The Mena weekly star., 1913-10-09

lllc CdplldI ClpGh plAC tiuAS"AAu FoA cent in eight years time, besides paying all running expenses and llN- ing expenses of the operators, would surely be called a modest success. That is what our Arkan- sas farm factory did.
 Every farm is a factory in mea- sure, and so we have tried to apply to farming the business principles which we learned in the world of trade. and which would be useful in an up-to-date factory.
 Up to eight years ago my hus- band had been a successful sales man, and 1 was teacher and book keeper before my marriage.
 We did not think that this was as good a preparation for successful farming as would be a course in an agricultural college, but we thought it would help and we were conceit- ed enough to think that what others had done We could learn to do, al though it is a common belief that anybody knows how to farm.
 We were virtually driven to the farm. The firm for which the 'guld mon worked went out of business. No other position was open i'll our home town except one at salary d little above half what he had been working for. As my health had failed he had given up a good po- sition on the road and, as I was still virtually an invalid, he could not think of leaving me again. The best thing he could do was to take the half salary. We soon found that we could not live on this, much less meet the monthly pay ments on our little home.
 One day a hunt was undertaken, ostensibly to provide quail on toast to tempt the appetite of an invalid wife, but in reality it was a hunt for a farm
 Timidly he told of the little forty acre farm he had seen. not know ing how a girl, who had always lived in a town or in a little city, would like farm life Although l thought 1 might as well die in the country as in town, the descrip- tion of the orchard the possibility in raising chickens, and the thought of picking berries some way aroused inf T expectations.
 The result was that we sacrificed the equity in our home for S200 cash. made a payment of Sl00 on the farm, and with the remainder we bought a team of ponies for S50 a turning and double-shOvel blow and gears. This, with a sick wife and two babies was the modest stock in trade with which husband went 10 farming
 With the aid of hired wagons he moved us out to the farm on the first of March, As soon as he had helped clean and whiteWash the little log cabin. he crowded our furniture into the living room, shed kitchen and side room. which we used for a store room, but called the dog house. because that was all it was fit for. As the house was so small, we lived out under the big spreading oaks in the yard when the weather would permit.
 Next a garden was planted and fertilizer hauled from the barn in box on runners. We knew how to plant garden, as we had always raised vegetables on our lot in town. Every spare minute I had I put in at studying bulletins and the agricultural papers, while husband would consult the old settlers and prosperous farmers around about us as to soil and methods. He would tease me about my book farmin'," but tried those things which appealed to his reason. Thus our faithful study of the two ex- tremes-backwoOds methods and ultra-scientific. taught us that it takes a combination of brain and braWn for successful farming. By getting into the garden as soon as possible we were preparing to cut down running expenses as quickly as possible while increasing the efficiency of the work of the fac tory.
 During the first weeks of April the corn ground was ready foI planting, and my outdoor life anG enthusiasm for new interests had so improved my health that, wheI no help could be found to drop the corn, I offered my services. After my morning constitutional up anC down the corn rows, did not neeC quail on toast to tempt my appetite by any means.
 As original capital we also haC an old family COW of no particular breed, but a good milker, and while in town we had traded her frs calf, a male, to the butcher for ( half Jersey heifer which was now three years old Both of these be- came fresh this spring, and. witt a flock each of thoroughbred Ply mouth Rock and Brown LeghorI chickens. were worth about fifty dollars at the then current marke price. This made the original in vested capital amount to S25O.
 We have never sold what WI could use on our own table, but a! my hens began to lay well, and made quite a little surplus of but ter, looked around for a plan tC market what I did not need. :. = U =.