Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-16
THE COMING FARMBOY.
The Educated Farmer Becoming a
Power in State and Nation.

From the Manchester Mirror and American
The time is fast approaching when the
intelligent, Industrious and energetic farm
boy will occupy a more prominent place In
the affairs OF the state and nation than he
mas occupied In the past. The rapid pace
Which mas to be taken by people engaged
in the professions and in mercantile pur-
suits in order to successfully meet the com
petition on every hand Is not conducive to
the mental endowment Of the descendants,
and the farmboy Of rugged constitution
and Industrious habits will be In greater
Demand to take their places than has ever
been known. Much as has been written In
regard to the prominent part that s1,ch
breeding and early training in the country
have contributed to the successful manage
ment OF great enterprises and the success
tui prosecution OF professional matters,
much moro will be said in the same direc-
ton in the future. The farms of the coun-
try have been and will continue to be the
nurseries where the ranks OF those with
overworked brains and shattered neryes
will be replenished.
There Is also most promising future for
the farmboy who takes up agriculture as
an occupation. Farming Is no longer
drudgery and muscular exertion in which
the man occupies about the same place as
the beasts of burden, but is an Industry
calling for the keenest intelligence and the
application of well-defned principles. II
the farmboys can be made to understa nd
that the cultivation OF the soil and the
feeding OF stock are based upon principles
as well and clearly defined as the principles
that underlie any mechanical or mercantile
business, and that when the same skill and
energy are applied yield as profitable re-
turns as these, they will offer greater at
fractions to them. When to these facts
are added the opportunity to participate in
public affairs and the assurance that be-
cause they become farmers they do NOT
surrender all claim to public recognition
and renown, they will enter upon the work
OF the farm with greater courage and less
forebodings
In order to obtain these results It is nee
essary that they be fitted for the work as
thoroughly as persons are fitted for work
In other matters. They must study eRrI-
culture as the person who is to become a
physician studies medicine OF person
who Is to become an attorney studies law
They must not only know how to do things
but why they are done. They must know
the effect upon the soil Of different methods
of culture and the effect upon animals of
different systems of feeding. They must
know thousand things that were I'M
known to any one a generation or two ago.
and then, and not till then, win they be in
q position to practice farming as inteili-
gently and as successfully as does the
physician practice medicine or the attorney
practice law.
1t requires time and some money to ac-
quire this knowledge, but not so much as
is required to prepare for other occupations
and professions that yield good returns.
There is no preparation necessary for the
laborer who uses the pick and shovel at a
dollar and a half a day. but preparatio Is
necessary for the person who earns three
or four times that amount in any kind OF
work. There is no preparation necessary
for the farmer who is content to harvest
what the soil produces of its own accord,
but preparation Is necessary for the farmer
| who produces three four times the
normal yield OF the soil. The man who
| manipulates the soil and directs the ele-
ments OF nature in an intelligent manner
| in the production of that crop Is the i'm
| portant factor rather than the soil itself.
| Fathers and mothers who desire their boys
| to become farmers should encourage them
| to make the requisite preparation for their
| life work and then there will be less aban-
| doned farms and less discouraged and dis
| heartened farmers.