat meal, must be purchased, for we have no way of +producing it. For the other 300 tons we must look to the land or to a +low market. Three hundred tons of mixed grains means something like +13,000 bushels, and I cannot hope to raise this amount from my land at +present. + +Fortunately the grain market was to my liking in January of 1898; and +though there were still more than 7000 bushels in my granary, I +purchased 5000 bushels of corn and as much oats against a higher market. +The corn cost 27 cents a bushel and the oats 22, delivered at Exeter, +the 10,000 bushels amounting to $2450, to be charged to the farm +account. + +I was now prepared to face the food problem, for I had more than 17,000 +bushels of grain to supplement the amount the farm would produce, and to +tide me along until cheap grain should come again, or until my land +should produce enough for my needs. The supply in hand plus that which I +could reasonably expect to raise, would certainly provide for three +years to come, and this is farther than the average farmer looks into +the future. But I claim to be more enterprising than an average farmer, +and determined to keep my eyes open and to take advantage of any +favorable opportunity to strengthen my position. + +In the meantime it was necessary to force my trees, and to secure more +help for the farm work. To push fruit trees to the limit of healthy +growth is practical and wise. They can accomplish as much in growth and +development in three years, when judiciously stimulated, as in five or +six years of the "lick-and-a-promise" kind of care which they usually +receive. + +A tree must be fed first for growth and afterward for fruit, just as a +pig is managed, if one wishes quick returns. To plant a tree and leave +it to the tenderness of nature, with only occasional attention, is to +make the heart sick, for it is certain to prove a case of hope deferred. +In the fulness of time the tree and "happy-go-lucky" nature will prove +themselves equal to the development of fruit; but they will be slow in +doing it. It is quite as well for the tree, and greatly to the advantage +of the horticulturist, to cut two or three years out of this +unprofitable time. All that is necessary to accomplish this is: to keep +the ground loose for a space around the tree somewhat larger than the +spread of its branches; to apply fertilizers rich in nitrogen; to keep +the whole of the cultivated space mulched with good barn-yard manure, +increasing the thickness of the mulch with coarse stuff in the fall, so +as to lengthen the season of root activity; and to draw the mulch aside +about St. Patrick's Day, that the sun's rays may warm the earth as early +as possible. Moderate pruning, nipping back of exuberant branches, and +two sprayings of the foliage with Bordeaux mixture, to keep fungus +enemies in check, comprise all the care required by the growing tree. +This treatment will condense the ordinary growth of five years into +three, and the tree will be all the better for the forcing. + +As soon as fruit spurs and buds begin to show themselves, the treatment +should be modified, but not remitted. Less nitrogen and more phosphoric +acid and potash are to be used, and the mulch should _not_ be removed +in the early spring. The objects now are, to stimulate the fruit buds +and to retard activity in the roots until the danger from late frosts is +past. As a result of this kind of treatment, many varieties of apple +trees will give moderate crops when the roots are seven, and the trunks +are six years old. Fruit buds showed in abundance on many of my trees in +the fall of 1897, especially on the Duchess and the Yellow Transparent, +and I looked for a small apple harvest that year. + + + + +CHAPTER LV + +THE OLD TIME FARM-HAND + + +With all my industries thus increasing, the necessity for more help +became imperative. French and Judson had their hands more than full in +the dairy barns, and had to be helped out by Thompson. Anderson could +not give the swine all the attention they needed, and was assisted by +Otto, who proved an excellent swineherd. Sam had the aid of Lars's boys +with the poultry, and very efficient aid it was, considering the time +they could give to it. They had to be off with the market wagon at 7.40, +and did not return from school until 4 P.M. Lars was busy in the +carriage barn; and though we spared him as much as possible from +driving, he had to be helped out by Johnson at such times as the latter +could spare from his greenhouse and hotbeds. Zeb took care of the farm +teams; but the winter's work of distributing forage and grain, getting +up wood and ice, hauling manure, and so forth, had to be done in a +desultory and irregular manner. The spring work would find us wofully +behindhand if I did not look sharp. I had been looking sharp since +January set in, and had experienced, for the first time, real +difficulties in finding anything like good help. Hitherto I had been +especially fortunate in this regard. I had met some reverses, but in the +main good luck had followed me. I had nine good men who seemed contented +and who were all saving money,--an excellent sign of stability and +contentment. Even Lars had not fallen from grace but once, and that +could hardly be charged against him, for Jack and Jarvis had tempted him +beyond resistance; while Sam's nose was quite blanched, and he was to +all appearances firmly seated on the water wagon. Really, I did not know +what labor troubles meant until 1898, but since then I have not had +clear sailing. + +From my previous experience with working-men, I had formed the opinion +that they were reasoning and reasonable human beings,--with +peculiarities, of course; and that as a class they were ready to give +good service for fair wages and decent treatment. In early life I had +been a working-man myself, and I thought I could understand the feelings +and sympathize with the trials of the laborer from the standpoint of +personal experience. I was sorely mistaken. The laboring man of to-day +is a different proposition from the man who did manual labor "before the +war." That he is more intelligent, more provident, happier, or better in +any way, I sincerely doubt; that he is restless, dissatisfied, and less +efficient, I believe; that he is unreasonable in his demands and +regardless of the interests of his employer, I know. There are many +shining exceptions, and to these I look for the ultimate regeneration of +labor; but the rule holds true. + +I do not believe that the principles of life have changed in forty +years. I do not believe that an intelligent, able-bodied man need be a +servant all his life, or that industry and economy miss their rewards, +or that there is any truth in the theory that men cannot rise out of the +rut in which they happen to find themselves. The trouble is with the +man, not with the rut. He spends his time in wallowing rather than in +diligently searching for an outlet or in honestly working his way up to +it. Heredity and environment are heavy weights, but industry and +sobriety can carry off heavier ones. I have sympathy for weakness of +body or mind, and patience for those over whom inheritance has cast a +baleful spell; but I have neither patience nor sympathy for a strong man +who rails at his condition and makes no determined effort to better it. + +The time and money wasted in strikes, agitations, and arbitrations, if +put to practical use, would better the working-man enough faster than +these futile efforts do. I have no quarrel with unions or combinations +of labor, so far as they have the true interests of labor for an object; +but I do quarrel with the spirit of mob rule and the evidences of +conspicuous waste, which have grown so rampant as to overshadow the +helpful hand and to threaten, not the stability of society--for in the +background I see six million conservative sons of the soil who will look +to the stability of things when the time comes--but the unions +themselves. + +I remember my first summer on a farm. It lasted from the first day of +April to the thirty-first day of October, and on the evening of that day +I carried to my father $28, the full wage for seven months. I could not +have spent one cent during that time, for I carried the whole sum home; +but I do not remember that I was conscious of any want. The hours on the +farm were not short; an eight-hour day would have been considered but a +half-day. We worked from sun to sun, and I grew and knew no sorrow or +oppression. The next year I received the munificent wage of $6 a month, +and the following year, $8. + +In after years, in brick-yards, sawmills, lumber woods, or harvest +fields, there was no arbitrary limit put upon the amount of work to be +done. If I chose to do the work of a man and a half, I got $1.50 for +doing it, and it would have been a bold and sturdy delegate who tried to +hold me from it. I felt no need of help from outside. I was fit to care +for myself, and I minded not the long hours, the hard work, or the hard +bed. This life was preliminary to a fuller one, and it served its use. +I know what tired legs and back mean, and I know that one need not have +them always if he will use the ordinary sense which God gives. Genius, +or special cleverness, is not necessary to get a man out of the rut of +hard manual labor. Just plain, everyday sense will do. But before I had +secured the three men for whom I was in search, I began to feel that +this common sense of which we speak so glibly is a rare commodity under +the working-man's hat. I advertised, sent to agencies and intelligence +offices, interviewed and inspected, consulted friends and enemies, and +so generally harrowed my life that I was fit to give up the whole +business and retire into a cave. + +By actual count, I saw more than one hundred men, of all ages, sizes, +and colors. Eight of these were tried, of whom five were found wanting. +Early in February I had settled upon three sober men to add to our +colony. As none of these lasted the year out, I may be forgiven for not +introducing them to the reader. They served their purpose, and mine too, +and then drifted on. + + + + +CHAPTER LVI + +THE SYNDICATE + + +I do not wish to take credit for things which gave me pleasure in the +doing, or to appear altruistic in my dealings with the people employed +at Four Oaks. I tell of our business and other relations because they +are details of farm history and rightfully belong to these pages. If I +dealt fairly by my men and established relations of mutual confidence +and dependence, it was not in the hope that my ways might be approved +and commended, but because it paid, in more ways than one. I wanted my +men to have a lively interest in the things which were of importance to +me, that their efforts might be intelligent and direct; and I was glad +to enter into their schemes, either for pleasure or for profit, with +such aid as I could give. Cordial understanding between employee and +employer puts life into the contract, and disposes of perfunctory +service, which simply recognizes a definite deed for a definite +compensation. Uninterested labor leaves a load of hay in the field to be +injured, just because the hour for quitting has come, while interested +labor hurries the hay into the barn to make it safe, knowing that the +extra half-hour will be made up to it in some other way. + +It pays the farmer to take his help into a kind of partnership, not +always in his farm, but always in his consideration. That is why my +farm-house was filled with papers and magazines of interest to the men; +that is why I spent many an evening with them talking over our +industries; that is why I purchased an organ for them when I found that +Mrs. French, the dairymaid, could play on it; that is why I talked +economy to them and urged them to place some part of each month's wage +in