The Piggery. - Cleanliness. Straw Cost of the Farm.- Beautifying our Home. berry-picking. Busy Times. - Profitable Crop. - Money-making for All. - Pease. Raspberries. Plenty. - The Vegetables: their Luxuriance. Neighbors. Comparisons with our OUR farm contained a little over twenty acres, and had cost my father $3,500. A good barn of moderate size was on the premises; but it contained ample accommodations for a farm whose productions were sent immediately to market. There was what is here called a "lean-to" shed for our cow, with suitable arrangements for sundry pigs. My father took great pride in this last establishment. It is a favorite idea with many intelligent farmers, that pigs love dirt, and are never so well satisfied as when they are wallowing in a mud-puddle: but my father's theory was that a pig is as fond of being clean as any other animal; and, if ordinary care be taken of his quarters, they need never degenerate to the unsightly condition in which some are always to be found. But when the latter state of things has produced its usual consequences, and the poor creatures are covered with fleas, they are glad to take refuge in some kindly mud-puddle, whose cooling depths may perchance rid them of some of these tormenting companions. At all events, my father was resolved to test the theory; and, so far, it had worked well. The huge mother, with her seven young ones, were all as clean and white as if newly washed; and there was little to complain of about the pen. Occasionally, the premises were treated to a good washdown; and the unclean creatures seemed to enjoy their fresh bed of straw as much as if they were not swine. It was a vast relief to my mother and myself that there was no large dairy to attend to. We had so long been accustomed to this work, making butter and cheese for the market, until we almost loathed the sight of either, —that now, when we had but one cow to milk, and only butter for our own use to be done, it seemed quite a release from toil; and, after the in-door work was finished for the day, we found time to arrange the flower-beds in front of our house, and train the young vines and roses, which were needing attention. Some day, when the new piazza should be built, we should want all these vines to train around its posts; and, in the mean time, they would be increasing in size and value. By our exertions, the little lawn had begun to look quite attractive, while the clean white front of the house was certainly very neat and cheerful. Our barn and cow-shed were also whitewashed; and I really believe, that, had we been disposed to sell our farm at that time, it would have brought us several hundred dollars more than we gave, on account of those cheap improvements. We had been settled in our new home just two months when the strawberry-crop began to ripen. It was a busy season; and, from the gathering of the first fruit (about the 20th of May) until the middle of June, we were occupied in preparing the product for market. A few weeks beforehand, we had received a visit from several agents, or middle-men as they are commonly called, who desired to engage all our season's fruit, to be shipped by railroad to New York or Philadelphia. The offer was to buy the crop at the regular market-prices at the time of shipment, to return safely all empty boxes and chests, and to make a cash remittance once a week for all the fruit sent. Upon consultation with our neighbors, who had formerly dealt with one of these men, my father agreed to employ him; and, as soon |