been actually practiced. You will understand of course that, if all
your land had been cropped with little or no change, for all its
history, you would require six or eight years' time before you would
be able to grow a crop of corn on land that had been pastured for
six or eight years; but some people seem to take it for granted that
one can adopt a six-year rotation and enjoy the full benefits of it
the first season.

I remember that you were surprised that I could buy a level upland
farm even in this part of Illinois for $18 an acre; but you will
probably be more surprised to learn that this farm had not paid the
previous owners two per cent. interest on $18 an acre as an average
of the last five years. In fact, sixty acres of it had grown no
crops for the last five years. It was largely managed by tenants on
the basis of share rent, and because of this I have been able to
secure the records of several years.

I at least had some satisfaction in purchasing this farm, for the
real estate men were left without a single "talking point." I
insisted that I wanted the poorest prairie farm in "Egypt," and
whenever they began to tell me that the soil on a certain farm was
really above the average, or that the land had been well cared for
until recently, or that it had been fertilized a good deal, etc., I
at once informed them that any advantage of that sort completely
disqualified any farm for me; and that they need not talk to me
about any farms except those that represented the poorest and most
abused in Southern Illinois.

I may say, however, that $20 an acre is about the average price of
the average land. I had an option on a three hundred and sixty acre