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Yours Very Truly, 
 
 GEO. HOWARD ALFORD 
 
"WILLIS" 
 
 OR THE 
 
 MODEL FARMER 
 
 / BY 
 
 G. H. ALFORD, "B.S, 
 
 Author of "TALKS TO FARMERS," "TWENTY-EIGHT 
 ADDRESSES ON INDUSTRIAL SUBJECTS." ETC.. ETC. 
 
 1 
 
 " Without the farmer, our whole country, smiling in 
 beauty and bringing forth its rich products each year, would 
 soon lapse into a barren waste. Even our commerce would 
 languish ; our country would soon dwindle to nothing and our 
 towns and cities would cease to grow. The agricultural pop- 
 ulation at least constitutes the solid foundation upon which all 
 our private and public prosperity must forever rest.^'' — KING. 
 
 AKRON. O. 
 
 THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 1900 
 
 AA 
 
72806 
 
 Library of Ctongresa 
 
 Two Copies Received 
 NOV 8 1900 
 
 Copyright entry 
 
 SECOND COPY. 
 
 Delivered t© 
 
 ORDER DIVISION, 
 N OV 2o 190U 
 
 K^ 
 
 Copyrighted, 1900, 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE HOWARD AIvFORD 
 
 % 
 
 ^3>'fc> 
 
 a^^"^^ 
 
DEDICATED TO 
 
 The thousands of aspiring young men in this 
 country by their friend, 
 
 The Author. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 'he life of a model farmer is given in 
 this little book. The life he has lived 
 is a good example for young men to 
 follow. 
 
 He has set an example that should be fol- 
 lowed by young men ; yet he followed the 
 example set by no man. He planned out his 
 own course and followed it. 
 
 Custom told him that farmers should not be 
 college graduates ; that they need not be care- 
 ful in selecting a wife ; that they need not 
 study their business ; that they should farm in 
 the same way as their forefathers. He paid no 
 attention to custom — he used common sense. 
 
 The following pages will tell you how he 
 lived and how he has succeeded. 
 
 Reader, " Go thou and do likewise." 
 
 (V) 
 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
 
 [he author of this pamphlet is under 
 many obligations to Messrs. Parlin and 
 Ovendorf, Dallas, Tex., for the illustra- 
 tions given in the chapter on " His Care of 
 Farm Implements," and to The DeLaval Sep- 
 arator Co., New York, N. Y., for the illustrations 
 
 given in the chapter on •' Dairying." 
 
 (vii) 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 His Boyhood Days 11 
 
 His Choice of a Profession 15 
 
 His Choice of Education 22 
 
 His College Days 28 
 
 His Choice of a Farm 34 
 
 His Choice of a Wife 40 
 
 His Home 46 
 
 His Working Policy 53 
 
 Removing Timber 59 
 
 Diversification 62 
 
 Intensive-Extensive Farming 67 
 
 His Garden 71 
 
 His Partner 74 
 
 A Fertile Soil 78 
 
 The Cowpea 80 
 
 Tillage 84 
 
 Rotation of Crops 88 
 
 Barnyard Manure 91 
 
 His Buying 93 
 
 Live Stock 97 
 
 Dairy Cows 100 
 
 (ix) 
 
X Contents 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Hogs 107 
 
 Poultry Ill 
 
 Fruit Orchard 1 14 
 
 Sheep 118 
 
 Dairying 122 
 
 Insect Pests 127 
 
 His Pasture 132 
 
 His Feeding 135 
 
 His Barn 142 
 
 His Book-keeping 146 
 
 His Care op Stock 152 
 
 His Care of Farm Implements 156 
 
 His Politics 166 
 
 A Short Sermon 174 
 
 A Word to Young Men and Young Women . . . 179 
 
 Parting Words 183 
 
HIS BOYHOOD DAYS 
 
 WILLIS, the model farmer, was born on the 22d 
 of February, 1870, at the old homestead in 
 Pike County, Mississippi, and remained at this 
 home until seventeen years of age. 
 
 Much good fortune has come to him since birth, 
 but no greater has or ever will come to him than 
 the great good fortune to be born and raised on 
 the farm, — the place where physical, mental, and 
 moral manhood are developed. 
 
 Not only was it a great blessing to him to be 
 born and raised on the farm, but it was a great 
 blessing to his country. For a man to be in sym- 
 pathy with the farming class, he must be one of 
 them. Lincoln sympathized with the laboring 
 class because he had split rails: Christ was not 
 born in a palace but in a manger, — a carpenter's 
 son. 
 
 About a mile from the home of Willis was a log 
 schoolhouse, which had two redeeming features; 
 it was large and well ventilated. 
 
 At the age of five Willis entered this school 
 where he spent four months out of every twelve. 
 The instructor did not possess much learning so 
 
 (11) 
 
12 Honj to Live a Hcqypy Life 
 
 a pupil soon graduated from his school. Willis 
 graduated at the age of fifteen. 
 
 However, Willis was not dependent alone upon 
 the instruction received at the log schoolhouse. 
 His excellent mother, who was very fond of her 
 children, took great delight in teaching him. She 
 realized the fact that, " A child's character and 
 future are mainly shaped, for all time, before he 
 has passed seven years of age." 
 
 His mother w^anted him to be an educated man 
 so she taught him to read, what to read, and how 
 to read. She often read to him the words of Ba- 
 con: " Reading serves for delight, for amusement, 
 and for ability.'' "Reading makes a full man; 
 writing an exact man; conference a ready man." 
 Of David: "Read, mark, learn, and inwardly di- 
 gest." Of Choate: " Happy is he who has laid up 
 in his youth and holds steadfast in all fortunes, a 
 genuine and passionate love of reading, the true 
 balm of hurt minds, of surer and more healthful 
 charms than poppy or mandragora, or all drowsy 
 syrups in the world." 
 
 She also read to him the words of Browning: 
 " We generally err by reading too much, and out 
 of proportion to what we think. I should be 
 wiser, I am persuaded, if I had not read half so 
 much ; should have stronger and exercised facul- 
 ties, and should stand higher in my own apprecia- 
 
His Boyhood Days 13 
 
 tion." And of Robertson: "I know what reading 
 is, for I could read once and did. I read hard or 
 not at all; never skimming, never turning aside to 
 merely inviting books." 
 
 His mother never let him lay aside a book until 
 he had completely mastered it, — until it was his 
 own, — a possession for life. She taught him to 
 read the best literature and to commit to memory 
 its choicest passages. The Bible, Pilgrims Prog- 
 ress, Emerson's Essays on Behavior and Social 
 Aims, the Classics, the lives of Webster and Wash- 
 ington, and the newest works on science were dili- 
 gently and profoundly studied by Willis. 
 
 Willis at an early age believed, " That no one 
 reaches the summit of honor, unless he prudently 
 uses his time." So he made it a rule, "Never to 
 be doing nothing." He believed that every lost 
 moment is a chance for future misfortune, and 
 acted accordingly. 
 
 Willis never spent a cent unless it was abso- 
 lutely necessary. He learned early in life the 
 value of a dollar. He earned dollars by the sweat 
 of his face. He not only considered the present 
 but he looked into the future. He did not live 
 alone for the present moment, but for life as a 
 whole. 
 
 He never used tobacco in any form; he let 
 the bottle alone; he kept good company; he was 
 
14 How to Live a Happy Life 
 
 courteous to all; he was a truthful boy; he was a 
 fine looking boy; in fact, he was a model boy; he 
 became a model man. 
 
 He took great interest in everything pertaining 
 to the farm. From the time he began to pick cot- 
 ton and put it into his father's sack he studied 
 agriculture. He was always asking his father 
 questions in regard to some phase of agriculture, 
 and his father took great delight in answering 
 those questions. In fact, he never did anything on 
 the farm without discussing the matter with Willis 
 and his two other sons. He asked them for their 
 opinions in regard to whether certain things should 
 be done and how and when. By those means 
 Willis gained valuable information. 
 
 Each boy had a " Saturday Evening " cotton 
 patch. They prepared, fertilized, and cultivated 
 their patches as they pleased. The boy that made 
 the most on his acre was given five dollars by his 
 father. 
 
 It is needless for me to state that each boy did 
 his best. Willis won the prize four years out of 
 seven. He was a model farmer when a boy, — and 
 he is a model farmer now. 
 
HIS CHOICE OF A PROFESSION 
 
 WILLIS studied the subject of selecting a pro- 
 fession for several months. From his think- 
 ing, reading, and advice received from friends he 
 gathered many good ideas. He was fond of 
 vi^riting compositions so he wrote the following 
 essay on " The Choice of a Profession : " 
 
 When we look about among our acquaintances 
 we are astonished to see so few who have been 
 really successful in life and so very few indeed 
 that have reached the desired goal. Many of them 
 were among the first at school, — champion debaters 
 or able law students. They were all launched on 
 the stream of life amid the cheers of their friends, 
 but many have sunk beneath the waves. 
 
 While thousands of men never attain success in 
 life, many do succeed. Many men of ordinary 
 intellect and calibre have made for themselves a 
 place in history. Men who had but little educa- 
 tional advantages in early life have achieved for 
 themselves more than ordinary success. In fact, 
 many idiots, blind, and crippled men have suc- 
 ceeded in life, 
 
 (15) 
 
16 How to Live a Happy Life 
 
 Every young man is desirous of succeeding in 
 life; no man wants to make a failure of life. Now 
 as many men of a high order of intelligence fail, 
 many men of average brain power succeed; many 
 educated men fail, many ignorant succeed; many 
 rich boys fail, many poor boys succeed; now what 
 causes success? 
 
 To no other cause is failure in life so frequently 
 to be traced as to the failure to select a suitable 
 calling. The man who desires to succeed in life 
 must early select a profession. It is very im- 
 portant that he should promptly determine to what 
 calling he is to devote his energies. Competition 
 in every pursuit is so close that a man must devote 
 his whole time to one thing if he expects to suc- 
 ceed. 
 
 The first law of success in this day is to bend 
 every energy in one direction. The day for 
 "jack of all trades" is past. Broad culture and 
 many sidedness are good things to talk about but 
 the man who would succeed in this day must select 
 one profession and bend all the energy of his 
 hands, head, and heart in that one direction. The 
 successful men in every profession are those that 
 can say with Paul, " This one thing I do." 
 
 Dryden says that no man need ever fear refusal 
 from any lady if he only give his heart to getting 
 her. But in order to win her he must first select 
 
His CJioice of a Profession 17 
 
 only one and devote his whole heart to that one. 
 The same is true of success ; a man must select 
 only one calling and devote his whole time to that 
 one thing. More persons fail from following too 
 many pursuits than from poverty of resources. 
 
 America is full of people that know something 
 about everything, but they do not know every- 
 thing about anything. They have done like the 
 general that scattered his forces over the whole 
 country, and they have come out like that general, 
 in defeat. Not because they have no talents, but 
 because ''They are not willing to be ignorant of a 
 great many things in order to avoid the calamity of 
 being ignorant of everything." 
 
 An American chemist once said, " Mr. A 
 
 laughs at me because I have but one idea. He 
 talks about everything, — aims to excell in every- 
 thing; but I have learned that if I ever wish to 
 make a breach, I must play my guns continually 
 upon one point." That man was successful. He 
 became president of a great scientific institution. 
 What the chemist did in order to succeed, Watt, 
 Arkwright, Davy, Harvy, Jenier, Morse, Whitney, 
 Puck, and the hundreds of other men did whose 
 names adorn the pages of history. The road that led 
 to success in days past and gone leads there now. 
 
 A man in order to succeed in life must not only 
 choose a profession, but he must choose wisely. In 
 
18 Hoim to Live a Haj^py Life 
 
 order to do this it is necessary for him to study his 
 aptitudes, to find out what he was designed for. 
 
 It is true that some great men deny the doctrine 
 of inborn aptitude. That a man can by hard work 
 and study become whatever he wants to be; that 
 every man is at birth potentially a Webster, a Lee, 
 a Davis, a Washington, and all that he needs is 
 the proper education to electrify the world just as 
 they did. 
 
 That idea has caused the failure of thousands. 
 Many youths who might make first class black- 
 smiths, salesmen, or stenographers, have the great 
 misfortune to be born of parents who think it is 
 more honorable for them to be lawyers or doctors. 
 They are sent to college where the professors have 
 the insane idea that only Greek and Latin can 
 make a man. They are pitch-forked through the 
 course, receive their diplomas and settle down to 
 expose their ignorance. They were educated in 
 the wrong business. The truth of the whole mat- 
 ter is that men differ at birth in mind as well as in 
 face. They are designed for a special calling. 
 The individual who recognizes this fact and acts 
 accordingly is the one that succeeds. The nation 
 that realizes it and acts accordingly succeeds. 
 The individual or nation that does not heed the 
 advice of this fact suffers an ignominious defeat in 
 life. 
 
His Choice of a Profession 19 
 
 The Jesuits who lived in ages past succeeded in 
 the education of their youth as no people since have 
 done. What was the secret? The sagacity they 
 showed in educating their children for the calling 
 for which nature designed them. Who claims that 
 such a system of education if adopted by this na- 
 tion would not add strength to the Republic? 
 
 "If you choose to represent the various parts of 
 life," says Sydney Smith, " by holes in a table of 
 different shapes, — some circular, some triangular, 
 some square, and some oblong, — and the persons 
 acting these parts by similar bits of wood, we shall 
 generally find that the triangular person has got 
 into the square hole, the oblong into the triangu- 
 lar, while the square person has squeezed himself 
 into the round hole." This is why so few people 
 succeed in life. 
 
 The Latin poet, Horace, advised authors in 
 selecting subjects to write about to select some- 
 thing suited to them. It is just as essential for a 
 man who desires to succeed to select a profession 
 suited to him. A man by self-determination can 
 do much in a career not suited to him, but let a 
 crisis come and he succumbs to the inevitable. He 
 is defeated when defeat means his downfall. 
 
 Many sorrows come upon men by the will of 
 God and through the mistakes of their parents. 
 To these sorrows they submit with comparative 
 
20 Hov^ to Live a Happy Life 
 
 resignation, but how about the sorrows they bring 
 upon themselves by selecting a wrong profession? 
 Over the mistake they mourn all the days of their 
 lives! 
 
 I have been advised by all my friends to make 
 an Honorable, an M. D., a D. D., — they have told 
 me about the honor and money that wait for me if 
 I will only select one of the three graces for my 
 profession. But I have different views about 
 making and winning wreaths of laurel ; I claim 
 that it is not the profession of a man that makes 
 him honored but how he succeeds in that profes- 
 sion. The man who succeeds in any profession is 
 honored. The man who fails in any profession is 
 disgraced. Mason, the maker of shoe-blacking 
 made a fortune and won a name that will never 
 die. Faber, the lead pencil manufacturer, amassed 
 a fortune and will live in the minds and hearts of 
 the people as long as time lasts. The great bene- 
 factors of the world, who have by cross fertilization 
 and other means changed many poisonous plants 
 into plants now used as food by human beings, 
 have ceased to exist, but their names will adorn 
 the pages of history forever. Those who have by 
 selecting and crossbreeding produced cows that 
 give thirteen gallons of milk per day, sheep that 
 produce fifty-two pounds of wool at one shear- 
 ing, the swift-running and trotting horses, and 
 
His Choice of a Prqfessioti 21 
 
 animals of such great intelligence will always be 
 revered. 
 
 I am satisfied that I was predestined, fore- 
 ordained, and elected to be a farmer. For that 
 reason, if for no other, farming will be my voca- 
 tion. I am thankful to Providence that I was cut 
 out for a farmer. I will be a free and independent 
 man as long as I live. I can vote as I please, ex- 
 press my views on any subject, and my farm will 
 continue to yield the same amount of produce and 
 that same amount of produce will command the 
 same price on the market. In fact I will have 
 what the men who follow other prosessions have 
 not — LIBERTY! 
 
HIS CHOICE OF EDUCATION 
 
 AFTER Willis had fully decided upon farming as 
 his life work, the question most prominent in 
 his mind was, " Shall I attend college? " 
 
 From his youth up he had heard it said, " any 
 fool can farm," and he was far from being fully 
 decided on this question of attending college. 
 He consulted his father and mother in regard to 
 spending four years in college. They advised 
 him not to do so. They told him that only young 
 men expecting to be lawyers, doctors, preachers, 
 merchants, and other consumers attend college. 
 He talked to his old school-teacher and other 
 friends about entering college. They advised him 
 not to do so as soon as he stated, " I have selected 
 farming as my vocation." 
 
 Receiving no encouragement from his living 
 friends, he decided to listen to Huxley, Curtis, 
 Bacon, Hamilton, Webster, and others who had long 
 since gone to their reward. He wanted to know 
 if they were opposed to farmers being educated. 
 
 At the beginning of his studies, he stated the 
 question, "Resolved that as I have selected farm- 
 ing for my life work, it is unnecessary for me to 
 (22) 
 
His Choice of Kdncation 23 
 
 attend college." He begaii searching for argu- 
 ments in favor of the affirmative side. He soon 
 found that the arguments on the affirmative side 
 were based on two propositions. First, some of 
 our successful statesmen, bankers, farmers, and 
 merchants have never attended college. Second, 
 that some men have been sent forth with diplomas 
 from colleges who have not succeeded in life. 
 
 He read the lives of Lincoln, Tyndall, Bunjan, 
 and other successful men who had not spent years 
 in college. He found by reading their lives that 
 they earnestly deplored the fact that they had not 
 in early life obtained a liberal education. He also 
 learned that these men were among the warmest 
 advocates of a colleere course. 
 
 He learned by searching for facts in regard 
 to the second proposition that the college gradu- 
 ates who had failed in life were men with little 
 talent and but feeble ambition. 
 
 He was now ready to begin studying the 
 negative side of the question. He found that 
 Huxley looked upon life as a great game, and 
 claimed that the life, the fortune, and the happi- 
 ness of a man depends upon his knowledge of the 
 game. Learning the rules of the mighty game, 
 Huxley termed education. 
 
 He next read the great oration of George Wil- 
 liam Curtis on •' The Public Duty of Educated 
 
24 Hov^ to Live a Haiypy Life 
 
 Men." Because men naturally great have done 
 great service in the world without advantages, does 
 it follow that lack of advantages is the secret of 
 success ? 
 
 "Was Pericles a less sao-acious leader of the 
 
 o 
 
 State during forty years of Athenian glory be- 
 cause he was thoroughly accomplished in every 
 grace of learning ? Or, swiftly passing from the 
 Athenian rostrum to the Boston town meeting, 
 behold Samuel Adams, tribune of New England 
 against Old England,— of American against 
 Europe, — of liberty against despotism ! Was his 
 power enfeebled, his fervor chilled, his patriotism 
 relaxed by his college education ? No, no, they 
 were strengthened, kindled, confirmed." These 
 words spake volumes to Willis. 
 
 I will not mention all the works that Willis 
 read on this subject, but will quote a few of the 
 sayings of great men. Wellington, in speaking of 
 his college course, said: " There was gained the 
 battle of Waterloo." Bishop Fowler said: " The 
 reason why there are not more great men, is 
 because we are not waked up. Our brains are 
 capable of a million pounds to an inch, and we 
 work them with about fifty," which is simply an- 
 other way of saying that we should obtain a liberal 
 education. It was a saying of his that, " educa- 
 tion was an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in 
 
His Choice of Education 25 
 
 adversity," and another saying that, " education 
 was the best viaticum of old age." 
 
 " It was in making education not only common 
 to all, but in some sense compulsory on all, that 
 the destiny of the free republic of America was 
 practically settled." 
 
 " The very spring and root of honesty and virtue 
 lie in the felicity of lighting on good education." 
 " 'Tis education forms the common mind: just as 
 the twig is bent the tree's inclined." 
 
 " It is only the ignorant that despise education." 
 " A boy is better unborn than untaught." 
 " Into what boundless life does education admit 
 us. Every truth gained through it expands a 
 moment of time into illimitable being — positively 
 enlarges our experience and endows us with 
 qualities which time cannot weaken or destroy." 
 
 Dr. Vincent, one of the most distinguished 
 educators of the century, gave the following 
 points in favor of a college education: "First a 
 boy gets a general survey of the field of know- 
 ledge; he goes up a high mountain and looks out 
 in every direction and forms a general idea of the 
 vastness of the field. Second, he acquires a cer- 
 tain amount of mental discipline. Third, he is 
 stimulated by the rivalry and competition which 
 he encounters. Fourth, the advantages of contact 
 with cultured minds, the professors and lecturers 
 
26 How to lAve a Happy Life 
 
 being leaders in every department of human 
 thought. Fifth, it inspires a man or should, to 
 study all his life, and to grow." 
 
 He also said: " If I wanted to educate my boy 
 for a blacksmith, I should first send him to 
 college." 
 
 Willis now realized the difference between the 
 men who succeed in life and the men who fail. 
 The men who succeed have strengthened and 
 enlarged and disciplined their minds in college. 
 For a college training by its thorough discipline 
 sharpens the mind, makes its visions clearer, — and 
 these qualities of mind are of great use in fighting 
 the battle of life. 
 
 Willis had now decided to enter colleofe. But 
 he had not as yet decided what college to enter. 
 He had not decided whether to enter a literary 
 school or an industrial school. He had learned 
 from his study of the subject of education that 
 some people mean by it, " the acquisition of knowl- 
 edge," others, " the development of faculty." 
 
 Willis desired to enter a college where he 
 could not only develop his mind but also acquire 
 useful knowledge in regard to farming. He 
 believed in the mind being trained by acquiring 
 useful knowledge. He believed that he could 
 develop his mind as fast by studying agriculture 
 as he could by studying Greek. He knew that a 
 
His Choice of Education 27 
 
 knowledge of Greek would not be of any direct 
 benefit to him in life. But he realized the fact 
 that the time had come when the farmer should 
 improve his condition, and move onward and 
 upward into a higher and grander sphere of life. 
 He knew that this condition must be brought 
 about by the farmer being taught wisdom and 
 understanding concerning farming. 
 
 After due study of the subject, Willis decided 
 to enter the Agricultural and Mechanical College 
 of Mississippi, in September, 1887. 
 
 
HIS COLLEGE DAYS 
 
 ON THE 13th of September, 1887, Willis bade 
 his parents, brothers, and sisters good-bye and 
 left for Starkville, Mississippi, where he entered 
 college. 
 
