582 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



have not in the past taken the same initiative in securing modern 

 convenience for the home as men have in securing modern ma- 

 chinery for carrying on farm operations out in the field. Today 

 one man with improved machinery can do as much work in a day as 

 six men could do twenty-five years ago, and do it more easily. 

 Incidentally, you will notice that the man of the farm never buys 

 machinery that he can't sit on — even the harrows these days are 

 provided with a small truck which is drawn along behind, and on 

 this truck the man sits in perfect comfort caring little whether 

 the field is large or small or the day long or short. 



Now, if the men had to make bread three times every day, 

 how long do you suppose it would be before they would come home 

 from town armed with a patent bread mixer? And if the men had 

 to wash the dishes three times a day, how long do you think it would 

 be before they would put rollers on the legs of that kitchen table 

 and push it about from place to place, thus saving a "thousand and 

 one" steps to the pantry and back again. There are hundreds of 

 little conveniences that could be had in the farm home with practi- 

 cally no extra expense if the woman would acquaint herself with 

 them and suggest them. 



There are women who manage farms successfully. Not all 

 of the farms that have the appearance of the proverbial "widow 

 woman's farm" are owned and operated by widows. When a 

 woman is left with a farm she has, perhaps, her choice of getting 

 married and turning the farm over to her husband, renting it out, 

 selling it or running it herself. The first proposition is a little 

 risky — sometimes. The second, on account of the great number of 

 unreliable renters against whom no recourse can be had, and on 

 account of a general disposition of renters to get all that they 

 can out of the land regardless of its future productiveness, is not 

 always a safe and economical thing to do. The third is out of the 

 question. Hence it behooves the women farmers of Missouri to 

 acquaint themselves with the best systems of farming, good sys- 

 tems of crop rotation, proper methods of cultivation and, in fact, 

 acquaint themselves with the practices of the best and most suc- 

 cessful farmers of the State. When they do this I can see no 

 reason why their efforts in farm management should be any less 

 successful than those of our men farmers. Women are not farm- 

 ers generally, because of traditions, of a woman's place, a woman's 

 sphere, etc. But the industrial age in which we live today is 

 bringing the labor of women into contact with that of men alon^ 



