THE TRAINING OF FARMERS 



power ; but we must first train up a race of 

 mechanic-minded farmers. Even the com- 

 mon farm machinery is not usually under- 

 stood by those who use it, nor, with all our 

 invention of machines for the easier and 

 more wholesale farm practices, have we 

 yet developed farm machinery to anywhere 

 near its possible extent of perfection or 

 necessity. The burden of household labor 

 is to be solved in part by better mechanical 

 contrivances. Colleges of mechanic arts 

 cannot be asked to develop this subject for 

 the farms, for they have their legitimate 

 professional work; and, moreover, the 

 problems of farm mechanics are largely 

 agricultural. The subject must be devel- 

 oped as part of a constructive philosophy 

 of rural life. 



Engineering questions 



Similar remarks may be made of some 

 of the applications of engineering. The 

 lay-out of the farm, the running of levels, 

 drainage, irrigation, the making of farm 

 bridges, the construction of farm roads 

 and of highways, and the development of a 

 240 