 When he arrived at the college he was soon 
 initiated by the boys and received into full fellow- 
 ship with them. He was then entitled to all the 
 the privileges of a " Prep." 
 
 On the morning of the 16th the large bell in the 
 steeple rang long and loud. The old students 
 knew what it meant. Willis did not understand 
 the language it used, but on inquiring was 
 informed that for nine months " General Lee's 
 boys," must pore over tedious text-books. He 
 joined a crowd of boys and was soon in the 
 chapel. That venerable man. General S. D. Lee, 
 made an excellent talk to the boys. He told them 
 w^hy Mississippi appropriated thousands of dollars 
 per year to maintain the Mississippi Agricultural 
 and Mechanical College. He told them why their 
 parents had sent them to college. He said, "no 
 lazy boy will be permitted to remain at this 
 college." 
 (28) 
 
His College Days 29 
 
 Entrance examinations were held that clay. All 
 except two or three of the new boys tried the 
 examination for Freshman class. Only seventy, 
 out of the two hundred and five that tried, passed 
 a satisfactory examination. Willis was one of the 
 seventy. 
 
 That niMit while Willis and his roommate were 
 sittingf in their room discussinP" the trials of a new 
 boy at college, three boys entered, and, after pass- 
 ing some pleasant words, invited them to be present 
 at the opening meeting of the Philotechnic Liter- 
 ary Society. Neither Willis nor his roommate had 
 ever had the privilege of attending the meetings 
 of a literary society. They knew nothing of the 
 advantages of such an organization. However 
 they decided to attend the meeting on this occa- 
 sion. Although another literary society at the 
 college held its meeting on the same evening the 
 large hall of the Philotechnic society was filled to 
 overflowinof. 
 
 The program consisted of two declamations, an 
 oration, a debate, and a talk by the president. 
 The declamations were delivered in a faultless 
 style. The debaters showed the advantages to be 
 derived from a debating society. Each of the 
 debaters divided and sub-divided the question in 
 argument with masterly discrimination. They 
 stripped off the husk of irrelevancies, all manner 
 
30 Hoio to Live a Hwppy Life 
 
 of disguises, and showed in the clearest light what 
 the proposition in question was and what it was 
 not. Every sentence spoken by them was a state- 
 ment not made but born of that neccessity which 
 the logic of the subject required. Each debater 
 explained and exposed the utter worthlessness of a 
 large part of his opponent's argument. When the 
 end of this destructive process was reached the 
 debater stopped short. 
 
 The president made an excellent speech on 
 " The Benefits of Debating Societies." He con- 
 sidered the benefits of debating societies under 
 four heads: 
 
 1. " They are the best schools for logical 
 disputations." 
 
 2. " They furnish the best opportunities for 
 the practice of oratory." 
 
 3. " They are the means of acquiring a great 
 variety of useful knowledge." 
 
 4. " They familiarize us with parliamentary 
 
 111 
 aws. 
 
 The central thought on the first part was, 
 
 " Logical disputations rests upon the basis of a 
 
 science, which deals with the laws of thought, 
 
 which like every art, derives its perfection from 
 
 culture." On the second, " Decrees affecting" the 
 
 interests of whole classes of people, — war or 
 
 peace, tariff, free coinage of silver, and many 
 
His College Days '61 
 
 other questions which reach down to the details of 
 social and domestic life, are often suspended on 
 the tongue of a deliberative orator." On the third, 
 " Many a boy who never awoke under the disci- 
 pline of a school or college has in debate shown 
 signs of great mental ability." And on the fourth, 
 " How easy is it for an able logician and an elo- 
 quent speaker, who is not up on parliamentary 
 law, to be turned down by one who is far inferior 
 to him in every respect, except that he is a man 
 familiar with parliamentary usage." 
 
 When the president finished his speech, he said, 
 " All those who desire to become members of this 
 society will please come forward and take the 
 oath." Willis, with about eighty other boys, be- 
 came a member that evening. During the four 
 years that he attended college he was never absent 
 from the society meeting unless he was sick. He 
 not only did what was required of him, but he 
 made many speeches in the place of absent boys. 
 He took part in every debate, and was soon recog- 
 nized as one of the ablest debaters in the society. 
 
 In his Junior year he was selected to meet, in 
 public debate, a representative of the other society 
 of the college. This debate took place during the 
 commencement exercises. Willis won the medal. 
 
 Willis had been taugfht at home to look to the 
 development of his moral nature as well as to the 
 development of his mind. Therefore, when Sun- 
 
32 HoiG to Live a Ha2jx>y Life 
 
 day evening' came he was always in attendance at 
 the meeting at the Y. M. C. A. The president 
 made an appealing talk to the young men. He 
 made many excellent points, but the following, 
 quoted by him, especially affected Willis : " Chris- 
 tianity is adapted to the highest development of 
 character and life. It is adapted to man's entire 
 constitution. It addresses his reason. It enlarges 
 his understanding and gives activity to thought. 
 It tends to the harmonious growth of all the facul- 
 ties; it is so suited to human needs that it elevates 
 man to the highest degree of purification, whether 
 considered as to his physical, mental, or moral 
 nature. ' A man industrious in his calling, if 
 without the fear of God, becomes a drudge to 
 worldly ends; vexed when disappointed, overjoyed 
 in success.' ' Mingle but the fear of God with 
 business, — it will not abate a man's industry, but 
 sweeten it; if he prosper, he is thankful to God 
 who gives him power to get wealth; if he miscarry, 
 he is patient under the will and dispensation of the 
 God he fears.'" 
 
 From that day until he received his diploma 
 Willis was never absent, except when in the hos- 
 pital, from a meeting of the Y. M. C. A. During 
 his college days he thought of, " A City not 
 built with hands, nor hoary with the years of time; 
 A City whose inhabitants no census has numbered; 
 A City through whose streets rushes no tide of 
 
His College Days 33 
 
 business, no nodding hearse creeps slowly with its 
 burden to the tomb; A City without griefs or 
 graves, without sins or sorrows, without births or 
 burials, without marriages or mournings; A City 
 which glories in having Jesus for its King, angels 
 for its guards, saints for citizens; whose walls are 
 salvation, and whose gates are praise," as well as 
 the sin-cursed earth. 
 
 Willis never wasted a minute of time. He was 
 a hard student. And, as might be expected, he 
 stood at or near the head of his class until he grad- 
 uated. 
 
 He was especially interested in the subject of 
 agriculture. He not only completed the agricul- 
 tural course of the college in a most creditable 
 manner, but also read nearly everything emanat- 
 ing from the experiment stations and the Depart- 
 ment of Agriculture, as well as most of the 
 standard books on agriculture. 
 
 He worked in the farming department ninety 
 hours per month during each session. He also 
 remained at the college during the three months of 
 vacation and worked on the farm. He did all 
 kinds of farm work, he also worked in the green- 
 houses, flower gardens, orchards, vegetable fields, 
 and in the fruit and vegetable packing houses. 
 When he received his diploma he was a practical 
 as well as a scientific farmer, 
 3 
 
HIS CHOICE OF A FARM 
 
 WHILE at college Willis became well 
 acquainted with the farming interests of the 
 different States in the Union. He learned what 
 farm products were produced in each State and the 
 climate of the different sections of the country. 
 Every man should be well informed on tkis sub- 
 ject before he invests in land. As soon as Willis 
 received his diploma he began to look for a farm. 
 He wanted a farm in a good section of the 
 country. He did not care whether it was in the 
 North, East, South or West. He first considered 
 the climate. He compared the monthly and 
 average temperature; the amount of daily temper- 
 ature oscillation; the average and absolute 
 monthly and annual temperature extremes; the 
 average and extreme dates when ice forms in the 
 spring and fall; the number of days free from ice, 
 and the average variability of the daily temper- 
 ature for each month in the year. He compared 
 the average amount of precipitation; and the 
 average intensity of the rainfall. He also com- 
 pared the average velocity of the wind for each 
 (34) 
 
His Choice of a Farm 35 
 
 month and for each year, — and the average num- 
 ber of times the wind blew from each of the eight 
 points on the compass. He made the comparisons 
 between every State in the Union. After taking 
 every point into consideration, he found the 
 climate of Mississippi to be fully as good as the 
 climate of any other State in the Union. This was 
 a bio- point in favor of Mississippi, so he decided to 
 compare Mississippi with the other States on every 
 point that should be taken into consideration by a 
 farmer. 
 
 He learned from a careful study of the farm 
 products of each State that Mississippi produced 
 every product found on the list of products of the 
 United States. The corn and wheat of the North, 
 the tobacco of Virginia, the rice and sugar cane of 
 Louisiana, the vegetables of Florida, and the grass 
 of every section of the country. Diversification 
 can be practiced in Mississippi. 
 
 He found the death rate to be larger in thirty- 
 three states than in Mississippi. He knew that 
 the neofroes were the cause of that State not hav- 
 
 C5 
 
 ing the lowest death rate. 
 
 He took special interest in the schools, the 
 churches, and the laws of the different States. 
 Mississippi stood near the bottom of the public 
 school list ; but it was being reconstructed by 
 one of the greatest educators in the country — 
 
36 How to Live a Happy Life 
 
 J. R. Preston. Professor A. A. Kincannon took 
 up the work where Professor Preston left off and 
 carried it forward until the State called him to the 
 highest educational position in the State. The 
 work is now being- rapidly carried forward by 
 Professor Whitfield. Although far behind yet, 
 in a few years Mississippi will stand at the head 
 of the list. 
 
 The laws of the State did not compare favorably 
 with the other States. The general laws were all 
 riofht, but the laws in reo-ard to aoriculture and 
 manufacturing were conspicuous by their absence. 
 The State was filled with cur dogs on account of 
 not havinof a doof tax; there were no laws ao-ainst 
 adulterated food stuffs; no money was appropri- 
 ated for farmers' institutes ; there was not a 
 technical school in the State. In fact, little 
 attention was paid to the industrial class after 
 the election. Such is still true to a great ex- 
 tent ; but with the present statesmen at the head 
 of the State, the industrial classes will be looked 
 after. 
 
 Willis also compared the roads, markets, rail- 
 roads, labor, and other things in Mississippi to the 
 same things in other States. He graded Missis- 
 sippi low in several things but the average grade 
 was not exceeded by a single State. He decided 
 to farm in Mississippi. 
 
His Choice of a Farm 87 
 
 He soon found a neighborhood near the railroad 
 with a good school and church. He lives in that 
 neighborhood to-day. 
 
 Willis wanted to buy a large, fertile plantation, 
 but he was not able to do so. He did not have 
 the money to pay for it and he was not willing to 
 buy a large farm on credit. So he decided to get 
 a small farm. 
 
 He wanted level land. Well did he know that 
 it is impossible to keep hill land from washing. 
 Ditching, deep plowing, terracing, and other 
 means can be used to prevent land from washing, 
 but hilly land will continue to wash so long as rain 
 falls. The land that he bought is just sloping 
 enough to drain well. 
 
 The farm that he bought had been thrown away 
 for years. About ninety acres of it were worn out 
 before the Civil War. No farmer had attempted to 
 make a crop on it since the war. The farmers 
 acquainted with it said that it would not grow cow- 
 peas. 
 
 The soil is a dark, sandy loam. The subsoil is a 
 deep red clay. The growth on the land is mostly 
 long-leaf yellow pine. A few hickories, post-oaks, 
 and red-oaks are to be found on it. 
 
 Willis examined the soil for two or three feet 
 deep on every part of the farm before he decided 
 to buy it. Most of the top soil had been removed 
 
38 IIoiD to Live a Hapjyy Life 
 
 from tlie old field part of the farm, but a good 
 subsoil remained to build on. He found the pro- 
 portion of sand and clay to be about right. The 
 physical condition of the soil was excellent. 
 
 He sent a sample of the soil, together with sam- 
 ples obtained from several other farms in the same 
 nei2|"hborhood, to the State chemist to be analyzed. 
 In a few weeks he received an analysis sheet giv- 
 ing the per cent, of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and 
 potash in the different soils. He was agreeably 
 surprised. 
 
 The soil taken from the old field was richer than 
 the average of the other samples sent. The land 
 had been covered with broom sedge, briars, and 
 scrubby oaks for over twenty-five years. The 
 negro had never burned it off in order to run the 
 rabbits out, so nature had made the land as rich 
 in the elements of plant food as it was when first 
 cultivated. It had been redeemed. 
 
 Willis decided to buy that farm if he could get 
 it at a bargain. He talked to a number of farmers 
 to find out what value they placed on it. They 
 told him that several farmers had left the farm to 
 keep from starving to death. He learned that a 
 farmer had bought it for a son, and the son refused 
 to take it as a gift. No reliable tenant would go 
 on the farm when it was in cultivation. It was too 
 poor for the average farmer to make a living on. 
 
His Choice of a Farm, 39 
 
 Just before he went to see the owner of the 
 land, a friend told 'Willis not to give much more 
 than the value of the timber for the land. There 
 was about seventy acres of fine pine timbered land 
 and ninety acres of old field with many dead pines 
 from which the sap had long been fallen. 
 
 By inquiry he found that timbered land similar 
 to this was selling near sawmills for three dollars 
 an acre, so the timber was worth two hundred and 
 ten dollars. 
 
 When Willis spoke to the owner of the land in 
 regard to buying it. the owner seemed to be sur- 
 prised, and said to Willis, " Do you expect to farm 
 on the land? " When Willis answered in the 
 aflBrmative he was still more surprised. He eyed 
 Willis for a few moments and said: " I have been 
 trying to sell the land for a number of years and 
 have not succeeded. I will gladly sell it to you." 
 As he said this tears came into his eyes, for he was 
 a kind-hearted man and deeply sympathized with 
 Willis, who was then only a boy. When Willis 
 asked the price of the land, he replied by asking: 
 "What are you willing to give for it? " Willis 
 replied, " I am willing to give you four hundred 
 and twenty dollars." The owner said, " You can 
 have it." 
 
 Willis borrowed the money from his father and 
 paid for the land that is now one of the most pro- 
 ductive farms in Mississippi. 
 
HIS CHOICE OF A WIFE 
 
 WILLIS had a good farm as well as a large and 
 comfortable home. This home was sur- 
 rounded by sweet scented flowers and tall and 
 friendly trees. The vines climbed up the walls of 
 this house and hung their pretty blossoms about 
 the lattice: the pots of beautiful flowers in the 
 windows shed their fragrance about the house, and 
 if love ever visited any place it must have visited 
 this home. 
 
 He had everything necessary for his existence, 
 yet it was not good for him to be alone. The 
 home was without beauty, the birds made no 
 music because he had no Eve to see and listen 
 with him. He, like Adam in the Garden of Eden, 
 was sad because that home was not lighted by the 
 smiles of a woman. 
 
 The subject of matrimony troubled him. He 
 could solve the hardest problems in philosophy 
 and mathematics with ease, but he could not it 
 seemed solve this problem. Reason told him not 
 to marry. Instinct urged him to marry. He knew 
 (40) 
 
His Choice of a Wife 41 
 
 not which to obey. He at last decided to find out 
 what others thought about marriage. 
 
 He was handicapped at the beginning of his 
 studies by not being able to find any "authorities" 
 on the subject of woman and marriage. He found 
 it was a subject concerning which very little is 
 known or upon which few people are agreed. 
 Each person married knows how his or her mar- 
 riage has turned out, but that knowledge is noth- 
 ing when compared to the knowledge of marriage 
 generally. However, Willis gathered some good 
 advice from various sources. 
 
 Walter Scott spoke as follows: " Settle your- 
 self in life while you are young and lay up, by so 
 doing, a stock of domestic happiness against age 
 and bodily decay. There are many good things 
 in life, whatever satirists and misanthropists may 
 say to the contrary; but probably the best of all, 
 next to a conscience void of offense, is the great 
 exercise and enjoyment of social blessings, in 
 which we are happy ourselves and the cause of 
 happiness to those dearest to us." 
 
 George Eliot expressed her views in the fol- 
 lowing words : " What greater thing is there 
 for two human souls than to feel that they are 
 joined for life, — to strengthen each other in all 
 labor, to rest on each other in sorrow, to minister 
 to each other in all pain, to be with each 
 
42 How to Live a Hajyjyy Life 
 
 other in silent, unspeakable memories at tlie last 
 parting." 
 
 Middleton spoke in the following verse: 
 
 "The treasures of the deep are not so precious. 
 As are the concealed comforts of a man 
 Lock'd up in woman's love. 
 I scent the air 
 
 Of blessing, when I come but near the house. 
 What a delicious breath marriage sends forth — 
 The violet beds not sweeter." 
 
 Willis did not read many such quotations 
 before he fully decided to marry. He must now 
 select and win the love of a woman. He had 
 always been noted for his common sense and to 
 the surprise of his friends he did not, as most 
 young people do, lay it aside in selecting a wife. 
 He knew that selecting should be done first and 
 love-making afterw^ards. But how can a man 
 select unless he knows what he wants? 
 
 Having decided what kind of wife he wanted or 
 needed, he made a list of all the ladies that he 
 considered at all suitable for wives. He then 
 began making a careful study of each lady on his 
 list. He found out whether there had been any 
 idiots, any blind, any consumptives, any with heart 
 disease, or any other hereditary diseases among 
 their ancestors. He also found out w^hether there 
 had been any murderers, drunkards, infidels, dis- 
 honest men, and short-lived men among their 
 
His Choice of a Wife 43 
 
 ancestry. In fact, he found out all he could 
 about each lady's pedigree. He realized the fact 
 that God visits the iniquity of the parents on the 
 children unto the third and fourth generation. 
 
 He was now ready to begin studying their liv- 
 ing relatives. His field of study in this case was 
 not very broad. He cared only to know the char- 
 acter of the parents, brothers, and sisters. He was 
 soon fairly well-informed on this point. He was now 
 ready to study each lady. He considered their 
 forms first. He gave the best grades to the ladies 
 who had every part of the body well developed. 
 He made special note of the ladies who had well-de- 
 veloped breasts, good sized waists, and large hips. 
 
 He took note of the condition of their eyes and 
 the soundness of their teeth. Well did he know 
 that weak eyes and decayed teeth are signs of a 
 weak constitution. 
 
 He left no stone unturned in his study of the 
 health of these ladies. He had learned early in 
 life that beauty depends largely upon good health. 
 Ladies, by the use of lotions, paddings, nostrums, 
 and such things, delude and disappoint many 
 young men, but Willis was not to be deceived. 
 The clear, ruddy complexion, the bright eye, the 
 active movement, and the flow of spirits had more 
 effect upon him than the so-called beauty obtained 
 by recourse to artificial means. 
 
44 How to Live a Happy Life 
 
 He studied their minds next. He obtained by 
 talking with them their views on woman's rights, 
 religion, economy, industry, worrying, dress, and 
 other subjects of importance. 
 
 He inquired about education. In this he was 
 very much interested. He wanted an " all around " 
 girl for a wife. He wanted one that could cook, 
 sew, sing, talk science and philosophy, make music 
 at the piano, make such tea that every friend 
 would love to take tea at their house, play the 
 hostess as though she had never read Homer or 
 worked out an astronomical problem. 
 
 He believed in a girl being educated so that she 
 can earn an honorable and independent living in 
 case of an emergency, but he also believed that 
 her education should prepare her for the duties of 
 a wife and mother. He treated with scorn the fal- 
 lacy that a woman cannot be well read, possess a 
 broad culture and a well-disciplined mind, and at 
 the same time be a good housewife. 
 
 Willis could not endure the thought of marry- 
 ing a girl weak in intellect. He valued physical 
 beauty, riches, and good kinsfolk, but he valued 
 intellect more than all these. He realized that the 
 successful men in life have wives who co-operate 
 with them, and he wanted a wife who would co- 
 operate with him. He found her as easily as a 
 King's son finds a King's daughter. 
 
His Choice of a Wife 45 
 
 In the selection of a wife he did not forget 
 moral beauty. He valued physical and mental 
 beauty, but he desired moral beauty more than 
 either. Only Christian wives make happy homes 
 and Willis knew it. He wanted his home to be 
 full of love and joy; therefore, he wanted a wife 
 who would kneel with him in prayer and ask God 
 to bless their home and endow them with strength 
 to perform their duties. 
 
 He did not learn all about the girls by any 
 means, but his knowledge was sufficient to make 
 him cut his long list down to three. Only three 
 seemed likely to prove themselves eflScient. 
 
 I do not know by what means Willis won the 
 
 love of one of those three, but I do know that he 
 
 succeeded in winnina- the love of the one he 
 
 o 
 
 learned to love. 
 
 Willis and Mary were married on December 23, 
 1891. At least they were partly married, for it re- 
 quires years to completely bind two hearts, how- 
 ever loving they may be. 
 
 Willis married the woman he loved. Mary 
 married the man she loved. They are still falling 
 in love. 
 
HIS HOME 
 
 THE dictionary says that a home is the residence 
 of a person. All homes are residences, but 
 all residences are not homes. The residence of 
 Willis is the home of Willis. And while he 
 thinks much of his farm, his live stock, and his 
 farm buildings, his home is the real object of his 
 efforts. He thinks that everything else should be 
 used as agents to build up and maintain a model 
 home. 
 
 The house that he lives in was built before he 
 married. It was also built before the barn in his 
 lot. He thought first of his family and himself 
 and he built his house for comfort and not for 
 show; to use and not to look at. 
 
 He does not think that a man should have large 
 barns and money loaned out at interest and at the 
 same time live in a hut. He thinks that a farmer 
 should live in a good comfortable house. So the 
 first thing that he did was to build a large, com- 
 fortable house. Now before studying the plan, 
 (46) 
 
His Home 47 
 
 furnishing, etc., of his house, let us consider the 
 beautiful lawn around the house and the flowers, 
 shrubbery, fruit trees, and shade trees near the 
 house. All these add beauty to his lovely home. 
 
 Many necessities are found around this house 
 that are not found at the home of the average 
 farmer. A woodshed joins the kitchen; it con- 
 tains plenty of dry wood at all times, so Mary is 
 not forced to go out into the rain or cold to get 
 wood. The kitchen gallery surrounds the well. 
 The water is drawn by the use of a pump. Every 
 window and door has a screen to keep out the 
 flies. A cask is kept at the kitchen door to pour 
 the slops in. These and many other conveniences 
 make it pleasant to live in such a home. 
 
