Opportuxities for Young Farmers. 519 



where recognized, for the adoption of labor-saving machin- 

 ery in the working of the farm ; the bnihling of new or 

 rearranging of old barns, for the easier, better and more eco- 

 nomical care of the products of the farm, both in stock and 

 produce ; if he lets his buildings and fences run doMm, keeps 

 poor and tliriftless stock and neglects it during a long win- 

 ter, 60 that it is worth less in spring than it was six months 

 before ; if he lets his cattle go a mile for water and his 

 sheep eat snow ; if he lets his manures lie scattered about, 

 bleaching in wind and sun, their soluble, and, conse- 

 quently, more valuable parts be wasted or go down the 

 streams to his more fortunate neighbor below — until, as a 

 legitimate result, he gets fewer crops year by year, and 

 exhibits the unsightly spectacle of a shiftless farmer — he 

 need not be surprised if, some morning, John or William 

 says to him, " Father, I am going to quit the farm ; " "I 

 don't like the business ; " "I can get a living easier, if I 

 can't I don't want any ; " and, with such like expressions, 

 he bids good-Ly to the old farm. The rest of the boys fol- 

 low suit in due time, and the father, as we have before 

 said, sells out, perhaps to an adjoining neighbor, and 

 retires, not upon a competency, but upon a small stipend, 

 with which, by diligent economy, he ckcs out tlic remain- 

 der of his life, which, up to this time, has been an igno- 

 minious failure. 



Much of this might have been avoided in proper early 

 training in both father and son. The farmer did not well 

 understand his business ; never learned that tlicrc w:is any 

 difficulty for a man to be a good farmer ; that there were 

 any heights to be attained not already reached by those 



