696 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



virgin soil. But now how changed. What knowledge and skill are 

 required of the farmer today when he must use and keep in repair disc 

 and sulky plows, patent harrows, drills and rollers, binders and threshing 

 machines, hay elevators and silage cutters, engines which take the place 

 of an ox and horsepower, and a score of other things of which our 

 grandfathers never dreamed. To successfully handle these machines 

 requires a skill far surpassing that required by the so-called mechanic 

 in the shop, who only runs one machine or does one operation day after 

 day for months and years. The farmer of today must be versed in prac- 

 tical mechanics. When the binder breaks he must know how to fix it. 

 Many farmers are near water power which could be converted into elec- 

 trical, to be used in house and barn. Or the alcohol engine may soon 

 be a factor on every farm, and the farmer must understand them all. As 

 help becomes more scarce these sources of energy must be employed. 



The farmer of the future must understand breeding. He will not raise 

 scrub stock as his father does today. No other calling would or could 

 stand such a drain as the profitless cow and hen impose upon the farmer 

 today. When the farmers realize that today half the cows in the United 

 States do not pay their keep, and that it is within his power to make 

 each one yield a handsome profit, then he will begin to do something to 

 improve his stock. The scrub cow belongs properly to the scrub farmer, 

 and that man had better move to town. Of course a high breed cow or 

 horse will not stand abuse like a scrub, but needs intelligent care. This 

 can only be possible through a knowledge of animal physiology. 



If he goes into the raising of fruit he finds as much need of brains 

 as in any other branch of farm industry. The varieties suited to his 

 soil, climate and market, the insect and fungus pests and how to keep 

 them under control, the proper culture and marketing of fruit all call for 

 an ample supply of brain power. In the feeding of both cattle and land 

 the farmer in Pennsylvania is so well protected by the law that he need 

 not be cheated in what he buys, nor wasteful in what he uses, but to 

 calculate a balanced ration for field and feed room requires that the 

 farmer should have some idea of chemistry. To produce, keep and suc- 

 cessfully put upon the market the various mill products and to properly 

 construct his home and other buildings, it is almost necessary for the 

 farmer to be a sanitary engineer. If the consumers in our cities only 

 knew how much of the value and the enjoyable quality was lost and how 

 much filth and other poisonous material was introduced through the 

 improper handling of the dairy products they would think twice before 

 they buy. The farmer must also be a business man. Not only must he 

 be able to produce in the most economical manner something which will 

 bring the highest price, but he must be able to put it on the market in 

 the most acceptable manner. He must also be an experimenter. From 

 the first paper presented at this institute we have been constantly told 

 that the men who are successful are those who experiment, observe, ply 

 nature with questions and are able to get from nature the correct 

 answer. That this is no easy task is seen by the fact that college pro- 

 fessors and experiment station experts often hold opposite views on the 

 same subject, and the institute lecturer is often at a loss to know what 

 is the truth or the best practice. He must keep account of what it costs 



