reporter recently walked over the premises, and Mrs.
Thomas explained her manner of doing business. "I look after
everything about the farm; take my little sample bags of wheat to
the mills, and sell the crop by it; and twice I got ten cents
more a bushel than any of my neighbors. But the things I take
most interest in are my cows, chickens and bees. My cattle are
from Jersey island, and pure Alderney. They are very gentle and
good milkers. From four of them I get about 800 pounds of butter
a year. The price of this butter varies from 50 cents to $1.00
per pound. There's my dog. When it's milking time, the hired man
says to the dog, 'Shep, go after the cows,' and away he goes, and
in a little while the herd come tinkling up. Why send a man to do
a boy's work, or a boy to do that which a shepherd dog can do
just as well? The cows understand him, and readily come when they
are sent after. Well, so much for the milk department. Now, as to
the garden; I don't sell much from that. Still, if the vegetables
were not grown, they would have to be bought, and I take all that
into consideration in closing accounts. And that's one thing most
farmers don't do; they don't put on the cash side of the ledger
the cost of their living, for which they have been to no expense.
Now, as to the bees. The first cost is about the only expense
attached to these little workers. I have twenty-five colonies,
and can, and do handle them with as much safety as if they were
so much dry wheat. I sell about $100 worth of honey yearly, and
consume half as much at home. The bees are not troublesome when
you know how to handle them, but they require to be delicately
handled at swarming time.

"Now, as to chickens. My stock consists exclusively of the light
Brahma breed. They come early, grow fast, sell readily, are
tender, and have no disposition to forage; they are not all the
time wandering round and flying over the garden fence, and
scratching up flower and vegetable seeds. In fact, if you'll
notice, there is a docility about my live-stock that is very
attractive. The cows and chickens only need articulation to carry
on conversation. You didn't see the hatching department of my
chicken-house? I modeled the building after one used by a Madame
de Linas, a French lady living near