Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1902-07-01
DOES The BOY HAVE A CHANCE,

DOES The BOY HAVE A CHANCE,
Why the boy leaves the farm is moot
ed question, especially when there seen
to be unusual opportunities for success
and the parents are anxious that theil
boy should stay on the farm. From
rather careful observation for a number
of years, and talks with a good many
young men, a number of whom have had
agricultural education, it is my firm con.
viction that often the parents themselves
are 10 blame, without realizing it. AS
one grows older in years and often not
in robust health, we are apt to become
very conservative, and to get into rut
without knowing it. Anxious To have
the boys do well We give them as good
an education as possible, often including
the agricultural college or one of the
shorter courses. The boy goes away,
mingles with others, picks up many new
ideas, gets interested in other lines of
agriculture, and sees, or thinks he sees,
wherein his folks are not doing as well
as they might, or new lines that might
be added with good profit. He comes
home full of enthusiasm, and an ambi-
ton TO make his mark in the business.
He suggests gradually new ideas, but
here's where the trouble begins. The
father is getting along in years; has lost
some of his early enthusiasm; sees only
the dark side; thinks only of the ex-
pense that new methods would entail.
He's got along SO far without all these
new things; why can't the boy be con-
tent TO follow in his footsteps? he has
done fairly well; the farm is paid for,
and everything is in good shape. He
doesn't need a separator, and all the
figuring that could be done to show the
increased value of the cream wouldn't I
convince him. Silo is perhaps a good
thing, but our cows do pretty well, and
if you get silo that means we must
plow up a lot of land every year, and
either buy a cutting outfit or hire one
All this looks twice its normal size TO
him. To the boy they are plain roads
to more profitable farming. The father
doesn't always realize that times are
constantly changing and one must keep
up with the procession. The boy is in
favor of trying small fields of COW peas,
soy beans and Alfalfa, in order to grow
more protein on the farm. The father
doesn't understand very definitely what
protein is. He would rather keep on
raising Timothy with little clover in
it. The boy explains about protein and
its value in feeding, but the father has
always done fairly we'll with hay, corn
fodder and corn meal. He doesn't
realize that he might have done much
better with better class of foods. The
boy perhaps sees chance TO make some
money by growing new varieties of pota-
toes and selling them for seed, but some
of these new varieties might cost $40 a
barrel, why buy lot of kinds that
might not do well when we've got a lot
of potatoes in the cellar that are proba-
bly, better than you can buy?" the father
says. The father opposes the weeder.
why, it'll tear up everything" He has
always planted his corn by hand and
would be afraid to trust his corn crop To
a planter. AS for potato planter they
never could plant them to suit him,
though it did the work perfectly and
faster than ten men could do it. The
boy keeps pushing for new things and
better methods. Once in while he
makes a mistake, which is harped on
whenever new plan is proposed. The
boy gets sick of forever being opposed
and scarcely ever being able to do things
better or to try new ways. He begins to
dislike the old farm; later to hate it, and
looks for work in the town or city. If
the father, instead of opposing every
new project, had counseled with the boy
and tried to see these things from his
point of view occasionally, some of the
new things might have appeared on the
farm, new and better methods employed,
and an increased profit gained.-Rural
New Yorker.