Evening star., 1903-08-03
FARMING AS BUSINESS
HOW THE WAYS OF AGRICUL-
TURE HAVE CHANGED.
Raising Crops a Paying Investment
With Men Who Intelligently
Till the Land.
urfi,,

L. II. Bailey. Cornell University in the New YORK
Tribune.
Farming pays some men. So does mer-
chandising and manufacturing. Success is
a question of temperament and ability.
As a business. farming must pay. All
necessary occupations must pay. But 1t
does not follow that they must pay every
one who engages in them. Many farms
ara unproftahle. So are many stores and
factories The failure OF the Improbable
farm may be due wholly to lack of either
executive OF agricultural ability on the
part OF the farmer. it may be due IN
part to poor location. poor soil. too small
Investment In the business to com
bination of these factors.
Primarily. failure or success depends on
the abilities of the man; but there are
Some farms that cannot he made to pay.
no matter who farms them. In the early
days farmers were obliged to settle near
home. There were few incentives to extern
svs migration. The farming areas en-
largcd themselves very gradually, extend
Ing up the hills and mountains and spread
ing over the sterile lands. But when the
west was opened this kind of effort
changed. Whole new regions were de-
veloped: 1t no longer question or
extending the old areas. In fact. II came
to be no longer question even of main
tanning the old areas: the poorer areas
were abandoned. The abandonment OF the
poorer class OF eastern farms was great
blessing 10 agriculture, although this was
not recognized at the time. 1t set new
standards for the farmer. The productive
ness and larGenesS of the middle west de-
veoped larger and freer ideals of living
A new kind OF farm life is apidly develop
ing 1t is largely n reflection from the
west. In time many OF the so-called aban-
doned lands of the east will be prohtably
farmed again. but they will be farmed In
a spirit. Farming by earning 1s being
substituted for farming by saving.
Old and New Way.
1t is not strange that so many persons
shudder at the thought Of farming. They
are thinking OF the old ways. the old re-
suits the old ideals They are living in the
past generation. They may say that they
still see this old kind OF farming. but they
see the remains of an older order. The
new order of farming is as unlike the old
as the new order of shoe manufacture fs
unlike the old cobblinG. Often, also, the
person is comparing farming with trade
or with manufacture. Comparison of un-
comparable things always produces fal-
laCiouS results.
This brings up the whole question of what
the new ways are. Perhaps we can best de-
fine them by saying what they are not.
The new way is not fancy farm ng.' 1t Is
not the growing of mere little specialties or
oddities, as mushrooms and ginseng and
skunks: now and then skilled expert may
do wonderfully well with such these. but
these have little effect on the rise OF
farming a whole. The new farming has
arisen from sources. increasing the pro-
ductivencss and the quality of the staple
products and -icvat,1;s the ideals of living.
Joys of the Country.
In other words. the compensation in
farming Is quite as much the pleasure of
farming and the JOY Of being in the coun-
try. and the satisfaction of being independ-
these times We commonly measure the sue
cess of every business In terms of money.
Or. to put the matter in another way, the
business IS merely the means of making the
income, while the home Is a wholly sepa
rate Institution. In farming, however. the
business and the home are really one. They
are but different parts of one enterprise.
Every Improvement on the farm is a direct
contribution to the efficiency Of the home.
Farming IS living. In manufacture the
business and the living separate. 1t Is
apparent. therefore, that the home life
part of farming is direct asset, even as
much as the income part is. In casting a
mathematical balance sheet only half of
the proceeds of the farm are shown.
1t must De admitted that most country
persons DO not derive very great satsfac-
ticn from nature and the out of doors.
but this is no fault of the farm. The com
Ing generation VIII see all this changed.
The tendency of our educational methods
Is to open the mind to sympathetic init
macy with nature. This is the particular
result Of the nature study movement now
So well under way. Our literature now has
q strong natureward trend. The develop
ment of this nature sympathy Will add a
new and powerful resuorce to lives.
The Co>Intryman has the best opportunity
10 develop this kind Of satisfacti In liv
ing. This new resourcefulness will also
reflect itself In the Improvement OF all
farm methods. 1t will surely add to the
efficiency Of the man. 1t will make him
nrfa tod ui 10 Il Jit1Ca a,,1 l,fa
is one of the first requisites to success.
Money In Crops.
But the reader wants to ask whether a
person can make money on the farm My
answer Is that very many farmers do make
money. One must first consider what the
investment Is in an ordinary farm. gem
eral farm OF eighty acres. with usual i'm
provenents would not inventory more than
Si.vn to sA.Nn. With the larger figure the
net income at 10 per cent should be $50
yet no farm that is considered TO be at all
profitable produces so little income as this
The daily living. which must be charged to
income. would amount to more than this
II tie general farmer comes out even at
the end OF the year. he has. nevertheless
made a good rate on his Investment and
he has increased the value of his home
at the same time. The difficulty with farm
Ing. considered from the financial point of
view. is NOT that the rate OF income is low
hut that the amount Of profitable invest
mcnt Is small. Considered In its hearing
on ,hc national welfare this fact IS pro-
ptidUs. for it means that the farm provides
an Independent business of small resources
Considered ~ means of producing great
Individual fortunes. however. the farm is
Inadequate. and il IS tO bp hoped that II
always Will he 50 for at least one great
profession or business should be measured
IN Other terms than money producing power
for the Individual.
No Exhausted Soils.
There ls untold wealth In the soil There
are practically no ''exhausted'' soils; they
are mostly humus robbed and poorly han