74 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Scpt.^ 



Just now we hear about the farmer's attitude toward the 

 great affairs confronting us. There is considerable criticism. 

 All the criticisms I have heard are projected from the point 

 of view either of class organization or industrial organiza- 

 tion. Those who would defend the farmer speak of his psy- 

 chology and the necessity that the rest of us understand it. 

 The result is that much of the treatment of the farmer is- 

 cajolery. The situation lies far deeper than psychology. Let. 

 me give you a formula : 



The farmer is part of his environment, matching himself 

 into his background, perhaps unconsciously, much as a bird 

 is matched, or a tree, or a quadruped. His plan of operation,, 

 his farm-management, is an expression of his situation in 

 nature : he has w^orked it out because it fits. He cannot 

 shift it radically to meet the advice of any other person. As 

 he himself develops in ability, he will modify his plan of 

 operation so far as he can, but the plan always must fit his 

 place in the environment : no great change is possible un- 

 less his natural conditions change : he does not make his con- 

 ditions. The farmer exemplifies, in the human range, what 

 the naturalist knows as ''adaptation." His situation does not 

 admit of compromise, perhaps not even of adjustment, and 

 therefore it may not be understood by teachers, publicists, 

 ofiicials and others. 



The consequences of this formula, if it is true, are tremen- 

 dous. All the advice given the farmer that does not recognize 

 his necessary adaptation to his environment is useless; and 

 useless advice is harmful. It is of no advantage to rail 

 against the farmer any more than against the wind or the rain. 

 It is idle to try to apply to him the pressures that are exerted 

 on corporate business. It is of small consequence either to 

 praise him or to condemn, to take sides for him or against 

 him, except insofar as it may aft'ect his spirit as a man. 

 \\'hen, under pressure of great crises, we radically change the 

 conditions under which the farmer works, we must allow him 

 time to readjust himself; he must take account of the latitude 

 that he may reasonably expect in weather and soil and human 

 forces. He needs not favors, but conditions that will allow 

 him to operate. The natural conditions within which he 



