No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 309 



wants to make money, he wants to make it at the smallest outlay 

 of labor and money, By begiuuing carefully and moderately every 

 farmer will seek his particular station; he can later attain the 

 more supreme stage of business, should his judgment lead him in 

 (hat direction. Farming is a great science ana in no better way 

 can a young man make his inhuence felt among his peers, or tone 

 his life work to the spirit of the time than on the farm. Whether 

 on the farm, in the factory, store, school, or elsewhere, the person 

 who thinks, works and sticks to it will come to the front, combined 

 with the scientific teachings of to-day. The farmer's occupation 

 stands without a rival. How many men, successful in other lines of 

 work, grow tired of the strenuous city life, and gladly return to 

 tud their days, having proved there is nothing better than a farm 

 lile. 



The farmers who to-day are accomplishing the best results in 

 their work, and at the same time getting the most satisfaction out 

 of it, are those who not only make a first-hand study out of the 

 conditions which they find on their own farms, but take advantage 

 of every helpful hint and suggestion which they can get hold of 

 coming from their State Agricultural College and Experiment Sta- 

 tion. A German authority on social and economical problems has 

 recently issued a statement in which he declares that the profes- 

 sional vocations, medicine, law and teaching, are already overflow- 

 ing, and advises German young men to fit themselves for careers 

 in scientific agriculture. While conditions in the old countries of 

 Europe do not correspond in all respects with those that prevail 

 in the United States, it is becoming more apparent every day that 

 the professions above referred to are already full in this country; 

 thousands of professional men in cities, large and small, all over 

 the country receiving barely enough to make both ends meet. On 

 the other hand, the agricultural colleges of the country do not begin 

 to turn out men fast enough to supply the demand for experts in 

 the science of animal husbandry, farm crops, soils and dairying. 

 The greatest material problem of the coming years is going to be 

 the feeding of an ever-increasing population, and the young man 

 who fits himself thoroughly along any or several of the above 

 special lines, with a view to supply this great need is sure to have a 

 job waiting for him when he is qualified to handle it. There is 

 certainly a great future for young men of this type. This world 

 needs workers and thinkers, not shirkers. This is just as true on 

 the farms as it is in the halls where laws are made for the nation. 

 We hear a great deal in these days about abandoned farms of the 

 country. There are no doubt a good many places where the light 

 has gone out of the window, there is no fire on the hearth, the build- 

 ings are tumbling down, things are at a standstill and the wise men 

 have done a great deal of speculating over the matter. Some think 

 we need to discover some new way of making these deserted farms 

 more productive. No doubt it is alright to make farms produce all 

 there is in them, and the farmer that does not try to do this will 

 never be a success at farminjT. After bou" t^ful ciOT)s have been 

 raised the most important problem that confronts us is the proper 

 marketing of such crops. If there is a defect in the education of 

 the American farmer it is his lack of sufficient training on the 

 purely commercial side. There is an old proverb to the effect that 



