d go to ruin. The
hay would get wet and spoiled,--the carts, wagons, and complicated
tools necessary, would get broken to pieces,--the lambs would be
neglected and die, and the property would soon go to destruction.
Even when a rich man attempts to carry on a moderate farm by hired
laborers, taking the best that he can find, he seldom succeeds."

"Does he _ever_ succeed?" said Marco.

"Yes," replied Forester, "sometimes. There is Mr. Warner, who lives
near my father's; he was brought up on a farm, and is practically
acquainted with all the work. He has been very successful, and has
a very large farm. He works now very little himself, but he watches
every thing with the greatest care, and he succeeds very well. He has
a great stock. He cuts fifty tons of hay."

"I should like to see his farm," said Marco.

"We'll go some day," replied Forester.

"So you see," continued Forester, "that the work of a cotton or sugar
plantation, is comparatively simple and plain, requiring little
judgment or mental exertion, and a great deal of plain straightforward
bodily labor; while on a northern stock farm the labors are endlessly
varied. Every month, every week, and almost every day brings some
change. New emergencies are constantly arising, which call for
deliberation and judgment. It is necessary to have a great variety of
animals, in order to consume all the different productions of the farm
to advantage. I can explain it all to you better, when you come to see
Mr. Warner's farm."

As Nero traveled very fast, they began by this time to draw near to
the place where they had left the sailor. When they came up to the
house, they fastened the horse to a post, and went in. The man who
lived there had gone away, but the woman said that the sailor was
somewhat hurt, and asked them to come in and see him. They found him
in the kitchen, with his foot up in a chair. He seemed to be in some
pain. There was a great bruise on his ankle, made by the cork of one
of the horses' shoes. These _corks_, as they are called, are
projections, made of steel, at the heel of a horse-shoe, to give the
horse a firm footing. They are made quite sharp in the winter season,
when there is ice and snow upon the ground, but they are generally
more blunt in the summer. This prevented the ankle's being cut as
badly as it would have been, if the corks had been sharper. Forester
looked at the ankle, and found that nothing had been done for it. It
was inflamed an