PLEASANT VALLEY

To those who rank The Farm near the top of Louis Bromfield's writings, the news that he is doing a companion volume based on his own experiences as a farmer will be welcome. Anyone who has followed Bromfield in press and periodical these years since his return to his native land -- his native valley -- are familiar with bits of somewhat random ravings of that now familiar figure -- the author who has found that his heart is in the creation of a country home, that his writings are important chiefly to fill its gaping . For to Bromfield, Malabar -- the farms which make up its acreage, the house itself, the people who work with him, the animals that are to him as human as the people, the neighbors and friends who grace its board -- Malabar is the focus of his thoughts and deeds. There is contagious enthusiasm engendered in these pages -- one is carried away by his theories which seem, for him, to work to the profit of the land; one shares his seem for experiment, his ideals of what can be done to restore the waste of generations. The fact that prolific spending -- and not too careful counting of the t -- cannot be made the le is often forgotten, as Bromfield charts the course -- and shows the results. The book has charm -- much of it is good reading -- the human bits of biography are folklore and legend in the making. Some sections are intended, primarily, for the series agriculturist, the specialist. Much of it is too detailed for the average human ( for Bromfield's average reader). But, for dipping in a -- spattered reading, it forms an intimate introduction, a close-up portrait of a man and a way of life. Inevitably, it is colored by his personality; it reflects his political views, his social and economic views; sometimes he is a high-handed farmer -- economic -- royalist. His joyous way of life, his eagerness to serve rural America, his sincerity of enthusiasm for sharing what he has found successful makes one like even that arrogance of assurance that this way is right! On Bromfield's name, the book will go farther than it would otherwise. Sell it on two counts, -- autobiography and ""house in the country"" market.