STYLE IN FARMING. 57 



The farmer is coming to the front. It is because he deserves it. It is be- 

 cause his aspirations are higher. But he cannot lift himself by his boot- 

 st-'aps. To-morrow the world will not recognize him more than it does to-day 

 unless he has made advancement. The secret power of the mower and the 

 reaper is this : It gives us more leisure for the development of the mind 

 and the heart. If they fail of this their mission is a curse; let us return to 

 the scythe and sickle. We do not need improved machinery and better 

 stock so much as we need to know the possibilities of what we have. We 

 need better school houses and pleasanter homes. If you will put it on a 

 plane of dollars and cents, we must advertise. Here is a secret which we 

 have not learned. We need to profit by the example of the merchant who 

 adorns his windows and who insists that people must know that he has 

 opened a new case of calico. If we demand influence and recognition we 

 must let the world know what we have and what we are. Make it recognize 

 you whether it would or not. The farmer must advertise himself as Avell as 

 his cabbages. But we must generally resort to stratagem. We fail to catch 

 the butterfly if we chase its irregular flight over the meadow, but the still 

 hunt beside a thistle brings us a captive. We must not say to the Goddess 

 of Liberty, " I demand representation," but we must invite her to sit in our 

 vineyard and to eat our stuffed turkey. In other words, we must attract 

 men, we must aim at style in farming. Herein lies the greatest need of our 

 agriculture. 



I rode over the Green Mountains. There were farm houses deserted and 

 great farms returning to nature. The bleak homesteads stared at me. " Hap- 

 py were the young men and women who escaped this desolation for the city," 

 I thought: " Surely the decimation of these farms is not due to poor soil or 

 commercial conditions, but to unattractive homes." A decrepit' school- 

 house yawned on a bare and dusty road-side. The place itself told me why 

 the seats were whittled and why the scholars never got beyond the ''rule o' 

 three." I did not blame them for preferring to trap woodchucks in the 

 ledges. If I found a home adorned within and without, I usually found 

 young people anxious to settle near the homestead ; I found kindly senti- 

 ments and courteous manners. 



I visited the fruit markets of a great city. Fruit at the same quality sold 

 for far different prices, but that which sold the best bore a neat label with a 

 picture of an attractive residence. It came from " James Lee, Beech Grove 

 Farm." When afterwards I visited the little village near which this farm 

 lay, I found both the farm and its proprietor to be the most popular in the 

 neighborhood. If I asked why, I was told that "Mr. Lee has a beautiful 

 farm and a nice family." When I visited his farm I found that his success 

 was no mystery. The goddess of position and influence sat in his front yard. 

 I knew the man by his premises. He advertised. A farm near an eastern 

 city is popular and prosperous because it is attractive. A half acre of 

 embellished lawn is more profitable to its projirietor than a d'ozen cows. 



Our sons leave the farm and we blame the college or the school. We 

 should as often blame the home surroundings. The man never lived wl)0 

 was educated too much for the farm. America ought to become the rural 

 queen of the world, and the coming farmer must recognize this fact or go 

 to the wall. It»is one of the signs of the times. Pioneer days give place to 

 days of relaxation, too often to days of actual decay. Then conies the sturdy 

 and studious improvement and adornment, attended by the rapid elevation 



8 



