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gift. If it came to me in a period of prosperity, I should take it as a token of your esteem and confidence. But, coming But, coming as it does, when I am little better than a supplicant, it savors too too strongly of charity. I didn't come here to beg. Even if I lose everything else, Mr. Lombard, I can at least save my self-respect. You will grant me that privilege, I am sure, and understand my sentiments."

As I uttered these words I arose and took up my hat. Mr. Lombard got up, too, and held out his hand without a word.

For the

Without a word, I took it. life of me, I could not have spoken just then. then. For a few seconds we stood with hands clasped; then I turned and walked out of his office.

As I entered the lobby of the Fifth Avenue Hotel shortly afterward, I heard my name called in a drawling cry. I turned quickly and intercepted a hotel page who carried a silver salver with a yellow telegram upon it. Quickly I snatched up the message and tore it open. (To be Continued)

THE MARCH OF THE CITIES

HOW FRESNO'S CITY FARM IS PAYING FOR THE MUNICIPAL SEWAGE SYSTEM

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EVERAL years ago, Fresno, Cal., bought a farm of 812 acres of raw land as an outlet for the city sewage system. The price was $30,800, or about $38 an acre. Last year, with about 400 acres of it under cultivation, the farm paid the city a net profit of $8,600. The managers estimate that this year, with a larger share of the land in use, a profit of more than $15,000 will be earned.

Fresno's sewage is treated by the "septic tank" process, by which the entire effluent of the sewers is sterilized by the natural action of harmless bacteria, and is divided into purified water and a solid matted sediment. The farm, therefore, is provided with plenty of water for irrigation and with an abundance of excellent fertilizer. The difficulty of disposing of this effluent was the reason for the city's purchase of the farm. No matter where the outlet of the sewers was placed, neighboring ranchers complained that it was a menace and a nuisance.

At first, the city officials thought it wise to lease the farm to a private concern for a long term. But that plan did not work well. The lessees did not understand how and when to dispose of the sewer effluent, and they complained that the land was flooded when it should be dry and even threatened suit for damages in

consequence. The dissatisfaction of both lessor and lessees became so acute that both were glad to declare the lease off. That was three years ago.

Then the city officials decided to manage the farm themselves. A committee of the board of trustees was appointed by the mayor to take charge, and the chairman of that committee became practically the superintendent of the farm. He chose alfalfa as the crop best adapted to the soil and to the size of the farm. In 1910, the crop paid running expenses. In 1911, 200 acres were planted. Last year, 300 acres were put in alfalfa and 100 acres in grain hay. In the meantime, contracts of sale for the alfalfa had been made at $11 a ton so that a market was ready when it matured. The results of last year's operations were these:

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Part of this profit will be used by the city to reclaim some of the remaining 400 acres from alkali. This is done by leaching small areas of the alkali land, about 20 acres at a time. This washing process renders the soil fit for cultivation. It is then plowed and laid out in small squares surrounded by irrigation dikes and called "checks."

The profits from the farm this year will probably be sufficient to pay all the cost of maintenance of the city sewer system, including cleaning and repairs. Besides this, these profits will provide the money

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FORWARD TO THE LAND

THE FARM AS OLD AGE INSURANCE

N THE WORLD'S WORK for July, 1912, appeared an editorial comment comparing the farm mortgage and the actual ownership of a farm as investments. There are few better securities than a good farm if the right man invests. However, there is many a farm seeker to whom any farm will bring little but failure and disappointment.

Which of these are you? The difference is based mainly on three elements: your conception of what a farm is and does; your real reasons for taking up farming; your equipment and preparedness for the business.

Some quotations chosen at random from the many letters about land that have come to the WORLD'S WORK indicate the need of further discussion of this aspect of farming. The following, for instance, are characteristic of one large group of farm seekers:

“I have practised medicine for thirty-three

years, but from exposure and strain have broken down nervously and, to some extent, physically. I have $4,000 and have thought of combining fruit and poultry to provide for my old age, but here in California, where the climate is very congenial, land is too high priced."

"I must move to a warmer climate on account of a nervous wife and son. I can invest about $2,000 without using up all my capital, and

have been thinking of farming or gardening, but my knowledge of both is very slight."

"What we want is a place two or three miles out of town and if possible on a railroad, within ninety minutes of New York City. We prefer a high elevation, near river or lake, with necessary barns, out-buildings, etc."

"Is there any scope for taking up paying land and where? I could invest $3,000 but have no farming experience whatever. I am doing very well in business in Bombay, India, but competition is getting too keen and the climate is not attractive."

"What are the chances of my succeeding? I am a college trained engineer with about $1,100, no actual farming experience, but I would like a general farm in central Massachusetts."

Every one of these cases seems to indicate one of two conditions. Either the man is physically unfit for active work and thinks that a farm will support him while he "rests up" and improves his health by means of recreation and gentle exercise; or else he is tired of his present occupation, has an aversion to hard work, and feels that farming, with its simple (?) tasks and independence, is the job for him.

