but if he tills but five acres intelligently, he can get as much out
of it as out of an ordinary farm, and even if his rent be as high as
$30 per acre for well situated land, he is $150 to the good;
besides, doing the work himself, he has no drain of capital for
wages.

Large barns and shelter for help being unnecessary, he can live in a
cheap shack till he accumulates enough for proper buildings. Many of
the successful vacant lot farmers live in a tent or in shanties made
of old boxes and such like.

Of course, if we have the knowledge and ability and the capital and
can give it the attention, it is more profitable to cultivate on a
large scale than on a small one, because in that case each worker
necessarily produces more than he gets as wages--and we pocket the
difference.

Most American farmers are holding land that somebody ought to pay
them a bonus for working, else they must come out of the little end
of the horn. They get poor or poorly situated land, because it costs
less, and then put three or four hundred dollars' worth of labor and
money a year into the land and take out four or five hundred
dollars' worth of crops.

The farmer thinks he must have big fields to feed his cattle, and
that he must have cattle to keep the big fields fertilized, so he
raises hay.

In that he makes two mistakes; hay, like most other low-priced
crops, is risky--the cost of harvesting is high and the margin of