the Exeter Savings Bank; and that is why, early in 1898, I formulated +a plan for investing their wages at a more profitable rate of interest. +I asked each one to give me a statement of his or her savings up to +date. They were quite willing to do this, and I found that the aggregate +for the eight men and three women was $2530. Anderson, who saved most of +his wages, had an account in a city savings bank, and did not join us in +our syndicate, though he approved of it. + +The money was made up of sums varying from $90, Lena's savings, to $460 +owned by Judson, the buggy man. My proposition was this: Pool the funds, +buy Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific stock, and hold it for one or two +years. The interest would be twice as much as they were getting from +the bank, while the prospect of a decided advance was good. I said to +them:-- + +"I have owned Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific stock for more than +three years. I commenced to buy at fifty-seven, and I am still buying, +when I can get hold of a little money that doesn't have to go into this +blessed farm. It is now eighty-one, and it will go higher. I am so sure +of this that I will agree to take the stock from each or all of you at +the price you pay for it at any time during the next two years. There is +no risk in this proposition to you, and there may be a very handsome +return." + +They were pleased with the plan, and we formed a pool to buy thirty +shares of stock. Thompson and I were trustees, and the certificate stood +in our names; but each contributor received a pro-rata interest; Lena, +one thirtieth; Judson, five-thirtieths; and the others between these +extremes. The stock was bought at eighty-two. I may as well explain now +how it came out, for I am not proud of my acumen at the finish. A little +more than a year later the stock reached 122, and I advised the +syndicate to sell. They were all pleased at the time with the handsome +profit they had made, but I suspect they have often figured what they +might have made "if the boss hadn't been such a chump," for we have seen +the stock go above two hundred. + +This was not the only enterprise in which our colony took a small share. +The people at Four Oaks are now content to hold shares in one of the +great trusts, which they bought several points below par, and which pay +13/4. per cent every three months. Even Lena, who held only one share of +the C., R.I., & P. five years ago, has so increased her income-bearing +property that she is now looked upon as a "catch" by her acquaintances. +If I am correctly informed, she has an annual income of $105, +independent of her wages. + + + + +CHAPTER LVII + +THE DEATH OF SIR TOM + + +At 7.30 on the morning of March 16, Dr. High telephoned me that Sir +Thomas O'Hara was seriously ill, and asked me to come at once. It took +but a few minutes to have Jerry at the door, and, breasting a cold, thin +rain at a sharp gallop, I was at my friend's door before the clock +struck eight. Dr. High met me with a heavy face. + +"Sir Tom is bad," said he, "with double pneumonia, and I am awfully +afraid it will go hard with him." + +I remembered that my friend's pale face had looked a shade paler than +usual the evening before, and that there had been a pinched expression +around the nose and mouth, as if from pain; but Sir Tom had many twinges +from his old enemy, gout, which he did not care to discuss, and I took +little note of his lack of fitness. He touched the brandy bottle a +little oftener than usual, and left for home earlier; but his voice was +as cheery as ever, and we thought only of gout. He was taken with a hard +chill on his way home, which lasted for some time after he was put to +bed; but he would not listen to the requests of William and the faithful +cook that the doctor be summoned. At last he fell into a heavy sleep +from which it was hard to rouse him, and the servants followed their own +desire and called Dr. High. He came as promptly as possible, and did all +that could be done for the sick man. + +A hurried examination convinced me that Dr. High's opinion of the +gravity of the case was correct, and we telephoned at once for a +specialist from the city, and for a trained nurse. After a short +consultation with Dr. High I reentered my friend's room, and I fear that +my face gave me away, for Sir Tom said:-- + +"Be a man, Williams, and tell the whole of it." + +"My dear old man, this is a tough proposition, but you must buck up and +make a game fight. We have sent for Dr. Jones and a nurse, and we will +pull you through, sure." + +"You will try, for sure, but I reckon the call has come for me to cash +in me checks. When that little devil Frost hit me right and left in me +chest last night, I could see me finish; and I heard the banshee in me +sleep, and that means much to a Sligo man." + +"Not to this Sligo man, I hope," said I, though I knew that we were in +deep waters. + +The wise man and the nurse came out on the 10.30 train, the nurse +bringing comfort and aid, but the physician neither. After thoroughly +examining the patient, he simply confirmed our fears. + +"Serious disease to overcome, and only scant vital forces; no reasonable +ground for hope." + +Sir Tom gave me a smile as I entered the room after parting from the +specialist. + +"I've discounted the verdict," said he, "and the foreman needn't draw +such a long face. I've had my fling, like a true Irishman, and I'm ready +to pay the bill. I won't have to come back for anything, Williams; +there's nothing due me; but I must look sharp for William and the old +girl in the kitchen,--faithful souls,--for they will be strangers in a +strange land. Will you send for a lawyer?" + +The lawyer came, and a codicil to Sir Thomas's will made the servants +comfortable for life. All that day and the following night we hung +around the sick bed, hoping for the favorable change that never came. On +the morning of the 17th it was evident that he would not live to see the +sun go down. We had kept all friends away from the sick chamber; but +now, at his request, Polly, Jane, and Laura were summoned, and they +came, with blanched faces and tearful eyes, to kiss the brow and hold +the hands of this dear man. He smiled with contentment on the group, and +said:-- + +"Me friends have made such a heaven of this earth that perhaps I have +had me full share." + +"Sir Tom," said I, "shall I send for a priest?" + +"A priest! What could I do with a priest? Me forebears were on the +Orange side of Boyne Water, and we have never changed color." + +"Would you like to see a clergyman?" + +"No, no; just the grip of a friend's hand and these angels around me. +Asking pardon is not me long suit, Williams, but perhaps the time has +come for me to play it. If the good God will be kind to me I will thank +Him, as a gentleman should, and I will take no advantage of His +kindness; but if He cannot see His way clear to do that, I will take +what is coming." + +"Dear Sir Tom," said Jane, with streaming eyes, "God cannot be hard with +you, who have been so good to every one." + +"If there's little harm in me life, there's but scant good, too; I can't +find much credit. Me good angel has had an easy time of it, more's the +pity; but Janie, if you love me, Le Bon Dieu will not be hard on me. He +cannot be severe with a poor Irishman who never stacked the cards, +pulled a race, or turned his back on a friend, and who is loved by an +angel." + +I asked Sir Tom what we should do for him after he had passed away. + +"It would be foine to sleep in the woods just back of Janie's forge, +where I could hear the click of her hammer if the days get lonely; but +there's a little castle, God save the mark, out from Sligo. Me forebears +are there,--the lucky ones,--and me wish is to sleep with them; but I +doubt it can be." + +"Indeed it can be, and it shall be, too," said Polly. "We will all go +with you, Sir Tom, when June comes, and you shall sleep in your own +ground with your own kin." + +"I don't deserve it, Mrs. Williams, indeed I don't, but I would lie +easier there. That sod has known us for a thousand years, and it's the +greenest, softest, kindest sod in all the world; but little I'll mind +when the breath is gone. I'll not be asking that much of you." + +"My dear old chap, we won't lose sight of you until that green sod +covers the stanchest heart that ever beat. Polly is right. We'll go with +you to Sligo,--all of us,--Polly and Jane and Jack and I, and Kate and +the babies, too, if we can get them. You shall not be lonesome." + +"Lonesome, is it? I'll be in the best of company. Me heart is at rest +from this moment, and I'll wait patiently until I can show you Sligo. +This is a fine country, Mrs. Williams, and it has given me the truest +friends in all the world, but the ground is sweet in Sligo." + +His breath came fainter and faster, and we could see that it would soon +cease. After resting a few minutes, Sir Tom said:-- + +"Me lady Laura, do you mind that prayer song, the second verse?" + +Laura's voice was sobbing and uncertain as it quavered:-- + + "Other refuge have I none," + +but it gained courage and persuasiveness until it filled the room and +the heart of the man with,-- + + "Cover my defenceless head, + With the shadow of Thy wing." + +A gentle smile and the relaxing of closed hands completed the story of +our loss, though the real weight of it came days and months later. + +It was long before we could take up our daily duties with anything like +the familiar happiness. Something had gone out of our lives that could +never be replaced, and only time could salve the wounds. The dear man +who had gone was no friend to solemn faces, and living interests must +bury dead memories; but it was a long time before the click of Jane's +hammer was heard in her forge; not until Laura had said, "It will please +_him_, Jane." + + + + +CHAPTER LVIII + +BACTERIA + + +January, February, and March passed with more than the usual snow and +rain,--fully ten inches of precipitation; but the spring proved neither +cold nor late. During these three months we sold butter to the amount of +$1283, and $747 worth of eggs; in all, $2030. + +The ploughs were started in the highest land on the 11th of April, and +were kept going steadily until they had turned over nearly 280 acres. + +I decided to put the whole of the widow's field into corn, lots 8, 12, +and 15 (84 acres) into oats, and 50 acres of the orchards into roots and +sweet fodder corn. Number 13 was to be sown with buckwheat as soon as +the rye was cut for green forage. I decided to raise more alfalfa, for +we could feed more to advantage, and it was fast gaining favor in my +establishment. It is so productive and so nutritious that I wonder it is +not more generally used by farmers who make a specialty of feeding +stock. It contains as much protein as most grains, and is wholesome and +highly palatable if properly cured. It should be cut just as it is +coming into flower, and should be cured in the windrow. The leaves are +the most nutritious part of the plant, and they are apt to fall off if +the cutting be deferred, or if the curing be _done carelessly_. + +Lot No. 9 was to be fitted for alfalfa as soon as the season would +permit. First, it must receive a heavy dressing of manure, to be +ploughed under. The ordinary plough was to be followed in this case by a +subsoiler, to stir the earth as deep as possible. When the seed was +sown, the land was to receive five hundred pounds an acre of high-grade +fertilizer, and one hundred pounds an acre of infected soil. + +The peculiar bacterium that thrives on congenial alfalfa soil is +essential to the highest development of the plant. Without its presence +the grass fails in its chief function--the storing of nitrogen--and +makes but poor growth. When the alfalfa bacteria are abundant, the plant +flourishes and gathers nitrogen in knobs and bunches in its roots and in +the joints of its stems. + +I sent to a very successful alfalfa grower in Ohio for a thousand pounds +of soil from one of his fields, to vaccinate my field with. This is not +always necessary,--indeed, it rarely is, for alfalfa seed usually carry +enough bacteria to inoculate favorable soils; but I wished to see if +this infected soil would improve mine. I have not been able to discover +any marked advantage from its use; the reason being that my soil was so +rich in humus and added manures that the colonies of bacteria on the +seeds were quite sufficient to infect the whole mass. Under less +favorable conditions, artificial inoculation is of great advantage. + +Wonderful are the secrets of nature. The infinitely small things seem to +work for us and the infinitely large ones appear suited to our use; and +yet, perhaps, this is all "seeming" and "appearing." We may ourselves be +simply more advanced bacteria, working blindly toward the solution of an +infinite problem in which we are concerned only as means to an end. + +"Why should the spirit of mortal be proud," until it has settled its +relative position with both Sirius and the micro-organisms, or has +estimated its stature by view-points from the bacterial world and from +the constellation of Lyra. Until we have been able to compare opinions +from these extremes, if indeed they be extremes, we cannot expect to +make a correct estimate of our value in the economy of the universe. I +fancy that we are apt to take ourselves too seriously, and that we will +sometime marvel at the shadow which we did not cast. + + + + +CHAPTER LIX + +MATCH-MAKING + + +The home lot took on a home look in the spring of 1898. The lawn lost +its appearance of newness; the trees became acquainted with each other; +the shrubs were on intimate terms with their neighbors, and broke into +friendly rivalry of blossoms; the gardens had a settled-down look, as if +they had come to stay; and even the wall flowers were enjoying +themselves. These efforts of nature to make us feel at ease were +thankfully received by Polly and me, and we voted that this was more +like home than anything else we had ever had; and when the fruit trees +put forth their promise of an autumn harvest in great masses of +blossoms, we declared that we had made no mistake in transforming +ourselves from city to country folk. + +"Aristocracy is of the land," said Polly. "It always has been and +always will be the source of dignity and stability. I feel twice as +great a lady as I did in the tall house on B---- Street." + +"So you don't want to go back to that tall house, madam?" + +"Indeed I don't. Why should I?" + +"I don't know why you should, only I remember Lot's wife looked back +toward the city." + +"Don't mention that woman! She didn't know what she wanted. You won't +catch me looking toward the city, except once a week for three or four +hours, and then I hurry back to the farm to see what has happened in my +garden while I've been away." + +"But how about your friends, Polly?" + +"You know as well as I that we haven't lost a friend by living out here, +and that we've tied some of them closer. No, sir! No more city life for +me. It may do for young people, who don't know better, but not for me. +It's too restricted, and there's not enough excitement." + +"Country life fits us like paper on the wall," said I, "but how about +the youngsters? If we insist on keeping children, we must take them into +our scheme of life." + +"Of course we must, but children are an unknown quantity. They are _x_ +in the domestic problem, and we cannot tell what they stand for until +the problem is worked out. I don't see why we can't find the value of +_x_ in the country as easily as in the city. They have had city and +school life, now let them see country life; the _x_ will stand for wide +experience at least." + +"Jane likes it thus far," said I, "and I think she will continue; but I +don't feel so sure about Jack." + +"You're as blind as a bat--or a man. Jane loves country life because +she's young and growing; but there's a subconscious sense which tells +her that she's simply fitting herself to be carried off by that handsome +giant, Jim Jarvis. She doesn't know it, but it's the truth all the same, +and it will come as sure as tide; and when it does come, her life will +be run into other moulds than we have made, no matter how carefully." + +"I wonder where this modern Hercules is most vulnerable. I'll slay him +if I find him mousing around my Jane." + +"You will slay nothing, Mr. Headman, and you know it; you will just take +what's coming to you, as others have done since the world was young." + +"Well, I give fair warning; it's 'hands off Jane,' for lo, these many +years, or some one will be brewing 'harm tea' for himself." + +"You bark so loud no one will believe you can bite," said this saucy, +match-making mother. + +"How about Jack?" said I. "Have you settled the moulds he is to be run +in?" + +"Not entirely; but I am not as one without hope. Jack will be through +college in June, and will go abroad with us for July and August; he will +be as busy as possible with the miners from the moment he comes back; he +is much in love with Jessie, the Gordon's have no other child, the +property is large, Homestead Farm is only three miles, and--" + +"Slow up, Polly! Slow up! Your main line is all right, but your +terminal facilities are bad. Jack is to be educated, travelled, +employed, engaged, married, endowed with Homestead Farm, and all that; +but you mustn't kill off the Gordons. I swing the red lantern in front +of that train of thought. Let Jack and Jessie wait till we are through +with Four Oaks and the Gordons have no further use for Homestead Farm, +before thinking of coupling that property on to this." + +"Don't be a greater goose than you can help," said Polly. "You know what +I mean. Men are so short-sighted! Laura says, 'the Headman ought to have +a small dog and a long stick'; but no matter, I'll keep an eye on the +children, and you needn't worry about country life for them. They'll +take to it kindly." + +"Well, they ought to, if they have any appreciation of the fitness of +things. Did you ever see weather made to order before? I feel as if I +had been measured for it." + +"It suits my garden down to the ground," said Polly, who hates slang. + +"It was planned for the farmer, madam. If it happens to fit the +rose-garden mistress, it is a detail for you to note and be thankful +for, but the great things are outside the rose gardens. Look at that +corn-field! A crow could hide in it anywhere." + +"What have crows hiding got to do with corn, I'd like to know?" + +"When I was a boy the farmers used to say, 'If it will cover a crow's +back on the Fourth of July, it will make good corn,' and I am farmering +with old saws when I can't find new ones." + +"It's all of three weeks yet to the Fourth of July, and your corn will +cover a turkey by that time." + +"I hope so, but we shan't be here to see it, more's the pity, as Sir Tom +would say." + +"Do you know, Kate says she won't go over. She doesn't think it would +pay for so short a trip. Why do you insist upon eight weeks?" + +"Well, now, I like that! When did I ever insist on anything, Mrs. +Williams? Not since I knew you well, did I? But be honest, Polly. Who +has done the cutting down of this trip? You and the youngsters may stay +as long as you please, but I will be back here September 1st unless the +_Normania_ breaks a shaft." + +"I wish we could go _over_ on a German boat. I hate the Cunarders." + +"So do I, but we must land at Queenstown. We must put Sir Tom under the +sod at that little castle out from Sligo. Then we can do Holland and +Belgium, and have a week or ten days in London." + +"That will be enough. I do hope Johnson will take good care of my +flowers; it's the very most important time, you know, and if he neglects +them--" + +"He won't neglect them, Polly; even if he does, they can be easily +replaced. But the hay harvest, now, that's different; if they spoil the +timothy or cut the alfalfa too late!" + +"Bother your alfalfa! What do I care for that? Kate's coming out with +the babies, and I'm going to put her in full charge of the gardens. +She'll look after them, I'm sure. I'll tell you another bit of news: Jim +Jarvis is bound to go with us, Jack says, and he has asked if we'll let +him." + +"How long have you had that up your sleeve, young woman? I don't like it +a little bit! That is why you talked so like an oracle a little while +ago! What does Jane say?" + +"She doesn't say much, but I think she wouldn't object." + +"Of course she can't object. You sick a big brute of a man on to a +little girl, and she don't dare object; but I'll feed him to the fishes +if he worries her." + +"To be sure you will, Mr. Ogre. Anybody would be sure of that to hear +you talk." + +"Don't chaff me, Polly. This is a serious business. If you sell my girl, +I'm going to buy a new one. I'll ask Jessie Gordon to go with us and, if +Jack is half the man I take him to be, he'll replenish our stock of +girls before we get back." + +"Who is match-making now?" + +"I don't care what you call it. I shall take out letters of marque and +reprisal. I won't raise girls to be carried off by the first privateer +that makes sail for them, without making some one else suffer. If +Jarvis goes, Jessie goes, that's flat." + +"I think it will be an excellent plan, Mr. Bad Temper, and I've no doubt +that we can manage it." + +"Don't say 'we' when you talk of managing it. I tell you I'm entirely on +the defensive until some one robs me, then I'll take what is my +neighbor's if I can get it. If it were not for my promise to Sir Tom, I +wouldn't leave the farm for a minute! And I would establish a quarantine +against all giants for at least five years." + +"You know you like Jarvis. He is one of the best." + +"That's all right, Polly. He's as fine as silk, but he isn't fine enough +for our Jane yet." + + + + +CHAPTER LX + +"I TOLD YOU SO" + + +It may be the limitless horizon, it may be the comradery of confinement, +it may be the old superstition of a plank between one and eternity, or +it may be some occult influence of ship and ocean; but certain it is +that there is no such place in all the world as a deck of a +transatlantic liner for softening young hearts, until they lose all +semblance of shape, and for melting them into each other so that out of +twain there comes but one. I think Polly was pleased to watch this +melting process, as it began to show itself in our young people, from +the safe retreat of her steamer chair and behind the covers of her book. +I couldn't find that she read two chapters from any book during the +whole voyage, or that she was miserable or discontented. She just +watched with a comfortable "I told you so" expression of countenance; +and she never mentioned home lot or garden or roses, from dock to dock. + +It is as natural for a woman to make matches as for a robin to build +nests, and I suppose I had as much right to find fault with the one as +with the other. I did not find fault with her, but neither could I +understand her; so I fretted and fumed and smoked, and walked the deck +and bet on everything in sight and out of sight, until the soothing +influence of the sea took hold of me, and then I drifted like the rest +of them. + +No, I will not say "like the rest of them," for I could not forgive this +waste of space given over to water. In other crossings I had not noted +the conspicuous waste with any feeling of loss or regret; but other +crossings had been made before I knew the value of land. I could not get +away from the thought that it would add much to the wealth of the world +if the mountains were removed and cast into the sea. Not only that, but +it would curb to some extent