THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



203 



monotonous and filled with hardships, and 

 he, too, thinks a change would be agreeable. 

 So he rents the farm but he never feels 

 like a man among men after. In later 

 years when the farm has deteriorated under 

 a succession of tenants and has finally been 

 sold for half its value, when the pleasures 

 of clerical life have begun to pall. Jack 

 enviously thinks of the good old times on 

 the farm, and wishes he had not been so 

 eager to sell his birthright. The man who 

 removes with his family to the village but 

 who continues to superintend the work on 

 his farm or farms, is in a very different 

 situation. For him life loses none of its 

 interest. He has a sense of security in 

 the thought that in adversity there is al- 

 ways the farm to fall back upon. 



Some agriculturists claim, however that 

 no man can farm profitably at long range, 

 that is. after he has ceased to reside on the 

 farm. We are not prepared to yield the 

 point in the face of some conspicuous ex- 

 ample to the contrary, but if we admit it 

 for the sake of argument the case against 

 the farmer who abandons his farm is the 

 stronger. Would it nor pay better in the 

 end to employ more help and to provide 

 horses to convey his children to and from 

 the high school and places of amusement, 

 or better yet send them to college, but keep 

 their home and its associations unchanged. 

 A telephone is an easy and comparatively 

 cheap vehicle of communication which any 

 farmer who Is rich enough to retire can well 

 afford, and there are many luxuries possible 

 to the farm home that will not only make 

 it tolerable to young people, but attractive. 

 Those who have had even a slight acquain- 

 tance with frontier farmers who usually 

 live five or ten miles from a railroad, will 

 acknowledge that among them were some 

 of the most sociable people they ever knew, 

 people who knew how to entertain and be 

 entertained. The hospitality of the south 

 in ante-bellum days, and the social inter- 

 course between plantations many miles 

 apart, made that part of our country 



famous. 



A social disposition will find opportun 

 ties even on a farm and it seems a pity to 

 exchange its independence and freedom 

 and the beautiful associations of a life so 

 close to the heart of nature, for what often 

 proves to be a more cramped and less 

 healthy existence in town. 



It is natural and right that the farmer 

 who has satisfied his material ambitions 

 should thenceforward desire to take life 

 easier, but there is a vast difference be- 

 tween resting and rusting. Farmer 's 

 Review. 



OPENING OKLAHOMA RESERVA- 

 TIONS. 



The announcement that considerable In- 

 dian land will be thrown open for settle- 

 ment in So Okla has resulted in a great 

 deal of inquiry. The opening of these 

 reservations is of course in the hands of 

 the T T . S. dept of interior. It seems that 

 the land to be thrown open to settlers 

 forms a^part of the Comanche. Kiowa and 

 Apache reservations. It is situated in 

 the extreme southern part of the territory 

 on the boundary of Tex. and consists of 

 about 3,000,000 acres. There are 3000 

 Indians, each of which will receive 160 

 acres. Then 480,000 acres more are to be 

 reserved for grazing land for common use 

 of the red men. The remainder, about 

 1,560,000 acres, will be offered to settlers 

 under the general ^land law. Any citizen 

 who has not already taken advantages of 

 the homestead act can secure 160 acres by 

 living on it from five to seven years and 

 making certain improvements, or by pay- 

 ing $1.25 per acre, as is always the case. 

 Honorably discharged soldiers and sailors 

 have the first choice. 



The demand for farms in this section 

 seems to be very great, if the letters of 

 inquiry coming in are any indications' 

 An attempt will be made to parcel out 

 farms so that every acre will be occupied 

 by actual settlers. The dept. of interio 