The independence of the successful farmer is much to be desired, without a doubt; but what some people consider independence is better described as free

dom from responsibility and duty and hard work. Certainly it has little in common with the independence that comes with the tilling of the soil.

Of course, the sort of farm these writers have in mind is a greatly desired end, but it usually takes more capital than they have for inexperienced men to get farms, not to mention manage them; for most of these letters do not sound as if the writers could or would give 300 days' able-bodied labor a year to the farm, or had money to hire it done for them.

The young man with a distaste for work will find the average close-fisted, selfmade father lavish in his generosity compared with a farm. The man in poor health need not expect the farm to pour out its bounty at his feet while he recuperates unless during that time he can make plans that will make enough or save enough money to make up for his lack of physical work. Many men have done this. Men and women who could not plow or hoe have made as successful farmers as any one else.

But it means brain work. Likewise, it usually means capital. For example, another of the letters that are received by this department reads as follows:

"I am a physician, forty-five years old, and have been practising for twenty-two years. Thus far I have made a good living, but under the conditions of practice to-day, and living as we are obliged to do, there is no surplus at the end of the year and I can easily foresee that in the near future there will be a deficit. We all - my wife, two boys, and myself — are fond of the country, and I can see no future for the boys in a mercantile life. I have about

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$10,000, as well as securities that bring in an income of $1,000 per year.

"My plan is to buy a farm near fairly good schools, etc., in Massachusetts or Connecticut, including ten acres or so of apples, a livable house, garden, and other improvements. I would expect to hire a working farmer and his wife. What is your opinion?"

This is a well thought out, wholly possible, and highly desirable plan. Here, too, there is inexperience but also capital with

which to hire skilled labor and to reduce the need of profit from the farm at the outset.

Suppose that he invests in safe stocks or bonds paying as much as 6 per cent. interest. This interest, with his former income, gives him only $1,600 a year and no home, no food supplies, no recreations. in addition. How far will this go toward supporting a family of four?

On the other hand, for six or eight thousand dollars he can find in New England, New York, and in other localities, just the place he seeks. Fifteen hundred dollars more will install a satisfactory even if temporary water supply, a sewage disposal system, lights, and other conveniences. For six hundred dollars a year cash and other perquisites largely derived from the farm itself he should obtain a trustworthy, capable working foreman by whom the farm, if worth the price, can be made to give the family far more than the entire $1,600 could supply in the city. As the members of the family learn to make their work effective, expenses will be further reduced and the income still further augmented.

Such a farm is one of the highest types of investment for a living.

WHY CHEAP FARM LAND IS DEAR

HREE business men - let us call them Smith, Jones, and Brown decided to become farmers. They had been raised on farms, had attended short courses in practical farming, and had read enough reference books to have gained a working knowledge of scientific agriculture.

Smith, by slow, methodical, conservative practices that characterized him, had

accumulated about fifteen thousand dollars. With this he bought, in a thriving, well-populated section of Illinois, an improved 90-acre farm with buildings, tools, and some good stock, for $200 an acre, paying $10,000 down and assuming a 6 per cent. mortgage for the balance.

The success of his already established neighbors with hogs, alfalfa, seed corn, and beef cattle led him to follow suit.

He joined the grange and the local cooperative organization, sent his children. to a consolidated rural school, and settled down to a business that soon began to make annual payments of 8 to 10 per cent. on his investment.

Jones and Brown were of a more speculative disposition, and after financial ups and downs found themselves each with about $1,500 cash and plans built around the purchase of cheap land and a hewing of success out of virgin country.

Jones tried cutover timber land somewhere in Arkansas. It cost him $20 an acre on the instalment plan, and of his fifty acres only five were sufficiently cleared to permit immediate farming. But he had chanced to locate in the midst of sturdy, broad minded, enthusiastic, progressive pioneers. All worked together clearing one another's land, improving the roads, building simple, comfortable houses, and developing a happy, altruistic social life.

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Within five years apple orchards were planted and young peach trees yielding crops that justified the building of a new railroad line. Meanwhile dairies, poultry plants, and home gardens supplied local demands and sent a surplus to the nearest markets. In ten years Jones belonged to a community whose land had reached an average valuation of $100 an acre. His own home, buildings, stock, and farm were worth altogether about $17,500, and he was clearing annually about 150 per cent. on his original invested capital of $1,500.

Brown started off in much the same way in northern Georgia, but the fates were not propitious. He placed his faith in pecans and the soil proved uncongenial. His strawberry crop rotted in the crates before he could get it over the poor roads to a market or a freight station. His neighbors were shiftless and narrow, and Brown lacked the necessary ability to organize and stimulate them. Attempts at coöperation were rendered fruitless by a lack of subsequent support. Poor farming methods and indifference to available means of improvement led to soil erosion, weed infestation, uncontrolled insects, and plant diseases. The fertility

of the land crept down the hillsides into the creeks and away to the deltas of the coastal plains, carrying with it Brown's hopes. For half a dozen years he hung on, fighting the realization that conditions rendered success impossible. Then he gave in and joined the army whose slogan is, "Farming does not pay."

