FARM DEVELOPMENT 



CHAPTER I 

 INTRODUCTION 



Agricultural science and art deal with the production, 

 from the soil, of foods, clothing, wood and other useful 

 materials. Many of the natural sciences have a theoret- 

 ical and a practical bearing on this greatest of the pro- 

 ductive industries ; and the arts which have a useful 

 relation to farming are numerous and varied. In no 

 other vocation are the sciences and the arts so extensively 

 and intimately interwoven. 



While some persons with comparatively little book learn- 

 ing make money by farming, there is no other vocation in 

 which there is so much useful and interesting knowledge 

 that applies directly to the business and to the home. 

 Differing from any other vocation, the business and the 

 home are here a unit; and the family-sized farm, the 

 " family farm," is our most important business, educa- 

 tional, social, and racial institution. In no other element 

 of our national organization is Americanism so well 

 exemplified ; its democracy is well-nigh complete. 

 None other of our institutions is more worthy of being 

 copied by the people of other countries, because the 

 separate family farm, supplemented by the consolidated 

 " farm school," uniting the apprenticeship work of the 

 farm and the home with the general and technical work 

 of the farm school, will provide the best conditions 

 under which to develop superior races of men and 

 women. The farmer and the farm home maker need 

 to exercise great wisdom in selecting, from the mass 



