Proceedings of Seventeenth Normal Institute 291 



with questions of business methods and administration as distin- 

 guished from technical agricultural practice. This distinction is 

 by no means sharp or clear, but it will perhaps do for a starting 

 point. This at least is true — that it is not easy to overestimate 

 the importance of the study of the principles which underlie the 

 successful conduct of a farm business. 



We look about us in the farm community and we see some men 

 running behind with the years. We see others just about holding 

 their own, and here and there a man making a rather conspicuous 

 success. It is worth while to inquire in a scientific spirit the rea- 

 son for these things. It is not always — as we may have assumed 

 — ■ because the unsuccessful man is less industrious or sober or 

 economical or even less intelligent. It may be because of funda- 

 mental errors or circumstances or business methods. There may 

 be circumstances that fatally handicap even good men, and our 

 farm surveys are giving us a great mass of data that throw light 

 on these things. It is true that men fail because they are lazy or 

 ignorant or generally incompetent. Unfortunately, it is also true 

 that they fail for causes of which they themselves have a very 

 hazy notion and which seem beyond their control — perhaps be- 

 cause their business is too small or because they are following a 

 type of farming unsuited to their locality or because of lack of 

 what, in larger affairs, we call executive ability. What shall we 

 say about all these things? 



I believe that the discussion of farm management properly 

 begins with the man himself. Thomas Carlyle — that sturdy 

 Scotch prophet — gave to the world a new beatitude when he said 

 " Blessed is the man who hath found his work," meaning thereby, 

 " Happy is the man who hath found the task in life for which he 

 is adapted." There is no time here to discuss the many personal 

 qualities w^hich go to the making of a good farmer. But he must 

 at least be farm-minded. He must have aptitude for farm aifairs 

 and, ordinarily, willingness to do manual labor. It ought to be 

 emphasized for the benefit of the city man and the " Back-to-the- 

 Lander " that, except in special and extensive farm operations, the 

 owner cannot expect to give his entire time to executive and office 

 duties. An annual business of two or three or even five thousand 

 dollars in the city would not support a man whose duties were 