 The drainage at this house is excellent. The 
 barnyard, poultry, and hog houses are not near 
 the well. No slops, wash water, or any kind of 
 dirty water is emptied on the ground near the 
 house. The sun and air are given free access to 
 every part of the building and its surroundings. 
 
 DRAWING 
 
 The drawing given here shows the plan of the 
 first floor of the house. The plan of the upper 
 floor is the same except the six rooms are all the 
 same size. The upper floor is used for bed rooms. 
 
48 
 
 Hoic to Live a Happy Life 
 
 14 ft. 
 
 Storeroom 
 F. 
 
 Back Parlor 
 E. 
 
 Parlor 
 D. 
 
 HIS HOUSE 
 
 7 ft. 
 
 14 ft. 
 
 Dining-room 
 C. 
 
 Living room 
 B. 
 
 Library 
 A, 
 
 Gallery- 
 
 Scale 12 ft. to inch. 
 
His Home ' 49 
 
 Entering the broad hall which extends through 
 the entire length of the house, one is impressed at 
 once with that sense of homeliness and rest which 
 pervades every real home. 
 
 The first room to the right on entering the hall 
 or room A, is the library. In selecting his library 
 Willis did not like many people give undue im- 
 portance to works of fiction. He selected the 
 great books, the original books, the books con- 
 taining great ideas. He tried to get books on 
 every branch of human knowledge. The leading 
 books on religion, agriculture, economics, history, 
 biography, law science, poetry, fiction, medicine 
 and many volumns of classic prose and poetry are 
 to be found on the shelves in this library. The 
 room itself is a model place for reading, getting 
 the light from two directions, and fitted up with 
 soft shades in brown. A large table with large 
 chairs occupy the center of the room, while a pret- 
 tily shaded lamp ready for use is placed conven- 
 iently near. 
 
 Back of the library, and also having an entrance 
 from the hall, is the family sitting room, or room 
 B; this room by some thinking people has often 
 been called the living room and very properly too. 
 Here after the day's work is done and the evening 
 meal has been partaken of, the members of the 
 family meet for social intercourse; where father 
 4 
 
50 Hovi to Live a Happy Life 
 
 talks to his children telling them stories and in 
 this way getting down to their very lives which 
 in the work of the day there is no time to do. In 
 this room are easy chairs, mother's sewing basket, 
 the boys' checkers, the girls' embroidery, father's 
 daily paper, in which the news of the day is dis- 
 cussed, in short, where all may meet in absolute 
 freedom and recreation. There is a fireplace at 
 one end of the room from which in wet or cold 
 weather a bright fire burns, sending its brightness 
 over the faces of the "dear home circle," and 
 vying with the soft light from the large lamp on 
 the center table in making the room a real haven 
 of rest. 
 
 Room C, or the dining-room, is another im- 
 portant room as all the small boys in the family 
 will agree. This is large, light, and furnished 
 with neatness and simplicity. A large extension 
 table, which can be made to accommodate quite a 
 large company, and yet arranged in a way that 
 only the home-folks can be seated comfortably, is 
 of course the main feature of the room. Pictures 
 of fruit and flowers adorn the walls while other 
 adornments, such as only a womanly woman can 
 give add the necessary finishing touches. 
 
 Crossing the hall and entering the small room 
 back and almost under the stairs leading to the 
 floor above, is a storeroom for canned fruits which 
 
His Home 51 
 
 is very necessary in a large family where a great 
 deal of canned fruit is used. 
 
 Rooms D and E are the parlors, separated by slid- 
 ing doors. These rooms are tastefully furnished 
 with touches here and there that give the necessary 
 homeliness that through the entire house is never 
 sacrificed for mere beauty or elegance. In the 
 back parlor is the piano and other musical instru- 
 ments. Here the family often gather and with 
 mother at the piano and father with his violin there 
 enjoy many pleasant hours, singing the old songs 
 that are dear to every heart. If there be sorrows 
 they are driven away; if there be fatigue, it is for- 
 gotten; if there be worry, it is soon no more. 
 The music keeps the dust of every-day life washed 
 away from the soul. The spirits are kept fresh 
 and elastic and ready to combat with the trials of 
 daily life. The inmates are not only happy, but 
 the children will not be black sheep when they 
 grow up, but will be useful men and women. The 
 blessed influences of that music will never be for- 
 gotten, but will live in the hearts of the children 
 as long as time lasts. 
 
 In every home there is one very important room, 
 the bath room, and Willis has not overlooked this 
 important feature. For numerous reasons he has 
 put it on the second floor and directly over the 
 storeroom. In the kitchen a small iron tank is 
 
52 HoiL^ to Live a Happy Life 
 
 connected with the stove by an iron pipe and then 
 by another pipe to the second floor. By this 
 warm water is secured which is essential, and every 
 member of the family recognizes the fact, "That 
 cleanliness is next to Godliness." 
 
 From what has been said it will be seen that 
 Willis is a model farmer and his wife is a model 
 housewife, and their home a model home. True 
 there are many times when each have to forbear 
 but with that deep tender love for each other and 
 for their children it is easy to forbear and forgive. 
 Christian love occupies the throne in this home 
 and will do so until Willis and Mary are carried 
 to the realms of everlasting love where they will 
 sing the songs of love and rejoice forever. 
 
HIS WORKING POLICY 
 
 WORK is necessary. It is honorable. But it 
 can easily be carried to an excess. A man 
 should not live just to work. He should get some 
 pleasure out of life. It is true that only those who 
 toil enjoy rest. But a man should not be a slave 
 to labor. This is an age of labor-saving imple- 
 ments, so no man should work from sun-up to sun- 
 down from one year's end to another. A farmer 
 can have a good time if he only will. 
 
 Willis has a good time. He begins work at six 
 A. M.; eats breakfast at seven a. m.; eats dinner at 
 twelve M.; returns to work at two p. m.; and quits 
 at seven p. m. He works in the field eight hours 
 per day and two hours per day at his barns. He 
 allows three hours for eating and eight hours for 
 sleeping. Ten hours for work, three hours for 
 eating, and eight for sleep leaves three hours 
 for reading, writing, and other enjoyments. 
 
 Willis makes good use of the three hours for 
 rest. He often takes his wife out for a ride as he 
 did before they were married. He keeps a horse 
 that does nothing except pull his buggy. That 
 
 (53> 
 
54 How to Live a Hajypy Life 
 
 horse is always fresh and spirited and loves to go. 
 It is a pleasure for Willis and Mary to ride behind 
 such a horse. He farms to enjoy life. 
 
 By far the best part of the three hours is spent 
 by the family in the library. Willis desires to 
 keep well posted on farming and Mary studies the 
 subjects of poultry, gardening, and dairying. 
 While they devote most of their time to the study 
 of agriculture, they read journals and books on 
 other subjects. That is they try to know every- 
 thing about farming and something about every- 
 thing else. 
 
 Willis is an able writer. He is not only an able 
 writer, but he can and does write articles that are 
 instructive to practical farmers. His writings 
 serve as a connecting link between extremely 
 practical and extremely scientific writings. He 
 writes a short article every week for two agricul- 
 tural journals. The readers of those journals are 
 greatly benefited by reading such articles. 
 
 Many farmers claim that they cannot make a 
 living without working twelve or fourteen hours a 
 day. That is true. They have not removed the 
 stumps and roots from their land, they cannot use 
 labor-saving implements; they have no good plow 
 team; their land is poor; they are busy at one sea- 
 son of the year and idle at another; they are 
 always behind time and are forced to take nine 
 
His Working PoUrn 55 
 
 stitches instead of one. Farmers who farm in such 
 a manner cannot expect to make a living by work- 
 ing sixteen hours a day. They will hardly be 
 able to exist. 
 
 Willis claims that a man who has time for rest 
 and recreation will do as much in ten hours as the 
 average farmer does in twelve. He is right 
 about it. 
 
 A man must take a moderate gait in order to 
 hold out for twelve or fourteen hours. He can 
 work faster for ten hours. The men in the fac- 
 tories work for about ten hours per day. Why 
 cannot farmers live by working ten hours per day? 
 The answer will be found in the last paragraph. 
 
 Willis does as much work in ten hours as the 
 average farmer does in twenty. His brain is an 
 excellent overseer, so his efforts are well directed. 
 He uses labor-saving implements. He plows two 
 acres from four to six inches deep in one day ; 
 the average farmer scratches one acre per day. 
 He cuts five or six acres of pea vines, grass, or 
 oats in one day ; the average former cuts from 
 one-half to two acres per day. This is the main 
 reason why he can live by working ten hours per 
 
 day. 
 
 His farming is diversified, therefore he is just as 
 busy in January as he is in July. He does not 
 work fifteen hours per day in June and three or 
 
56 How to Live a Happy Life 
 
 four in January. He has profitable work to do 
 every day in tlie year. So he puts in about as 
 much work in a year as the average farmer. 
 
 He does not over-crop himself. He knows that 
 "a stitch in time saves nine." He never gets be- 
 hind with his work so that nine stitches will be 
 required. The crop is well cultivated, and the 
 result is a large harvest in the fall. 
 
 He keeps plenty of stock and good pastures for 
 them to graze on; the stock require but little time 
 as they receive most of their feed in the pastures. 
 They harvest the grass and the hay for him. 
 When the stock require feed and care he is not 
 busy cultivating crops. 
 
 I w^ill not discuss all the ways by which Willis 
 economizes time, but have mentioned several to 
 show how any farmer can so arrange his business 
 that he need only work ten hours per day ; why 
 cannot others do so? 
 
 Every farmer should use business methods so 
 that he can secure big results with little labor. 
 The men who are now tilling the soil will soon be 
 dead and buried. If they get any pleasure out of 
 life they must do so now. It is well to work hard 
 •and lay up something for a rainy day, but wo 
 should enjoy life as we go along. 
 
 He often takes a day off and goes on a pleasure 
 trip. His wife and children always go with him. He 
 
His Working Policy 57 
 
 knows that his wife needs the change more than 
 he does and he wants his children to enjoy life. 
 About once a year they take advantage of a cheap 
 excursion to some place of interest. A long ride 
 is enjoyed by them and much that is new is seen 
 for little money. He visits his neighbors occa- 
 sionally and talks farming and other things of in- 
 terest with them. He says, " I never lose by it." 
 
 He works with a vim. He does not plod along 
 in such a way that but little work is done. He 
 can well afford to work in a hurry for he rests 
 three hours per day and in addition takes off a 
 number of days during the year for recreation. 
 The bow is not always bent so it does not lose its 
 power. He does not neglect his work for pleasure 
 but he gets it in such a shape that he can leave it 
 in the care of his farm hand. 
 
 He never leaves his farm unless his hired man 
 remains at home, for his stock must be well cared 
 for. 
 
 Of course, only a few farmers can enjoy life as 
 Willis does. He knows how to farm. He knows 
 what branch of farming pays best and devotes 
 most of his time to that branch. He uses improved 
 farm implements so that he can do a great deal of 
 work. His land is very productive, consequently 
 he secures large yields. But I claim that what 
 Jias been done by Willis can be done bv every 
 
58 
 
 How to Live a Happy Life 
 
 young man in the South. It is true that men who 
 are now farming cannot attend an agricultural col- 
 lege, but they can read farm papers and bulletins. 
 and attend farmers' institutes. They can do much 
 better than they are now doing. 
 
REMOVING TIMBER 
 
 THE farm that Willis lives on was covered with 
 stumps and trees when Willis bought it. 
 There was on an average of twenty pine stumps 
 and trees to the acre. He tried to get a farm clear 
 of timber, but he could not do so. 
 
 His father's farm was covered with timber; his 
 grandfather's farm was covered with timber ; in 
 fact every farmer's farm in the country was covered 
 with timber. It was not the style to remove the 
 pine timber from the land. Willis did not believe 
 in being in style, if such is called style. He did 
 not care to cultivate land full of stumps. He took 
 his paper and pencil and figured out the space oc- 
 cupied by the timber. He found by examination 
 that each pine or stump occupied on an average of 
 thirty square feet. So a space of six hundred square 
 feet to the acre was taken up by the stumps and 
 trees. 
 
 (59) 
 
60 How to Live a Happy Life 
 
 The actual space occupied by the timber did not 
 amount to much when compared to the loss of 
 time occasioned by not being able to use labor- 
 saving implements. Large plows, harrows, mow- 
 ing machines, hay rakes, and many other labor- 
 saving implements cannot be used on timbered 
 land, — but little work is done. And then it is a 
 great deal more pleasant riding on a spring seat 
 than in following in the furrow behind the plow. 
 
 After considering the advantages and the cost 
 of removing the timber, he decided to clear his 
 land of stumps and trees. Having decided to re- 
 move it, he must now decide how to do so. The 
 timber was too heavy for a stump puller and explo- 
 sives were very costly. He soon found the burn- 
 ing process to be the best. The only trouble with 
 fire was rain. 
 
 He soon planned so that but little risk wji-3 run 
 on that account. He removed the timber from the 
 land in pasture. As he constantly changed his 
 pasture, his farm was entirely clear of timber in a 
 few years. 
 
 He removed the dirt from around the stumps at 
 any time. He cut the timber and sawed it into 
 five feet blocks. Two or three of these blocks 
 were placed against each stump and made ready 
 for the fire to be applied when the ground dried 
 out. The month of May is usually dry, so he fired 
 
Retnomng Timber 61 
 
 the stumps on the first dry day in May. He and 
 another man remained in the ten -acre field all day 
 long for at least a week The blocks were kept 
 against the stumps at all times. When one block 
 burned up another was put in its place. 
 
 At the close of one week most of the stumps 
 were burned out or burned from one to two feet 
 below the surface so that they would not interfere 
 with the plow. During the second and third weeks 
 he spent several hours per day in placing new 
 timber around the burning stumps. He never let 
 a stump remain in the way of the plow. 
 
 Willis went entirely contrary to public opinion 
 in removing the timber. 
 
 Some farmers thought he had gone crazy. He 
 was called a college farmer by many; the book 
 farmer by others; and the fool farmer by still 
 others. But he knew what he was about, and 
 continued to remove from ten to twenty acres per 
 year until his farm of eighty acres is now entirely 
 cleared of timber, and has not cost him more than 
 ten dollars per acre. 
 
 --'•F^^i-' 
 
DIVERSIFICATION 
 
 WILLIS has hanging" on the wall in his parlor a 
 large frame containing the motto: "Live at 
 Home." He obeys that motto. 
 
 While he realizes the fact that cotton is and 
 always will be an important money crop in the 
 South, he does not plant his whole farm in cotton 
 and buy rice, sugar, meat, lard, and other things 
 that he can produce cheaper than the farmers 
 of any other State in the Union. He produces 
 everything that he needs that can be grown on 
 his farm. " 
 
 He has two acres in a garden. He knows that a 
 good garden is half a living; that a home may be 
 a place to sleep, but it is not a true home unless 
 the inmates have plenty of vegetables to eat; that 
 nothing adds more to the comfort and health of 
 people than a diet composed mostly of vegetables; 
 that a good garden keeps its owner from spending 
 many dollars for meat and canned vegetables. 
 
 He grows hundreds of bushels of sweet potatoes, 
 Irish potatoes, peas, pindars, rice, artichokes, oats, 
 (62) 
 
Dimrsijication 63 
 
 rye, corn, velvet beans, vetch, and other crops. 
 He makes at least one thousand gallons of Louis- 
 iana syrup each year and several barrels of sugar. 
 He grows hundreds of melons, and gathers barrels 
 of peaches, apples, figs, plums, pears, strawberries, 
 and grapes ; in fact, he grows nearly everything 
 that he consumes. 
 
 His pastures are the wonder of his State, yea of 
 every State in the Union. He has green pastures 
 every month in the year. No farmer in the States 
 grows more or better forage to the acre than Wil- 
 lis. The Bermuda is his best forage grass for 
 summer; rye, oats, and vetch are his best winter 
 grazing crops; and orchard grass, meadow grass, 
 red clover, rescue grass, crimson clover, sorghum, 
 and cowpeas also afford excellent pasture on his 
 farm. 
 
 He has produced as much as seven and a half 
 tons of dry forage on one acre in one year. He 
 plants turf oats and hairy vetch in November to be 
 cut the first of the next June; next he plants cow- 
 peas to be cut the first of August; he then plants 
 sorghum to be cut the last of October. He grows 
 three forage crops on the same land in one year. 
 Two of the crops are soil improvers. 
 
 Many farmers claim that they have no market 
 for anything but cotton so they do not diversify 
 their crops. Willis has a home market. He keeps 
 
04 Hovi to Live a Happy Life 
 
 hogs, sheep, cattle, poultry, and other live stock to 
 manufacture the coarse products grown on his 
 farm into highly concentrated products. His hay, 
 peas, pindars, corn, cotton, and other feed is con- 
 verted into meat, wool, butter, mules, milch cows, 
 and other products that can be sold at a good 
 profit. 
 
 Diversification enables him to cultivate and 
 utilize about three times as much land as the aver- 
 age farmer in Mississippi. The average farmer 
 wears out about fifteen acres at a time. Willis 
 manages forty acres to the farm hand in such a 
 way that its productiveness is continually increas- 
 ing. He does not cultivate cotton alone but he 
 grows corn and peas, oats and peas, hay, and has 
 good pastures. His system of farming is balanced, 
 he grows everything that his farm will produce for 
 home use and to sell. He cultivates several crops 
 to enrich instead of wear out his land. 
 
 Diversification makes it possible for him to prac- 
 tice rotation of crops. K a farmer cultivates only 
 cotton and corn, his land will soon be ruined. 
 Their continuous cultivation exhausts the vege- 
 table matter in the soil and this is one of the 
 reasons that the soil washes as badly as it does. 
 The system that Willis practices keeps plenty of 
 vegetable matter in the soil and gathers tons of 
 nitrogen from the air and puts it into the soil. 
 
Dlversijjcation 65 
 
 The large yields of corn, peas, hay, etc., neces- 
 sitate the keeping of stock on the farm. The 
 stock converts the crops into concentrated human 
 food. He sells the human food at a good profit. 
 The manure obtained from the stock is put on the 
 farm and its fertility thereby increased. The 
 feed, the stock to eat the feed, the money ob- 
 tained from the sale of butter, meat, wool, etc., 
 and the increasing fertility of his land pay him to 
 diversify his crops. 
 
 His family fares sumptuously every day in the 
 year. They have plenty of fresh vegetables, milk, 
 fruit, butter, pork, beef, chickens, eggs, rice, and 
 other farm products to eat. In fact, they have 
 evervthing to eat that is produced on any farm in 
 this country. Other professional men cannot af- 
 ford to live as Willis does. The man in the city 
 must spend hundreds of dollars for the food his 
 family consumes and then get stale goods. Willis 
 does not live to grow cotton only ; he considers 
 happiness. 
 
 He never spends a cent of money for anything 
 except taxes, doctors' bills, church expenses, liter- 
 ature, and car fare. He carries farm produce to 
 town and exchanges it for white sugar to go in the 
 the cake, flour, clothing, farm implements, and 
 such things. He goes to town with a wagon full 
 and returns with it nearly empty and his pocket 
 5 
 
66 
 
 How to Live a Happy Life 
 
 full of money. The merchants always owe him. 
 He owes no merchant for supplies. 
 
 To sum it all up, Willis bases his business on: 
 Buying takes money out of my pocket; selling 
 puts money into my pocket. 
 
INTENSIVE - EXTENSIVE FARMING 
 
 WILLIS had been taught from his youth up that 
 other things being equal, a farmer prospers 
 just in proportion to the amount of produce that his 
 farm yields ; that the farmer that obtains only one- 
 fifth bale of cotton per acre and other produce in 
 proportion will likely always be near starvation; that 
 the farmer who obtains one bale of cotton to the 
 acre and other produce in proportion will very likely 
 be able to buy everything that he needs. 
 
 He believed in using the paper and pencil; so he 
 did some figuring on the subject when he began 
 farming. His first crop having been gathered and 
 housed or sold, he took his books and figured out 
 the cost of producing his cotton, corn, potatoes, 
 peas, oats, and other farm crops. 
 
 The following accounts show cost of production, 
 amount of produce, value of produce, and gain or 
 loss on each crop: 
 
 Cotton 
 
 Rent of land per acre $ 2.00 
 
 Taxes, fences, ditching, etc 75 
 
 (67) 
 
68 How to Live a Happy Life 
 
 Cotton — Continued 
 
 Preparation of land $ .75 
 
 Fertilizer 2.00 
 
 Plowing ] .50 
 
 Seed and planting 25 
 
 Hoeing 1.00 
 
 Picking 2.50 
 
 Ginning , l.OO 
 
 Marketing 25 
 
 Cost of producing 12.00 
 
 Sold one-third bale ( at 9c ) $ 15.00 
 
 Seed 4.00 
 
 Total value , 19.00 
 
 Gain on cotton $ 7.00 
 
 Corn 
 
 Rent of land $ 2.00 
 
 Fencing, ditching, etc 75 
 
 Preparation of land 75 
 
 Fertilizer 2.00* 
 
 Seed and planting 25 
 
 Plowing 1.50 
 
 Hoeing 50 
 
 Gathering and housing 35 
 
 Cost of producing 8.10 
 
 Value of 15 bus. ( at 50c ) $7.50 
 
 Loss on corn $ .CO 
 
 Willis figured the cost of producing every crop 
 on his farm, and the cost of his butter, eggs, poul- 
 try, beef, pork, and other farm products. The 
 foregoing examples will show how he did it. 
 
 The profit of his farm taken as a whole was 17 
 per cent. This was an excellent showing for his 
 
Intensive- Extensive Farming 69 
 
 poor land ; but few merchants, bankers, and specu- 
 lators make that profit. However, Willis was not 
 satisfied. He wanted to make the Dutchman's 1 
 per cent ; therefore he decided to do some more 
 fiofurinfifo 
 
 As cotton is the standard of value in the South, 
 he figured on it. He knew that he could in a few 
 years make his land yield on an average of one 
 bale to the acre. So he figured out the cost of 
 producing cotton when the yield is one bale to the 
 acre: 
 
 Rent $ 2.00 
 
 Fencing, taxes, etc 75 
 
 Preparation of land 75 
 
 Fertilizer 2.00 
 
 Seed and planting 25 
 
 Plowing 1.50 
 
 Hoeing 1.00 
 
 Picking 7.50 
 
 Ginning 3.00 
 
 Marketing 75 
 
 Cost of producing 19.50 
 
 Value of one bale ( at 9c) $45.00 
 
 Value of seed 12.00 
 
 Value entire 57.00 
 
 Gain on cotton $37.50 
 
 He found the profit to be as shown nearly 200 
 per cent. The profit on each acre would be |37.50 
 and on twenty acres $750.00. This would be a 
 
70 How to Live a Happy Life 
 
 large profit on the land in cultivation ; but the 
 number of acres would be few. Consequently, the 
 total amount of profit small. 
 
