“I assume that you will wish to locate near a town of considerable size, in order that you can haul manures from town, and perhaps some feed also; and have a good market for your milk and other products.”

“No, Sir,” said Percy, “I should prefer not to engage in dairying, and I do not wish to make use of fertilizer made from my neighbors’ crops.  We have some object lessons of that kind in my own state; and I have no doubt that some can be found in this state who feed all they produce on their own land and perhaps even larger amounts of feed purchased from their neighbors, or hauled from town, and who, in addition to using all of the farm fertilizer thus produced, haul considerable amounts of such materials from the livery stables in town.  With much hard work, with a good market for the products of the dairy and truck garden, and with business skill in purchasing feed from their neighbors when prices are low, such men succeed as individuals; but do they furnish an object lesson which could be followed by the general farmer?”

“I had not looked at the matter from that point of view,” said Mr. West, “but it is plain to see that on the whole there can be only a small percentage of such farmers; and in reality they are a detriment to their neighbors who permit their own hay and grain to be hauled off from their farms; but certainly these are the methods followed by our most successful farmers, and these are they who live on the fat of the land.”

“Are they farmers or are they manufacturers?” asked Percy.  “It seems to me that, in large measure, their business is to manufacture a finished product from the raw materials produced upon other farms, either in the immediate neighborhood or in the newer regions of the West.  As you know, much of our surplus produce from the farms of the corn belt is shipped into the eastern and southern states, there to be used as food for man and beast, not only in the cities, but also to a considerable extent in the country.  Instead of living on the fat of the land, such manufacturers live in the country at the expense of special city customers who may have fat jobs and are able to pay fancy prices for country produce made by the impoverishment of many farms.  In most cases, if such a ‘successful farmer’ were compelled to pay average prices for what he buys and allowed to receive only average prices for what he sells, his fat would have plenty of lean streaks.”

CHAPTER VI

THE MUSICALE

Dinner was served at the family table, with Mr. West at the head and his mother at the foot.

“The eye is the window of the soul,” thought Percy, as he met the glance of Adelaide sitting opposite.  Certain he was that he had never before looked into such alluring eyes.