Corn Groivers' Association. 163 



or more fertile, than when he first went on it. If it is ever neces- 

 sary to follow the destructive method for a time it should be 

 replaced as soon as possible by the constructive system, and the 

 land left to one's children in a high state of fertility. A fertile 

 farm is a much better legacy to leave our children than a worn-out 

 farm and a swollen bank account. 



But there is another class of farmers which must be men- 

 tioned in considering this constructive ideal of modem agriculture, 

 and these are the men who, either through lack of knowledge or 

 lack of business ability, are not able to build up a farm and make 

 it pay dividends at the same time. In fact, with lands already 

 badly worn, it requires all the business judgment and the knowl- 

 edge that a man can bring to the management of a farm to make 

 it pay its way while it is being improved ; but it can be done, and 

 it must be the business of our agricultural colleges, our schools 

 of agriculture, our agricultural high schools, and sometimes possi- 

 bly of our common schools, to so train our young men that they 

 will be able to farm in a constructive way, and at the same time 

 make abundant returns from their lands. The average farmer 

 of today can not do it; the farmer who has passed middle life, as 

 a rule, will not do it, so that it falls upon our young men and boys 

 to be the ones who shall lead us out of the difficulties into which 

 our destructive methods have led us. 



I do not wish to paint too gloomy a picture or to be too pessi- 

 mistic, for I am not a pessimist. I believe that in this gradual 

 change in methods which will come, a great many who do not, or 

 who by reason of circumstances or training, cannot, heed the signs 

 of the time, will suffer; yet I believe that the thinking Missouri 

 farmer will see that his sons will be so trained in those things 

 that have to do with his business that they will, as a rule, be 

 able to handle the problems which present themselves, and I look 

 forward to the coming generation of American farmers as the 

 m.ost prosperous in the history of the world. It is high time, how- 

 ever, that we were up and doing, if this goal is soon to be reached. 

 Every year of the old system sees a further wasting of fertility 

 and throws added hardships upon the generations that are to 

 follow. 



But the practical question which will at once be asked by 

 the man who wishes to practice a constructive system is, How can 

 I build up my lands and make a profit at the same time? Most 

 of us are not farming for amusement, but for the profit; and the 

 thing that always appeals to us is the business side of any prac- 