 Willis had been taught to take a few acres and 
 by the use of fertilizers and other means make it 
 very productive. But his figures showed him that 
 his income would be small if he practiced that 
 system of farming. This caused him to do a great 
 deal of hard thinking. 
 
 He began practicing what he has named " inten- 
 sive-extensive farming " as the result of that think- 
 ing. That is he utilizes nearly three times as much 
 land per hand as the average Mississippi farmer 
 and manages it in such a way that its productive- 
 ness is rapidly increasing. His farming is extensive 
 as well as intensive. And although the price of 
 cotton is now only seven cents per pound, he makes 
 about 100 per cent, on eighty acres of land. 
 
 A farmer must utilize about forty acres to make 
 farming profitablec That is he must practice inten- 
 sive-extensive farming in order to secure large 
 yields. 
 
 He must have sufficient land in cultivation to 
 enable him to practice rotation of crops and to 
 have pastures to furnish feed for stock that manure 
 may be obtained to increase the fertility of the soil. 
 All that Willis does. 
 
HIS GARDEN 
 
 WILLIS has two acres in a garden ; it is two acres 
 long and one acre wide. 
 
 He wanted his garden to be near the house ; so he 
 could not put it on an ideal garden spot. However, 
 it is located in a far better place than the average 
 garden. 
 
 The soil is just sloping enough to drain well; 
 ditching and tile drains are unnecessary. The phys- 
 ical and chemical condition of the soil is now good, 
 but such was not the case when Willis purchased 
 the land. At that time it was " worn out." 
 
 He has made the soil fertile by deep plowing, 
 careful tillage, growing leguminous crops, and by 
 the application of fertilizers. The compact soil was 
 made loose by plowing for ten or twelve inches 
 deep. Vegetable matter was plowed under to 
 furnish the soil with plenty of humus. Leguminous 
 plants were planted to transfer the nitrogen to the 
 soil. Fertilizers were added to the soil to supply 
 the elements in which it was lacking. It was once 
 poor soil, but now it is rich. 
 
 Fertile land will not yield large crops unless it 
 is well cultivated. This fertile garden yields abun- 
 dantly because Willis cultivates it thoroughly. The 
 
 (71) 
 
72 Horn to Live a Happy Life 
 
 soil is well prepared before the seed are planted ; 
 and the soil is kept fine and mellow among the 
 plants. The soil is well stirred every day during 
 the early growth of the plants, because the more 
 frequently it is stirred the more moisture it will 
 absorb from the air, and the more air will be ad- 
 mitted to the rootlets of the growling plants. It is 
 well stirred after each rain as soon as the soil is suf- 
 ficiently dry to prevent incrustation. There are no 
 lumps or clods in this garden soil. 
 
 Willis has no hot-bed ; he has only one good-sized 
 cold frame. It is twenty feet long and eight feet 
 wide. On the back side two planks one foot wide 
 and one-half inch thick are nailed to corner posts 
 driven in the ground. On the front side only one 
 plank is nailed to the posts. The ends are planked 
 up with the same kind of plank, and the frame is 
 covered with cotton cloth. 
 
 The soil in the frame is exceedingly fertile. It 
 is elevated about six inches above the surrounding 
 soil, and is well pulverized and drained. 
 
 The seed are sown from one-fourth of an inch to 
 one inch deep in drills three or four inches apart 
 across the bed. If the soil is dry it is well watered 
 as soon as the seed are planted. 
 
 The cloth is used only as a means of protection 
 against cold weather ; it is rolled back when not 
 needed to protect the plants. 
 
His Garden 73 
 
 When the danger of frost is past Willis prepares 
 his garden soil thoroughly, and transfers the plants 
 from the cold frame to the gfarden. He removes a 
 portion of the leaves from each plant, plants it to 
 the depth it was in the cold frame and presses the 
 earth uniformly around it. 
 
 His garden never suffers for water. He has a 
 large tank near his barn that holds seventy thou- 
 sand gallons. A hose two hundred feet long is at- 
 tached to this tank with which the o-arden can be 
 well watered when the vegfetables need it. The 
 tank was built by Willis in two days. The lumber 
 and tar cost five dollars. 
 
 Willis does not sell many vegetables. What he 
 does sell are sold in the home market ; he never 
 ships vegetables. He grows vegetables for his own 
 use and sells only the surplus. He says he can 
 make more money on other farm products. 
 
 I have not the space to discuss at length his gar- 
 dening. He follows the examples of other success- 
 ful gardeners. He is not a specialist in gardening, 
 but he has asparagus, beans, beets, cabbage, cauli- 
 flower, cucumbers, Qg^ plants, kale, lettuce, onions, 
 peas, potatoes, radish, squash, tomatoes, and straw- 
 berries on his table in their season. 
 
 He eats to live, and lives to eat. 
 
HIS PARTNER 
 
 WILLIS is not alone in business. He has an ex- 
 cellent partner. He obtained his partner by 
 marriage; so the firm will not be dissolved until 
 death calls one of the members home. 
 
 The members of that firm are equal partners. 
 Neither one rules over the other. The w^ife is a 
 partner and not a slave. The lord and masterspirit 
 is not in Willis. He loves his w^ife. Mary is a sen- 
 sible woman and does not try to " wear the breeches." 
 She knows that a woman should not try to rule over 
 her husband. 
 
 They adopted the following platform before they 
 married : 
 
 1. The husband should plow, sow, reap, and attend 
 to the bulk of the business. The wife should keep the 
 house. 
 
 2. The husband should always consult his wife about 
 his part of the business. The wife should always con- 
 sult her husband about her part of the business. 
 
 3. Whatever the husband and wife make should 
 belong to both. Neither one should be forced to ask 
 the other for money. 
 
 (74) 
 
His Partner 75 
 
 4. The work of the wife is just as important as that 
 of the husband and should be so recognized. 
 
 5. The wife is the equal partner of the husband and 
 the husband should treat her as his equal in every 
 respect. 
 
 6. The husband should do all in his power to make 
 money to buy what is needed in the home. The wife 
 should always make the home pleasant so that her hus- 
 band will be stronger to battle with the world. 
 
 Now let us discuss briefly the above platform. 
 The husband should run the farm, — the wife the 
 house. The husband should be acknowledgfed as 
 authority in regard to farm matters ; the wife in re- 
 gard to household affairs. Man and woman were 
 intended to be helpmates for each other. There 
 should be a division of labor between man and wife. 
 By this division each will be benefited. 
 
 The old saying that " two heads are better than 
 one if one is a sheep's head," is true. The man 
 knows more about farm matters than the wife ; and 
 the wife knows more about household affairs than 
 the man ; but each is competent to give the other 
 advice. So man and wife should always consult 
 each other on matters of importance. 
 
 The husband should not give the wife so much 
 money to do as she pleases with or so much a month. 
 She is not a hireling, — but his affectionate wife, 
 — his loving, equal partner. Neither should the 
 
76 How to Live a Hu^ypy Life 
 
 wife have the pocketbook in her care and keeping 
 all the time and make the husband ask for every 
 cent he spends. The money that they make belongs 
 to one as much as it does to the other. They both 
 make the money. They both should spend the money. 
 It is true that the work done by the wife does not 
 usually bring in as much cash money as that done 
 by the husband, but the wife's work is as important, 
 or even more so than the husband's. The husband's 
 work may bring in the value of three or four dol- 
 lars a day ; and the wife's only one dollar a day ; 
 but the wife cooks three meals for the husband and 
 children and makes the house a happy home for 
 them. She makes it possible for the husband and 
 children to sing " There is no place like home." 
 She briMitens the home with the sunshine of love. 
 
 o 
 
 She moulds the character of the children in that 
 home. The future destiny of the children and of 
 the Nation depends upon the work of the wife. 
 
 The man is recognized as the head of the family, 
 but he is not the enslaver of the family. The wife 
 is his equal and he should recognize her as such. 
 They were created equal and intended to help each 
 other, not to lord over each other. 
 
 The husband promised before witnesses to love 
 and support his wife ; so he has no right to be in- 
 dolent. He must work and support his family. 
 And he should not spend what they make for 
 
His Partner 
 
 Ti 
 
 tobacco, whisky, or anything else that is unneces- 
 sary. The wife should help her husband to make 
 a living, she was not made for simply an ornament. 
 She should make life pleasant for the inmates of 
 the house. 
 
 To sum it all up, — the husband and wife should 
 try to make each other's life long and happy. 
 
 Willis and Mary re-adopt the above platform 
 every year. They obey it. They are happy. 
 
A FERTILE SOIL 
 
 A FERTILE soil IS the foundation of success in 
 farming. The farmer depends on what his 
 soil produces for bread, butter, and clothing. If 
 the soil does not yield bountiful harvests, he will 
 suffer for the necessities of life. If it yields abun- 
 dant harvests, he will have money to buy everything 
 that he needs. 
 
 The farmer cannot change the condition of the 
 air, neither can he change the seasons, but he can 
 make a productive out of a non-productive soil. 
 He can change the texture and chemical composi- 
 tion of the soil that yields only one -third of a bale 
 of cotton to the acre until it produces one whole 
 bale. He can enrich his land so that it will pro- 
 duce seventy-five instead of fifteen bushels of corn 
 to the acre. He can make his farm fertile so that 
 he will make money on every acre instead of losing 
 money. 
 
 No man considers a fertile soil of more conse- 
 quence in farming than Willis. His well-fed soil 
 is the best testimony to the fact. He does not 
 starve it and at the same time expect it to feed his 
 (78) 
 
A Fertile Soil 
 
 79 
 
 farm animals. He knows that he has no right to 
 rob the soil that God has entrusted to his care. So 
 he is not robbing it but adding to its store of fer- 
 tility. 
 
 In the following chapters on Tillage, Rotation of 
 Crops, the Cowpea, Barnyard Manure and Com- 
 mercial Fertilizers, I will tell how Willis has in- 
 creased the fertility of his soil. 
 
THE COWPEA 
 
 WILLIS is called a " cowpea crank ; " but he is 
 not called so justly. He plants peas in his 
 corn and cotton, and follows his oats by peas but 
 he is no crank. I will discuss briefly the benefits 
 of peas and I think I can show that the farmer who 
 does not agree with Willis is a crank. 
 
 There must be fourteen elements of plant food 
 present in the soil in a soluble condition before 
 plants will grow in the soil. Eleven of these ele- 
 ments are present in sufficient quantities in nearly 
 all soils. The soil that Willis cultivates is deficient 
 in only three of the fourteen elements. These are 
 nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash. 
 
 Now nitrogen costs about twelve cents, potash 
 four cents, and phosphoric acid four cents per pound 
 when bought in commercial fertilizers. So we see 
 that nitrogen costs about three times as much per 
 pound as phosphoric acid per pound. And as it 
 costs so much every farmer should know how to ob- 
 tain it free of expense. He can do so by planting 
 cowpeas. 
 (80) 
 
The Coinpea 81 
 
 We have about two hundred species of legumi- 
 nous or soil enriching plants, but in Mississippi the 
 cowpea surpasses them all in producing a maxi- 
 mum crop in a minimum time. Alfalfa clover, lu- 
 pine, and other leguminous plants, are grov^n in the 
 different States in the Union in order to increase 
 the fertility of the land, but in Mississippi a farmer 
 needs none of those plants to occupy his land the 
 entire year. He can grow two crops of cowpeas, 
 the grow^th of each crop being enormous on good 
 land. 
 
 Ever since the pea has been cultivated it has 
 been recognized as a land improver; but how it im- 
 proved land was not known until a few years ago. 
 The chemist taught that the pea was very rich in 
 nitrogen but while it took more nitrogen from the 
 soil than other plants he could not account for its 
 leavinof more nitrof^en in the soil. 
 
 The chemist failed to solve the problem and the 
 biologist, a man who deserves as much praise at the 
 farmer's hand as the chemist, took the matter in 
 hand and by using his microscope, made one of the 
 most important discoveries of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury. He found on the roots of peas millions of 
 bacteria, — a form of organized life. These bac- 
 teria wound the roots of the peas and cause a sap 
 to exude like the gum on a peach tree. No one 
 knows just how this is done, but it is known that 
 6 
 
82 How to Live a Hajypy Life 
 
 these busy little friends of the farmer build their 
 homes on the roots of the pea and in these little 
 houses that they construct they spend their lives, 
 obtaining the necessary mineral matters for their 
 existence from the pea roots, and nitrogen from the 
 air. These bacteria work night and day during 
 their existence to enrich the farmer and when they 
 have lived their allotted time die leaving their 
 homes to enrich the farmer's land. 
 
 These little organisms delight in benefiting the 
 farmer and will transfer as much nitrofifen from the 
 air to the soil as will be required to produce as 
 large a crop as can stand upon it if they have the 
 cowpea to live on. They only demand that the 
 soil be in a well-drained, porous condition and that 
 the peas be planted in it. 
 
 I have spoken of the pea as being beneficial to 
 the soil on account of gathering nitrogen from the 
 air, but I have not mentioned the good it does by 
 sending its roots deep down into the earth and 
 bringing up potash and phosphoric acid and depos- 
 iting them near the surface. This is very important 
 as most crops root very shallow and soon exhaust 
 the plant food in reach, or that near the surface. 
 The pea pumps up mineral matter from the soil, or 
 rather the subsoil. 
 
 An average acre of peas will gather as much 
 nitrogen from the air as is furnished by ten dollars 
 
The Coicpea 83 
 
 worth of cotton seed meal. The farmer who plants 
 peas in rotation will not need to use cotton seed 
 meal or any other nitrogenous fertilizer. 
 
 Willis is a sensible man. He does not believe in 
 wasting hard-earned money. He does not buy nitro- 
 gen when he can get it for less than nothing from the 
 air. He does not care who calls him a crank if by 
 a crank they mean a man who has sense enough not 
 to burn money. He plants peas and by so doing 
 enriches his land and fills his pocket-book with 
 money. 
 
TILLAGE 
 
 IN ORDER to make one understand why Willis 
 cultivates his land as he does it is necessary to 
 make several explanations. 
 
 The soil is composed of very small grains. 
 
 These grains are arranged among themselves so 
 as to form minute capillary tubes. 
 
 These tubes connect the bottom layers of the 
 soil with the top layers. 
 
 The water in the soil passes up through these 
 tubes to the surface where it is evaporated. 
 
 Plants take up food in solution only. 
 
 Every grain of soil is surrounded by a small 
 film of water. 
 
 This thin film of water disolves the plant food in 
 that grain of soil. 
 
 A root hair must come in contact with that film 
 of water around the grain of soil before it can ob- 
 tain the plant food in that grain. 
 
 Many farmers spend thousands of dollars for fer- 
 tilizers when ijfood tilhiire is all that is needed. 
 (84) 
 
Tillage 85 
 
 But as Willis is not a man to waste money he cul- 
 tivates his land properly. 
 
 When he bought the land the soil was "thin"' 
 but he deepened it by plowing- deeper each time. 
 He turned very little of the subsoil out on the sur- 
 face when he plowed in the spring; but when he 
 plowed in the fall he turned out a large amount. 
 
 The tools used by Willis are fine and simple. 
 They consist of two twelve-inch steel plows, one six- 
 foot roller, one eight-foot steel harrow, two straight- 
 teeth steel cultivators, and one subsoil plow. 
 
 He does not plow all his land alike, for different 
 land requires different treatment. 
 
 He breaks all of his stiff and compact soil in the 
 fall for the following reasons: 
 
 1 . He is not as busy in the fall as he is in the spring. 
 
 2. The grass, trash, etc, is turned under to decay. 
 
 3. Insoluble plant food is brought to the surface 
 where the frost and air can change it to soluble plant 
 food. 
 
 4. Housed insects by being turned out on the 
 ground are frozen. 
 
 5. The soil is rough and loose so that it will drink 
 in the rain that falls. 
 
 He plows all of his land that has a clay founda- 
 tion deep: 
 
 1. To loosen the subsoil so that the plant roots can 
 go down deep after food and water. 
 
86 Hov!) to Line a Happy Life 
 
 2. To increase the water-holding capacity of the 
 soil. 
 
 3. To permit the air to circulate in the subsoil. 
 
 4. To let the water escape from the surface without 
 running over the ground and washing it off. 
 
 5. To secure crops against drought by enabling the 
 roots to go down to perpetual moisture. 
 
 The land that he does not break in the fall is 
 broken in the early spring: 
 
 1. To save water. It has been found by experi- 
 ments that unbroken land will lose about two inches 
 more water than broken land. 
 
 2. To prevent clods. 
 
 He uses the roller: 
 
 1. To break clods. 
 
 2. To make loose soil compact. 
 
 3. To make the soil firm around freshly planted 
 seed. 
 
 He uses the harrow: 
 
 1. To pulverize the soil. 
 
 2. To remove the trash from near the surface. 
 
 3. To smooth surface inequalities. 
 
 4. To bury seed. 
 
 5. To stir the ground just before the seed comes up. 
 
 He uses his subsoil plow on all of the land that 
 has a compact clay soil. That is he uses it every 
 two or three years. He runs the subsoil plow 
 
Tillage 87 
 
 just behind the turning plow. It does not throw 
 the clay out on the surface, it only loosens it up. 
 
 Willis never uses the plow, roller, or any other 
 farm implement when the soil is wet. 
 
 He follows the roller when possible with the 
 steel harrow. The roller causes the water to rise 
 to the surface and evaporate. The harrow forms a 
 mulch and prevents the water from escaping. 
 
 Every farmer should follow the example set by 
 Willis. He uses good tools and teams. He is im- 
 proving his land and adding money to his pocket- 
 book. 
 
sw^^^ 
 
 ROTATION OF CROPS 
 
 WILLIS has eii^^'lity acres in cultivation. This is 
 divided into five fields, — three twenty-acre 
 fields and two ten-acre fields. 
 
 He uses the three twenty-acre fields for his regu- 
 lar three-year rotation, one ten-acre field for corn, 
 pindars, cliufas, and such like, and one ten-acre 
 field for pasture. 
 
 His fields are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. In 
 number 1 he planted cotton, in number 2 corn and 
 peas, and in number 3 oats followed by peas. That 
 is the method he pursued the first year of his rota- 
 tion of crops. The second year he planted oats, 
 followed by peas in number 1, cotton in number 2, 
 and corn and peas in number 3. The third year of 
 his rotation he })lanted corn and peas in number 1, 
 oats, followed by peas in number 2, and cotton in 
 number 3. He is now practicing this three-year 
 rotation. He keeps the ball rolling. On his farm 
 no two crops are grown on the same land two years 
 in succession, and the cowpea, a plant that gathers 
 (88) 
 
Rotation of Crops 89 
 
 large quantities of nitrogen from the air and places 
 it in the soil, is grown two years out of the three. 
 
 This method of rotation for increasing the fertil- 
 ity of the land was practiced thousands of years ago. 
 It is true that the farmers then did not practice the 
 same system that Willis does now, but the principle 
 was the same. They knew that some plants root 
 shallow while some send their roots down deep into 
 the earth ; that some plants can secure food where 
 others fail ; that crops grow better after the land 
 has been occupied by other crops ; that insect pests 
 are not so bad where rotation is practiced, and that 
 the cowpea transfers costly nitrogen from the air to 
 the soil to be used by other plants. Willis gives 
 these and a number of other reasons for practicing 
 rotation of crops as the cheapest means of enriching 
 the soil. 
 
 It is true that the rotation practiced by Willis 
 cannot be practiced successfully by every farmer. 
 Corn, oats, cotton, and peas will not grow on every 
 part of their land. But such cases in the South are 
 few and far between. As a rule, cotton, corn, oats, 
 and peas can be grown on every part of every farm 
 in the South. In other portions of the country a 
 different rotation can be practiced. But the value 
 of rotation of crops should never be forgotten. 
 
 When Willis beofan farmincf, the land that he 
 now cultivates produced on an average of one-third 
 
90 IIov) to Live a Happy Life 
 
 of a bale of cotton or fifteen bushels of corn per 
 acre. This land now produces on an average of one 
 bale of cotton or fifty bushels of corn per acre. He 
 attributes this change in the productiveness of the 
 land to the rotation of crops which he has practiced. 
 And the rotation of crops did not cost him one cent ; 
 he did not have to use hard-earned money to build 
 up his land. He uses fields 4 and 5 for pasturage 
 and truck crops. He uses number 4 for pasturage 
 for two years and then 5 for two years. By this 
 method the fertility of the fields is increased con- 
 stantly. The grass roots bring up new stores of 
 plant food from the subsoil and deposits it near the 
 surface. The stock eats the grass and restores all of 
 it to the soil except a small portion of the mineral 
 matter. Nothing is ever lost by practicing rotation 
 of crops, but a great deal is gained. 
 
BARNYARD MANURE —HUMUS -COM- 
 MERCIAL FERTILIZERS 
 
 T-f TiLLis does not let his barnyard manure wash 
 W ofE down the hill in gulleys and then spend 
 the value of three or four bales of cotton for com- 
 mercial fertilizer to enrich his land. He saves the 
 manure and puts it on the land. 
 
 He never sells a ton of hay, fodder, or cotton 
 seed. He keeps plenty of stock to eat the forage 
 and saves the manure to put on the farm. He 
 knows that a ton of cotton seed contains about |10 
 worth of plant life, and that a ton of potatoes con- 
 tains only about |1 worth of plant food. He sells 
 the potatoes and keeps the cotton seed. 
 
 He has a stall for every cow and horse ; the hogs 
 and sheep have lots. He throws all scattered man- 
 ure into the stables. He keeps plenty of litter in 
 the stables to furnish bedding and to absorb all 
 liquid manure. He is as careful in applying his 
 barnyard manure as he is in using his commercial 
 fertilizers. He does not throw either out on the 
 ground in piles to waste. 
 
92 Hov!) to Live a Hcqypy Life 
 
 HUMUS 
 
 No grass or trash is burned on his farm. He 
 plows under all the cornstalks, grass, trash, etc., 
 and by so doing the tilth and water-holding capac- 
 ity of his land is greatly improved. The soil is 
 made loose and porous. Its productiveness is 
 greatly increased. 
 
 COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS 
 
 Willis has found by experiment that his land re- 
 quires potash and phosphoric acid in the proportion 
 of 1 to 3. He gets his nitrogen by the use of the 
 cowpea and also by the use of barnyard manure on 
 his land. So he buys a mixture composed of three- 
 fourths of acid phosphate and one -fourth kainit. 
 He mixes 100 pounds of this mixture with every 
 500 pounds of barnyard manure that he puts on his 
 land. He also fertilizes his peas with the mixture 
 of acid phosphate and kainit. Acid phosphate and 
 kainit are cheap so his fertilizer bill does not amount 
 to much. But he has nearly quadrupled the pro- 
 ductive capacity of his land. 
 
HIS BUYING 
 
 WHEN Willis first began to farm he was in debt 
 and could not send to the factories for what 
 he needed. He did not buy much until he was out 
 of debt. He bought only the necessary tools to 
 farm with and the necessary things for his house. 
 
 Now he pays cash for everything that he buys. 
 By cash I do not mean simply money, but also pro- 
 duce. He always buys where he can get goods the 
 cheapest. If he wants anything that he is forced to 
 pay money for he sends to the factory for it. He 
 does not pay middlemen 100 per cent, profit. 
 
 He does not blame the middlemen for making big 
 profits. He does the same thing with his farm pro- 
 duce. He makes about 100 per cent, on his farm 
 produce, and would make more if he could. The 
 middlemen make about 100 per cent., and would 
 gain more if competition could be killed. The mid- 
 dlemen are not to blame. Any man will gladly take 
 what is thrown in his way. No ; the middlemen 
 are not to blame, it is the farmers. The farmer 
 
 (93) 
 
94 HoiD to Live a Haijj^y Life 
 
 should look out for his own interests. It is foolish- 
 ness to hire a man to do that which he can do him- 
 self. — be businesslike. 
 
 The county in which Willis lives is infested with 
 agents who want to sell everything ever used on the 
 farm, but Willis transacts no business with them. 
 He sees no reason why he should give an agent ten 
 or twenty dollars to write a letter for him. Stamps 
 and paper are cheap, and Willis knows how to write 
 a business letter. So he orders his own goods and 
 saves many dollars by so doing. 
 
 It is true that factories generally protect the 
 agents and middlemen who handl-e their goods. 
 Willis had some annoyance on this account w^hen he 
 began to order his own goods. His first fight was 
 in regard to fertilizer. He wrote to a fertilizer firm 
 in the State asking for cash terms on ten tons of 
 fertilizer. In a few days he received this answer : 
 "Your communication received. We refer you to 
 
 , a merchant of your town, who handles our 
 
 goods for us." He received about the same reply 
 from two other firms, but the fourth firm that he 
 heard from offered to sell the acid phosphate and 
 kainit mixture for twelve dollars per ton in his own 
 town. He ordered this fertilizer, and by so doing 
 saved sixty dollars. This act created a sensation 
 among the local fertilizer dealers. Several of the 
 merchants asked him what he paid for the fertilizer, 
 
His Buying 95 
 
 and when he told them they were astonished. They 
 did not think that a farmer could buy goods as 
 cheaply as a merchant. He now not only orders 
 his own fertilizer, but also orders it for the mem- 
 bers of an agricultural club. The farmers are sav- 
 ing on an average seven hundred dollars per year. 
 
 The second round that he had over the agent 
 question was with a manufacturer of milk separa- 
 tors. He wrote to the firm for a catalogue of their 
 milk separators. The firm referred him to their agent 
 for his county. He immediately wrote to a firm 
 not represented in his county. He received a long 
 letter in reply, the firm offering to sell him a sepa- 
 rator at a greatly reduced price in order to introduce 
 the machine. He bought a small one and accepted 
 the agency for his county. The agent for the other 
 firm has not sold one since that time, but Willis 
 sells one every few weeks. 
 
 He also had trouble with agents when he bought 
 a piano. Several agents called on him and tried to 
 sell him theirs. He did not consider their proposi- 
 tions. He wrote to several manufacturers for prices 
 of pianos. Every firm referred him to its agent. 
 One firm sent a large catalogue and his wife exam- 
 ined the catalogue and found the kind of a piano 
 that she wanted. Willis wrote the following letter 
 to the firm: "I will not deal with agents. If you 
 are willing to sell me piano No. 87 at the same 
 
96 Hov^ to Live a Happy Life 
 
 price that you sell to agents let me know, — if you 
 are not I will buy elsewhere." He got the piano 
 and saved $56.25 on that transaction. 
 
 I could give the details of at least a dozen victo- 
 ries won over agents and middlemen by Willis, but 
 I think that these are sufficient to show what a 
 farmer can do. The fault lies at his own door if he 
 gives middlemen and agents money to write letters 
 for him. Farmers follow the example set by Willis. 
 
 Some people say that a man should patronize 
 home industry. They say that the money should 
 not be sent away from home, and many people are 
 misled by such statements. But let us examine it. 
 Willis sends $120 away from home every year for 
 fertilizer. He could get it from his home dealer 
 for $180, and the dealer would send |120 of it to 
 the same place that Willis would, — to the factory. 
 In other words, there would not be a cent more or 
 less in the town. Willis would be minus $60 and 
 the dealer would be plus $60. The $60 is of as 
 much value to the county in Willis's pocket as it 
 would be in the merchant's pocket. 
 
 It is well to take an interest in the welfare of 
 others, but common sense tells a man that his own 
 self should be considered first. Charity begins at 
 home, a man must provide for his own household. 
 The merchant buys where he can get goods cheapest, 
 — the farmer should do the same. 
 
LIVE STOCK 
 
 THE soil on his farm produces all kinds of grass, 
 and a beautiful stream of water flows through 
 it. He has green pastures every month in the 
 year ; it is only necessary for him to to feed three or 
 four months out of the twelve ; and cotton seed, the 
 cheapest feed of its kind in the world, is grown on 
 his farm. Good markets are near by ; no biting 
 north wind and raging storms affect his stock in 
 the winter ; and the many tall trees afford them 
 friendly protection from the summer's sun. 
 
 Willis realized the fact that live stock can be 
 kept for less in Mississippi than in any other State 
 in the Union. He knew that farmers in Illinois, 
 Iowa, and other northern States made money in the 
 live-stock business, so he decided to devote most 
 of his time to that branch of the business. 
 
 The benefits that he is deriving from stock farm- 
 ing can be briefly summed up as follows: 
 
 1. He has plenty of meat, milk, butter, and such 
 things for home use and for sale. 
 
 7 (97) 
 
98 Hoi(^ to Live a Hojipy Life 
 
 2. He sells horses, mules, sheep, beeves, milch 
 cows, and other farm animals at a large profit. 
 
 3. The coarse foods grown on his farm are converted 
 into beef, butter, eggs, and other highly concentrated 
 products that command a good price. 
 
 4. He is forced to practice a system of diversified 
 farming. He must raise food stuffs and have pastures 
 for his stock to graze on, therefore he cannot grow 
 cotton exclusively. 
 
 5. He saves the manure and puts it on the land. 
 He is not a robber ; he is not willing to rob the soil 
 entrusted to his care. So his land is increasing in fer- 
 tility. 
 
 6. He never buys on credit. He sells pork, lard, 
 butter, wool, beef, mutton, and other farm products 
 the entire year. His farm will never be under a 
 mortgage. 
 
 7. His crop never fails. The late cold may kill his 
 fruit and oat crop ; the dry weather may injure his 
 corn and cotton crop ; but his live stock is sure. 
 
 8. He is never idle. He is employed profitably in 
 the winter as well as in the summer. 
 
 It is true that many farmers that live in Missis- 
 sippi fail to make money in the live stock business. 
 They have "scrub cows," and "razor-back hogs." 
 They are " scrubs." 
 
 If y/illis had heeded the advice of those " pio- 
 neers " his pocket would now, like theirs, be empty. 
 But he used common sense. 
 
 1. He bought thorough bred males and bred them 
 to good native stock. 
 
Live Stock 99 
 
 2. He has good pastures for his stock. 
 
 3. He feeds his stock scientifically. 
 
 4. He cares for his stock in the summer and winter. 
 They have shelter in the winter and shade in the 
 summer. 
 
 5. He does not let his stock drink foul water. In 
 fact, he uses common sense. 
 
 This industry is fast becoming the predominant 
 branch of farmino- in the section where Willis lives. 
 Many poor cotton farmers are being succeeded by 
 rich, independent stock breeders. 
 
 The pastures are being roamed by fat cattle, 
 hogs, sheep, and mules. In fact an era of pros- 
 perity is dawning upon the farmers that live in 
 that part of the State. 
 
 Willis has not only set a good example by 
 engaging in stock breeding, but he enjoys the 
 peace, happiness, and prosperity that blessed Jacob 
 of old. 
 
 v\ >^ -r^ y\ 
 
 .J> -^ •/• -^ 
 
 L.ofC. 
 
DAIRY COWS 
 
 WILLIS kept only one cow for several years after 
 he married. He now keeps three milk cows. 
 He says he does not care to keep any more. Not 
 because there is no profit in the business, but be- 
 cause he cannot run a stock farm, dairy, and cotton 
 farm and have spare time to enjoy life. 
 
 It is useless for me to say that he has thorough- 
 bred milk cows. He has no use for "scrubs" or 
 " general purpose " cows for dairy cows. He knows 
 that cows, as well as men, are specialists. He knows 
 that a doctor cannot succeed as a lawyer, a brick- 
 layer as a tailor, nor a beef cow as a milk cow pro- 
 ducer. He knows that milk cows convert their feed 
 into milk, and that beef cows convert their feed 
 into beef. He wants milk and butter, so he has 
 specialists to attend to that work. 
 
 He did a great deal of studying before he decid- 
 ed what breed of cows to get. His surroundings 
 did more than anything else to decide that question 
 for him. He wanted to get rich milk. He wanted 
 his cows to get most of their feed in the pastures. 
 (100) 
 
Dairy Cows 101 
 
 He took special interest in studying the history of 
 each milk breed. He found that the Ayrshire breed 
 had always been noted for being- active and hardy. 
 He also found this breed noted for being quiet and 
 docile. On account of these facts the Ayrshire 
 breed has always had a world-wide reputation. 
 He found many points in favor of the Ayrshire, 
 and nothing against them from a historical stand- 
 point. 
 
 He next studied the Ayrshire from the point of 
 shape. Mr. Harley, one of the greatest dairymen 
 that has ever lived, says that a dairy cow should 
 have the following shape: "Head, — small, long, 
 and narrow toward the muzzle; horns, — small, 
 clear, and wide apart ; eyes, — not large, brisk, and 
 lively; neck, — slender, long, and tapering toward 
 the head, with a little loose skin below ; shoulders 
 and forequarters, — light and thin ; hind quarters, — 
 large and broad; back, — straight and joints slack 
 and open; carcass,^ deep in the rib; tail, — small 
 and long, reaching to the heels; legs, — small and 
 short, with firm joints ; udder, — square, but a little 
 oblong, stretching forward, thin skinned, capacious, 
 but not low hung ; teats, or paps, — small, pointing 
 outward, wide apart; milk veins, — capacious and 
 prominent; skin, — loose and soft like a glove; 
 hair, — short, soft, and woolly ; general figure, when 
 in flesh, — handsome and well proportioned." After 
 
102 How to Live a Happy Life 
 
 examining the representatives of several milk breeds, 
 he found the Ayrshire to be the best as far as shape 
 was concerned. 
 
 After adding- this information to what he had 
 
 o 
 
 gained at college, he decided to get an Ayrshire 
 cow and bull. I am satisfied that he acted wisely 
 in so doing. For one of the world's greatest dairy- 
 men has said, "For purely dairy purposes, the Ayr- 
 shire cow deserves first place. In consequence of 
 her small, symmetrical, and compact body, com- 
 bined with a well-formed chest and a capacious 
 stomach, there is little waste comparatively speak- 
 ing through the respiratory system ; while, at the 
 same time, there is a very complete assimilation of 
 the food, and thus she converts a large proportion 
 of her food into milk. So remarkable is this fact 
 that all dairy farmers who have had any experience 
 on the point agree in stating that an Ayrshire cow 
 generally gives a larger return of milk for the feed 
 consumed than a cow of any other breed." 
 
 Before I leave the point of buying thoroughbred 
 milk cows, I will say that while Willis keeps only 
 thoroughbred milk cows he does not advise the 
 average farmer to follow his example. He advises 
 the average farmer to buy thoroughbred Ayrshire 
 bulls and breed them to their best native cows. 
 This mode, he says, is simple and can be practiced 
 successfully by every farmer. 
 
Dairy Cows 103 
 
 He had decided upon the breed; he must now 
 decide upon the individuals in that breed. He was 
 fairlj, well acquainted with the best breeders in the 
 country, so he wrote to them for pedigrees and de- 
 scriptions of their cattle for sale. He took great 
 interest in studying the pedigrees of the cow's and 
 bull's ancestry. He kept in mind the true saying, 
 " Lik« beg^ets like." He knew that breed should 
 be considered in buying dairy cows, and he also 
 knew that the pedigree, the temperament, the health, 
 the activity, and the energy of the organs of diges- 
 tion and secretion should be considered. A good 
 constitution is indicated by a deep, broad chest, 
 broad and well spread ribs, a good appetite, and a 
 desire for water frequently. It is also best to buy a 
 young cow. All these things and many others were 
 kept in mind by Willis in buying a cow and bull. 
 
 Some idea as to how he feeds and cares for his 
 stock will be given in another chapter, but I will 
 mention a few things in regard to the feeding and 
 management of his dairy stock in particular. He 
 knows that milk cannot be secured from a cow's 
 bag unless feed goes in at the mouth; that a good 
 registered cow well fed and well cared for will give 
 as much milk as several half-fed cows. He cannot 
 afford to own and care for several cows, so he has 
 three extra-well cared for and gets all the milk that 
 Mary cares to handle. 
 
104 How to Live a Happy Life 
 
 Most farniors are very particular to ^ive their 
 cows tlie ri^rlit kind of feed, but usually tlu^y fail to 
 so T)roi)orti()M tlio feed that a balanced ration is 
 ^iven. Willis takes special care to «j^ive his (jows 
 the ri<j;ht kind of fetMl and the riij^iit amount of eac:h 
 kind, lie keeps constantly in mind that a cow 
 r(Mjuir(!S a c(M"tain amount of fcied to replace the 
 wearing' of the body; that the excess over this 
 amount is changed into milk; that the feed must 
 have Hullicient bulk to fill up the stomach; that a 
 cow should not be given more than she will eat up 
 clean; that plenty of good water must be given 
 regularly; that the cows must b(^ fed regularly. He 
 knows these thini^'-s and doeth them. 
 
 I will give a drawing of the ground ])lan of his 
 barn. The location of the stalls in which the milk 
 cows are kept is shown in that plan. You can see 
 that they are well housed. Plenty of fresh leaves 
 and straw are thrown into the stalls every day. They 
 are well brushed and curried every day. During 
 the cold weather in the winter they have heavy 
 blank(^ts buckhnl on them when th(^y are turned out 
 to graze in the fields. He gives his cows kind treat- 
 nunit and they manufacture large amounts of grass 
 and coarse forage into milk. 
 
 The pastures in which his cows are kej)t are dis- 
 cussed in a s('parat(i chapler. 
 
 He begins to dry his cows two months before 
 
Dairy Cows 105 
 
 calving time. He does not milk them any for six 
 weeks before that time. A few days before calving 
 time he separates that cow from among the rest and 
 gives her plenty of green feed, salt, and water. He 
 does not give her anything else to eat. He never 
 disturbs the cow and in every case on his farm the 
 parturition has been natural and easy. While this 
 is true he watches the cow to see that no difficulty 
 arises in parturition. His cows have calves every 
 two years. 
 
 The same colored woman milks the cows at all 
 times. She has been milking from h^ youth and 
 understands the task well. She is very careful to 
 clean the udder well before beginning to milk. 
 She begins slowly and rapidly increases her speed 
 until the udder is absolutely empty. She milks the 
 cows at the same time every day and uses a pail 
 sufficiently large to hold one cow's milk. She treats 
 the cows with uniform gentleness; they do not know 
 what harshness means. 
 
 Willis raises his calves, for it pays him much 
 more to raise them than it does to sell them for 
 veal. As soon as the mother has licked the calf it 
 is removed out of her sight and hearing. The cow 
 is then milked perfectly clean and the calf is made 
 to drink a part of this milk. The calf is taught to 
 drink by placing one's fingers in its mouth and then 
 putting its mouth in the milk. For the first few 
 
106 How to Ijive a Happy Life 
 
 clays it is fed five or six times a day, but soon it 
 is necessary to feed it only three times per day. 
 It is fed the whole milk from the cow for about 
 three weeks, and then it is fed on warm separated 
 milk, potatoes, and a little cotton seed meal. The 
 quantity of solid feed is constantly increased until 
 the calf is five or six weeks old when grass and hay 
 are added. This feed is continued until the calf is 
 seven or eight weeks old when it is placed in a 
 pasture and given skimmed milk once a day for a 
 few days. After it is two months okl it is given 
 about the same feed and care that the cow gets. 
 
 After the cow gives birth to a calf she is not fed 
 anything except grass for about a week, or probably 
 longer. Plenty of grass, water, and salt is all that 
 she should have to eat. The feed is gradually in- 
 creased until she is given full feed. 
 
HOGS 
 
 COLUMBUS discovered America in 1492. De Sota 
 landed on the coast of Florida in 1538. 
 Each of these men brought with them what they 
 considered were the best meat producing animals 
 in the Old World. That animal was then and is 
 to-daj the hog. 
 
 It is true we are told that in days past and gone 
 the hog was possessed of many devils, but w^e 
 should remember the fact that that hog ran down 
 the hill into the sea and was drowned. We are 
 inclined to think that the devil finds no dwell- 
 ing place in the hog now ; the hog has been con- 
 verted. 
 
 Willis uses common sense in this department of 
 his work as he does in all others. He has no razor- 
 back hogs. He breeds only the thoroughbred 
 Berkshire. He says that he has tried several 
 breeds but found the Berkshire the best hog for 
 his locality. He says that the Berkshire has a fine 
 bone, extra good muscular system, firm flesh, and 
 
 (107) 
 
108 Hov!) to Live a Happy Life 
 
 excellent hams and shoulders. He also says that 
 they are gifted with an excellent constitution and 
 are energetic. The meat of the Berkshire is in 
 ^reat demand as it has a g-ood proportion of lean 
 distributed throuxrh it. 
 
 The South buys millions of dollars worth of lard 
 from the North and West every year. The South 
 has not yet learned that meat cannot be produced 
 from razor-back hogs. When the South kills the 
 last razor-back hog then the people can truly sin^, 
 " O, how happy are we to see the curse removed." 
 Then the South will not only produce meat for its 
 own use but will feed other people. The example 
 and writings of Willis are doing much to replace 
 the "hog built for speed" with the "hog built 
 for meat." 
 
 Willis is very careful in selecting breeding 
 stock. He uses every hog except the very choicest 
 for meat; he reserves only the very best for breed- 
 ing purposes. 
 
 He does not let his boar serve his sow before 
 he is nine months old. The sow when served must 
 be at least ten months old. His sows raise only 
 two litters each year. The first litior of l)igs is 
 farrowed in February or early March. J'hoy 
 are pushed from the time they are born until they 
 are killed. At nine months old, they weigh on an 
 average of 250 pounds. 
 
Hogs 109 
 
 He does not breed too closely in-and-in. He 
 knows that the tendency of close breeding is to 
 render the constitution delicate. For this reason 
 he always takes special care in selecting hogs for 
 breeding purposes. If he finds a pig in the litter 
 that is free from cough, superior in size, and shows 
 great constitutional vigor, he saves that pig for 
 future examination. By so doing he constantly 
 improves his stock. 
 
 He values breed ; but he also values feed. He 
 knows that breed without feed is no good. The 
 best bred pigs in existence will degenerate into 
 the speedy type in a little while, if not properly 
 fed. Never forget the fact that breed and feed 
 must be combined if success in pork production is 
 ever to be attained. 
 
 The sow carries her young three months, three 
 weeks and three days on an average. There is 
 sometimes a variation of twenty days ; as stated 
 before the first litter of pigs are farrowed in Feb- 
 ruary or early March. At farrowing time the sow 
 is kept by herself in a good warm place. The 
 second litter comes early enough for the pigs to 
 be weaned and eating by winter. 
 
 The pigs are castrated at from two to three 
 weeks old, and weaned at six months old. He keeps 
 them in good pastures, and feeds them on corn meal 
 mash, soaked corn, potatoes, and skimmed milk. 
 
110 How to Live a Happy Life 
 
 He butchers his hogs at nine or ten months old. 
 He knows that the daily gain of any animal becomes 
 less and less every year they are kept. He also 
 knows that hogs weighing 600 pounds will not 
 brintr as much per pound as hogs weighing 250 
 pounds. 
 
 Willis knows that it takes a certain per cent, of 
 the food given to the animal to replace the daily 
 waste of the body. He knows that a young animal 
 converts a larger per cent, of the food it eats into 
 flesh than an older one does. So he feeds his pigs 
 high from birth and sells them at nine or ten 
 months. He never allows the pigs to fall away at 
 any stage of their growth. He keeps them grow- 
 ing ; he never lets them rest. 
 
 V^<1^' 
 
M- 
 
 POULTRY 
 
 ARY has charge of the poultry department and 
 she knows how to run this department as well 
 as Willis knows how to run any department on his 
 farm. She was raised on the farm and has made 
 poultry and dairying a study since childhood. She 
 was glad to relieve Willis of the care of the poul- 
 try and dairy departments when they were married- 
 She is inclined to be a specialist. She does not 
 believe in trying to do too many things. She is 
 now breeding turkeys, chickens, and geese. But 
 she is thinking of selling her turkeys and devoting 
 her time to chickens and geese. 
 
 During her life she has had experience in breed- 
 ing the principal English and American breeds. 
 She now breeds only the white Leghorns. She pre- 
 fers that breed to all others. She says, "They are 
 hardy; excellent winter layers; are not always try- 
 ing to set; the young take care of themselves and 
 feather out so that they look like grown chickens 
 when they are seven or eight weeks old; they are 
 quiet; the eggs are superior in flavor; and as a table 
 fowl they are unexcelled." 
 
