"Disliking the looks of the old-fashioned worm-fence, he divided his fields by building nice plank partitions, and even asked permission of an old fogy neighbor to build the whole of a partition fence of plank, that the old one might not offend his fastidious taste. Here was mistake number one. The rail-fence answered the purpose well enough, and he ought to have avoided the expense of the costlier one at least until a new one was necessary. He was from Indiana, and thought corn a good crop to grow; so he prepared ten acres of his best land and planted them to corn: the squirrels came and took it all up; he replanted, and again the squirrels took the seed before it sprouted; he planted it once more, and succeeded in getting a small crop of poor corn which did not mature, and it profited him nothing. [Sidenote: _QUOTED EXPERIENCES._] "This was another blunder, as any man who had made any inquiry ought to have known that the raising of corn in this valley was never a paying business. A small patch for roasting-ears for family use is all any wise farmer will ever attempt to raise. "Again, our progressive farmer had been so impressed with the idea that the climate of Oregon was an exceedingly mild one, that he thought his apples and potatoes were in no danger of freezing; so he put his apples upstairs, and left his potatoes uncovered. Consequently, they were all frozen and lost. "This was an inexcusable blunder, for any man who would look at a map and see that he was located above the forty-fifth degree of latitude, should have known that any winter was liable to be cold enough to freeze unprotected fruits and vegetables. "Our friend became discouraged, and gave more attention to wheat, but found that he could not raise that commodity for less than seventy-five cents a bushel, although other farmers have asserted that the cost did not exceed fifty cents. "With his experience of seven years' farming in Oregon, he is perfectly satisfied that it will not pay, and hence he is back in Portland, intending to stay. The corn, apple, and potato business fixed him as far as farming is concerned, though he ought to have known that his course in regard to them would have resulted just as it did. "Our second young man did not like the slowness of farming as a means of getting rich, so he put his money in sheep, and took up a ranch in Wasco County. "For a few years he was encouraged: as the grass grew, his stock increased; the winters were mild, and wool brought a good price. "He raised some feed, and for three years had no use for it, as the sheep made their own living off the range. "He thought when the cold snap set in last winter that he had enough feed to last through any winter that could reasonably be expected. But the cold winds continued to blow, the snow fell and froze, and continued to fall and freeze.