CAMPBELL'S SOIL CULTURE MANUAL 293 



CHAPTER XL. 



GOOD FARMING AND GOOD MORALS. 



Perhaps it is not fair to assert that for the preservation 

 of the morals of a people dependence must be placed entirely 

 on the farming class; but it is not going a bit too far to 

 insist that as between good farming and poor farming 

 there is a difference as wide as the poles are separated in 

 their relation to the morals of the people. 



Did you ever pass an old farm, with broken fences over- 

 grown with weeds, with ramshackle sheds and a nouse 

 with unmended roof, with exposed corn bins, and a few 

 racing hogs browsing along the hedge rows? And if you 

 have, do you not recall that involuntarily you peeked 

 around the corners expecting to find the head of the family 

 in keeping with his surroundings and living a life not at all 

 to be made use of as an example? Of course not every 

 farmer struggling against odds on a half-barren farm is 

 below the standard in methods of living. There may be 

 high thinking and genuine love for all that is best in the 

 world and this amid surroundings not at all congenial. 

 But usually if there is a desire for the better life, there is 

 some sign displayed by which the keen observer may 

 know that conditions are but temporary. 



But you pause at the gate near a modest cottage neatly 

 painted, and about the place there is an air of neatness 

 and cleanness and good living, and you expect to find, and 

 usually do find, a family living the happy and contented 

 life. 



