The Fat of the Land | Page 3

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