Iron County register., 1889-08-01
THE GREED FOR LAND.
Be Content with q Small Farm and MaR
the Most of 1t.

Be Content with a Small Farm and Make
the Most of 1t.
was born early in the thirties, ard
have lived all my life in a neigkbor-
hood of small farmers. where the
farms average less, perhaps, than 100
acres, and l have a good chance TO
know what can be done on a small
farm. In al adjoining county, few
miles away, is a region of large farms,
ranging from 200 to over 1000 acres
each. and l am personally acquainted
with many of the owners and know
something of their life and manage
ment. I have also given attention tc
this question in my attendance at in
stitutes and other farm gatherings in
some seventy-ive counties of several
States. and, besides, / have had per-
sonal experience in this very line, for
/ farmed successfully. and very pleas
antly for several years on a forty-acre
farm, and then bought two ad-
ditional small farms, one of which
joined mine and the other lay
ing convenient on the road between
my farm and the village. l have also
been familiar with the experience OF
many farmers who after years of sue
cessful management of small farms,
bought others for additions. / speak
of these things that you may see have
qualifications for giving advice. And
l would say that the farm which will
support family in comfort and enable
its owner to lay up even 500 or so each
year. is not to be despised because it is
small; and its owner is a man to be en-
We'd. On this small farm you are able
to keep expenses small. and can do
most of your own work, or have it
done under your eye. If you need an
improved implement, a ton or two of
fertilizer, or line of underdrain, you
have the cash to pay for it, while if
you buy an additional so acres it will
leave you without working capital and
which you must pay interest. Your
taxes will be increased. and also
your expenses for tools and labor, and
it is extremely doubtful if your net in
come is increased. But even if it
should be, and you should be able to
pay for the additional land in five to
ten years, it will be done by close saw
ing, and denying yourself aud family
comfort and enjoyment as you go
through life. The man in debt after
he reaches middle life is almost sure
to become close-fsted, so as to never
really enjoy his possessions.
Moreover. after a man passes his
fortieth birthday he must expect soon
to begin to fail somewhat in vigor, and
he should try to arrange business so as
to relieve the strain little, and if he
goes in debt for another farm he is
only heaping up labor and care. 1t is
not the amount of money or land a
man owns that makes him rich, but the
enjoyment he is able to get out of what
he has. Blessed is the man who has
learned SO to manage small farm that
it will supply his wants and leave
him something to lay up for old
age. The farmer whose acres are SO
broad that he must keep much hired
help often works his wife into an early
grave. The bane of more wealth than
one can enjoy was illustrated by the
who called a little child
to him and gave it a large apple. The
child was delighted. He gave it
second, and now it's happiness seemed
He then offered a third,
but it could only hold two, and every
time it tried to take up one it would
drop another, and finally it sat down
and cried. l believe that in ninety
nine cases out of every hundred the
man who runs in debt for more land
after paying for one farm commits a
folly which brings its own punish
ment. Remember we have but one
journey through life, and if we expect
to get sweetness and light out of it,
we must take it as we go along.
Therefore don't buy any more land,
but, instead, spend part of your sur
plus each year in taking your wife to
see some of the wonderful things to be
seen by travel, and in ceasing her
work by furnishing her good help and
such appliances as will Tighten her
labor. and by bringing into and around
your home some things to brighten
life and to educate and elevate all of
you. The man who, in order that
he may own more land than his neigh
Dor. denies himself and family present
good is to me an object of contempt;
but his wife and children, who can
not help themselves, l profoundly
pity. If you, my reader, are tempted
to sacrifice the present to an imagin-
ary future when you shall have paid
'or that other farm which now seems
within your reach, stop and ask your
self whether it is not better to enjoy q
little than to labor for much until the
for enjoyment is lost. Iwrite
on this subject. | have seen
many families sacrificed to the greed
Tor more land.-Waldo F. Brown. in
n. Y. Tribune.
Fabrics for Summer Mourning.