The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1908-08-15
CITY AND COUNTRY.

m. HE general immigration agent of
the Northern Pacific Railroad, G.
w. Mott, writes of the necessity
of farms and farmers to build up a
country. 'They produce something
where nothing was produced before.
They furnish the foundation for the
merchant, lawyer, physician and ship
per, and hence the foundation for cit
les. The more farms and farmers, the
more business there will be for resi-
dents of Cities The more wheat, fruit,
berries, hay, oats, butter and garden
produce coming from the soil of the
Evergreen State, the better off will be
the cities"
"In a private letter from one of
our most thoughtful contributors, in
speaking of the duty of agricultural
papers to use their influence to keep
the rural population from going to the
already crowded Cities" says the In
diana Farmer, "the writer says that
our hope seems to be in the building
up of the small villages and making
farm life more profitable and happy
1t has been our constant endeavor to
do just this thing, to make farm life
among our readers more attractive,
by showing how to increase the prof
it's of the fields, focks and herds with
less labor than heretofore, to make
fewer acres bring greater returns by
more careful tillage than larger areas
by the earlier and looser methods.
1--WE are thoroughly imbued with the
idea that the farm is the best place
for most of our young people; that
they are far more likely to grow up
with vigorous constitutions, sound
minds and upright moral characters
in rural communities than in crowded
city streets amid the strife, struggles
and temptations that would surround
them there.
eff the little village was all that
such a place should be, center OF
education, good society, good taste,
morals and religion, what blessing
it might bs to it's own jewellers and to
the farming community surrounding
it. But the typical village is a far
different affair. It's streets are I'M
paved it's dooryards untidy; it's school
no better, if equal, to those in the
country; it's churches, weak, strug-
Cling, contentious, weakly supported,
uninviting to young or old. The aver
age village of these states in the
Central West is not by any means an
ideal home for people of intelligence
and ordinary ambition, and is not
place to attract the intelligent, self
respecting young farmer, man or
woman.
eve have thought that the farm
homes themselves might in many
cases be made the places for cultivat-
ing sociability, education and all that
would be most important in city or
town life. Select houses centrally To-
Gated, on good roads, organize societies
and appoint meetings, fortnightly or
monthly, with programs suited to the
tastes of the members, and determine
to arouse an interest in young and
old, that will draw all together for a
pleasant and profitable time. In driv-
ing through country neighborhood
recently we passed several places
where such a plan might be easily
carried out, and it seems a more feas-
ible plan than that of making the aver
age country village a place for assem-
bling the farmers in social or edu-
cational way"
Here is an opportunity for culture
and development that is peculiarly
adapted to Western communities
where intensive farming necessitates
a small acreage with neighbors near
at hand. This proximity permits
blending of rural and village life that
affords privileges that only require
concerted action to make them power
full factors in promoting intelligence,