FIFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VI. 575 



middle life. The merchant, the lawyer, and the doctor seldom retire. The 

 officeholder seldom retires voluntarily, but, fortunately, he is often ''re- 

 tired." 



This problem of whether he should retire and move to town is one of the 

 most serious that ever the farmer is called upon to solve. Generally it 

 involves the entire future of the younger members of the family; changes, in 

 fact, their whole course of life. It has very important bearings on the life 

 and happiness of the farmer himself. Our readers who have this problem 

 under consideration will, therefore, not take it unkindly if we discuss the 

 subject somewhat in detail. 



The reasons usually given for moving to town are various. Those given 

 by the man over sixty years of age are the following: First, "I am too old 

 to do a full day's work on the farm, therefore, I will retire, move to town, 

 and take life easier." It is quite true that when a man passes sixty, or in 

 some cases fifty, he is much less able to do a hard day's work than before. 

 His joints become stiff, his fingers are all thumbs, and he gets out of breath 

 when he chases the fractious horse or tries to drive the old sow out of the 

 potato patch. He tires more readily after a day's plowing, and is con- 

 vinced, whether he will or not, that he is growing old. 



He has not, however, become useless on the farm because of any or all of 

 these things. He has had a lifetime of experience and observation and has 

 qualities which the young man has not had time to acquire. When a man 

 thinks about retiring, his head, if he has used it to good purpose, is worth 

 more dollars per month to the farm than the work he can no longer perform 

 as compared with his younger days. The old man's place is not to do a 

 hard day's work but to direct and plan and allow others to execute. 



This brings up the second reason for moving to town; namely, it is al- 

 most impossible to get help either in the field or in the house. Unfortu- 

 nately, this is true. Help never was as scarce on the farm as it has been in 1904, 

 nor has it ever been of poorer quality. Not because the young men of today 

 are less intelligent than heretofore, but because the improvements in farm 

 machinery and in methods of feeding and caring for stock require a higher 

 degree of intelligence and greater skill. Farming is fast becoming a profes- 

 sion, or business, requiring skilled labor. Formerly we bought muscle 

 when we hired men; now we buy brains and practical experience as well as 

 muscle. The young men who have not brains enough to do farm work are 

 being driven to town to work on the streets or on the roads, or in some line 

 of business where they are required to do but one thing and that becomes 

 automatic from habit and does itself. Nor is it likely that things will beany 

 better soon. The demands on the hired man in the way of intelligence and 

 skill will become greater and greater every year. The time will come before 

 very long when labor will be more or less of a drug on the market in the 

 town or city,, but this labor will be useless on the farm. 



We suggest a better way out of the difficulty than moving to town. Let 

 the man past middle age rent his farm to the brightest young farmer that 

 he can get hold of, and give him, to use a common expression, a good 

 "lay." Let him, however, retain in his hands the rotation of crops gen- 

 erally, and give directions as to how the farm shall be managed. Let him 

 build a small but comfortable house for himself, retain one team, a cow, 

 and enough acres of land to keep him busy and go into some special line of 



