The Republican journal., 1911-11-16
The Farm of Tomorrow.

A good deal Of poetry is lavished on
the abandoned farm of New England,
MacDuve, has even devoted some of his
music 70 its melancholy. But the time
is not too remote when the New Eng
land farm will itself abandon its
melancholy and return to life. 1t
will be part of an agricultural awaken
ing. And that awakening will come
because il will have first become neces-
sity. 1t will play a considerable part in
the lowering, or at least the curbing, of
the cost of living. That is the driving
power, and the already numerous, and
multiplying, schools of scientific agricul-
ture viii prove the leading power, oper--
ating on the coming back to-the-land
movement 1t is coming; it cannot be
stopped.
These are not the only agencies max
ing for a revival of agriculture. Stu
dents of the times think they can foresee
reaction from the complicated life we
are all leading. The farm is looming up
more attractive, not alone because farm
life is being lightened by the telephone,
the trolley car, the automobile, and the
like; it is beginning to seem necessary
haven from the carking cares, the weary
ing excitements of urban life. But above
all, the farm begins to look better as
business proposition; and after all, that
is the final and deciding consideration
for most of humanity. 1t is not piece
of windy optimism, but plain, sensible
reasoning from obvious facts, TO assert
that we are on the eve of farming re-
vival, a revival certain to profit our
people in body and in spirit.
Let US have look at the farm that
science and opportunity have already
made possible. Its seventy or hundred
acres may be bought with thousand or
two dollars borrowed from the co-opera-
tive bank. 1t is not to pay for itself IN
year Pay for itself it will, but only
after some years Of earnest and thought
full working. One of the first things the
enterprising owner will buy is motor
car. not as luxury, but because it will
be profitable, will pay handsomely; 1t
will save the farmers time, in taking
him quickly to and from market. He
will ALWAYS know the most favorable
moment to sell his produce, and he will
lose no valuable time in the overseeing
of his crops. Every morning that car
will carry tight load Of eggs, berries,
vegetables and the like, to the nearest
town. The telephone will improve the
farmers chances of Selling the market
at its most favorable moment.
A farm is not made in day, and most
new farms will have to be improved out
of unpromising old fashioned ones. But
in time the new farm will not only pay
for all it's improvements but will pay for
itself besides. and from then on net
clear gain. For the farming OF tomor-
row is to be a scientific business, no
longer a appy-go-lucky dependence up
sol 70
well educated son of farmer father
will have had courses in chemistry, in
bacterioogy, in soil structure, at pro-
gressive school. He will understand the
fertilization of his particular soil, the
use of artificial manures, the necessary
incubation of his land. His aim will be
the largest yield from the smallest acre
age: high fertilization and intense Guilt
walton must be his motto, and he must
have business sense to keep track OF the
wide markets out side.
He will raise no one crop, but every
foot of soil he has will be made to pro-
duce something. The very fences divid-
ing his fields will serve to support berry
vines, of the improved kind brought out
by Burbank. His stock will be of the
best. By systematic bookkeeping, by
tracing up his costs of production, as a
manufacturer would do, he can weed out
of his henyard the on-paying breeds and
replace them with better. He VIII toier-
ate nothing on his property that does
not pay The daily records OF his cows
will quickly tell him which to send to the
butcher. Business methods Will every
where prevail on the new farm.
This farmer will get contented and
honest work from his laborers because,
,ro,yi5ipp than with sensible
amusements, he will enlist their enter
prise by small dividends from the earn
ings of the farm. Their cottages, erect
ed on the place, will have bath, an airy
kitchen, perhaps acetyene or electric
lights. They will feel as 'fmodern' as
if they lived in town. Their work in the
barns will be we'll lighted, with electricity
supplied by gasolene motor. The dirty
drudgerv of cutting feed will be done by
the same agency. There will be nothing
exhausting or repugnant to the work.
-,The stock will share in this comfort.
Concrete flooring in the pig-sty, with
running water nearby, will keep 1t clean
lv. The cow-yard will be nc less whole
some Meat and dairy products from
such plant will command the best
prices; and yet, because there may be
many such farms, the figures will not be
exorbitant 1t is possible to paint the
picture in still minuter detail, but this
much is sufficient. This is no utoplan
dream, it is the ready possibility OF to-
morrow, and more than probability.
System and science we have everywhere
else. Their application to the farm is
rapidly approaching. Life for the farm
err and life for the rest of US will be a
good deal better when it comes. And a
good many of US will still have all the
hair we have now when the day of the
new farm arrives. THE Aroostook
Times.