THE 

 BUSINESS OF FARMING 



CHAPTEE I 



HISTORICAL BESUME OF THE BUSINESS OF FARMING 



FARMING is our biggest business. It is the 

 great heart of the business system that 

 pumps the rich red blood of commercial activity 

 through the veins and arteries of the world's 

 business. Soil is the chief item of raw material 

 from which the finished products of this business 

 is made. 



The 1912 finished products of the business of 

 farming, wrought from the raw material of the 

 soil, amounted to the staggering sum of ten bil- 

 lion of dollars. And yet this vast wealth was pro- 

 duced by a business the most poorly organized and 

 conducted, the least conserved, and the most 

 neglected of any existing business of this age. 



At a cost of fabulous sums, methods have been 

 developed and consummated for perfected ma- 

 chinery, better distribution, and business systems 

 by which every other business on earth may be 

 successfully operated. 



Without such methods and systems not a single 

 modern business could have reached its present 

 magnitude or greatness. 



19 



