The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1901-04-04
MAKING A FARM PAY
ADVICE TO THOSE WHO FEEL THE
STRESS OF CITY LIFE.
The Question "Cnn One Make a Living
Farrn?" Discussed Out of Per-
sonaI Experience--Never So Many OPP
In, an. rountrv Nav

portunities in the Country ms Now.
"Can one make living on a farm?"
Over and over again this question
many people do"
would you advise me to go on a
farm?' This question. in one form or
another. comes to every teacher in an
agricultural college. 1t Is n common
question in the East. for people are be-
ginning to feel the stress and unrest of
city life. l cannot answer the ques-
tlon. for 1t is a matter of personality.
This. however, Is the first advice
that | can give the person who thinks
of leaving the city to become farmer
do not consider the proposition for a
moment unless your ideal is individual
istic You are to depend on yourself.
You are to make your own way You
are to live your own life. You must
be resourceful
My second advice is this-be sure
you love the country and everything
there is in it. Be sure that you do not
go with the feeling that you are giving
up the pleasures of life. BE sure that
a dandelion is worth as much as n
theatre. You are to be company for
yourself. The birds will sing as no
opera singer ever sang. The flowers
will bloom in the meadows The
brooks will laugh on the pebbles and
sleep under the quiet banks. The
white clouds will float in the sweet
blue air. Be sure that your heart is
ripe before you move to the country.
l hope that you have wife. If she
thinks as you do about the country, the
problem is half solved If her heart
is welded to the city. stay where you
are. l hope you have children-and
what healthy, natural child under
twelve years of age would not love
the country?
But you viii not need to give up
your connection with the world Just
because you move on a farm. You will
have a few books on farming and on
nature. Perhaps you will read less.
but you win think more. You will
have a few periodicals. You will re-
coive the experiment station bulletins.
You will be Interested in the village
library and in the school. You will
have opportunity TO hear lectures.
Now and then you will go to the city,
and you will enjoy 1t more for seeing
1t less. The theatre will mean more
to you because you do not go too Of
ten. You will find other and more sat
isfying and less expensive entertain
ment. If 1t Is not in your nature to
find such entertainment do not leave
the city.
But can 1 make money enough to
be comfortable" Yesterday l ad-
dressed an audience of pupils in whose
minds this question was uppermost.
IF you We're all to be merchants" l
said, Il should expect most OF you to
fail. If you We're all to be lawyers,
many of you would have no clients.
If you were all to be doctors. some of
you would have no patients. Yet,
expect that every one of you will sue
ceed, but it will be because each of
you does something which he is fitted
to do" Many men succeed at farming
and many fail. The difference lies in
the farmer The individual who fails
in the city drops into some other mans
business and becomes a cog The
farmer VINO fails is seen and known
of men, but eventually he, too, be-
comes a cog.
You will not need to get as much
money in the country as you do in the
city, because you will raise half or
more of your living, and your enter
tainment bills will be less. At the
end of every year you should be able
to put away little extra money. You
will have the satisfaction of knowing
that every stroke of work that you do
and every improvement that you make
adds TO your capital stock; you are
building home for yourself and fam
lily at the same time that you are earn
ing n living, but in the city you are
turned out of doors when you can no
longer work.
My third advice is this-be sure that
you have good executive ability and
that you will be content with moder-
ate financial returns. Some men make
have relatively large investment in the
business, and they have the power of
handling men and of making money
from their labor, as well rs the power
of growing and handling crops. These
are men who would make money from
buttons. or shoes. or any other busi-
ness. They are business men. Hun
dreds of my farmer friends are we'll
to-do. They are free of debt, have
comfortable and personal homes, have
the legitimate comforts of life. drive
their own horses, and are beholden TO
no man. These are the typical farmers.
They are not -hoppers." They are
not pessmists. They are well fed and
we'll clothed. They know what Is
going on in the world. They read.
They ask more direct and pointed
questions than all the experiment sta
tlons In the world can answer. They
think their own thoughts.
The average earnings of American
farms, good and bad, is probably not
far from $1,000 a year. Eliminating
the farms that earn nothing or less
than nothing. the average certainly
would be encouraging If one Is TO be
successful in farming, the farmer
should run the farm; too often the
farm runs the farmer. Men make
money on the farm; whether you can
\ Il