AGRICULTURAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 8 1 



of us do not do this ; we live on comfortably only 

 because of our inheritance of books containing 

 knowledge, of devices of a thousand kinds which 

 save labor and which vastly increase our produc- 

 tive power; because of houses and roads and farms 

 and money ; because in short, of the accumulations 

 of the successful few who have preceded us. 



The home farm came to be worth, ultimately, 

 $85 per acre; during the war it rose to more than 

 $100 per acre in depreciated greenbacks and 

 now has fallen to $50 per acre. It is evident 

 enough why the Roberts boys did not take kindly 

 to the noble profession of agriculture; and why 

 so many farm boys are no longer willing to farm 

 unless, perchance, they can secure virgin, treeless, 

 stoneless land at $1.25 per acre which is only a 

 little more than the present price of a bushel of 

 wheat or can have it given to them outright. 

 Happily the days when the farmers were spend- 

 thrift of natural resources are coming to an end; 

 and happily, too, a well educated boy may now 

 find a liberal reward on the farm for the efforts 

 made in harmony with Nature's modes of action 

 and in conformity with modern science and ap- 

 proved practices. But it is not surprising that 

 modern young men do not take kindly to repairing 



