1554 The Cornell Reading-Courses 



in the farm has all the advantages of newspaper-selling and few of its dis- 

 advantages. Through contact with the business world, a money-earning 

 industry for young persons on the farm should broaden their interests, 

 should aid in keeping them out of community ruts, and should present 

 farm life in its right perspective. 



During the summer months there are many weeks when the boy and the 

 girl on the farm have little to do. If those weeks were occupied in planning, 

 organizing, and conducting an enterprise that would bring money returns, 

 time often wasted might be used wisely, since business experience and train- 

 ing would be gained. 



The complaint is being made that young persons are leaving the farm 

 for the city. In some cases their action is justified, since no employment 

 has been provided for them that yields adequate compensation. Helping 

 with the farm work has afforded the only opportunity for boys and girls 

 to gratify a natural craving for adventure and execution, and, unfortunately, 

 service on the home farm has too seldom provided a tangible return. 



Such an enterprise might consist in developing a small business for the 

 disposal of products that often are wasted. Consider the bushels of fruit 

 that rot on the ground every year. In apples alone there is a tremendous 

 economic loss. Cherries, pears, plums, and grapes often go to waste 

 because they ripen too quickly to be marketed, because the market is 

 overcrowded, or because the farmer is engaged in other work and has no 

 time to attend to the fruit. This unmarketable material might be gleaned 

 by the young persons on the farm, and be made to form the basis for a 

 small, but profitable, industry. 



CANNING CLUBS IN SOUTHERN STATES 



In the southern States there are canning clubs, the success of which 

 may be taken as an indication of what could be expected from similar 

 work in our own State. For example, tomato clubs, which have been 

 organized by the Federal Government, provide an industry for boys and 

 girls on the farm and utilize bushels of tomatoes that formerly were wasted. 

 Canning begins only when shipping tomatoes to northern markets is no 

 longer profitable. Canning outfits are set up in the fields, and the canning 

 process, which is carried on out of doors, is supervised by a trained person. 

 Tomatoes are canned in tin, and the finished product is marked by a 

 standard label which is a kind of guarantee of the excellence of the prod- 

 uct. Thus, by canning tomatoes, club members are able to obtain 

 returns on a large crop which otherwise would be a total loss. Not only 

 does the enterprise bring its financial reward, but, what is still more im- 

 portant, the development of the young persons and their increased in- 

 terest in farm life give to the South a return impossible of measurement. 