 (Ill) 
 
112 How to Live a Happy Life 
 
 Mary has always avoided crosses in breeding 
 fowls; she always keeps the breed pure. She knows 
 that the effect of cross breeding is bad shape and 
 imperfect feathering. 
 
 One cock is kept for every ten hens ; one cock 
 for every eight or ten hens is suflBcient under any 
 and all conditions. If the object is eggs only, then 
 no cock should be kept as the hens will lay as many 
 eggs when not fertilized as when they are. When 
 the raising of chickens is the object it is best to 
 have plenty of males to insure fertile eggs. Eggs 
 not fertilized will not hatch. 
 
 Mary has a large poultry house. The roof sheds 
 water perfectly, but there are cracks in the sides to 
 admit plenty of pure air. The house is kept free 
 from all fowl pests. 
 
 The fowls range in the fields and woods near the 
 barn and get a large part of their living by eating 
 insects. They secure green vegetation in the fields 
 at all times of the year so it is only necessary to 
 furnish them with grain and meat. In fact, it is 
 only necessary on the farm to furnish fowls with a 
 covered shed to roost in and a little grain and meat 
 to eat. They will do the rest. 
 
 The bulk of the feed given to the fowls by Mary 
 is grain. Ground grain in the form of thick dough 
 is fed to the young fowls. She never gives her 
 chickens sloppy feed. The old chickens are usually 
 
Poultry 113 
 
 fed the whole grain. Very little meat is fed but 
 that little is given regularly. Ground bones, char- 
 coal, and grit are kept where the hens have free 
 access to them. Plenty of fresh water is also kept 
 where the fowls can obtain it at any time. 
 
 Mary keeps a little advertisment in several farm 
 papers. By this means she sells all the choice 
 fowls she has to spare at good prices. She also 
 ships a good many settings of eggs. On this ac- 
 count she is not bothered with fattening and dress- 
 ing the fowls for market. 
 
 She gives her turkeys the same treatment that 
 she does her chickens. She sells most of them in 
 the local market at excellent prices. 
 
 The geese are furnished shelter, green grass, 
 water, and grain. They live on the grass in the 
 cotton field most of the year. Grass cannot grow 
 to any great size when geese have ready access to 
 it. 
 
 Mary's accounts show that she is making large 
 profits in the poultry business. Others can do the 
 same. 
 8 
 
 ^ 
 
w 
 
 FRUIT ORCHARD 
 
 iLLis has almost every kind of fruit tree on 
 his farm that will grow there. He is not 
 willing to do without the choicest and most eco- 
 nomical luxury on the farm. He knows that fruit 
 is healthful and that health is happiness. 
 
 The planting of fruit trees was the first thing 
 that he did after finishing his dwelling. He was 
 determined to build a true home. He thought of 
 the domestic uses of fruit, the profitableness of it 
 as a market crop, and its beautifying effect on his 
 home. The result of his thinking and acting is a 
 fine fruit orchard. 
 
 His fruit trees are planted in a sandy loam with 
 a subsoil of deep red clay. The soil is rich enough 
 to produce two thirds of a bale of cotton per acre. 
 He could not secure the kind of trees that he 
 wanted anywhere near home so he sent to a 
 nursery for them. They cost him five cents a piece 
 and freight. 
 
 He received the apple and pear trees ordered in 
 February. He planted the trees immediately. He 
 dug holes about three feet in diameter and about 
 (114) 
 
Fruit Orchard 115 
 
 eighteen inches deep. Some of the best top soil 
 and about a peck of bone dust was then thrown into 
 the bottom of each hole. The trees were placed 
 in the holes one inch lower than they were in the 
 nursery. The earth was replaced in the holes, and 
 since that time the trees have been well manured 
 and cultivated. They are now rewarding their 
 owner with delicious fruit. 
 
 He was able to secure plenty of good plum, fig, 
 and peach trees from his neighbors. They would 
 not take pay for them so he was in just that 
 much. His neighbors like most Southern people 
 would not charge their neighbors for anything but 
 land and stock. He also planted those trees in 
 February. He considers that the best month in 
 which to plant trees. 
 
 The land on which his trees are planted had long 
 been in briars, broom straw, and old field pines. 
 It had not been in cultivation since the Civil War. 
 For twenty-five or thirty years before the war 
 " plantation darkies " fertilized it with their feet. 
 But when they were given their freedom they did 
 not care to work any longer so this land was uncul- 
 tivated. It was very poor when last cultivated 
 but Nature had been busy at work on it. Nature 
 had reclaimed it. 
 
 The trees are forty feet apart so he has plenty 
 of room to cultivate them. They are cultivated 
 
116 Ho'w to Live a Happy Life 
 
 very shallow with a cultivator twice every year. 
 They are fertilized with kainit, barnyard manure, 
 lime, and phosphates. He also puts leaves and 
 trash broadcast over the ground at least once a 
 year. 
 
 He began to prune the trees the first spring after 
 they were planted. He has since pruned them 
 annually. The lowest limbs on the trees are about 
 four feet from the ground. 
 
 I could discuss the different varieties of pears, 
 plums, grapes, apples, peaches, and other fruits 
 in his orchard, the cultivation, pruning, grafting, 
 and budding, in detail, but every farmer is well 
 informed on this subject, so it is not necessary to 
 tell how Willis does these things. 
 
 The point of greatest interest in connection with 
 Willis' fruit growing is the canning, preserving, 
 drying, of fruits. He makes his own sugar so it 
 costs him very little money to put up all the fruit 
 that the family can consume during the entire year. 
 He buys one-half gallon and gallon fruit jars. He 
 puts away pears, peaches, figs, apples, and other 
 fruits to be consumed by the family. To be accu- 
 rate, he now cans, sixty gallons of fruit per year. 
 He also dries a good many apples and peaches 
 and makes several gallons of jellies each year. 
 
 I have given Willis credit for this work, but he 
 is not the power behind the throne. His most ex- 
 
Fruit Orchard 
 
 117 
 
 cellent wife is the one to whom the credit is due. 
 She does not believe in farmers living on bread 
 and bought bacon. She says, " Farmers can live 
 better than kings." Visit her home and you will 
 see the verification of what she says. 
 
SHEEP 
 
 WILLIS keeps a number of the descendants of 
 the flocks kept by Abel, David, and Moses. 
 Those men of old knew a good thing and took ad- 
 vantage of it. They made a great deal of money 
 by handling sheep. Willis makes a great deal of 
 money by liandling sheep and every farmer can do 
 likewise. 
 
 We read in the Bible about how pleased God 
 was when Abel brought him an offering. That 
 offering was a dressed lamb. If I may be per- 
 mitted to speculate as to the reason why God pre- 
 ferred the offering of Abel to that of Cain, I will 
 say that it was because God recognized the divinity 
 in the lamb. The divinity was then and is now 
 the lamb, mutton, and wool. The divinity does 
 not apply to any other farm animal. 
 
 Sheep seem to be perfectly at home on Willis's 
 farm. In fact, his farm is eminently suited to 
 sheep. The climate is good, there is plenty of 
 range, and plenty of pure water, and good grass. 
 He says that sheep can be raised as well on a level 
 (118) 
 
Sheep 119 
 
 plain as thej can be kept in a rocky, hilly country. 
 Everything is favorable to sheep raising in Missis- 
 sippi except the cur dog. The cur dog is the great 
 curse of the South. 
 
 The sheep raised by Willis are a cross between 
 Cotswold and South-Down. He claims that they 
 are less liable to disease, more prolific, better 
 nursers and less liable to lose their lambs. He 
 says that they have lambs that are hardier and more 
 vigorous and can be put on the market earlier than 
 the fine wool breeds. 
 
 Willis gives his little flock of sheep constant care 
 and attention. It is necessary for him to do so. 
 Wandering curs must be kept away from them, 
 disease must be warded off, and many other things 
 require attention. But the laborer is worthy of 
 his hire, in return he gets money off his lambs 
 and wool. 
 
 He breeds his sheep at two years old. He usu- 
 ally places his bucks with the ewes the fall after the 
 ewes are one year old. He never breeds a ewe 
 after she is eight years old. His best lambs are 
 produced by his ewes that are from three to seven 
 years old. He considers one buck sufficient for 
 fifty lambs. 
 
 He keeps a record of the breeding of each ewe. 
 That is a record of the date that the buck covered 
 her and the name of the buck Ewes carry their 
 
120 How to Live a Happy Life 
 
 young on an average 152 days from successful 
 service. The shortest period is 146 days, and the 
 longest period is 161 days. Willis never permits 
 a ewe to go out of his barn enclosure after she has 
 been carrying her young for 146 days. 
 
 The rams are not permitted to run with the ewes. 
 They are kept in a separate pasture. They are 
 trained to be led and handled. They are given 
 extra care and feed for at least six weeks before 
 tupping time. They are not permitted to serve 
 more than two or three ewes at the beginning of 
 the season, the number being increased to five or 
 even to ten if necessity demands it. At the close of 
 the season the rams are again restricted to a small 
 number for an exhausted ram cannot get strong 
 progeny. The reproductive organs are kept in full 
 vigor by daily exercise. 
 
 It is useless to discuss the pastures for the sheep 
 for a lengthy talk on that subject will be found in 
 another chapter. 
 
 Willis has always been told that sheep require 
 no water when in a pasture, but he has never heeded 
 such nonsense. His sheep can get pure water 
 whenever they want it. He knows that sheep re- 
 quire a large amount of water especially during 
 suckling time. 
 
 Willis has two pens in his barn 30 by 10 feet for 
 his sheep to stay in during the cold, rainy weather 
 
Sheep 121 
 
 of the winter. They are allowed to run in the 
 barnyard the larger part of the year. 
 
 He feeds his sheep on cotton seed, peas, hay, 
 potatoes, and other farm products during the winter. 
 They never suffer for something to eat. 
 
 The ewes are given special care at or near lamb- 
 ing time. They are kept in a warm place and 
 given plenty of laxative food. During unusually 
 cold weather they are given plenty of warm water 
 to drink. 
 
 The lambs are well cared for especially while 
 young. They are castrated at from two to four 
 days old, and weaned in the early fall. When 
 weaned they are placed out of the hearing of the 
 dams and well fed and cared for. A large number 
 of them are shipped to the markets in early spring. 
 
 Willis never washes his sheep before shearing 
 them, and no unskilled person is allowed to shear 
 them. He does not want their skin cut and torn in 
 shearing. He shears them evenly and smoothly, 
 and reasonably close, but he does not leave their 
 skin naked. 
 
 A discussion as to how he treats his sheep will 
 be found in the chapter on Veterinary. 
 
DAIRYING 
 
 MARY has charge of the milk. I will tell in as 
 few words as possible how she manages it. 
 
 As soon as milked it is strained through a wire 
 gauze and two thicknesses of cheese cloth. It is 
 then poured from one vessel to another several times 
 to allow the animal odor to escape. It is then 
 skimmed by means of a separator. The warm 
 skimmed milk from the separator is fed to chickens, 
 hogs, and calves. 
 
 As soon as the cream is separated from the milk 
 it is put into a refrigerator where the temperature 
 is 45 degrees. Churning is done every two days, 
 so four sets of cream are mixed. It is mixed im- 
 mediately after separating each time. The mixing 
 is done by thoroughly stirring it after the fresh 
 cream has been added. The mixed cream remains 
 in the refrigerator until it is partly sour. It is then 
 ready for churning. 
 
 The vessel that contains the cream is placed in 
 
 water at about 60 degrees F. The cream is stirred 
 
 slowly until it is of the same temperature as the 
 
 water. It is then strained through a wire-gauze 
 
 (122) 
 
Dairying 123 
 
 strainer into an eight-gallon barrel churn. During 
 the winter while the cream is extra thick about one 
 
 gallon of water to three of cream is mixed in. Suf- 
 ficient coloring is added to give the butter a nice 
 straw color. The churn is never filled over one- 
 
124 How to Live a Happy Life 
 
 tliird full. Tho temperature of the cream in the 
 cliuni is uhont 50 decfrees in tlio summer and about 
 
 60 deo;reos in the winter when the cluirning begins. 
 A dairy thermometer is used at all times. 
 
Dairying 
 
 125 
 
 The churn crank is revolved just fast enough to 
 cause the cream to fall from one side of the churn 
 to the other with full force. The churning is con- 
 tinued until the butter particles are about as large 
 as wheat kernels. The churning is then stopped. 
 The butter milk is drawn off and the butter washed 
 first in cold brine water and then in clear, cold water. 
 
 It is removed from the churn to the worker where 
 three-fourths of an ounce of salt is added to every 
 pound of butter. The butter is worked until the 
 salt is evenly distributed through it. It is then put 
 up in one-half pound prints. 
 
 Mary knows that " cleanliness is next to Godli- 
 ness," so she keeps every dairy utensil perfectly 
 clean. She washes the churn, butter worker, buck- 
 
126 Ho%o to Live a Hajyj^y Life 
 
 ets, and everything else in hot and cold water. 
 Cleanliness is her watchword. 
 
 She sells every pound of her butter in the local 
 market for twenty-five cents per pound. She could 
 sell several hundred pounds per month at the same 
 price, but she is dairying to enjoy life as well as to 
 make money. They are making a good living and 
 saving $1,000 per year. That is sufficient. 
 
INSECT PESTS 
 
 A GREAT change has come over this land since the 
 days of our forefathers. Insects are here to 
 destroy the farmer's live stock and farm produce. 
 The day when luscious apples free from the apple 
 maggot; plums unscarred by the curculid; and pears 
 that knew nothing of the blight, is past and gone. 
 
 Willis does all that he can to save what he pro- 
 duces. In the following paragraphs I will tell you 
 how he deals with the commonest insect pests. 
 
 Cleanliness is his first remedy for stock. It is his 
 best remedy. Fertility of land, clean farming, and 
 rotation of crops are the main remedies, or rather 
 preventives of infested plants. The first insect 
 pest that I will discuss is the 
 
 SCREW WORM 
 
 The fly is much larger than the common house 
 fly, and can be distinguished from it by three, black 
 longitudinal lines that are on that portion of the 
 body just back of the head. The eggs hatch in a 
 few hours into small maggots which remain in the 
 wound for about eight days, or until they are 
 
 (127) 
 
128 How to Live a Happy Life 
 
 grown. The maggots then drop to the ground where 
 they lie buried one inch deep for eight days when 
 they come out as flies. 
 
 Remedy: Crude carbolic acid. It should be 
 applied directly to the wound where it will not only 
 kill the worms but also remove all the dead matter. 
 
 THE OX WARBLE 
 
 This insect is known as the " wolves " that are 
 found just under the skin of cattle during the 
 spring. The eggs are laid by a fly around the 
 mouth or about the forequarters of the animal. The 
 eggs hatch and the animal gets the worms into its 
 mouth by biting itself. The worms are swallowed 
 and bore upwards through the digestive track until 
 they reach the skin. They remain under the skin 
 for about three months when they bore their way 
 out and fall to the ground ; there they remain for 
 about one month when they reappear as flies to lay 
 eggs for another brood. 
 
 Remedy: Press the wolves out by means of the 
 thumb during the month of February. Crush every 
 one of the wolves under foot. 
 
 THE HORSE BOT FLY 
 
 A fly lays the eggs during the summer on the 
 legs and about the mouth, and the worms are taken 
 
Insect Pests 129 
 
 into the stomacli. They attach themselves to the 
 walls of the stomacli and remain there until some- 
 time during the following spring, when they pass 
 out of the body with the undigested food. They go 
 into the ground and soon come out as flies. As a 
 rule they do no damage. 
 
 THE HORN FLY 
 
 These flies attack cattle and cause injury by 
 sucking blood. The flies are much smaller than 
 the house fly and when upon the cattle always have 
 their heads toward the head of the animal. The 
 eiJ["Sfs are laid in fresh manure and hatch within 
 twenty-four hours into small maggots which re- 
 main in the manure for a week and then go into the 
 ground to form pupae and come forth as mature 
 flies. 
 
 Remedy: The flies can be kept off the animal by 
 applying two parts of any cheap oil, one part of 
 thin tar, and one part of crude carbolic acid to their 
 backs and sides every five days by means of a brush. 
 If a spray pump can be obtained the cattle should 
 be sprayed with a mixture composed of three parts 
 of kerosene and ten of water. This mixture kills 
 the flies, therefore the cattle should be sprayed 
 every day when the most flies are on them, until 
 the flies beofin to decrease in number. 
 
130 Hov^ to Live a Happy Life 
 
 HOG LICE 
 
 They need no description. 
 
 Remedy : Kerosene emulsion, stron^^ tobacco 
 decoction, stronsr soapsuds, or kerosene, one part 
 to three or four parts of lard. 
 
 CHICKEN PESTS 
 
 Every farmer should know the difference be- 
 tween chicken mitre and cliicken lice. The mitres 
 are larife and redder than the lice. The mitres are 
 very active and will i^et on a person and crawl very 
 rapidly. The lice are not active and will get only 
 on the body of the fowl. 
 
 Remedy: Cleanliness. Pyrethrum powder should 
 be sprinkled on every part of the chicken house 
 plentifully and frequently. 
 
 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO STORED GRAIN 
 
 The three principal insects that are injurious to 
 stored grain are the Angumois grain moth, the black 
 weevil, and the red grain beettle. 
 
 Remedy : Bi-sulphide of carbon. It evaporates 
 very rapidly w^hen left exj)osed, and the fumes are 
 heavier than the air and therefore sink. The amount 
 that should be applied depends on the tightness or 
 closeness of the bin or vessel in which the grain is 
 
Insect Pests 131 
 
 stored. As a rule one ounce to 100 pounds of grain 
 is sufficient. DANGER. — It is a violent explosive* 
 so that lights, cigars, and the like should be kept 
 away until the odor has passed away. 
 
 HOUSE FLIES 
 
 Eggs are laid in fresh horse manure. A single 
 female lays about fifty eggs. 
 
 Remedy : Have the stables a good distance from 
 the house. Leave pyrenthrum exposed in the house 
 and the flies will leave. 
 
 CLOTHES MOTHS 
 
 Are too well known to need any description. If 
 clothing, etc., can be enclosed in perfectly tight 
 paper bags before moths begin to fly and lay their 
 eggs the clothes will be safe. 
 
 ANTS 
 
 Remedy : Find their bed and pour a tablespoon- 
 ful of carbon bi-sulphide in the hole and close it up. 
 
 Farmers do as Willis does; the insects cannot 
 stand him! 
 
HIS PASTURE 
 
 WILLIS has ten acres in a pasture. He knows that 
 stock cannot be made profitable unless they 
 are grown on cheap feed. He knows that grass is 
 the cheapest feed that can be grown in Mississippi, 
 so he has green pastures all the year round. 
 
 The pasture is changed every five years, — this is 
 done to restore the fertility of the soil by the differ- 
 ent methods that Willis uses for that purpose. 
 
 Willis prepares his pasture land thoroughly by 
 deep plowing, subsoiling, and harrowing. In some 
 instances he does not subsoil every part of the land 
 for pasture, but in most cases he follows the plow 
 by a subsoil plow. The plow cuts about four inches 
 deep and the subsoil plow cuts about six inches. 
 So the land is well broken for ten inches down, A 
 steel harrow is run over the land just before it is 
 seeded. 
 
 He keeps five acres of his pasture in Bermuda 
 
 grass, for he thinks that is the best that he can grow 
 
 on his farm. It is one of the most nutritious grasses 
 
 grown in the South, and is relished by all kinds of 
 
 (132) 
 
His Pasture 133 
 
 stock. The hog, cow, sheep, and mule will all 
 leave a pasture of other grass for one of Bermuda. 
 
 After the land is well prepared he takes a narrow 
 shovel plow and opens rows about two feet apart. 
 The sod that he has obtained from the other Ber- 
 muda pasture is then broken into small pieces and 
 dropped two feet apart in the rows. The roller is 
 then run over the soil, and this makes the soil firm 
 about the Bermuda sod as well as levelling the 
 ground. 
 
 It does not matter if the pieces of Bermuda sod 
 are not entirely covered, if there is sufficient moist- 
 ure in the ground the roots will take hold and grow 
 rapidly. If the grass is well set in March, it will 
 furnish good grazing about the last of May. From 
 the first of June to the middle of November, it 
 furnishes excellent grazing. This grass sod is not 
 interfered with until it is five years old. 
 
 Carpet grass grows on every roadside, in every 
 old field, and around every stream of water in the 
 country, so it is not necessary for Willis to have a 
 pasture of that. Lespideza also grows in the open 
 parts of the woods, and among the other grasses in 
 his pasture. 
 
 The woods furnish excellent grazing during sev- 
 eral months of the year, but during the winter his 
 stock cannot secure green feed any place but in his 
 pasture. However, they do not suffer for green 
 
134 Hov!) to Live a Happy Life 
 
 feed. He plants about twenty acres of hairy vetch 
 and winter turf oats during the months of Septem- 
 ber and October. Just after his cotton is picked 
 over he scatters oat and vetch seed broadcast over 
 the cotton field and runs a cultivator through the 
 cotton. The coldest freezes that ever occur in 
 Mississippi never injure the oats and vetch. His 
 stock grazes on the Bermuda grass, and eats pota- 
 toes, and pindars until the first of January. By 
 that time the oats and vetch give good grazing. 
 The stock is taken off the oat and vetch field by the 
 last of March ; the oats and vetch then grow into 
 an excellent crop by the first of June. 
 
 I could discuss his pasture at greater length, but 
 I have in other chapters talked about the different 
 grasses, and for that reason it will be unnecessary 
 for me to discuss it at greater length here. I deem 
 it sufficient to say that Willis has a green pasture 
 on his farm all the year round. 
 
 Every farmer in the South can do the same. 
 
HIS FEEDING 
 
 IN ORDEK that every reader may understand why 
 Willis feeds as he does, I will give a few 
 scientific facts upon which his feeding is based. 
 
 An animal's body is made up of water and dry 
 matter. A young animal contains more water 
 than an old one. The new born animal contains 
 about sixty-five per cent, of water while an old one 
 contains about fifty per cent. As the animal's 
 body is fully one -half water, we can see why Willis 
 takes care to give his stock plenty of pure water. 
 