the ragings of this same turbulent sea, +which was rolling and tossing us about for no really good reason that I +could discover. The Atlantic had lost much of its romance and mystery +for me, and I wondered if I had ever felt the enthusiasm which I heard +expressed on all sides. + +"There she spouts!" came from a dozen voices, and the whole passenger +list crowded the port rail, just to see a cow whale throwing up streams +of water, not immensely larger than the streams of milk which my cow +Holsteins throw down. The crowd seemed to take great pleasure in this +sight, but to me it was profitless. + +I have known the day when I could watch the graceful leaps and dives of +a school of porpoises, as it kept with easy fin, alongside of our ocean +greyhound, with pleasure unalloyed by any feeling of non-utility. But +now these "hogs of the sea" reminded me of my Chester Whites, and the +comparison was so much in favor of the hogs of the land, that I turned +from these spectacular, useless things, to meditate upon the price of +pork. Even Mother Carey's chickens gave me no pleasure, for they +reminded me of a far better brood at home, and I cheerfully thanked the +noble Wyandottes who were working every third day so that I could have a +trip to Europe. To be sure, I had European trips before I had +Wyandottes; to have them both the same year was the marvel. + +Before we reached Queenstown, Jarvis had gained some ground by twice +picking me out of the scuppers; but as I resented his steadiness of foot +and strength of hand, it was not worth mentioning. I could see, however, +that these feats were great in Jane's eyes. The double rescue of a +beloved parent, from, not exactly a watery grave, but a damp scupper, +would never be forgotten. The giant let her adore his manly strength and +beauty, and I could only secretly hope that some wave--tidal if +necessary--would take him off his feet and send him into the scuppers. +But he had played football too long to be upset by a watery wave, and I +was balked of my revenge. + +Jack and Jessie were rather a pleasure to me than otherwise. They +settled right down to the heart-softening business in such +matter-of-fact fashion that their hearts must have lost contour before +the voyage was half over. Polly dismissed them from her mind with a sigh +of satisfaction, and I then hoped that she would find some time to +devote to me, but I was disappointed. She assured me that those two were +safely locked in the fold, but that she could not "set her mind at rest" +until the other two were safe. After that she promised to take me in +hand; whether for reward or for punishment left me guessing. + +The six and a half days finally came to an end, and we debarked for +Queenstown. The journey across Ireland was made as quickly as slow +trains and a circuitous route would permit, and we reached Sligo on the +second day. Sir Thomas's agent met us, and we drove at once to the +"little castle out from Sligo." It proved to be a very old little +castle, four miles out, overlooking the bay. It was low and flat, with +thick walls of heavy stone pierced by a few small windows, and a broad +door made of black Irish oak heavily studded with iron. From one corner +rose a square tower, thirty feet or more in height, covered with wild +vines that twined in and out through the narrow, unglazed windows. + +Within was a broad, low hall, from which opened four rooms of nearly +equal size. There was little evidence that the castle had been inhabited +during recent years, though there was an ancient woman care-taker who +opened the great door for us, and then took up the Irish peasant's wail +for the last of the O'Haras. She never ceased her crooning except when +she spoke to us, which was seldom; but she placed us at table in the +state dining room, and served us with stewed kid, potatoes, and goat's +milk. The walls of the dining room were covered with ancient pictures of +the O'Haras, but none so recent as a hundred years. We could well +believe Sir Tom's words, "the sod has known us for a thousand years," +when we looked upon the score of pictures, each of which stood for at +least one generation. + +The agent told us that our friend had never lived at the castle, but +that he had visited the place as a child, and again just before leaving +for America. A wall-enclosed lot about two hundred feet square was "the +kindest sod in all the world to an O'Hara," and here we placed our dear +friend at rest with the "lucky ones" of his race. No one of the race +ever deserved more "luck" than did our Sir Tom. The young clergyman who +read the service assured us that he had found it; and our minds gave the +same evidence, and our hearts said Amen, as we turned from his peaceful +resting-place by the green waters of Sligo Bay. + +Two days later we were comfortably lodged at The Hague, from which we +intended to "do" the little kingdom of Holland by rail, by canal, or on +foot, as we should elect. + + + + +CHAPTER LXI + +THE BELGIAN FARMER + + +Leaving Holland with regret, we crossed the Schelde into Belgium, the +cockpit of Europe. It is here that one sees what intensive farming is +like. No fences to occupy space, no animals roaming at large, nothing +but small strips of land tilled to the utmost, chiefly by hand. Little +machinery is used, and much of the work is done after primitive +fashions; but the land is productive, and it is worked to the top of its +bent. + +The peasant-farmer soils his cows, his sheep, his swine, in a way that +is economical of space and food, if not of labor, and manages to make a +living and to pay rent for his twenty-acre strip of land. His methods do +not appeal to the American farmer, who wastes more grain and forage each +year than would keep the Netherlander, his family, and his stock; but +there is a lesson to be learned from this subdivision and careful +cultivation of land. Belgian methods prove that Mother Earth can care +for a great many children if she be properly husbanded, and that the +sooner we recognize her capacity the better for us. + +Abandoned farms are not known in Belgium and France, though the soil +has been cultivated for a thousand years, and was originally no better +than our New England farms, and not nearly so good as hundreds of those +which are practically given over to "old fields" in Virginia. + +It is neglect that impoverishes land, not use. Intelligent use makes +land better year by year. The only way to wear out land is to starve and +to rob it at the same time. Food for man and beast may be taken from the +soil for thousands of years without depleting it. All it asks in return +is the refuse, carefully saved, properly applied, and thoroughly worked +in to make it available. If, in addition to this, a cover crop of some +leguminous plant be occasionally turned under, the soil may actually +increase in fertility, though it be heavily cropped each year. + +It would pay the young American farmer to study Belgian methods, crude +though they are, for the insight he could gain into the possibilities of +continuous production. The greatest number of people to the square mile +in the inhabited globe live in this little, ill-conditioned kingdom, and +most of them get their living from the soil. It has been the +battle-field of Europe: a thousand armies have harrowed it; human blood +has drenched it from Liege to Ostend; it has been depopulated again and +again. But it springs into new life after each catastrophe, simply +because the soil is prolific of farmers, and they cannot be kept down. +Like the poppies on the field of Waterloo, which renew the blood-red +strife each year, the Belgian peasant-farmer springs new-born from the +soil, which is the only mother he knows. + +After two weeks in Holland, two in Belgium, and two in London, we were +ready to turn our faces toward home. + +We took the train to Southampton, and a small side-wheel steamer carried +us outside Southampton waters, where we tossed about for thirty minutes +before the _Normania_ came to anchor. The wind was blowing half a gale +from the north, and we were glad to get under the lee of the great +vessel to board her. + +The transfer was quickly made, and we were off for New York. The wind +gained strength as the day grew old, but while we were in the Solent the +bluff coast of Devon and Cornwall broke its force sufficiently to permit +us to be comfortable on the port side of the ship. + +As night came on, great clouds rolled up from the northwest and the wind +increased. Darkness, as of Egypt, fell upon us before we passed the +Lizard, and the only things that showed above the raging waters were the +beacon lights, and these looked dim and far away. Occasionally a flash +of lightning threw the waters into relief, and then made the darkness +more impenetrable. As we steamed beyond the Lizard and the protecting +Cornish coast, the full force of the gale, from out the Irish Sea, +struck us. We were going nearly with it, and the good ship pitched and +reared like an angry horse, but did not roll much. Pitching is harder to +bear than rolling, and the decks were quickly vacated. + +I turned into my stateroom soon after ten o'clock, and then happened a +thing which will hold a place in my memory so long as I have one. I did +not feel sleepy, but I was nervous, restless, and half sick. I lay on my +lounge for perhaps half an hour, and then felt impelled to go on deck. I +wrapped myself in a great waterproof ulster, pulled my storm cap over my +ears, and climbed the companionway. Two or three electric bulbs in +sheltered places on deck only served to make the darkness more intense. +I crawled forward of the ladies' cabin, and, supporting myself against +the donkey-engine, peered at the light above the crow's-nest and tried +to think that I could see the man on watch in the nest. I did see him +for an instant, when the next flash of lightning came, and also two +officers on the bridge; and I knew that Captain Bahrens was in the chart +house. When the next flash came, I saw the other lookout man making his +short turns on the narrow space of bow deck, and was tempted to join +him; why, I do not know. I crept past the donkey-engine, holding fast to +it as I went, until I reached the iron gate that closes the narrow +passage to the bow deck. With two silver dollars in my teeth I staggered +across this rail-guarded plank, and when the next flash came I was +sitting at the feet of the lookout man with the two silver dollars in my +outstretched hand. He took the money, and let me crawl forward between +the anchors and the high bulwark of the bows. + +The sensations which this position gave me were strange beyond +description. Darkness was thick around me; at one moment I was carried +upward until I felt that I should be lost in the black sky, and the next +moment the downward motion was so terrible that the blacker water at the +bottom of the sea seemed near. I cannot say that I enjoyed it, but I +could not give it up. + +When the great bow rose, I stood up, and, looking over the bulwark, +tried to see either sky or water, but tried in vain, save when the +lightning revealed them both. When the bow fell, I crouched under the +bulwark and let the sea comb over me. How long I remained at this weird +post, I do not know; but I was driven from it in such terror as I hope +never to feel again. + +An unusually large wave carried me nearer the sky than I liked to be, +and just as the sharp bow of the great iron ship was balancing on its +crest for the desperate plunge, a glare of lightning made sky and sea +like a sheet of flame and curdled the blood in my veins. In the trough +of the sea, under the very foot of the immense steamship, lay a delicate +pleasure-boat, with its mast broken flush with its deck, and its +helpless body the sport of the cruel waves. + +The light did not last longer than it would take me