South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-09-02
Woman a Factor
In Agriculture
Feminine Farmers Prove
That They Can Raise Fruit
as Well as Churn.

ONlANl " ISL 0LtAA ~ ~ &11ENAho -"
giIs famous line all too literally. Not
only is there fuller recognition of
woman's service on the farms in the
past. bat opportunities for women TO
study modern farming in schools OF
agriculture and in special schools of
horticulture for girls, attest the be-
lated recognition of w-man's peculiar
gifts. She now stand the alma ma
ter Of fruitful acres. their honOred
queen. not merely one who brings
forth butter in a lOrdly dish at some
one else's bidding.
That the chief need of the farmer,
indeed. is a good wife, was n reply
TO a recent inquiry by the United
States department of agriculture.
Perhaps some lord of the soil thus
Loyalty paid tribute to womanly help;
or perhaps he thus ~delicately limited
some ones shortcomings
BE that as il may. the United States
at once took up a campaign for the
benefit of the farm women and
women who would be farmers.
Practical farm management as a
career for women is already a proved
success. One Of these women farm
ers says she receives sheaves of let
ters from women who wish 10 follow
her footsteps. a recent letter from
the president of a great business COM
pany said that his daughter wished to
so into agriculture and wanted ad-
vice.
Women are teaching in the school
gardens, and lecturing at the hOrticul-
tural schools. Some OF them set up
greenhouses. or raise small fruits. The
woman hOmesteader in the west has
long been a picturesque figure of tic-
ton; and she is also a most practical
matter of fact.
These new experiments Of women
on the farms make one of the thOus-
and threads which the swift events Of
hese days weave into the web Of the
future. The Back TO the farm"
movement is likely to be everywhere
fastened. under the eXigencies of
these times, and the farm woman al
ready mentioned makes it clear that
women may be, perhaps must be, the
leaders in this return to the simpler
type of human existence.
She finds that there is nothing a
woman cannot do on a farm. Wom-
ans strength is not always equal
to mans. she can indeed drive the
cultivator, but she accomplishes less.
on the other hand. this strength can
be hired, but intelligence, the prac-
teal judgment. the ready resource
and skill, and the business acumen are
not often to be had for money. and
these are within the grasp of any in
telligent woman who Will but bring
her patience to bear-for. as Lowell
has it, that "at length Outweighs the
the ponderous globe"
The farm woman's success was
greatest when a carpenter. deeply in
terested in farming, gave her his
Eervice for a season He proved that
the one great problem of the farm
today is lack of trained, efficient help.
The farm earned more with this one
mans aid hat it did next year with
two cheaper men. She says that 1T
takes tact to persuade the men she
hires to do what she wishes. They
think she does not know, that her
new-fangled college notions are none
sense. For example, she wanted the
peas plowed under when they had
done bearing, thrifty to add this bit
Of food to the soil. The men said it
could not be done. 1t would ruin the
piow. But now it is done, success
fully. such things she has TO teach
the conservative rural labOrer
She herself has learned much by ex-
perience. out of the score of differ
ent Observation-Disclosures for devel-
oping the chicks after they are
hatched-she must find out the one
thai is best, for a best II there must
be. She must learn for herself the
very day to plant. AS conditions are
different on the farm every day Of
every year, there can he no hard and
fast rules. Constant vigilance is the
price of agricultural success
Women should be welcome on
farms where skill in gathering and
packing fruits may make all the diff
ference between success and failure.
The "neat-handed Phyllis" trained TO
deft use of the fingers, from early
morning till her embroidery in the
use on the farm. This woman farm
er, indeed. hopes to train girls for all
manner of farm work. just as she has
been training the boys of her neigh
borhood. Machinery more and more
provides the sheer force needed. and
then the practical judgment. and
again the patience-the long patience
Of old attributed 10 the husbandman
of m the h-Ousekeeper. comes
into play i'm woman the landkeeper.
Is not. indeed. the early name for the
farmer the h~usbandman. in some
sense a tribute to the farm woman at
all time? The city woman's glory was
TO be Caesars wife," but the farm
woman conferred honor on her spouse
in hat he had become a husband
man.
That there is a demand for wOm-
ems work in horticulture is shown by
the experience Of this same woman
farmer. who wanted TO add a green
house to her five acres of vegetables
and small fruits. She applied for
work at a greenhouse, saying nothing
of her training. The greenhouse man
asked for no references. but promptly
offered her a start al SO a week, say
ing that when she had learned the
business he would put her in charge
of a greenhouse with 20 Italian wCm-
en- under her. Later she went into
another greenhouse and learned all its
working by doing the work. She says.
by the way. that no one should ever
buy a farm short of three years
knowledge OF il by renting it. To buy
outright is a serious risk.