The Young Farmer: Some Things He Should Know
l farming three things are essential: knowledge, capital and love for the calling. This statement is
of these essentials are sufficient, but that all three are necessary. Although this is so simple as to be almost
nvesting capital acquired in other business. In nine cases ou
. His advice is constantly sought on all such matters. Instead of investing his money in mining, on which he is a recognized authority, he has investeade in automobiles. About all he has seen of farming he has observed from the window of a Pullman car or from the steering wheel of an automobile. Instead of investing his earnings in some manufacturing business, about which he has spent ye
rms in his neighborhood and was raising better potatoes than anyone else could raise. The letter asked that information be sent by return mail as to how this young man could be beaten in raising potatoes. Of course the answer had to be sent that wh
n be of great service. This cannot be said of all forms of relaxation. Wealthy men have been of special service to the cause of agriculture by promoting the breeding of improved live stock
arm-to-farm canvass of a certain region of the state of New York discloses the fact that farmers with college training are obtaining a higher income from their farms than those whose school days ended with high school. Similarly, those who have finished the high school are more prosperous financially than those who never advanced beyond the grades. The investigation showed, for example, that with
reduce the time necessary to acquire even this practical experience. For example, a course in shop work as taught in technical high schools and colleges, requiring two hours a day for five months, may shorten the time of apprenticeship by one or more years, in acquiring th
broadest sense, is the economic production of living things. The farmer is thus brought face to face with some of the most difficult and intricate problems with which the human race has to grapple. It is this fact that makes farming, in some ways, t
ve engineers are trained for their responsible duty while firing the engine. The brakeman becomes a conductor by assisting the latter.
of clover will not teach him that mineral fertilizer may keep up the fertility of the soil where clover grows luxuriantly and occurs in the rotation at definite intervals. Feeding cattle will not teach him that a good ration for milch cows is one containing one pound of digestible protein to seven pounds of digestible carbohydrates, provided it
essential to success in the same measure that it does in such occupations as banking, trade and transportation. Yet, curiously enough, while no man would undertake to run a l
a business worthy of him; because every young man is worthy of a thorough education, provided he is a man of clean habits and good purposes. Do not al
find a two years course offered by many of the state agricultural schools. While it is obviously impossible to give in two years as much training as in four years, these two years co
s are arranged to allow the student to specialize along some particular line. The better prepared the man is who enters these winter courses the more he will benefit by them. This leads to the ca
t courses, one or more correspondence courses will be found useful. Not all colleges conduct correspondence courses, but fortunate
reference came recently to the attention of the writer. An educated young farmer in Iowa paid $2.50 for a peck of crimson clover seed which he sowed in the spring in his oats. A r
e farming to be pursued, and, to some extent, to the section of the country where the farm is located. Any bookseller can secure catalogs issued by firm
every phase of agriculture and many of them are of high character. Publishers are always glad t
in farming. As the result of these observations he wishes to urge every young man to allow no one to persuade him that because he is to be a farmer, he does not need a thorough education. Remember that
ar until he reaches the age of majority. Otherwise the age of majority should be changed. In no occupation is this more importan
The mental condition may not be unlike the physical condition of the man who is burdened with too many clothes. When