512 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



Have you ever noticed in traveling along the highways or in the 

 railway car the differences in farms? Even if there be no fences 

 you can easily discern farm lines by the different appearance in the 

 farms. Or, if there be fences, one man will have his side clean up 

 to the fence, while the other side cannot be reached by several rods. 

 And this only makes work harder for the man who strives to keep 

 his farm clean ; where a spinster owns a farm on the west of you and 

 a so-called city farmer owns one to the northwest, where weeds are 

 left to grow unmolested, to ripen and be blown by the wind or carried 

 by birds, it is a difficult problem and it is only by persistent efforts 

 that one can succeed. 



And while it is not our purpose in this paper to tell how to do 

 things, yet right here we would say that the use of the mowing ma- 

 chine, the scythe, the brier hook or the mattock at the right time 

 is one means by which we surmount many difficulties and where our 

 work, on the farm, will show to good advantage. 



But you do not need to go to the farm to distinguish between the 

 careful and the careless farmer. Meet him on the road with his 

 team, go to the market place, the mill, the coal mine, the railway 

 station, or wherever farmers congregate with their teams, and note 

 the difference, and you will have an ear-mark of what you are likely 

 to find on the farm. One with a broken spring on his wagon seat 

 propped up by a piece of plank, the wagon bed so badly broken that it 

 would hardly hold pumpkins, the harness tied up with binder twine 

 or baling wire, and you may be sure to find similiar conditions on 

 the farm, where no modern methods are used ; a man who says Far- 

 mers' Institutes are a farce and that farm papers are fit only for 

 kindling wood. 



But on the other hand you notice different conditions; the harness 

 kept well oiled, broken places and nuts kept tight about the wagon, 

 the harness good, and the horses neatly groomed, and you draw 

 different conclusions. You are sure on that farm to find a man 

 who takes time solving the problems that arise on the farm, one 

 who uses all the means to advance the productive powers of the 

 farm. 



We can also learn a lesson in economy right here, for while it is 

 necessary to be neat and careful, we do not need to be extravagant. 

 And how often do we see a team loaded with riugs and regalia simply 

 to try to outdo one's neighbor ! It is a pretty guess, that in the 

 house the good wife is struggling for some needed article of neces- 

 sity. 



WHAT IS THE TRUE AIM OF FARMING? 



Is it to buy more land, to raise more corn, to raise more hogs, etc., 

 etc., ad infinitum? What should be the object of any man's life? 

 If it is not to enjoy the fruit of his labor? 



The home is one of the ear-marks of the farm that is too often 

 overlooked. The home should be attractive. In our great cities where 

 land is dear, houses have to be built on small areas and into the 

 air; but this is not necessary in the country. It may have the com- 

 forts of a city house without looking like one. The tasteful home 

 has a sale value in the country as well as in the city. It adds value 

 to the farm as well as enriching the soil to make it more productive, 

 yet this is a wealth that cannot be counted in dollars and cents. 