 The dry matter in the animal's body is composed 
 of fats, nitrogenous materials, and ash. Fats are 
 distributed throughout the body in varying quan- 
 tities and are used by the body as fuel for heat 
 and force. Nitrogenous materials, or protein, 
 form the basis of blood, lean meat, tendons, liga- 
 ments, sinews, horns, hoofs, hair, skin, and in fact, 
 all the wearing parts of the body. Protein is con- 
 verted into fats in the body when a sufficient 
 amount of fat is not contained in the food given to 
 the animals, that is when the ration is not narrow 
 
 (135) 
 
136 Ho to to Live a Happy Life 
 
 enough. But neither fats nor corbohydrates can 
 take the place of protein in the animals body. 
 
 Carbohydrates do not exist in the animal's body 
 as such but are changed into fats. Fats and carbo- 
 hydrates are the heat and energy producing com- 
 pounds. A pound of fat produces about 2.25 times 
 as much heat as a pound of carbohydrates. Now 
 since we find water, ash, fats, and protein com- 
 pounds in the animal's body we at once realize the 
 fact that the food given to the animal must contain 
 the compounds. The animal does not build up 
 compounds but tears up the compound that is built 
 up by the plants. 
 
 The object of giving food to the animal is to 
 supply ash, carbohydrates, fats, and protein. Most 
 all food stuffs contain ash so it need not be con- 
 sidered in feeding. Now every feed given to an 
 animal should contain a certain amount of protein, 
 or muscle-producing compounds, a certain per 
 cent, of fats, and a certain quantity of carbohy- 
 drates. That is a certain ratio should exist between 
 the muscle-producing and the fat-producing com- 
 pounds given to an animal in his feed. This is 
 known as balancing rations. When the ratio is 
 correct the food is called a " balanced ration. " 
 That is a ration on which an animal will do best ; a 
 milk cow will give the most milk, a hog fatten quick- 
 est, a race horse run swiftest, and a dray horse pull 
 
Jlis Feeding 137 
 
 the heaviest load. It may seem on first thought 
 that when we know the composition and digesti- 
 bility of food stuffs and the composition of animals 
 in " good fix " we can feed the animal just what it 
 needs. But this is not the case. The same animal 
 will require a larger per cent, of muscle -producing 
 compound at one time than it will at another. 
 When an animal works it requires more muscle - 
 forming compound than it does when idle. An 
 animal requires more heat-producing food in the 
 winter than it does in the summer. 
 
 Milk is very rich in nitrogenous matter so an 
 animal giving milk should be fed on food stuffs 
 rich in nitrogenous materials. 
 
 Thousands of experiments have been conducted 
 by the best feeders in America and Europe to find 
 out the exact number of pounds of fats and pro- 
 tein that should be fed daily to different animals 
 under different conditions. It has been found 
 that different animals require from one-half to 
 two and one-half pounds of protein per day ; from 
 twelve to one hundred and seventy-one pounds of 
 carbohydrates ; and from one-half to one pound 
 
 of fats. 
 
 The food given to animals must not only contain 
 these compounds in sufficient quantities, but it is 
 also necessary for it to have bulk. It must not be 
 too concentrated. 
 
138 
 
 How to Live a Ha^jpy Life 
 
 The following" table gives the composition of 
 foods used by Willis: 
 
 Digestible Nutrients Pounds Per 100 Pounds of Feed 
 
 Corn 
 
 Oats 
 
 Fodder 
 
 Corn schucks 
 
 Oat straw 
 
 Sweet potatoes. . . 
 
 Cotton seed 
 
 Cotton seed meal. 
 Cotton seed hulls 
 
 Hay 
 
 Peas 
 
 Protein. 
 
 Carbo- 
 Hydts. 
 
 ■7.8 
 
 64.8 
 
 9.3 
 
 48.3 
 
 5.34 
 
 43.34 
 
 .96 
 
 64.73 
 
 
 44.56 
 
 .90 
 
 22.90 
 
 9.83 
 
 27.92 
 
 .24 
 
 32.32 
 
 Fats. 
 
 1.6 
 4.2 
 1.96 
 
 .28 
 .88 
 
 16.88 
 
 2.32 
 
 Willis feeds his calves on a ratio of 1 to 4; his 
 milk cows 1 to 5.4; his fattening animals 1 to 12; 
 his stock when at rest 1 to 15; his stock at hard 
 work 1 to 0. 
 
 The ratio of a food stuff or of feed is found by 
 dividing the weight of the fat-producing compound 
 contained in it by the weight of the muscle-pro- 
 ducing compound in it. Take the analysis of corn 
 in the above table. It contains 1.6 pounds of fat 
 in 100 pounds. Since fats produce 2 J times as 
 much heat as carbohydrates, this must be multiplied 
 by 2J, 1.6x21 = 3f. Adding 3f to 64.8 carbohy- 
 drates we have 68.4 pounds of fat-producing com- 
 pounds in 100 pounds of corn. Dividing 68.4 by 
 7.8 we have 8.76 + . So the ratio of corn is 
 
Mis Feeding 139 
 
 1 to 8.76+. The ratio of any other food stuff can 
 be found as easily. 
 
 His stock have good pastures to graze in at all 
 seasons of the year, so they get all the green feed 
 and all the bulk that they need in the fields. How- 
 ever he gives them such feed as hay, shucks, and 
 oat straw during several months of the year. The 
 basis of the feed for the milk and beef cattle is 
 cotton seed. He gives them about five pounds of 
 cotton seed per day. The ratio of cotton seed is 
 1 to 7. This ratio is a little too narrow for beef 
 cattle and a little too wide for milk cows, so he 
 gives bis milk cows cowpeas in the hull to make 
 the ratio narrow enough. He also gives them sweet 
 potatoes and such like as appetizers. 
 
 His mules and horses are fed mostly on corn, oats, 
 and fodder. They are given on an average of ten 
 pounds of corn, ten pounds of oats, and ten pounds 
 of fodder per day. When at real hard work they 
 are fed less corn and more oats. During the win- 
 ter months more corn and less oats and fodder are 
 given. During the summer only about five pounds 
 of corn are fed to them per day. When idle they 
 run in the pasture and are fed on corn and fodder. 
 
 He feeds his hogs and sheep a well-balanced 
 ration at all times. That is, he gives them feed to 
 make up for the deficiency of compounds in the 
 feed they obtain in the pasture. The hogs and 
 
140 How to Lhie a Hajypy Life, 
 
 sheep require very little feed as they are kept in 
 the pasture at all times. The sheep are ^iven a few 
 cotton seed during the winter and dry months of 
 the summer. The hogs are given about one pound 
 of corn apiece per day. 
 
 Any man who knows how to add, subtract, mul- 
 tiply, and divide can take the analysis of food stuffs 
 and make a balanced ration. Take the feed that 
 Willis gives his horses and mules on an average. 
 We find that 100 pounds of corn contains 7.8 
 pounds of protein. Then 10 pounds contains J^ 
 of 7.8, or .78 pounds. The same is true of the dif- 
 ferent compounds in the three foodstuffs. Solving 
 we find: 
 
 Protein. Carbo. Hydts. Fats. 
 
 10 lbs. corn 78 6.48 16 
 
 10 lbs. oats 93 4.83 42 
 
 10 lbs. fodder 534 4.334 196 
 
 Total 2.244 15.644 .776 
 
 (. 776x21 )+15.644=17.636, the number of pounds 
 of carbohydrates or fat-j)roducing compounds in 
 the feed. Now since the ratio of a food stuff is 
 found by dividing the carbohydrates and fats com- 
 bined by the protein or muscle-producing com- 
 pounds, we have 17.636^2.244=7.8+. Therefore 
 the ratio of the feed is 1 to 7.8. 
 
 The ratio can easily be made wider or narrower 
 by giving less protein feed and more carbonaceous 
 
Hlfi Feeding 
 
 141 
 
 feed, or by giving less carbonaceous feed and more 
 protein feed, as the case may demand. 
 
 Every farmer should not only study this chapter, 
 but he should also get books on the subject and 
 study them. 
 
HIS BARN 
 
 H 
 
 IS barn is all under one shed. When he enters 
 his barn he is not forced to leave it until he 
 is throuofh feedino" all his stock. It is true that if 
 fire burns his barn he will have nothinijf left. His 
 stock and forage will all be gone. But hardly one 
 barn in a thousand burns during the average man's 
 life. So he can afford to take the risk. He cannot 
 afford to waste his time by walking over a five-acre 
 barnyard every time he feeds his stock. Life is too 
 short to waste time. 
 
 They have what are called " log rollings " and 
 "house raisings" in Mississij)pi. That is the neigh- 
 bors assist each other in clearinof their land of fallen 
 timber and in building their houses. Willis cut 
 the logs, hauled them home and removed the bark 
 from them. He also had the boards, blocks, and 
 everything else ready for the great day, — the 
 house raising. On the appointed day the neigh- 
 bors came from far and near. In two days the barn 
 was completed. 
 (142) 
 
His Barn 143 
 
 DRAWING 
 
 The main body of the building is constructed of 
 pine logs about one foot in diameter. They are 
 cheaper than lumber and make a great deal more 
 durable building. It is covered with good heart 
 pine boards. The roof is sufficiently steep to cause 
 the boards to serve a long time. 
 
 It is true that the winters are mild in Mississippi, 
 l)ut there comes days and nights when all stock 
 should be housed well. It costs very little money 
 to build a barn that will last two or three genera- 
 tions. The thousands of head of cattle that it will 
 protect during that time will gain enough in size to 
 pay for it a thousand times. The housing of farm 
 products requires a building, and it is best to have 
 a building that is sufficiently large to hold every- 
 thing raised on the farm. 
 
 It is unnecessary to describe the building. A 
 careful study of the plan of the ground floor will 
 show every department in the building except the 
 upstairs. The second story is used for hay, fodder, 
 grass, oats, and other crops of that kind. 
 
 It is ten feet from the ground to the floor of the 
 second story. A loaded wagon can be driven 
 through the alleys and be unloaded in either of the 
 rooms or in the second story. The second story 
 has a door in the center of its floor that can be 
 
144 
 
 How to Live a Happy Life 
 
 HIS BARN 
 
 
 stables 
 
 
 Stables 
 
 Feed alley— 23/^ ft. wide 
 
 Feed alley 
 
 W 
 
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 Qj 
 
 V. 
 
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 Hall— 10 ft. wide. 
 
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 Feed alley 
 
 Stables 
 
His Barn 145 
 
 opened whenever it is necessary to put anything in 
 the second story. 
 
 Willis never allows any man to smoke in his barn- 
 yard and he never carries a torch into his barn; in- 
 stead he uses two lard-oil lanterns. He trusts in 
 Providence but he does not think that a sensible 
 man will apply fire to powder and then trust in 
 Providence to keep it from igniting. 
 
 The barn is closed so that no man can enter it 
 except through one of the double doors. Each of 
 the four double doors has a combination lock on it 
 and when the night comes the doors are all securely 
 locked. Willis has no fear that any man will enter 
 and take anything out of his barn at night. So he 
 sleeps peacefully. 
 
 10 
 
 
HIS BOOK-KEEPING 
 
 WILLIS knows exactly what he is makino-. He 
 not only knows what he is making on the 
 whole but he knows what each department of his 
 farm is making. He is not farming blindly, he 
 keeps accounts with every department on his farm. 
 
 It is true that but very few farmers keep accounts, 
 they do not know what they are doing. They do 
 not know whether they are losing or gaining. They 
 do not know whether every department is losing or 
 whether every department is gaining. They are 
 acting imprudently in not keeping accounts. 
 
 Every farmer should keep accounts. Farming is 
 not a kind of business that a man can pursue succes- 
 fully in the dark. 
 
 Some crops pay a farmer and some do not, but 
 how can he know which is which unless he keeps 
 accounts? It is simply impossible. He will find 
 out his mistake sometime, but it may be too late. 
 
 The farmer who does not keep accounts may be 
 
 a good neighbor, a moral man, and a good citizen, 
 
 but he is not doing his whole duty to his God and 
 
 to himself. He does not cultivate all the talents 
 
 (146) 
 
iris Book-Keeping 147 
 
 that God has given to him. He does not farm in a 
 business-like way. He does not exalt his calling as 
 other business men exalt theirs. He does not make 
 the money that he would make if he knew just what 
 he was doing. He cannot supply himself and his 
 family with luxuries and comforts. He is in one 
 sense a failure. He should use the lead pencil and 
 paper. Muscle is not the only requisite to success- 
 ful farming. 
 
 Much unnecessary trouble and many lawsuits 
 are caused by farmers not keeping accounts. Ac- 
 counts that have been payed are presented for re- 
 payment. Farmers pay for things that they never 
 bought, — - merchants and all other business men 
 keep accounts but farmers do not. When a farmer 
 dies, no one knows just how his affairs are; men 
 can collect accounts never made by him and they 
 can collect accounts that were probably paid years 
 before his death. All such wrong doing should be 
 prevented, by following Willis's example. 
 
 Willis keeps a note book in his pocket all the 
 time and in it he writes a list of the things to be 
 done. The book is divided into two parts, — in one 
 part is a list of the things to be done soon, in the 
 other part, a list of the things to be done in spare 
 moments. By this means he does not overlook any- 
 thing that needs to be done. Whenever he sees any- 
 thing on his farm that needs to be done he makes a 
 
148 How to Live a Happy Life 
 
 note of it in the proper place in his book. He does 
 not tax his mind with trying to remember things, — 
 paper and pencils are cheap. 
 
 He has a memorandum of everything that has to 
 be done, so that on a rainy day he has only to look 
 over his little book in order to find something to do. 
 In this way he gets the little odd jobs done with 
 greater ease than he would without the use of his 
 little book. Willis is thoroughly familiar with 
 book-keeping, but he does not use any complicated 
 system. He keeps a cash account and a separate 
 account for each department. He did until this 
 * year keep an account with each field. He will not 
 do so any longer however. He will also stop keeping 
 accounts with each department, for he understands 
 his business so well that it has become unnecessary. 
 He knows which branches pay best and he fully 
 realizes the importance of reducing the cost of pro- 
 duction as much as possible. However he will 
 keep a cash account as long as he lives. 
 
 The accounts which follow will show how he 
 keeps his books as well as the profit on his farm in 
 1899. 
 
 ACCOUNTS 
 
 The accounts are not itemized here as they are 
 on his books. The butter account for each month 
 is recorded as one sale in this account, but his book 
 
His Book- Keeping 149 
 
 shows from whom he bought everything and to 
 whom he made the most important sales. The ac- 
 count shows to whom he paid every cent that went 
 out of his pocket-book. 
 
 He also keeps what he calls an exchange account. 
 This account shows how many gallons of syrup, 
 bushels of potatoes, and all other farm produce that 
 he sold and "took out in trade." The account 
 names every article received into the household for 
 which produce instead of money was paid. Among 
 the list of articles we find clothing, household goods, 
 farm machines, and other things used on the farm. 
 In fact he exchanges produce for nearly everything 
 that he gets. The things that are paid cash for are 
 usually bought direct from the factory. He is 
 forced to pay out a great deal of money for farm 
 laborers. 
 
 The above cash account shows that he made a 
 clear profit of $1,013. He has not failed to clear 
 one thousand in five years. On the first of every 
 .January he puts one thousand dollars in the bank. 
 He obtains four per cent, interest on it. 
 
 Reader, look over the account, and you will find 
 that you can improve your condition by following 
 the example set by Willis. Why not do so now? 
 
150 
 
 Hoxc to Live a Happy Life 
 
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His BooTc-Keeping 
 
 151 
 
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HIS CARE OF STOCK 
 
 THE live stock owned by Willis are as well treated 
 and as well cared for as the members of his 
 own family. And they should be. They have 
 served him faithfully. They have assisted him in 
 making a comfortable home and in placing several 
 thousand dollars in the bank. So it is his duty to 
 make their lives pleasant for them. 
 
 Breed is of great importance in handling stock, 
 but feed and care are of much greater importance. 
 A farmer who eni^fao-es in stock-breeding, I care 
 not what kind of stock he has, will not succeed 
 unless he gives he gives his stock proper care. A 
 man cannot expect to get money for nothing. 
 
 Willis never uses a whip or club among his 
 stock. It makes no difference how badly wearied 
 he becomes, he never abuses his stock. He says, 
 " The devil never visits the man who abuses his 
 stock; such a man belongs to the devil." If he 
 rides ahorse or drives a cow to water, he does not 
 try to force the animal to drink. He will not act 
 foolishly under any conditions. He, like Job of 
 (152) 
 
His Care of StocJc 153 
 
 old, is a patient man. And his success on the farm 
 is due largely to his kind treatment of the stock. 
 
 He knows tliat an animal's body is composed 
 largely of water, that eighty-seven per cent, of milk 
 is water; so he gives his animals plenty of pure 
 water to drink. He knows that it is a great sin for 
 animals to be forced to drink muddy water or thirst. 
 Live stock have tastes as well as human beings and 
 should not be forced to drink water unfit for hu- 
 mans. The farmer who does not furnish his stock 
 with plenty of fresh water is far from being a model 
 farmer. 
 
 His pastures have shade in them for the cattle 
 during the hottest part of the day in the summer 
 time. So his stock does not suffer from standing 
 all day long in the hot sun. In the winter his stock 
 have good stalls and warm houses to remain in at 
 night and during the coldest weather. They know 
 nothing about remaining out in the cold rain or 
 wind all day long with their backs humped up. 
 They are kept warm and comfortable in their stalls 
 and houses. If a farmer will not care for his stock 
 for rio-hteousness' sake he should do so for his 
 pocket-book's sake. 
 
 The temperature of an animal's body should be 
 kept up to about ninety-eight degrees. The heart 
 is maintained by food being burned in the body. 
 If the animal is exposed to cold the food will be 
 
154 How to Live a Happy Life 
 
 burned faster to keep the heat of the body up to 
 the normaL So we see that an animal exposed to 
 cold requires more food than one kept in a warm 
 stable. The average farmer does not seem to real- 
 ize that it is a great deal cheaper to keep up the 
 heat of the body by keeping the animals in a warm 
 place than it is by feeding more. 
 
 How seldom do we find a farmer who gives his 
 stock plenty to eat ! But few stock know what it 
 is to have plenty to eat. The stock are placed in 
 pastures where they get suJBBcient grass for a month 
 or two out of the year, and half starve the remainder 
 of the year. No man who treats his stock in such 
 a manner will ever get any profit out of them. It 
 takes a certain amount of food to replace the dif- 
 ferent parts of the body as they wear out. The 
 milk, wool, and increase in size of an animal are 
 made out of the food eaten in excess of the amount 
 required to keep the body up to a normal condition. 
 Animals cannot work, fatten, and give milk unless 
 they are given more food than is necessary to keep 
 the body in repair. 
 
 " A curry-comb when well used is equal to half 
 feed." This may not be quite true, but Willis acts 
 as if he believed it. He has two or three good 
 curry-combs and hair brushes. He curries and 
 brushes his milk cows at least once a day; his 
 horses and mules are curried and brushed twice a 
 
His Care of Stock 155 
 
 day. And his cows, horses, and mules show what 
 such treatment will do. 
 
 Many times when at church, in town, or at some 
 other place away from home, he is forced to leave 
 his horses or mules out in the rain or cold. On 
 that account he bought three good blankets with 
 straps for his mules and horses. When they are 
 left standiner in the cold or rain the blankets are 
 put over them, and when exposed to the latter, 
 three pieces of oilcloth are used in connection with 
 the three blankets. He shows the same respect for 
 their feelings as he does for his own. 
 
 His wagon and plow harness exactly fit his mules. 
 The trace chains do not rub the hair from their 
 sides; and the back bands do not hurt their backs; 
 the collars do not bruise their shoulders; nor do the 
 bits tear their mouths. He is merciful to his stock, 
 he knows that only the merciful will obtain mercy. 
 
HIS CARE OF FARM IMPLEMENTS 
 
 THE implements used by Willis are labor saving 
 and in most instances cost him a great deal 
 of money. He says that it is nonsense to try to 
 make farming profitable without labor-saving im- 
 plements. Labor-saving machinery is now used in 
 every branch of industry. Why should thousands 
 of farmers continue to use the implements used by 
 their great-grandfathers ? Human labor is the 
 most costly thing used in producing crops, there- 
 fore there should be no more used than is posi- 
 tively necessary. 
 
 The farmers who live near Willis say, " We are 
 not able to buy good tools." They say, " We will 
 wait until we save up the money to buy them 
 with." They are in the same box with the farmers 
 who are selling cotton for five cents when it costs 
 them seven cents to produce it. He cannot afford 
 to quit loosing money. So the average farmer says, 
 " I cannot afford to break two acres of land per 
 day instead of one ; or to cut five acres of grass 
 instead of one-half. I will continue to be poor. 
 (156) 
 
His Care of Farrn Innpleinenta 157 
 
158 How to Live a Happy Life 
 
 I am satisfied with hard times. I cannot afford to 
 better my condition." 
 
 It is true that the average farmer cannot afford to 
 use costly labor-saving implements. But why is it 
 true ? Because he does not care for the imple- 
 ments. He lets his tools remain out in the rain 
 
 and sunshine from one year s end to another. The 
 tools under such treatment will not last more than 
 two or three years. Of course he cannot afford to 
 spend several hundred dollars every two or three 
 years for a new set of tools. If he does not care 
 for his implements, he cannot afford to use them. 
 If he does not use them he cannot afford to farm. 
 
His Care of Farm Implements 159 
 
 A farmer will not be truly successful, I care not 
 how he farms, if he cares not for the machinery of 
 his farm. If he leaves his wagon, buggy, plow, or 
 other farm tools out in the weather, it will take all 
 the profit made on his farm to replace them. 
 
 Willlis uses common sense; he keeps his tools 
 in a tool house when he is not using them. lie 
 does not believe in working hard for money to buy 
 tools to decay in fence corners. His tools last 
 four or five times as long as the average farmer's 
 tools and are always in good running order. 
 
160 
 
 Hoir to Live a Happy Life 
 
His Care of Farm Implements 161 
 
 The saw cuts fast, the wagon is not a mule 
 killer, and the mowing machine runs easily. This 
 is the main reason why he can afford to have good 
 tools. A scrub farmer should own serub stock and 
 shabby tools. 
 
 When Willis began to farm he did not have 
 sufficient shelter to cover his wagon, buggy, roller, 
 plow, and other tools. So he used a stable for his 
 plows until he could build a tool house. That he 
 did as soon as possible. The following drawing 
 shows the ground plan. 
 