to count five, but +in that time I saw four figures that will always haunt me. Two sailors +in yachting costume were struggling hopelessly with the tiller, and the +wild terror of their faces as they saw the huge destruction that hung +over them is simply unforgettable. + +The other two were different. A strong, blond man, young, handsome, and +brave I know, stood bareheaded in front of the cockpit. With a sudden, +vehement motion he drew the head of a girl to his breast and held it +there as if to shut out the horrible world. There was no fear in his +face,--just pain and distress that he was unable to do more. I am +thankful that I did not see the face of the girl. Her brown hair has +floated in my dreams until I have cried out for help; what would her +face have done? + +In the twinkling of an eye it was over. I heard a sound as when one +breaks an egg on the edge of a cup,--no more. I screamed with horror, +ran across the guarded plank, climbed the gate, and fell headlong and +screaming over the donkey-engine. Picking up my battered self, I +shouted: + +"Bahrens! Bahrens! for God's sake, help! Man overboard! Stop the ship!" + +I reached the ladder to the bridge just as the captain came out of the +chart house. + +"For God's sake, stop the ship! You've run down a boat with four +people! Stop her, can't you!" + +"It can't be done, man. If we've run down a boat, it's all over with it +and all in it. I can't risk a thousand lives without hope of saving one. +This is a gale, Doctor, and we have our hands full." + +I turned from him in horror and despair. I stumbled to my stateroom, +dropped my wet clothing in the middle of the floor, and knew no more +until the trumpet called for breakfast. The rush of green waters was +pounding at my porthole; the experience of the night came back to me +with horror; the reek of my wet clothes sickened my heart, and I rang +for the steward. + +"Take these things away, Gustav, and don't bring them back until they +are dry and pressed." + +"What things does the Herr Doctor speak for?" + +"The wet things there on the floor." + +"Excuse me, but I have seen no things wet." + +"You Dutch chump!" said I, half rising, "what do you mean by +saying--Well, I'll be damned!" There were my clothes, dry and folded, on +the couch, and my ulster and cap on their hook, without evidence of +moisture or use. + +"Gustav, remind me to give you three rix-dollars at breakfast." + +"Danke, Herr Doctor." + +Of such stuff are dreams made. But I will know those terror-stricken +sailors if I do not see them for a hundred years; and I am glad the +dark-haired girl did not realize the horror, but simply knew that the +man loved her; and I often think of the man who did the nice thing when +no one was looking, and whose face was not terrorized by the crack of +doom. + + + + +CHAPTER LXII + +HOME-COMING + + +Even Polly was satisfied with our young people before we entered New +York Bay. If anything in their "left pulmonaries" had remained +unsoftened during the voyage out and the comradery of the Netherlands, +it was melted into non-resistance by the homeward trip. I could not long +hold out against the evidence of happiness that surrounded me, and I +gave a half-grudging consent that Jarvis and Jane might play together +for the next three or four years, if they would not ask to play "for +keeps" until those years had passed. They readily gave the promise, but +every one knows how such promises are kept. The children wore me out in +time, as all children do in all kinds of ways, and got their own ways in +less than half the contract period. I cannot put my finger on any +punishment that has befallen them for this lack of filial consideration, +and I am fifteen-sixteenths reconciled. + +I was downright glad that Jack "made good" with Jessie Gordon. She was +the sort of girl to get out the best that was in him, and I was glad to +have her begin early. Try as I might, I could not feel unhappy that +beautiful September morning as we steamed up the finest waterway to the +finest city in the world. Deny it who will, I claim that our Empire City +and its environments make the most impressive human show. There is more +life, vigor, utility, gorgeousness about it than can be found anywhere +else; and it has the snap and elasticity of youth, which are so +attractive. No man who claims the privilege of American citizenship can +sail up New York Bay without feeling pride in his country and +satisfaction in his birthright. One doesn't disparage other cities and +other countries when he claims that his own is the best. + +We were not specially badly treated at the custom-house,--no worse, +indeed, than smugglers, thieves, or pirates would have been; and we +escaped, after some hours of confinement, without loss of life or +baggage, but with considerable loss of dignity. How can a +self-respecting, middle-aged man (to be polite to myself) stand for +hours in a crowded shed, or lean against a dirty post, or sit on the +sharp edge of his open trunk, waiting for a Superior Being with a gilt +band around his hat, without losing some modicum of dignity? And how, +when this Superior Being calls his number and kicks his trunk, is he to +know that he is a free-born American citizen and a lineal descendant of +Roger Williams? The evidence is entirely from within. How is he to +support a countenance and mien of dignity while the secrets of his +chest are laid bare and the contents of his trunk dumped on the dirty +floor? And how must his eyes droop and his face take on a hang-dog look +when his second-best coat is searched for diamonds, and his favorite +(though worn) pajamas punched for pearls. + +There are concessions to be made for one's great and glorious country, +and the custom-house is one of them. Perhaps we will do better sometime, +and perhaps, though this is unlikely, the customs inspectors of the +future will disguise themselves as gentlemen. We finally passed the +inquisition, and, with stuffed trunks and ruffled spirits, took cabs for +the station, and were presently within the protecting walls at Four +Oaks, there to forget lost dignities in the cultivation of land and new +ones. + + + + +CHAPTER LXIII + +AN HUNDRED FOLD + + +Kate declared that she had had the time of her life during her nine +weeks' stay at Four Oaks. "People here every day, and the house full +over Sunday. We've kept the place humming," said she, "and you may be +thankful if you find anything here but a mortgage. When Tom and I get +rich, we are going to be farm people." + +"Don't wait for that, daughter. Start your country home early and let it +grow up with the children. It doesn't take much money to buy the land +and to get fruit trees started. If Tom will give it his care for three +hours a week, he will make it at least pay interest and taxes, and it +will grow in value every year until you are ready to live on it. Think +how our orchards would look now if we had started them ten years ago! +They would be fit to support an average family." + +"There, Dad, don't mount your hobby as soon as ever you get home. But we +_have_ had a good time out here. Do you really think farming is all beer +and skittles?" + +"It has been smooth sailing for me thus far, and I believe it is simply +a business with the usual ups and downs; but I mean to make the ups the +feature in this case." + +"Are you really glad to get back to it? Didn't you want to stay longer?" + +"I had a fine trip, and all that, but I give you this for true; I don't +think it would make me feel badly if I were condemned to stay within +forty miles of this place for the rest of my life." + +"I can't go so far as that with you, Dad, but perhaps I may when I'm +older." + +"Yes, age makes a difference. At forty a man is a fool or a farmer, or +both; at fifty the pull of the land is mighty; at sixty it has full +possession of him; at seventy it draws him down with other forces than +that which Newton discovered, and at eighty it opens for him and kindly +tucks the sod around him. Mother Earth is no stepmother, but warm and +generous to all, and I think a fellow is lucky who comes to her for long +years of bounty before he is compelled to seek her final hospitality." + +"But, Dad, we can't all be farmers." + +"Of course not, and there's the pity of it; but almost every man can +have a plot of ground on which each year he can grow some new thing, if +only a radish or a leaf of lettuce, to add to the real wealth of the +world. I tell you, young lady, that all wealth springs out of the +ground. You think that riches are made in Wall Street, but they are +not; they are only handled and manipulated. Stop the work of the farmer +from April to October of any year, and Wall Street would be a howling +wilderness. The Street makes it easier to exchange a dozen eggs for +three spools of silk, or a pound of butter for a hat pin, but that's +all; it never created half the intrinsic value of twelve eggs or sixteen +ounces of butter. It's only the farmer who is a wealth producer, and +it's high time that he should be recognized as such. He's the husbandman +of all life; without him the world would be depopulated in three years. +You don't half appreciate the profession which your Dad has taken up in +his old age." + +"That sounds all right, but I don't think the farmer would recognize +himself from that description. He doesn't live up to his possibilities, +does he?" + +"Mighty few people do. A farmer may be what he chooses to be. He's under +no greater limitations than a business or a professional man. If he be +content to use his muscle blindly, he will probably fall under his own +harrow. So, too, would the merchant or the lawyer who failed to use his +intelligence in his business. The farmer who cultivates his mind as well +as his land, uses his pencil as often as his plough, and mixes brains +with brawn, will not fall under his own harrow or any other man's. He +will never be the drudge of soil or of season, for to a large extent he +can control the soil and discount the season. No other following gives +such opportunity for independence and self-balance." + +"Almost thou persuadest me to become a farmer," said Kate, as we left +the porch, where I had been admiring my land while I lectured on the +advantages of husbandry. + +Polly came out of the rose garden, where she had been examining her +flowers and setting her watch, and said:-- + +"Kate, you and the grand-girls must stay this month out, anyway. It +seems an age since we saw you last." + +"All right, if Dad will agree not to fire farm fancies and figures at me +every time he catches me in an easy-chair." + +"I'll promise, but you don't know what you're missing." + +Four Oaks looked great, and I was tempted to tramp over every acre of +it, saying to each, "You are mine"; but first I had a little talk with +Thompson. + +"Everything has been greased for us this summer," said Thompson. "We got +a bumper crop of hay, and the oats and corn are fine! I allow you've got +fifty-five bushels of oats to the acre in those shocks, and the corn +looks like it stood for more than seventy. We sold nine more calves the +end of June, for $104. Mr. Tom must have a lot of money for you, for in +August we sold the finest bunch of shoates you ever saw,--312 of them. +They were not extra heavy, but they were fine as silk. Mr. Tom said they +netted $4.15 per hundred, and they averaged a little over 260 pounds. I +went down with them, and the buyers tumbled over each other to get them. +I was mighty proud of the bunch, and brought back a check for $3407." + +"Good for you, Thompson! That's the best sale yet." + +"Some of the heifers will be coming in the last of this month or the +first of next. Don't you want to get rid of those five scrub cows?" + +"Better wait six weeks, and then you may sell them. Do you know where +you can place them?" + +"Jackson was looking at them a few days ago, and said he would give $35 +apiece for them; but they are worth more." + +"Not for us, Thompson, and not for him, either, if he saw things just +right. They're good for scrubs; but they don't pay well enough for us, +and if he wants them he can have them at that price about the middle of +October." + +The credit account for the second quarter of 1898 stood:-- + +23 calves . . . . . $270.00 +Eggs . . . . . . 