The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-05-05
AGRICULTURAL.
The Boy on the Farm,


The position of the boy on the farm ap-
pears to be problem which almost every
agricultural writer has attempted 10 solve,
but without that degree of success which
one would suppose ought to attend such an
apparently simple question. His position is
no more complex than as though we found
him in any other place, nor is it fact that
boys in larger numbers leave the farm than
those in any other occupations in which their
fathers are engaged. Why, then, should the
boy on the farm be singled out for special
comment over those found elsewhere? The
question as to what is to become of the city
boy, the street gamin, the boot-black and
the newsboy, is problem equally difficult to
solve. These youth are in their present posi-
ton through the force of circumstance over
which they lad no control, whence they are
forced by want and temptation, oftentimes
into channels of crime, the sequence of
which is often the prison house or the gal
lows.
The farmers boy has really little more
control over his future than the boy of the
city. If there were never but one in each
family, it would be an easy matter to pro-
vide a place for him, and we would under
nearly all circumstances advise him to re-
main on the farm, but there is generally the
interest of several brothers to be considered !;
they cannot all advantageously remain
The farm has brought up one family respect
ably, but it cannot bring up half a dozen,
nor can the parent provide each one with
similar homestead, even if it were desirable
that he should do so. The formation of
society requires that there should be many
other occupations besides that of tilling the
ground, In earlier times, when the wool
and flax were spun into homemade cloth
ing, when the skins of animals were pre-
narpd nd do to ortio IF rrb
the implements required in the culture of
Soil were so simple of construction. that they
We're home product, then all the boys
might remain and find profitable occupation.
Besides which, in earlier times, the casual
ties to youthful life, occasioned by ignorance
of the laws of health, climatic changes and
the like, had so depopulating an influence as
to settle the question under discussion.
To-day there are many temptations for
the boy to leave the farm, such as the prom
Using aspect presented by various other call
ings. In many of our New England towns
farms have been entirely deserted, inflrl-
enced by that syren song of: $50 West,
young man, go West" 1t has lured many a
son from the home of his fathers to colonize
the Western prairies, while in some in
stances his place has been taken bv the
thrifty and ambitious foreigner, who often
realizes more on the deserted farm than the
adventurer who has gone to seek his fortune
in the West. 1t is frequently asserted that
the East cannot compete with the West in
point of agriculture. If it is so why ask our
youth to remain here? But the truth is
that the distant region referred to has nc
real and permanent advantage over our own.
In the far West, where the virgin soil is
comparatively uncropped, its fertility does
give seeming advantage, which, however,
amounts to no pecuniary profit on account
of the distance from any available market
for the products, while the social disadvan-
tages to which the pioneer is always COM
PEELED to submit, is very serious considera
ton. The fertility of the soil in the nearer
West has already become so exhausted as tc
require fertilizing, the same as in New Eng
land, while it is a fact that we can raise
more grass and corn to the acre than can be
done at the West.
Again. in New England and the neighbor
ing States we have always ready cash mar.
ket close at hand for all good farm products
Our cities are to be supplied with butter
cheese and milk, with fruit and vegetables,
with beef and pork, all of which we can fur
nish as cheaply as the Western producer can
do, and even cheaper, when the added eX-
pense of transportation is considered. Still
to certain extent, we must leave the old
beaten track of cultivating the soil with bone
anu IHuScle alone; we InuSC use the Drain
more, though. like the muscles, it is of little
use unless properly trained. The farmer
requires educating for his special field OF
labor as does the lawyer, physician, mer-
chant or mechanic; indeed, no profession OF
calling requires more intelligent culture
than that of the farmer, embracing practi.
cal employment, as it does, of all the natu-
raj sciences, including organic and inorganic
chemistry.
A knowledge of the principles of mechan,
les as well as those of chemistry are all i'm.
portant in farming. and the rising genera
ton require to be instructed with full ap-
probation of this fact. At our Farmers
Institute meetings let us not ignore the
boys on the farm, but fully realize their in
terests. True we have the Agricultural
College, and in this connection the remark
of the Quaker suggests itself, when he saw
soldier in battle aiming at the enemy: 81
am man of peace" he said, but if thee de-
sire to hit that man thee must point thy gun
a little lower The Agricultural College OF
to-day is shooting ovel the head of the farm
er's boy. Let him in future receive due
consideration and attention. Let useful
essays be addressed to his cultivation, and
not alone to that of corn, cabbages and roots
generally. We cannot afford to forget in
agriculture that important factor-the boy
upon the farm.-Boston Cultivator.