New-York tribune., 1903-07-26
Careers for the Coming Men.
Authoritative Discussions of the Professions
Calnss Open to Young Americans.
XVIII.
Farming.
ii

Farming pays some men. So does merchan-
dising and manufacturing. Success is a question
of temperament and ability.
AS a business. farming must pay All neces-
sary occupations must pay. But it does not fol-
low that they must pay every one who engages
in them. Many farms are improbable So are
many stores and factories. The failure OF the
improbable farm may be due wholly to lack Of
either executive or agricultural ability the
part of the farmer or it may be due in part to
poor location, poor soil. too small investment in
the business or to a combination of these fac
tors.
Primarily faiIure or success depends on the
abilities Of the man: but there some farms
that cannot be made to pay, no matter who
farms them. In the early days farmers were
obliged to settle near home There were few
incentives to extensive migration. The farming
areas enlarged themselves very gradually, ex-
tending 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 developed; it no longer
question of extending the old areas. n fact, it
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 a great blessing to
agriculture, although this not recognized
al the time II set standards for the farm
err The productiveness and Iargtaess of the
Middle West developed larger and freer ideals
Of living. new kind of farm life is rapidly
developing 1t is largely reflection from the
West. In time many of the so-called abandoned
lands of the East will be profitaby farmed
again. but they will be farmed in new spirit
Farming by earning is being substituted for
farming by saving.
It is not strange that so many persons shud-
der at the thought Of farming. They are think
ing Of the old ways the old results, 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 is
unlike the old cobbling. Often also, the person
is comparing farming with trade" or with
manufacture Comparison OF uncomparabe
things always produces fallacious results.
This brings up the whole question Of what the
new ways are. Perhaps We can best define them
by saying what they are not. The new way IS
not fancy farming" II is not the growing Of
mere little speciaIties or oddities. as mushrooms
and ginseng and skunks: now and then a skilled
expert may do wonderfully well with such
these but these have little effect on the rise OF
farming as whole. The new farming has
arisen from two sources. increasing the pro-
ductiveness and the quality of the staple prod
In other words, the compensation in farming
is quite as much the pleasure Of farming and
the JOY of being in the country. and the salts
faction of being independent. as the mere money
that is made In these times We commonly
measure the success of every business in terms
Of money. Or. TO put the matter in another
wav the business is merely the means of max
ing the income while the home IS a wholly sep
arate institution In farming, however, the busi-
ness and the home are really one They are but
different parts Of one enterprise Every i'm
proveunent on the farm is direct contribution
TO the efficiency Of the home Farming is living.
In manufacture the business and the living are
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
mathematical balance sheet only half Of the
proceeds OF the farm are shown.
1t must be admitted that most country per-
sons do not derive very great satisfaction from
nature and the out Of doors, but this Is no fault
OF the farm. The coming generation will see
all this changed. The tendency Of our educa-
tionaI methods Is 10 open the mind 70 sympa-
thetic intimacy with nature This Is the par
ticuIar result OF the nature study movement
now 80 well under way. Our literature now has
a strong uatureWard trend. The development
OF this nature sympathy viii add new and
powerful resource our lives The country
man mas the best Opportunity 70 develop this
kind OF satisfaction IN living This new re-
sourcefulnsss will also rensct itself in the i'm
provsment Of all the farm methods. II will surely
add 10 the efficiency Of the II will make
him contented with his Surroundings: and THIS
is one OF the first requisites TO success
But the reader wants TO ask whether per
son can make money on che farm Ny answer
is that very many fsrmers de mako money. one