310 ANNUAL. RECPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



a crop well grown is half sold, but iu our day the best-grown crops 

 ma.v bring a poor price if the seller is unable to market it advantage- 

 ously, lie must know how to make his products attractive to the 

 eyes of his customers, and above all practice no deception, Kepu- 

 taliou is ihe standard by which a man should be judged; reputation 

 for atiuare dealing once acquired a man has won his greatest laurels, 

 and can command fancy prices for his marketable article. The 

 farmer should study the markets, and his mind should be trained 

 to project itself so that he may forecast values, and he should be 

 self-reliant enough to decide olihaud the proper course to pursue. 

 A generation of farmers so trained and possessed of the skill that 

 now goes with agriculture everywhere, will be the power that will 

 regulate the world. I am convinced that the best place to live 

 is in the country, where the surroundings are healthful, the tempta- 

 tions few and the contact with nature and all her workings are 

 elevating and inspiring. Almost all the men in America who have 

 reached great distinction in the various fields of human endeavor 

 have been country-bred. There is practically no limit to the oppor- 

 tuidlies of men in these days, who have inherited health and moral 

 stamina, and have been brought up in the country, for, from these 

 are to be recruited the great men of the future, the men who will 

 do things and uplift the world by their efforts. 



The causes for deserted farms, in many instances, are not on ac- 

 count of not producing good crops, but from a lack of good, gritty 

 men to operate them and not receiving better returns for crops 

 produced. It does not take a wonderfully smart man to pull up 

 stakes and move a way oft' somewhere. Trains are daily carrying 

 people who are looking for something better than they use to have. 

 Many of these same men, if you meet them a few years from now, 

 you will find them still on the move; their time is spent in moving. 

 We have all known young men left well off with good farms and 

 money beside, who should be the happiest men in the world. The 

 trouble often is they think the farm will always stay good, money 

 never run out. About the next thing he does is to buy a horse fast 

 enough that he won't have to take his neighbor's dust. This man 

 never knew how to work, neither did he want to, while time rolls 

 on, money gets short, the farm gets poor. No fault of the farm; 

 these are simply cases of taking life easy, while their best days are 

 passing away. Then they say farming don't pay. It is generally 

 the fault of the man. Sometimes existing conditions are hard to 

 remove; difficulties are but opportunities to test our ability. There 

 is great power and effectiveness in wisely-considered organization 

 in everything. We can see it to-day in public affairs. See how 

 powerful the great Trusts have become through far-reaching or- 

 ganization. Organization means simply the best arrangement of 

 knowledge and energy to carry out some given purpose. 



Every efficient man needs to have a well-organized mind for his 

 business. He needs, in the first place, abundant knowledge of all 

 the forces he is dealing with; second, he needs to have that knowl- 

 edge arranged in practical shape so he can go at it and use it at 

 once when needed; then he needs energy and skill to carry out that 

 knowledge. Take the dairy farmer. What is he dealing with? He 

 is dealing first with the soil. He needs thorough knowledge of soils, 

 how to handle them and improve them. He should study the best 