637.00 +Butter . . . . . . 1314.00 + Total. . . . . . $2221.00 + + + + +CHAPTER LXIV + +COMFORT ME WITH APPLES + + +September added a new item to our list of articles sold; small, indeed, +but the beginning of the fourth and last product of our factory +farm,--fruit from our newly planted orchards. The three hundred plum +trees in the chicken runs gave a moderate supply for the colony, and the +dwarf-pear trees yielded a small crop; but these were hardly included in +our scheme. I expected to be able, by and by, to sell $200 or $300 worth +of plums; but the chief income from fruit would come from the fifty +acres of young apple orchards. + +I hope to live to see the time when these young orchards will bring me +at least $5 a year for each tree; and if I round out my expectancy (as +the life-insurance people figure it), I may see them do much better. In +the interim the day of small things must not be despised. In our climate +the Yellow Transparent and the Duchess do not ripen until early +September, and I was therefore at home in time to gather and market the +little crop from my six hundred trees. The apples were carefully picked, +for they do not bear handling well, and the perfect ones were placed in +half-bushel boxes and sent to my city grocer. Not one defective apple +was packed, for I was determined that the Four Oaks stencil should be as +favorably known for fruit as for other products. + +The grocer allowed me fifty cents a box. "The market is glutted with +apples, but not your kind," said he. "Can you send more?" I could not +send more, for my young trees had done their best in producing +ninety-six boxes of perfect fruit. Boxes and transportation came to ten +cents for each box, and I received $38 for my first shipment of fruit. + +I cannot remember any small sum of money that ever pleased me +more,--except the $28 which I earned by seven months of labor in my +fourteenth year; for it was "first fruits" of the last of our +interlacing industries. + +Thirty-eight dollars divided among my trees would give one cent to each; +but four years later these orchards gave net returns of ninety cents for +each tree, and in four years from now they will bring more than twice +that amount. At twelve years of age they will bring an annual income of +$3 each, and this income will steadily increase for ten or fifteen +years. At the time of writing, February, 1903, they are good for $1 a +year, which is five per cent of $20. + +Would I take $20 apiece for these trees? Not much, though that would +mean $70,000. I do not know where I could place $70,000 so that it +would pay five per cent this year, six per cent next year, and twenty +per cent eight or ten years from now. Of course, $70,000 would be an +exorbitant price to pay for an orchard like mine; but it must be +remembered that I am old and cannot wait for trees to grow. + +If a man will buy land at $50 or $60 an acre, plant it to apple trees +(not less than sixty-five to the acre), and bring these trees to an age +when they will produce fruit to the value of $1.50 each, they will not +have cost more than $1.50 per tree for the land, the trees, and the +labor. + +I am too old to begin over again, and I wish to see a handsome income +from my experiment before my eyes are dim; but why on earth young men do +not take to this kind of investment is more than I can see. It is as +safe as government bonds, and infinitely safer than most mercantile +ventures. It is a dignified employment, free from the ordinary risks of +business; and it is not likely to be overdone. All one needs is energy, +a little money, and a good bit of well-directed intelligence. This +combination is common enough to double our rural population, relieve the +congestion in trades and underpaid employments, and add immensely to the +wealth of the country. If we can only get the people headed for the +land, it will do much toward solving the vexing labor problems, and will +draw the teeth of the communists and the anarchists; for no one is so +willing to divide as he who cannot lose by division. To the man who has +a plot of ground which he calls his own, division doesn't appeal with +any but negative force. Neither should it, until all available lands are +occupied. Then he must move up and make room for another man by his +side. + +The sales for the quarter ending September 30 were as follows:-- + +96 half-bushel boxes of apples $38.00 +9 calves 104.00 +Eggs 543.00 +Butter 1293.00 +Hogs 3407.00 + -------- + Total $5385.00 + +This was the best total for any three months up to date, and it made me +feel that I was getting pretty nearly out of the woods, so far as +increasing my investment went. + +Including my new hog-house and ten thousand bushels of purchased grain, +the investment, thought I, must represent quite a little more than +$100,000, and I hoped not to go much beyond that sum, for Polly looked +serious when I talked of six figures, though she was reconciled to any +amount which could be stated in five. + +My buildings were all finished, and were good for many years; and if +they burned, the insurance would practically replace them. My granary +was full enough of oats and corn to provide for deficits of years to +come; and my flocks and herds were now at their maximum, since Sam had +turned more than eight hundred pullets into the laying pens. I began to +feel that the factory would soon begin to run full time and to make +material returns for its equipment. It would, of course, be several +years before the fruit would make much showing, but I am a patient man, +and could wait. + + + + +CHAPTER LXV + +THE END OF THE THIRD YEAR + + +"Polly," said I, on the evening of December 31, "let's settle the +accounts for the year, and see how much we must credit to 'experience' +to make the figures balance." + +"Aren't you going to credit anything to health, and good times +generally? If not, you don't play fair." + +"We'll keep those things in reserve, to spring on the enemy at a +critical moment; perhaps they won't be needed." + +"I fancy you will have to bring all your reserves into action this time, +Mr. Headman, for you promised to make a good showing at the end of the +third year." + +"Well, so I will; at least, according to my own estimate; but others may +not see it as I do." + +"Don't let others see it at all, then. The experiment is yours, isn't +it?" + +"Yes, for us; but it's more than a personal matter. I want to prove that +a factory farm is sound in theory and safe in practice, and that it will +fit the needs of a whole lot of farmers." + +"I hardly think that 'a whole lot of farmers,' or of any other kind of +people, will put $100,000 into a farm on any terms. Don't you think +you've been a little extravagant?" + +"Only on the home forty, Polly. I will expound this matter to you some +time until you fall asleep, but not to-day. We have other business on +hand. I want to give you this warning to begin with: you are not to jump +to a conclusion or on to my figures until you have fairly considered two +items which enter into this year's expense account. I've built an extra +hog-house and have bought ten thousand bushels of grain, at a total +expense of about $6000. Neither of these items was really needed this +year; but as they are our insurance against disease and famine, I +secured them early and at low prices. They won't appear in the expense +account again,--at least, not for many years,--and they give me a sense +of security that is mighty comforting." + +"But what if Anderson sets fire to your piggery, or lightning strikes +your granary,--how about the expense account then?" + +"What do you suppose fire insurance policies are for? To paper the wall? +No, madam, they are to pay for new buildings if the old ones burn up. I +charge the farm over $200 a year for this security, and it's a binding +contract." + +"Well, I'll try and forget the $6000 if you'll get to the figures at +once." + +"All right. First, let me go over the statement for the last quarter of +the year. The sales were: apples, from 150 old trees at $3 per tree, +$450; 10 calves, $115; 360 hens and 500 cockerels, $430; 5 cows (the +common ones, to Jackson) at $35 each, $175; eggs, $827; butter, $1311; +and 281 hogs, rushed to market in December when only about eight months +old and sold for $3.70 per hundred to help swell this account, $2649; +making a total for the fourth quarter of $5957. + +"The items of expense for the year were:-- + +"Interest on investment $5,132.00 + New hog-house 4,220.00 + 10,000 bu. of grain 2,450.00 + Food for colony 5,322.00 + Food for stock 1,640.00 + Seeds and fertilizers 2,155.00 + Insurance and taxes 730.00 + Shoeing and repairs 349.00 + Replenishments 450.00 + +"Total $22,760.00 + +"The credit account reads: first quarter, $2030; second quarter, $2221; +third quarter, $5387; fourth quarter, $5957; total, $15,595. + +"If we take out the $6670 for the extra piggery and the grain, the +expense account and the income will almost balance, even leaving out the +$4000 which we agreed to pay for food and shelter. I think that's a fair +showing for the three years, don't you?" + +"Possibly it is; but what a lot of money you pay for wages. It's the +largest item." + +"Yes, and it always will be. I don't claim that a factory farm can be +run like a grazing or a grain farm. One of its objects is to furnish +well-paid employment to a lot of people. We've had nine men and two lads +all the year, and three extra men for seven months, three women on the +farm and five in the house,--twenty-two people to whom we've paid wages +this year. Doesn't that count for anything? How many did we keep in the +city?" + +"Four,--three women and a man." + +"Then we give employment to eighteen more people at equally good wages +and in quite as wholesome surroundings. Do you realize, Polly, that the +maids in the house get $1300 out of the $5300,--one quarter of the +whole? Possibly there is a suspicion of extravagance on the home forty." + +"Not a bit of it! You know that you proved to me that it cost us $5200 a +year for board and shelter in the city, and you only credit the farm +with $4000. That other $1200 would more than pay the extra wages. I +really don't think it costs as much to live here as it did on +B----Street, and any one can see the difference." + +"You are right. If we call our plant an even $100,000, which at five per +cent would mean $5000 a year,--where can you get house, lawns, woods, +gardens, horses, dogs, servants, liberty, birds, and sun-dials on a wide +and liberal scale for $5000 a year, except on a farm like this? You +can't buy furs, diamonds, and yachts with such money anyhow or +anywhere, so personal expenditures must be left out of all our +calculations. No, the wage account will always be the large one, and I +am glad it is so, for it is one finger of the helping hand." + +"You haven't finished with the figures yet. You don't know what to add +to our _permanent_ investment." + +"That's quickly done. _Nineteen thousand five hundred and ninety-five +dollars_ from twenty-two thousand seven hundred and sixty dollars leaves +three thousand one hundred and sixty-five dollars to charge to our +investment. I resent the word 'permanent,' which you underscored just +now, for each year we're going to have a surplus to subtract from this +interest-bearing debt." + +"Precious little surplus you'll have for the next few years, with Jack +and Jane getting married, and--" + +"But, Polly, you