64 THE LURE OF THE LAND 



sity of driving straight out to the end of the row. 

 There was ample room to turn after that. By lifting 

 the plow a very little they could start back in a proper 

 position for the next row. The result was that in less 

 than two hours, not only was every plow doing good 

 work, but every driver was taking some pride in what 

 he was doing. 



The cost of labor to the farmer is largely due to this 

 lack of knowledge and lack of spirit. How great a 

 saving it would be if each laborer had received instruc- 

 tions in the proper method of performing his task, and 

 had been shown the correct attitude to assume in rela- 

 tion to it! I have been surprised to see what a trans- 

 formation a few lessons in efficiency work. I have 

 seen a laborer with absolutely no interest in his work 

 become enamored with it, proud of it, and eager to 

 show the best that he could do. It is, I think, difficult 

 to find any one so sodden, so devoid of ambition, and 

 so indifferent as not to be amenable to some uplift from 

 proper instruction both as to method and as to purpose. 



FARM LABOR SHOULD BE SKILLED. 



Farm labor is not unskilled labor by any means. It 

 is skilled labor of the highest type, that is, it should be. 

 In point of fact, however, it is now unskilled labor. 

 Any man who can work is supposed to be good enough 

 to work on a farm. More skill is required for farm 

 labor than in any other industry. The laborer, to be 

 efficient, must always be industrious and alive to the 

 problem which is presented to him, but he must be, to a 

 certain extent, a carpenter, a blacksmith and a me- 

 chanic. The machinery of farm implements to-day is 

 a complicated study. Every man who proposes to be- 

 come a farm laborer should have the rudiments of me- 



