THE TRAINING OF FARMERS 



natural and scientific method, but because 

 of the difficulty of reaching these persons, 

 this method seems not to have been em- 

 ployed to any useful extent. It is this 

 direct method and its results that I pur- 

 pose now to discuss. 



Character of the problem 



It is difficult to choose the persons of 

 whom one may inquire in hope of securing 

 usable information. Persons in middle life 

 who are now deeply immersed in affairs 

 are too far away from the farm to be 

 trusted to give an account of the motives 

 that guided them in their youthful choice; 

 I have usually found that such persons are 

 likely unconsciously to color their replies 

 by the experience of subsequent years. 

 Those who work at day labor have usually 

 drifted away from the farm rather than 

 purposely left it, and their ideas commonly 

 lack definiteness; and, moreover, these per- 

 sons are laborers rather than farmers, and 

 their case does not greatly influence the 

 larger agricultural and social questions. I 

 have therefore chosen to inquire of stu- 

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