can't charge weddings to the farm, any more than we can +yachts and diamonds." + +"I don't see why. A wedding is a very important part of one's life, and +I think the farm ought to be _made_ to pay for it." + +"I quite agree with you; but we must add $3165 to the old farm debt, and +take up our increased burden with such courage as we may. In round +figures it is $106,000. Does that frighten you, Polly?" + +"A little, perhaps; but I guess we can manage it. _You_ would have been +frightened three years ago if some one had told you that you would put +$106,000 into a farm of less than five hundred acres." + +"You're right. Spending money on a farm is like other forms of +vice,--hated, then tolerated, then embraced. But seriously, a man would +get a bargain if he secured this property to-day for what it has cost +us. I wouldn't take a bonus of $50,000 and give it up." + +"You'll hardly find a purchaser at that price, and I'm glad you can't, +for I want to live here and nowhere else." + + + + +CHAPTER LXVI + +LOOKING BACKWARD + + +With the close of the third year ends the detailed history of the +factory farm. All I wish to do further is to give a brief synopsis of +the debit and credit accounts for each of the succeeding four years. + +First I will say a word about the people who helped me to start the +factory. Thompson and his wife are still with me, and they are well on +toward the wage limit. Johnson has the gardens and Lars the stables, and +Otto is chief swineherd. French and his wife act as though they were +fixtures on the place, as indeed I hope they are. They have saved a lot +of money, and they are the sort who are inclined to let well enough +alone. Judson is still at Four Oaks, doing as good service as ever; but +I fancy that he is minded to strike out for himself before long. He has +been fortunate in money matters since he gave up the horse and buggy; he +informed me six months ago that he was worth more than $5000. + +"I shouldn't have had five thousand cents if I'd stuck to that darned +old buggy," said he, "and I guess I'll have to thank you for throwing +me down that day." + +Zeb has married Lena, and a little cottage is to be built for them this +winter, just east of the farm-house; and Lena's place is to be filled by +her cousin, who has come from the old country. + +Anderson and Sam both left in 1898,--poor, faithful Anderson because his +heart gave out, and Sam because his beacon called him. + +Lars's boys, now sixteen and eighteen, have full charge of the poultry +plant, and are quite up to Sam in his best days. Of course I have had +all kinds of troubles with all sorts of men; but we have such a strong +force of "reliables" that the atmosphere is not suited to the idler or +the hobo, and we are, therefore, never seriously annoyed. Of one thing I +am certain: no man stays long at our farm-house without apprehending the +uses of napkin and bath-tub, and these are strong missionary forces. + +Through careful tilth and the systematic return of all waste to the +land, the acres at Four Oaks have grown more fertile each year. The soil +was good seven years ago, and we have added fifty per cent to its crop +capacity. The amount of waste to return to the land on a farm like this +is enormous, and if it be handled with care, there will be no occasion +to spend much money for commercial fertilizers. I now buy fertilizers +only for the mid-summer dressing on my timothy and alfalfa fields. The +apple trees are very heavily mulched, even beyond the spread of their +branches, with waste fresh from the vats, and once a year a light +dressing of muriate of potash is applied. The trees have grown as fast +as could be desired, and all of them are now in bearing. The apples from +these young trees sold for enough last year to net ninety cents for each +tree, which is more than the trees have ever cost me. + +In 1898 these orchards yielded $38; in 1899, $165; in 1900, $530; in +1901, $1117. Seven years from the date of planting these trees, which +were then three years old, I had received in money $4720, or $1200 more +than I paid for the fifty acres of land on which they grew. If one would +ask for better returns, all he has to do is to wait; for there is a sort +of geometrical progression inherent in the income from all +well-cared-for orchards, which continues in force for about fifteen +years. There is, however, no rule of progress unless the orchards are +well cared for, and I would not lead any one to the mistake of planting +an orchard and then doing nothing but wait. Cultivate, feed, prune, +spray, dig bores, fight mice, rabbits, aphides, and the thousand other +enemies to trees and fruit, and do these things all the time and then +keep on doing them, and you will win out. Omit all or any of them, and +the chances are that you will fail of big returns. + +But orcharding is not unique in this. Every form of business demands +prompt, timely, and intelligent attention to make it yield its best. The +orchards have been my chief care for seven years; the spraying, +mulching, and cultivation have been done by the men, but I think I have +spent one whole year, during the past seven, among my trees. Do I charge +my orchards for this time? No; for I have gotten as much good from the +trees as they have from me, and honors are easy. A meditative man in his +sixth lustrum can be very happy with pruning-hook and shears among his +young trees. If he cannot, I am sincerely sorry for him. + +I have not increased my plant during the past four years. My stock +consume a little more than I can raise; but there are certain things +which a farm will not produce, and there are other things which one had +best buy, thus letting others work their own specialties. + +If I had more land, would I increase my stock? No, unless I had enough +land to warrant another plant. My feeding-grounds are filled to their +capacity from a sanitary point of view, and it would be foolish to take +risks for moderate returns. If I had as much more land, I would +establish another factory; but this would double my business cares +without adding one item to my happiness. As it is, the farm gives me +enough to keep me keenly interested, and not enough to tire or annoy me. +So far as profits go, it is entirely satisfactory. It feeds and +shelters my family and twenty others in the colony, and also the +stranger within the gates, and it does this year after year without +friction, like a well-oiled machine. + +Not only this. Each year for the past four, it has given a substantial +surplus to be subtracted from the original investment. If I live to be +sixty-eight years of age, the farm will be my creditor for a +considerable sum. I have bought no corn or oats since January, 1898. The +seventeen thousand bushels which I then had in my granary have slowly +grown less, though there has never been a day when we could not have +measured up seven thousand or eight thousand bushels. I shall probably +buy again when the market price pleases me, for I have a horror of +running short; but I shall not sell a bushel, though prices jump to the +sky. + +I have seen the time when my corn and oats would have brought four times +as much as I paid for them, but they were not for sale. They are the raw +material, to be made up in my factory, and they are worth as much to me +at twenty cents a bushel as at eighty cents. What would one think of the +manager of a silk-thread factory who sold his raw silk, just because it +had advanced in price? Silk thread would advance in proportion, and how +does the manager know that he can replace his silk when needed, even at +the advanced price? + +When corn went to eighty cents a bushel, hogs sold for $8.25 a hundred, +and my twenty-cent corn made pork just as fast as eighty-cent corn would +have done, and a great deal cheaper. + +Once I sold some timothy hay, but it was to "discount the season," just +as I bought grain. + +On July 18, 1901, a tremendous rain and wind storm beat down about forty +acres of oats beyond recovery. The next day my mowing machines, working +against the grain, commenced cutting it for hay. Before it was half cut, +I sold to a livery-stable keeper in Exeter fifty tons of bright timothy +for $600. The storm brought me no loss, for the horses did quite as well +on the oat hay as they ever had done on timothy, and $600 more than paid +for the loss of the grain. + +During the first three years of my experiment hogs were very +low,--lower, indeed, than at any other period for forty years. It was +not until 1899 that prices began to improve. During that year my sales +averaged $4.50 a hundred. In 1900 the average was $5.25, in 1901 it was +$6.10, and in 1902 it was just $7. It will be readily appreciated that +there is more profit in pork at seven cents a pound than at three and a +half cents; but how much more is beyond me, for it cost no more to get +my swine to market last year than it did in 1896. I charge each hog $1 +for bran and shorts; this is all the ready money I pay out for him. If +he weighs three hundred pounds (a few do), he is worth $10.50 at $3.50 a +hundred, or $21 at $7 a hundred; and it is a great deal pleasanter to +say $1 from $21, leaves $20, than to say $1 from $10.50 leaves $9.50. + +Of course, $1 a head is but a small part of what the hog has cost when +ready for market, but it is all I charge him with directly, for his +other expenses are carried on the farm accounts. The marked increase in +income during the past four years is wholly due to the advance in the +price of pork and the increased product of the orchards. The expense +account has not varied much. + +The fruit crop is charged with extra labor, packages, and +transportation, before it is entered, and the account shows only net +returns. I have had to buy new machinery, but this has been rather +evenly distributed, and doesn't show prominently in any year. + +In 1900 I lost my forage barn. It was struck by lightning on June 13, +and burned to the ground. Fortunately, there was no wind, and the rain +came in such torrents as to keep the other buildings safe. I had to +scour the country over for hay to last a month, and the expense of this, +together with some addition to the insurance money, cost the farm $1000 +before the new structure was completed. I give below the income and the +outgo for the last four years:-- + + INCOME EXPENSES TO THE GOOD +1899 $17,780.00 $15,420.00 $2,360.00 +1900 19,460.00 16,480.00 2,980.00 +1901 21,424.00 15,520.00 5,904.00 +1902 23,365.00 15,673.00 7,692.00 + ----------- +Making a total to the good of $18,936.00 + +These figures cover only the money received and expended. They take no +account of the $4000 per annum which we agreed to pay the farm for +keeping us, so long as we made it pay interest to us. Four times $4000 +are $16,000 which, added to $18,936, makes almost $35,000 to charge off +from the $106,000 of original investment. + +Polly was wrong when she spoke of it as a _permanent_ investment. Four +years more of seven-dollar pork and thrifty apple growth will make this +balance of $71,000 look very small. The interest is growing rapidly +less, and it will be but a short time before the whole amount will be +taken off the expense account. When this is done, the yearly balance +will be increased by the addition of $5000, and we may be able to make +the farm pay for weddings, as Polly suggested. + + + + +CHAPTER LXVII + +LOOKING FORWARD + + +I am not so opinionated as to think that mine is the only method of +farming. On the contrary, I know that it is only one of several good +methods; but that it is a good one, I insist. For a well-to-do, +middle-aged man who was obliged to give up his profession, it offered +change, recreation, employment, and profit. My ability to earn money by +my profession ceased in 1895, and I must needs live at ease on my +income, or adopt some congenial and