These three experiences illustrate the working of a principle familiar enough to business men, but rarely applied to the complex business of farming. Stated mathematically it is, that in starting an enterprise the return involved is inversely proportional to the risk; and the risks in the case of Brown were many times the risks taken by Smith.

The wealthy capitalist buys high priced, gilt edge securities that pay 5 or 6 per cent., cuts his interest coupons regularly, and, so far as they are concerned, can eliminate worry from his vocabulary. The man with a little money finds these securities far beyond his reach, but often, for less than a dollar a share, he can buy mining stock that may mean either failure or fortune, with the chances largely in favor of failure.

So it is with farm lands. Millions of acres of undeveloped country can be bought for less than $25 an acre and with moderate care can be made to yield good crops. But the success of a farm depends on far more than its crop-raising possibilities. There must be markets, means of transportation, selling agencies, and social development. Without these the property is an isolated unit, no more valuable than the uncleared timber land surrounding it; with them the whole section grows in importance and prosperity. Land values increase automatically, and the moderate investment proves a veritable gold mine. This is a job for a vigorous man. Such a farm is no place to retire to.

If, however, you want safety; if you are content with a small percentage of profit so long as it is assured; and if you have means to insure these results, buy an improved, high-priced farm in a well developed agricultural community. An established reputation, public opinion, and the contagious effect of success will insure financial stability. Such a farm. holds out a pleasant profit for old age.

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ABOUT FARM LANDS

66.-Q. Do you know of any successful farmers' coöperative organizations from which I might get information as to formation, methods, by-laws, etc?

A. In "Coöperation Among Farmers," by Professor John Lee Coulter (Sturgis and Walton, seventy-five cents), in which you will find much valuable information, there are mentioned the following successful associations to which you might apply:

The Produce Exchange of the Eastern Shore of Virginia, Onley, Va.

The Southern Texas Truck Growers' Association, care of the Commissioner of Agriculture, Austin, Texas.

The Producers' Coöperative Market Association, Duluth, Minn.

The Knox County Berry and Truck Growers' Association of Tennessee.

67.-Q.

(a) What are the water rates in the Salt River Valley of Arizona; (b) can hogs be pastured the year round in the Sacramento Valley of California?

A. Water rates on the United States Reclamation Project are, in summer (from June 1st to September 30th) sixty cents an acre, and, in winter (from October 1st to May 31st), one dollar an acre. From private individuals they are probably higher.

(b) Hogs can be pastured and a large number of crops grown the year round in certain parts of the Sacramento Valley, depending, of course, on the elevation, the latitude, and the distance from large bodies of water which moderate the climatic conditions.

68.-Q. Please give me information about Phillips County, Ark. — price of land, its adap

tation, etc.

A. Located on the Mississippi River, this section is low, level, and subject to occasional inundation by floods. Danger from this source is extreme only along the eastern borders. Census figures for the acreages of leading crops are: cotton 84,284, corn 25,712, hay and forage crops 4,552, and oats 230 acres.

The elevation of the county seat, Helena, is 182 feet, and the climate of the county is characterized by "long, hot summers, short, moderately cold winters, pleasant weather in the spring and late autumn, abundant sunshine, moderate extremes of temperature, copious rainfall, and high humidity." These

ditions, in connection with the rich alluvial soils, offer opportunities for growing rice and fruits as well as the crops mentioned above.

Of the 4,651 active farm owners in the county, 4,185 are Negroes; 49 per cent. of the land is in farms and 66 per cent. of this farm land is improved. The average value of farm land was, in 1910, $27.67 per acre, but in 1900, only $8.48. Good farms, however, can not ordinarily be bought even at the former figure.

69.-Q. What is the probable future of the grazing industry in Montana, Idaho, Colorado, and Wyoming?

A. Western grazing methods, always highly extensive and wasteful, have been profitable in the past chiefly because stock could range over an unlimited area and all kinds of land, and obtain water at any stream or water hole. To-day such water sources are practically all appropriated, and the best land has been taken for either irrigated or dry farming. The free or cheap land remaining will rarely maintain many cattle profitably.

The cattle business of the future in the West will probably make use of eastern stock-raising methods involving more limited pasturage and increased feeding of cut fodder and concentrated foods.

70.-Q. Where, in Florida, in your opinion, is the best location for the raising of grape fruit? We have a young apple orchard in Michigan and have thought of managing a citrus grove in connection with it, but want to start as economically as possible.

A. Counties producing more than 20,000 crates of grape fruit in 1910 were: Dade 184,012, Orange 69,730, De Soto 53,898, Polk 49,292, St. Lucie 42,585, Lake 35,976, Hillsborough 35,303, Brevard 28,335, and Volusia 26,890. Those receiving the highest prices were, however, St. Lucie, Brevard, and Palm Beach (10,094 crates). All things considered, we should prefer the country just west and southwest of Tampa.

Unless you are prepared to maintain two separate forces of men and to conduct two complete enterprises we do not see the logic of your plans. A citrus orchard is among the most precarious of agricultural enterprises, and we do not think a young apple orchard a sufficient protection against possible loss in a combination of two such activities.

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