SPECIAL FARM TOPICS 253 



to assume their full share of the responsibility of the society. (Ont. 

 Ag. Dept., B. 192.) 



Moral Effects. Experience has demonstrated that in the aspect 

 of morals such associations have been important. Members should 

 be selected on the basis of morality, business acumen and citizenship 

 and not on that of favoritism or wealth. The effect of this system 

 of selection is said to be very marked and does more to raise moral 

 standards and teach citizenship, than any other force which has ever 

 been introduced into rural society. Members are educated in 

 democratic government and taught to accept their proper share of 

 responsibility, by the exercise of the duties which each member owes 

 to his society. The idle man becomes industrious, the spend-thrift 

 becomes thrifty ; the drunkard reforms his ways and becomes sober ; 

 the tavern-hunter forsakes the inn; the illiterate, though a grand- 

 father, learns to read and write. (Ont. Dept. Ag. Bui. 192.) 



TENANT FARMING. 



Disappointments in tenant farming arise because of the too fre- 

 quent lack of an equitable adjustment of the returns of the farm 

 between the owner and the tenant; the. lack of well-laid plans for 

 keeping up the yields and the productiveness of the farm through 

 the years ; and short-term leases, which keep the tenant in an unset- 

 tled frame of mind as to the permanency of his tenure and lead him 

 to endeavor to get as much out of the land each year as possible, 

 with little or no attempt at soil improvement or wise farm manage- 

 ment, thus contributing to the deterioration of the farm. 



Why Tenant Farms Deteriorate. In tenant farming there are 

 two main reasons why farms usually deteriorate: (1) The owner 

 desires as large a share as possible of the profits of the farm and fre- 

 quently hesitates to put any large portion of the profits back on the 

 farm in the way of permanent improvements or in keeping up the 

 place, and (2) the tenant regards the farm primarily as a means of 

 acquiring enough money to buy one of his own, and conducts the 

 rented farm along the line of the greatest immediate financial returns 

 to himself. It is the farm that suffers in each case. The generally 

 decreasing returns soon bring discontent both to owner and tenant, 

 and frequent changes of tenant follow. 



A proper and equitable adjustment between owner and tenant 

 is not easily made, but is the end to be sought. It would insure 

 more permanent tenancy. It would relieve the owner of the duties 

 of management and the tenant of the burden of acquiring large 

 capital before he goes into business for himself. 



Advantages and Disadvantages of Tenant Farming. Speaking 

 generally, tenant farming is not a type to be encouraged in North 

 America. Small farms tilled by their owners are regarded as the 

 ideal, because such farms tend to build up a conservative, home-lov- 

 ing people. There is a place for tenant farming in American agricul- 

 ture. If a young man desires to go into farming in these days, he 

 requires considerable capital. It takes a long time, working out by 

 the day or month, to acquire that capital, and good land is expeu- 