remunerative employment, if such +could be found. The vision of a factory farm had flitted through my +brain so often that I was glad of the opportunity to test my theories by +putting them into practice. Fortunately I had money, and to spare; for I +had but a vague idea of what money would be needed to carry my +experiment to the point of self-support. I set aside $60,000 as ample, +but I spent nearly twice that amount without blinking. It is quite +likely that I could have secured as good and as prompt returns with +two-thirds of this expenditure. I plead guilty to thirty-three per cent +lack of economy; the extenuating circumstances were, a wish to let the +members of my family do much as they pleased and have good things and +good people around them, and a somewhat luxurious temperament of my own. + +Polly and I were too wise (not to say too old) to adopt farming as a +means of grace through privations. We wanted the good there was in it, +and nothing else; but as a secondary consideration I wished to prove +that it can be made to pay well, even though one-third of the money +expended goes for comforts and kickshaws. + +It is not necessary to spend so much on a five-hundred-acre farm, and a +factory farm need not contain so many acres. Any number of acres from +forty to five hundred, and any number of dollars from $5000 to $100,000, +will do, so long as one holds fast to the rules: good clean fences for +security against trespass by beasts, or weeds; high tilth, and heavy +cropping; no waste or fallow land; conscientious return to the land of +refuse, and a cover crop turned under every second year; the best stock +that money can buy; feed for product, not simply to keep the animals +alive; force product in every way not detrimental to the product itself; +maintain a strict quarantine around your animals, and then depend upon +pure food, water, air, sunlight, and good shelter to keep them healthy; +sell as soon as the product is finished, even though the market doesn't +please you; sell only perfect product under your own brand; buy when the +market pleases you and thus "discount the seasons"; remember that +interdependent industries are the essence of factory farming; employ the +best men you can find, and keep them interested in your affairs; have a +definite object and make everything bend toward that object; plant apple +trees galore and make them your chief care, as in time they will prove +your chief dependence. These are some of the principles of factory +farming, and one doesn't have to be old, or rich, to put them into +practice. + +I would exchange my age, money, and acres for youth and forty acres, and +think that I had the best of the bargain; and I would start the factory +by planting ten acres of orchard, buying two sows, two cows, and two +setting hens. Youth, strength, and hustle are a great sight better than +money, and the wise youth can have a finer farm than mine before he +passes the half-century mark, even though he have but a bare forty to +begin with. + +I do not take it for granted that every man has even a bare forty; but +millions of men who have it not, can have it by a little persistent +self-denial; and when an able-bodied man has forty acres of ground under +his feet, it is up to him whether he will be a comfortable, independent, +self-respecting man or not. + +A great deal of farm land is distant from markets and otherwise limited +in its range of production, but nearly every forty which lies east of +the hundredth meridian is competent to furnish a living for a family of +workers, if the workers be intelligent as well as industrious. Farm +lands are each year being brought closer to markets by steam and +electric roads; telephone and telegraphic wires give immediate service; +and the daily distribution of mails brings the producer into close touch +with the consumer. The day of isolation and seclusion has passed, and +the farmer is a personal factor in the market. He is learning the +advantages of cooeperation, both in producing and in disposing of his +wares; he has paid off his mortgage and has money in the bank; he is a +power in politics, and by far the most dependable element in the state. +Like the wrestler of old, who gained new strength whenever his foot +touched the ground, our country gains fresh vigor from every man who +takes to the soil. + +In preaching a hejira to the country, I do not forget the interests of +the children. Let no one dread country life for the young until they +come to the full pith and stature of maturity; for their chances of +doing things worth doing in the world are four to one against those of +children who are city-bred. Four-fifths of the men and women who do +great things are country-bred. This is out of all proportion to the +birth-rate as between country and city, and one is at a loss to account +for the disproportion, unless it is to be credited to environment. Is it +due to pure air and sunshine, making redder blood and more vigorous +development, to broader horizons and freedom from abnormal conventions? +Or does a close relation to primary things give a newness to mind and +body which is granted only to those who apply in person? + +Whatever the reason, it certainly pays to be country-bred. The cities +draw to themselves the cream of these youngsters, which is only natural; +but the cities do not breed them, except as exotics. + +If the unborn would heed my advice, I would say, By all means be born in +the country,--in Ohio if possible. But, if fortune does not prove as +kind to you as I could wish, accept this other advice: Choose the, +country for your foster-mother; go to her for consolation and +rejuvenation, take her bounty gratefully, rest on her fair bosom, and be +content with the fat of the land. + + + + +THE RURAL SCIENCE SERIES + + +Includes books which state the underlying principles of agriculture in +plain language. They are suitable for consultation alike by the amateur +or professional tiller of the soil, the scientist or the student, and +are freely illustrated and finely made. + +The following volumes are now ready: + + +THE SOIL. By F.H. KING, of the University of Wisconsin. 303 pp. 45 +illustrations. 75 cents. + +THE FERTILITY OF THE LAND. By I.P. ROBERTS, of Cornell University. +Second edition. 421 pp. 45 illustrations. $1.25. + +THE SPRAYING OF PLANTS. By E.G. LODEMAN, late of Cornell University. 399 +pp. 92 illustrations. $1.00. + +MILK AND ITS PRODUCTS. By H.H. WING, of Cornell University. Third +edition. 311 pp. 43 illustrations. $1.00. + +THE PRINCIPLES OF FRUIT-GROWING. By L.H. BAILEY. Third edition. 516 pp. +120 illustrations. $1.25. + +BUSH-FRUITS. By F.W. CARD, of Rhode Island College of Agriculture and +Mechanic Arts. Second edition. 537 pp. 113 illustrations. $1.50. + +FERTILIZERS. By E.B. VOORHEES, of New Jersey Experiment Station. Second +edition. 332 pp. $1.00. + +THE PRINCIPLES OF AGRICULTURE. By L.H. BAILEY. Third edition. 300 pp. 92 +illustrations. $1.25. + +IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE. By F.H. KING, University of Wisconsin. 502 pp. +163 illustrations. $1.50. + +THE FARMSTEAD. By I.P. ROBERTS. 350 pp. 138 illustrations. $1.25. + +RURAL WEALTH AND WELFARE. By GEORGE T. FAIRCHILD, ex-President of the +Agricultural College of Kansas. 381 pp. 14 charts. $1.25. + +THE PRINCIPLES OF VEGETABLE-GARDENING. By L.H. BAILEY. 468 pp. 144 +illustrations. $1.25. + +THE FEEDING OF ANIMALS. By W.H. JORDAN, of New York State Experiment +Station. $1.25 _net_. + +FARM POULTRY. By GEORGE C. WATSON, of Pennsylvania State College. $1.25 +_net_. + +CARE OF ANIMALS. By N.S. MAYO, of Connecticut Agricultural College. +$1.25 _net_. + +New volumes will be added from time to time to the RURAL SCIENCE SERIES. +The following are in preparation: + +PHYSIOLOGY OF PLANTS. By J.C. ARTHUR, Purdue University. + +BREEDING OF ANIMALS. By W.H. BREWER, of Yale University. + +PLANT PATHOLOGY. By B.T. GALLOWAY and associates of U.S. Department of +Agriculture. + +Comprises practical hand-books for the horticulturist, explaining and +illustrating in detail the various important methods which experience +has demonstrated to be the most satisfactory. They may be called manuals +of practice, and though all are prepared by Professor Bailey, of Cornell +University, they include the opinions and methods of successful +specialists in many lines, thus combining the results of the +observations and experiences of numerous students in this and other +lands. They are written in the clear, strong, concise English and in the +entertaining style which characterize the author. The volumes are +compact, uniform in style, clearly printed, and illustrated as the +subject demands. They are of convenient shape for the pocket, and are +substantially bound in flexible green cloth. + +THE HORTICULTURIST'S RULE-BOOK. By L.H. Bailey. Fourth +edition. 312 pp. 75 cts. + +THE NURSERY-BOOK. By L.H. Bailey. Fourth edition. 365 pp. 152 +illustrations. $1.00. + +PLANT-BREEDING. By L.H. Bailey. 293 pp. 20 illustrations. +$1.00. + +THE FORCING-BOOK. By L.H. Bailey. 266 pp. 88 illustrations. +$1.00. + +GARDEN MAKING. By L.H. Bailey. Third edition. 417 pp. 256 +illustrations. $1.00. + +THE PRUNING-BOOK. By L.H. Bailey. Second edition. 545 pp. 331 +illustrations. $1.50. + +THE PRACTICAL GARDEN-BOOK. By C.E. Hunn and L.H. +Bailey. 250 pp. Many marginal cuts. $1.00. + +The Garden of a Commuter's Wife + +Recorded by the Gardener + +WITH EIGHT PHOTOGRAVURE ILLUSTRATIONS + +Cloth 12mo $1.50 + +"In brief, the book is delightfully sketchy and chatty, thoroughly +feminine and entrancing. The writer represents herself as a doctor's +daughter in a country town, who has married an Englishman, and after two +years abroad has come home to live. Both husband and wife prefer the +country to the city, and they make of their modest estate a mundane +paradise of which it is a privilege to have a glimpse. Surely it is no +exaggeration to characterize this as one of the very best books of the +holiday season, thus far."--_Providence Journal._ + +"It is written with charm, and is more than a mere treatise on what may +be raised in the small lot of the suburban resident. + +"The author has not only learned to appreciate nature from intimate +association, but has achieved unusual power of communicating these facts +to others. There is something unusually attractive about the +book."--_The Philadelphia Inquirer._ + + * * * * * + +A Woman's Hardy Garden + +By HELENA RUTHERFORD ELY + +With many Illustrations from Photographs taken in the Author's Garden by +Professor C.F. CHANDLER + +Cloth 12MO $1.75 net + +"It Is never for a moment vague or general, and Mrs. Ely is certainly +inspiring and helpful to the prospective gardener."--_Boston Herald._ + +"Mrs. Ely gives copious details of the cost of plants, the exact dates +of planting, the number of plants required in a given space for beauty +of effect and advantage to free growth, the protection needed from sun +and frost, the precautions to take against injury from insects, the +satisfaction to be expected from the different varieties of plants in +the matter of luxuriant bloom and length of time for blossoming, and +much information to be appreciated only by those who have raised a +healthy garden by the slow teachings of personal experience."--_New York +Times Saturday Review._ + + * * * * * + +THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + +66 Fifth Avenue, New York + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Fat of the Land, by John Williams Streeter + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FAT OF THE LAND *** + +***** This file should be named 16525.txt or 16525.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/2/16525/ + +Produced by Bill Tozier, Barbara Tozier, Janet Blenkinship +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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