 DRAWING 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 aj 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 !h 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 C 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 oi 
 
 
 
 
 en 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 ^1 
 
 
 'S 
 
 c» 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 VI 
 
 
 
 
 03 
 
 
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 03 
 
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 ft 
 
 P5 
 
 
 lO 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 c 
 
 03 
 
 o 
 
 '3 
 
 50 ft. 
 
 The roof is ten feet high in front and seven feet 
 high in back. The ground is used for a floor. 
 The different tool rooms have swinging doors. 
 II 
 
162 Hov^ to Live a Happy Life 
 
HU Care of Farm Implements 163 
 
 The harness and repair rooms have average-sized 
 doors. 
 
 Willis spends many hours in the repair rooms. 
 He keeps a harness -repair outfit. He makes his 
 bridles, back bands, and light harness. He also 
 
1(54 Jrlow to Lwe a Happy I^ife 
 
 repairs the shoes for the family and does other 
 little repair work. He knows that a stitch in time 
 saves nine, so he keeps his harness, saddles, bridles, 
 etc., in good shape. 
 
 This tool house is so handy that it is as easy for 
 Willis to put his tools away as it is for him to 
 leave them out. The house is so constructed that 
 it is not necessary to move a dozen things in order 
 to get one out. In this house the tools can all be 
 kept snugly where they will be clean and unex- 
 posed to the weather. 
 
 Willis believes that every word in the Bible is 
 true. He tries to follow its teachings but he does 
 not obey one command. He does not lend his 
 tools to every man who wants to borrow them. 
 He did when he began farming. He was young 
 and green then but he is a wiser man to-day. The 
 farmers who lived near him were always wanting 
 to try his plows, cultivators, saws, harrows, mowing 
 machine, and other tools. He turned none away 
 until he saw that his doom would soon be sealed. 
 His tools were always away from home or broken ; 
 when he needed an improved tool he was forced to 
 go to his neighbors after some of his own. People 
 seldom return borrowed tools. 
 
 He has ceased to lend his tools ; his tools are no 
 longer left out of doors for days and nights and 
 banged around by men who are too ignorant to 
 
His Care of Farm Implements 165 
 
 appreciate them. Some of his neighbors think it is 
 real mean of him not to furnish them with tools to 
 use on their farms. They seem to think that he 
 should assist them to make a living. Willis knows 
 that he must provide for his own household. So 
 he does not lend his implements; he takes care of 
 his own. 
 
- HIS POLITICS ^ 
 
 WILLIS lias never failed to cast a vote on elec- 
 tion day since he was twenty-one years old. 
 Other than that he has taken but little part in 
 politics. 
 
 The following- talk made before an audience of 
 farmers during that memorable campaign of 1890, 
 expresses his views on the main questions before 
 the country: — 
 
 Fellow Farmers; -7- It is with pleasure that I 
 respond to your call to make a few remarks on the 
 political questions now agitating our people. 
 
 On the third of November we will be called 
 upon to vote either for William J. Bryan or 
 William McKinley for the president of the United 
 States. Therefore it is well for us who feed the 
 Nation to study this question that we may vote in- 
 telligently. On that account we have for to-day 
 laid aside the plow and the hoe and assembled here. 
 
 It is true that farmers have no business in poli- 
 tics, that they should not hold political meetings, 
 according to the ideas of some people. But how- 
 dee) 
 
His rollttai 167 
 
 ever others may think of it, I claim that farmers of 
 all men should vote. They form the only class of 
 any importance that wants honest legislation. They 
 demand nothing but their rights. They have no 
 lobbyists at the National capital to buy the votes 
 of dishonest men. Consequently, it is necessary 
 for them to cast their votes for the right kind of 
 men. We are told that our interests are being 
 looked after. And when the farmers complain of 
 hard times the statement is made by some man who 
 knows nothing about the facts in the case, that the 
 farmers are in as good a condition financially as they 
 were twenty-five or thirty years ago. Let us see 
 about that statement. 
 
 Since 1873 the price of farm products has been 
 steadily decreasing. We now get on an average 
 hardly half what we did then. Why is this true ? 
 The lawmakers tell us that the law of supply and 
 demand has caused the fall in prices. 
 
 If I can explode anything, it is the "over pro- 
 duction theory." Our main money crop is cotton, 
 so I will discuss that first. Cotton can be traced 
 from its production to its consumption better than 
 anything else. Every pound of cotton that is pro- 
 duced goes into the market and affects the price. 
 The production 'has greatly increased since 1873, 
 but the demand has also greatly increased, so that 
 the supply as compared with the demand is to-day 
 
168 How to Live a Happy Life 
 
 less than it was in 1873. The surplus cotton in the 
 factories is less now than it was in 1873. The price 
 of cotton in 1873 was 16 cents per pound. The 
 present price is about 6 cents per pound. According 
 to the law of supply and demand the price should 
 be at least 20 cents per pound. 
 
 Now let us take wheat. The price of wheat in 
 1873 was $1.24, the present price is about 70 cents. 
 The supply has doubled, but the population has also 
 doubled, so there is no change in the relation of 
 supply and demand at home. The foreign demand 
 has increased, however, and it is more than twice 
 as much as it was in 1873. Therefore the price of 
 wheat should be at least $1.50 per bushel. 
 
 I could go on and discuss many other products 
 and show that what is true of cotton and wheat is 
 also true of most, if not all, of the others, but I 
 think I have explained the subject enough, or to 
 such an extent, that any ten-year-old boy that 
 thinks at all on the subject will call any lawmaker 
 a fool who talks about the law of supply and de- 
 mand being the cause of the decrease in prices of 
 farm products. 
 
 We are also told, " The price of every article 
 that we use has fallen in as great a proportion as 
 those that we produce." While that statement is 
 not strictly true, I will admit it. But the farmer 
 is called upon to pay taxes, doctors' bills, church 
 
His Politics 169 
 
 • 
 
 bills, and other bills that are larger than they were 
 in 1873. These are the main bills that call for the 
 farmers' cash. 
 
 We have shown that the farmers of this country 
 do not get half as much for their produce as they 
 did in 1873. But how is it with those that follow 
 other pursuits? The wage earning employees in 
 the mill, factory, and workshop received on an 
 average of |1.25 per day in 1873. The wages paid 
 to them have increased forty per cent, since 1873. 
 The farmers' wages have been decreased over one 
 hundred per cent. What is true of the factory 
 hands is also true of lawyers, doctors, preachers, and 
 other consumers. Therefore we see that the farmer 
 is losing ground in this country. 
 
 I will now discuss two or three questions that if 
 solved aright will restore to the farmers of this 
 country the prosperity that they enjoyed in days 
 past and gone. 
 
 First, I will discuss the " Tariff for revenue vs. 
 the tariff for protection." 
 
 The main products of this country are cotton, 
 corn, wheat, and live stock. Now do the farmers 
 get any better prices for these products under the 
 protective tariff then they did under the revenue 
 tariff ? They do not. Are they not forced to pay 
 more for wheat they buy under the protective tariff 
 than they were under the revenue tariff ? They pay 
 
170 How to Live a Hajypy Life, 
 
 • 
 
 on an average about fifty per cent. more. So we 
 see that the way is so plain that a wayfaring man 
 cannot err when he goes to vote. 
 
 I will next discuss Bimetallism vs. Monometallism. 
 Those that believe in bimetallism claim that we 
 need more basic money in circulation ; that the 
 amount of money in circulation affects the prices 
 of commodities. Those who believe in monomet- 
 allism claim that there is sufficient money in circu- 
 lation; that the prices of commodities is regulated 
 entirely by the law of supply and demand for com- 
 modities. Let us examine first the claims of the 
 bimetallists. There is not a single instance in the 
 history of the whole world where there has been 
 suffering and hardship on account of having too 
 much money in circulation ; but we all know of the 
 times of distress on account of the scarcity of money. 
 The working people were suffering for the neces- 
 sities of life in the United States of Columbia in 
 1885, and a law was passed putting gold and silver 
 on a parity. What was the result? The products 
 of the farm rose 100 per cent, or more and pros- 
 perity was restored. And immediately after the 
 discovery of gold in California and Australia the 
 products of the farm rose in price, on average, 25 
 per cent. So we see that the claims of the bimet- 
 allists are just. 
 
 Let us consider the claims of the monometallists. 
 
His Politics 171 
 
 I have shown you that the law of supply and de- 
 mand does not account for the fall in price of farm 
 products. I have shown you that according to this 
 law the price of farm products should be higher 
 than it was in 1873. I have shown you by history 
 that the amount of money in circulation does have 
 an effect on the prices of farm products, so the 
 claims of the monometallists are false. 
 
 We must admit that the price of farm products 
 will rise if bimetallism becomes a law in the coun- 
 try. But we are told that every article that the 
 farmer buys will increase in value just as fast as the 
 articles he produces increase in value. That is also 
 false. The law will not permit the doctor or rail- 
 road to charge any more; taxes and postage bills 
 will not be any greater; and the preachers wdll not 
 charge any more for their preaching. His farm im- 
 plements will not cost one cent more than they do 
 now. Because the manufacturers now charge every 
 cent for them that the protective tariff will allow. 
 
 Therefore every farmer should be a bimetallist, 
 or what is known as " a free silver man." 
 
 I will now discuss government ownership of 
 railroads, telegraph, and telephone systems, and of 
 the express. In nearly every country in Europe 
 the government owns these enterprises. 
 
 In Germany the roads are owned by the gov- 
 ernment. What is the result ? Passengers can 
 
172 Hoio to Live a Happy Life 
 
 ride four miles for one cent, and freight rates are 
 in proportion. Yet the government's net profits 
 on these roads are $125,000,000 per year. 
 
 In Hungary, the government owns all the rail- 
 roads. The passenger rates are half a cent a mile, 
 the freight rates not as high as they are in 
 Germany. The railroad employees are paid such 
 wages that strikes are unknown. The government 
 is making thousands of dollars per year. Switzer- 
 land has the same sys'tem as Germany and it pays 
 the country well. 
 
 Belgium bought its railroads, reduced the fare 
 to one cent a mile, doubled the wages of the em- 
 ployees and is yet making money. 
 
 In India, Australia, New Zealand, and other 
 countries the same is true. Why should not the 
 United States do likewise ? 
 
 Under the present system the rich and influential 
 people are given free passage on the railroads but 
 the farmer is forced to pay four or five times as 
 much as the people of other countries. 
 
 The price of the farmer's products is governed 
 largely by the freight rates. Under the present 
 system, he is charged four or five times as much as 
 the wealthy men of this country. 
 
 What I have said of the government ownership 
 of railroads is true of the government ownership 
 of the telegraph, telephone, and express systems. 
 
His Politics 173 
 
 Then should not every farmer vote for the gov- 
 ernment ownership of these things ? Certainly. 
 
 Now fellow farmers, I have tried to show you 
 how we should vote. I will say that I am not a 
 partisan and never will be. I will in every case 
 study the platforms of the different parties and 
 vote that ticket which shall be for the party that 
 looks after my interests. 
 
 After studying the Democratic, Republican, and 
 Po>pulites platforms, I have found that the Demo- 
 cratic and Populites platforms are for the interests 
 of the farmers of this country. Therefore on the 
 third of next November, I will cast a vote for 
 William J. Bryan for President. 
 
A SHORT SERMON 
 
 I INHERITED a tendency to preach, and I have 
 tried very hard indeed to keep from preaching. 
 Ministers of the Gospel are called to preach, and 
 therefore it is not my duty to preach Scriptural 
 sermons, but I will preach an agricultural sermon to 
 the readers of this little volume. My text will be 
 found in Hebrews 12: 1. It reads as follows: 
 " Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which 
 does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience 
 the race that is set before us." 
 
 The text informs us that we are burdened with 
 weiirhts and that we are beset with sins. The 
 farmer should lay aside the weights and the sins 
 which does so easily beset him. The victory will 
 be won by the farmer who lays aside the weights 
 carried by the average farmer, and who ceases to 
 commit the sins committed by him. 
 
 Now, let us discuss the text under the heads: 
 1st, weights — 2d, sins. The average farmer has 
 many heavy weights hanging to him but I will 
 only discuss the three which I consider the most 
 important. 
 (174) 
 
A Short /Sermon 175 
 
 The man who is ignorant of the principles upon 
 which success in his calling is founded has a heavy 
 weight hanging to him. He may be a learned 
 man in the other professions but he must know all 
 about his own if he would succeed. The farmer 
 must know something about the science of agri- 
 culture if he would succeed on his farm. The day 
 for ignorant men has passed. So every farmer 
 should lay aside the weight of ignorance. Take 
 good agricultural journals, get the bulletins issued 
 by the State and United States experiment stations, 
 attend farmers' institutes and gain information in 
 many other ways and the weight of ignorance will 
 soon disappear. 
 
 No man can farm successfully on poor land. 
 But few men can buy fertile land to farm on. 
 Nearly every farmer must hang the weight of poor 
 land around his neck. But he can easily lay it 
 aside. Read the chapters on Tillage, Rotation of 
 Crops, Cowpeas, and Fertilizers and you will find 
 out how Willis laid this weight aside. You can do 
 likewise. 
 
 The scrub things have passed. The word scrub 
 in connection with stock makes a successful breeder 
 shudder. Well does he remember the many pov- 
 erty stricken farmers who kept scrub stock during 
 the dark ages of agriculture. This weight has 
 been holding farmers down to poverty since Adam 
 
176 Hoic to Live a Happy Life 
 
 and Eve kept the Garden, and there is no reason 
 however w^hy farmers should act so unwisely. They 
 should give heed to the words which they hear. 
 
 I consider under-production the greatest sin a 
 farmer can be guilty of. The farmer who does 
 not provide for his family is despised in this world 
 and will burn in the next. He is w^orse than an 
 infidel. A man must make use of the talents which 
 God has entrusted to him. If he does not gain 
 other talents he will be cast into the pit where 
 there is wailing and gnashing of teeth. Every 
 farmer can follow the example set by Willis. By 
 so doing the acre that formerly produced one -third 
 of a bale of cotton will be made to grow one 
 whole bale ; prosperity will reign in the home 
 instead of poverty ; the family will be happy 
 instead of miserable. 
 
 The farmer should not always be buying, — I use 
 the word buying in the sense of the exchange of 
 money for something else. He should exchange 
 surplus farm produce for a great many of the things 
 that are needed on the farm. Many farmers go to 
 town with an empty wagon and return with a full 
 wagon, — such men will soon lose the home which 
 their fathers gave to them. Then they will have to 
 go to live at a sawmill where they will have to v^ork 
 like slaves. The farmers who follow the example 
 of Willis will always have happy homes. 
 
A /Short Sermon 177 
 
 Those who till the st)il should have good tools to 
 till it with. It is true that a forked limb was used 
 to plow with in days past and gone, but no sane 
 man attempts such foolishness to-day. The vilest 
 sinner uses implements with which he can do many 
 times as much work as he can with a forked limb. 
 But there is as much difference in the results se- 
 cured by Willis and those secured by the average 
 farmer as there is difference between the results 
 obtained by the average farmer and those of the 
 men who used forked limbs. The average farmer 
 to-day is just about half way on the road of pro- 
 gress from the forked limb to the latest riding 
 plow. He should continue to grow in the knowl- 
 edge and use of his farm implements. A man can- 
 not be converted until he is made aware of his sins. 
 The averaofe farmer will never be converted until he 
 is shown the sinfulness of the implements he is now 
 using. 
 
 The next great sin that I will mention is " rob- 
 bing the soil." The soil was given to man in a fer- 
 tile condition, but he has starved millions of acres 
 of it to death. He has robbed it as the thief robs 
 a bank. He has put it in such a condition that it 
 will not yield bread for the inhabitants of the earth. 
 He has robbed the soil that God has entrusted to 
 him instead of enriching it. The iniquity of the 
 fathers will be visited upon the children unto the 
 
 12 
 
178 Hov") to Live a Happy Life 
 
 third and fourth generation.* Willis keeps his soil 
 fat and the soil keeps Willis fat. 
 
 Willis treats his stock as he desires to be treated 
 by the world. He does not abuse them, and the 
 sparing of the rod does not spoil them. He furn- 
 ishes them with warm stables so that they do not 
 suffer from the cold winds. They sleep as comfort- 
 ably in their warm stables as Willis does in his bed. 
 They never suffer for something to eat. All day 
 long they stand knee deep in grass, and at night 
 their troughs are filled with cotton seed and hay. 
 Farmers should treat their stock as Willis treats his. 
 By so doing they will lay aside the sins that do so 
 easily beset them. 
 
 In conclusion, let me say, keep ever in mind the 
 words of the text. 
 
A WORD TO YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN 
 
 WILLIS did hard studying on the subject of " The 
 Choice of a Profession." He also wrote an 
 excellent composition on that subject. His friends 
 advised him to be a doctor or a lawyer, but he de- 
 cided that question for himself. He decided to be 
 a farmer. He has never regretted that decision. 
 He never will. 
 
 The reason why most of the intelligent men of 
 this country leave the farm is that they desire to 
 be honored. They do not think that a man who 
 farms will ever.be honored. They judge from the 
 amount of honor bestowed upon the average farmer. 
 But the average farmer is a failure, and no man who 
 fails in his line of business is ever honored. The 
 lawyer who knows nothing about law will never 
 succeed as a lawyer. He will never be honored. 
 The farmer who knows nothing about the science 
 of agriculture will never succeed, and he will never 
 be honored. The successful men in any calling are 
 honored. 
 
 Willis is one of the most highly -honored men in 
 Mississippi. He is a well-educated man, a good 
 
 (179) 
 
180 Hovi to Live a Happy Life 
 
 writer, and an eloquent speaker. He honors his 
 profession. He knows that a profession is consid- 
 ered honorable because honorable men follow it. 
 He is doing what he can to make farming the most 
 honorable profession followed by man. Willis is 
 an honor to his profession and he is honored. 
 
 Hundreds of other young men leave the farm be- 
 cause there is but little chance of ever becoming 
 rich in farming. I will admit that there is no chance 
 to accumulate a fortune on a farm, so the young 
 man who desires to be a millionaire should never 
 be a farmer. But few farmers ever accumulate as 
 much as |50,000. Farming is necessarily a small 
 business. It cannot be spread out so that thousands 
 of acres will be under cultivation. "The farmer 
 must do a thing himself, or have his shadow fall on 
 the man who does it, if he wants to succeed." A 
 man cannot cultivate a large farm nor can his 
 shadow fall on every part of it at one time. There- 
 fore the ideal farm is a small one. Profits are small 
 on such a small business, but the farmer is happy. 
 
 Why should a man work for wealth and property 
 to leave behind him when he dies ? A good living 
 is all that any man can get out of this world. The 
 farmer can get a better living and live a happier 
 life than any other professional man. He cannot 
 hoard up banks of gold, but he and his family can 
 have a comfortable home, plenty to eat, and good 
 
A Word to Young Men and Wome^i 181 
 
 clothing to wear. Young man and young lady, 
 what more do you want ? 
 
 The farmer breathes pure air; he is not compelled 
 to breathe the contaminated air of the cities. The 
 contagious diseases that spread in the cities never 
 affect him. In fact, he is a healthy man. He enjoys 
 his meals and sleeps sweetly at night. He raises a 
 healthy family. A healthy body means a healthy 
 brain. Brainy men and women are needed. 
 
 The farmer is his own boss. He can work as he 
 pleases, talk as he pleases, and vote as he pleases. 
 It makes no difference what opinion he expresses, 
 his land will yield just the same. He is not a slave 
 like the thousands of poor laborers, who live in the 
 cities. 
 
 He can spend much more time with his family 
 than the merchant, banker, doctor, or lawyer. He 
 is not tied up. He can take much more time for 
 pleasure than the other professional men. He is not 
 rushed as they are. He can take time to enjoy life. 
 
 It does not cost much to live on a farm. Nearly 
 every food stuff used is grown. Surplus farm pro- 
 ducts are exchanged for clothing, etc. There is no 
 house rent, no gas, no water, nor no fuel bills to 
 settle. Taxes do not amount to much. The expense 
 of keeping a horse for driving is very slight. In 
 fact, $500 on a farm will go as far as $2,000 in a 
 city. 
 
182 How to Live a Happy Life 
 
 Now I will say to the young ladies, I do not 
 think that you can do better than to marry a young 
 farmer who is well educated. I do not think that 
 you can spend your lives in a better way than in 
 making happy homes for successful farmers. Go 
 into partnership with a young man who is farming 
 on the platform adopted by Mary and Willis and 
 you will never regret your act. 
 
PARTING WORDS 
 
 READER, I have given you a few facts in regard 
 to the life and farming of Willis. I have not 
 discussed hundreds of subjects that I should have 
 discussed. I have mentioned only a few of what I 
 considered the most important facts under the sub- 
 ject being discussed. It would require volumes 
 and volumes to hold a detailed account of the work 
 of this model farmer. 
 
 I am inclined to believe that a better day will 
 soon dawn upon the agricultural class of this coun- 
 try if they will only follow the example set by Wil- 
 lis. It is true that if every farmer should do as 
 Willis does farmers would in many respects be no 
 better off. There would be no demand for the 
 great amount of produce. But every farmer will 
 not do as Willis is doing. Not one reader of this 
 sketch in one thousand will set out on the right 
 road and stick to it until the desired end is accom- 
 plished. So no farmer may be afraid to do the right 
 thinsr, for he will have few rivals. Do not fear to 
 grow twice as much per acre as you are now grow- 
 
 (183) 
 
184 Ho'ii3 to Live a Happy Life 
 
 ing. You will never regret it. By doing so, hard 
 times will soon bid you adieu. 
 
 It is true that I have advised you to do your 
 best. Now you may think that I have not done my 
 best in writing this little book. But reader you are 
 mistaken. I had the evenings of only three months 
 to spare. I have worked hard all day and wielded 
 the pen at night long after your eyes were closed 
 in sleep. I could have done better if I could have 
 spent my whole time for a year on it; but it was 
 impossible. 
 
 The work is not satisfactory to me but I trust 
 that the reader will remember the conditions under 
 which it was written and be kind enough to over- 
 look the many blunders. 
 
 Wishing every reader a long and truly successful 
 life, 
 
 I am your true friend, 
 
 G. H. Alfoed. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS