56 CHAPTERS IN RURAL PROGRESS 



mill — not for export, but for a return migration 

 to the family flour-barrel. 



The new farmer has always existed — because 

 he is the old farmer growing. He has kept pace 

 with our industrial evolution. When the regime 

 of barter passed away, he ceased to barter. 

 When the world's market became a fact, he 

 raised wheat for the world's market. As agri- 

 culture became a business, he became a business 

 man. As agricultural science began to contrib- 

 ute to the art of farming, he studied applied 

 science. As industrial education developed, he 

 founded and patronized institutions for agri- 

 cultural education. As alertness and enterprise 

 began to be indispensable in commercial activity, 

 he grew alert and enterprising. 



The mossback is the man who has either 

 misread the signs of the times, or who has not 

 possessed the speed demanded in the two-min- 

 ute class. He is the old farmer gone to seed. 

 He tries to fit the old methods to the new 

 regime. 



But it is not sufficient to picture the new 

 farmer. You must explain him. What is it 

 that makes the new farmer? Who is he? 

 What are his tools ? In the first place, you can- 

 not explain the new farmer unless you know the 



