The mirror., 1915-04-08
WORLD WIDE PROGRESS
OF THE FARMER
The Progressive Develop
ment of Farming Outlined.
An Analytical Discussion of the Advances
Made in Farming and Farm Machinery
Development in the Agricultural Dis
trictS of the World.
Chautauqua Paper By Mr.. F.

When Adam was placed upon the
earth, he found the Garden of Eden ir-
rigated by great river, giving forth
in abundance both fruit and plant;
but as the result of broken faith he
was sent forth from the Garden of
Eden to till the soil from whence he
came. Thus originated the occupa-
ton of farming from which man has
been wrlnging a living ever since.
We have the oriental farmer who
tolls early and late, building terraces
on the stony mountain side and car
rying up baskets full of fertile soil
from the valley below upon his
planting, ,cultivating, and har-
vesting his crop, season after season
in the same manner and with the
same tools, as did his grand father
and his great grand father before
him.
We have the people along the
Nile who go down into the river
valley when the river is low, and
plant their crops on the soft, rich,
black sediment lett by the great
Water-arm of nature after its annual
overflow, and who irrigate their
grain during the dry season with
the life-giving waters of the Nile,
raised by hand by the means of
bucket, rope and lever-pole as did
their fore fathers.
We have the Russians on their
vast steppes. whose sickle and cradle
are slowly giving way to the mod
ern reaper; and the peasants whose
countries form the northern shore
of the Mediterranean Sea, who still
use the hoe and whose women-folk
still follow the scythe, cleaning
every whisp of straw and carrying
it to their rude huts in large bundles
on their backs, as did Ruth.
And we have the German lands
man, that great exponent of exten-
sive farming, who treats the soil as
human and who profits greatly by
so doing; and the farmer of the
British Isles whose green fields are
innumerable but which cannot feed
the thousands in the cities.
And last we have the American
farmer; he who has borne the weight
of the nation on his Atlas-like shoul-
ders, feeding the enemy bread in
times of peace and lead in times of
war. and who has been poorly paid
for his untiring efforts. But at last
this "horney handed Son of the
Soil" Gas politicians are wont to
call him in their stump-speeches) is
coming into his own.
The American farmer of today
might be classified into three dis
tinct groups He who tolls, he
who works and he who has others
do the work.
The last, or extensive farmer, is
comparatively few, there being but
about 60, 900 in the us.
The first is known to every farm
ing community. He fills his niche in
life by ceaselessly toiling, with moth
ing to look forward to and-noth-
ing to look back upon, but is indis-
pensable to sociologists.
The other class is typically the
American farmer and may be found
on any section of farm land IN the
us. He is generally hard headed
patient, optimistic, conservative
has keen sense of humor coupled
with good, general knowledge OF
farming, as we'll as large, well fed
healthy, happy family. One can al
ways tell this man, not by looking
at him(for his looks are often de-
ceiving but by looking at his live
stock and noting the conditions of
the farm in general. He is generally
a pioneer or the son of one, and has