state; pomological society. 25 



One is a prevailing notion that farming is a sort of vulgar occu- 

 pation. No more false or pernicious notion could be conceived. 

 The dignity of farm labor was recognized by the Romans and 

 they gave to it the benefit of the best minds they produced. 

 Rome's greatest poets sang of the beauties of rural life and her 

 historians chronicled the wealth of her rural classes, but all 

 feared when Rome in her hour of need called her soldiers and 

 statesmen from the plow, and they passed away before the 

 approach of a more splendid but far less substantial age. 



The second reason, that farming is unremunerative, is true 

 only to the extent that one fails to bring to the management of 

 his agricultural business the same degree of skill that the busi- 

 ness man brings to the management of his business interests. 

 Too many farmers leave everything to the seasons and soil, and, 

 acting on the consoling assurance expressed in the old adage 

 that God takes care of the lame and the lazy, see their buildings 

 run down and their farms run out. This class of farmers are 

 those whom we hear forever complaining of the hardness of 

 their lot and the unprofitableness of farming. I retain memories 

 of these men. Their sleds were housed during the summer and 

 fall under the open sky ; their wagons were sheltered the same 

 in winter ; their mowing machines, rakes and plows were found 

 when needed where they were last used the year before. If, 

 finally, the sled broke down with a load of wood, or the cart with 

 a load of hay, or the mowing machine gave out in the half-mown 

 field, they would invariably curse their luck. 



I am no believer in luck. What is termed good luck is the 

 result of good calculation and bad luck is the result of bad cal- 

 culation. I believe if every farmer should bring to the manage- 

 ment of his business that same degree of careful and systematic 

 supervision that characterizes every other branch of industry 

 today, his success would be practically assured. His returns 

 would not of course be large, but the balance would be on the 

 right side of the ledger. There would be no six per cent mort- 

 gage to torment his peace and devour his substance. Thousands 

 have grown rich out of his toil and thousands are still growing 

 rich. Too long the wealth he has created has flowed into the 

 pockets of those whose only title rests on nothing firmer than 

 connivance and cunning. He must take his lesson from the 

 events transpiring in the great industrial world about him. 



