Demoine courier., 1854-10-12
From the Prairie Farmer
THE HOMESTEAD.

The homestead.
When ! see a man sell his farm, and
hunt a new place, where he can get more
land; where, by his prisalions and hard
labor, in a..few years he gets another home
as comfortable as the one he sold, | often
say TO myself, strange he don. see thai.
if he had pu. his few years Of hard labor
upon his old homestead, if he had nos
quite as many broad acres, he would
have had things around him in ali proba-
bility much more to his own satisfaction,
emitting all his priva,ions for himself and
moro especially for his family.
I am now talking TO Prairie Farmers.
For i, is often the case tina, our Eastern
farmers, upon hard, poor soil, may better
themselves by selling their homes-even
the old cherished homes,ead-and coming
to The West where their labor will be
better paid. But to those, and to our
western home selling %neighbors, ] wish
| could give a word of caution, to avoid
as much as possible, much of the depri.
WALTON incident to a frontier life. Your
children will scarcely thank you for a
few acres Of land, in exchange for edu.
ca,ion-for mental cultivation is only TO
be acquired in social life. the blessings
which our Creator hes wisely intended
we should possess and enjoy.
II is a crying evil among our western
farmers that they value their Homesteads
100 low. Determine that This shall be
your home SO long as you live and fix
no price upon it; but 60 about raising
your corn and your cattle; make fences
and buildings, not 10 sell, but to keep
permanent and lasting. "Plant We a
~trce;" and many of them, for fruit and
for shade. Your children. or some one
else's children will thank the hand that
planted those fine trees. Trees are the
most lasting and best monument Of your
good works which can put upon the
Homestead.
have had twenty years experience 10
changing about, without a fixed Home.
stead; and at fifty different times could
have located myself just as well as /
have at last. Ii is not the mos, desirable
place in the northwest, but it is my
home, and II worth more TO me than
eEy one else, and | set no price upon it.
am many years behind what | ought
to have been in my improvements. ]
have not much around me yet but ! have
something in anticipation. There is to
be my grain and meadow fields, and there
my pasture. There is to be my locust
grove, and here is my orchard; and mere
are my shade trees. and here my variety
Of fruits, shrubs. plants aad flowers. Il
is true they are small, and of no in. me
dia.e worth, but they have got a roo, in
the earth. and with my good care they
will yield a luxurious value. value
them now and would not part with even
those trees and shrubs, for the benefit of
a Homestead Bill. l have but lite land
aud my soil is comparatively poor. But
am close to a village where there is a
mine Of n.anure-a rich mine. Ny pc
tatoes and corn. my garden anu ~, trees
pay me twice the cost Of every load 1
haul. ! am from the "Old Granite
State"-used 10 hauling manure and to
hard work. Think ye my fellow farm
ers that | can get a living upon yellow
bluff land! Even here my labor is far
better paid Than on the hard Granite hills,
because can raise enough more TO over
balance the high prices Of the east.
You that live in cities and villages Of
this prairie country. fix you a homestead.
Farmers do not sell your Homesieads.-
will sell my horse and my cow-my
dog and my coat. but there are three
things will not sell-my wife, my
child and my home.
SUEL FOSTER.
Fountain Hill, Muscatine, Iowa.