432 AGRICULTURAL COMMUNITIES. 



to show that forest care and culture must, in the very nature of the 

 case, have the effect of restoring and of saving the beautiful streams 

 of our country. That it will have such an effect, no truly scientific 

 man will question for a moment. Water enough falls every year to 

 keep our streams alive and strong; but we want the millions of tons 

 of forest leaves and moss, and the millions of acres of soil loosened 

 by the roots of forest trees, to act as the huge sponge, to hold it back 

 from the sudden plunge into the streams, incident to disforested re 

 gions. We want the cooling influence of the vast banks of green 

 forest leaves to more frequently contract the water-laden air, so as 

 to give us many minor rain-falls in places of less and less frequent 

 and more and more violent rains, always and necessarily result 

 ing from wholesale slaughter of our forest friends. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



AGRICULTURAL COMMUNITIES. 



&quot; Agriculture will never be overstocked in America. She Bays to other countries, bring us 

 your skill and labor; we offer in return competence, homes and schools.&quot; 



&quot;The gradual development of the principle of equality is a providential fact; universal, 

 durable, it constantly eludes human interference, and all events, as well as men, contribute to 

 its progress .&quot; De Tocqutville. 



ISOLATION or FARMERS DECREASE OF AGRICULTURAL POPULATION: CAUSES- 

 GENESIS OF THE MIDDLE-MAN: HE DEVOURS BOTH FARMER AND MECHANIC 

 BETTER EDUCATION THE REMEDY RECRUITS FOR THE AGRICULTURAL ARMY 

 IMMCGRATION TABLE SCANDINAVIA IN AMERICA SUPERIORITY OF THE COLONY 

 SYSTEM VINELAND, A MODEL RURAL COLONY OUTLOOK AND CONCLUSIONS. 



IT will not be denied that one of the greatest discourage 

 ments to the life of the farmer has been his comparative social 

 isolation; and all the advantages claimed for cooperation in 

 business enterprises are trifling in comparison with the benefits 

 of social cooperation in establishing rural colonies. Especially 

 is this true of California, where the urban is so much more in 

 excess of the rural population than in the older States, and 

 where the census shows the proportionate rate of increase in the 

 latter to be so much smaller. In the older States we find the 

 original farmers families have disappeared, and new ones of 

 foreign birth are taking their places. The young crowd into 

 the cities, into the mercantile or professional ranks, until the 

 country is depleted of its most energetic and intelligent mem 

 bers, while the overfull city is unable to utilize the labor force 

 which should have been expended upon the land. 



Between the years 1850 and 1870, the population of eighteen 

 of our large cities increased one hundred and thirty-one per 

 cent. Deducting the population of these cities from that of 



