180 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



best that as large a proportion of the whole population as is 

 possible own real estate, particularly their own homes, and 

 that they be business men, even if on a small scale, working 

 and planning for themselves. This our system of land 

 tenure and land ownership encourages. For peace and the 

 suppression of warlike impulses, as well as for thrift, it is 

 best that as large a proportion of the population as is pos- 

 sible be at work for themselves rather than for hire ; and for 

 this our system of farming furnishes an opportunity. It is 

 unquestionably best for the race that a large proportion of the 

 population have facilities in their vocations for the education 

 and the rearing of families in industry and thrift. For such 

 education no other industrial occupation is so especially 

 adapted as farming; in no other vocation is there exercise 

 for so great a variety of faculties and for the cultivation of 

 the judgment, as on a farm. Growing various crops, pro- 

 ducing domestic animals, using the latest machinery and 

 labor-saving devices, — here the child has a greater variety 

 of object teaching than can possibly occur in any other 

 common form of home life. The round of the year's labors 

 has in it ■ something to continually interest him. Crops 

 grow and animals are reared, the natural laws and phenomena 

 relating to the daily work are more obvious than in ordinary 

 homes. The seasons mean more than merely heat and cold, 

 and the weather more than pleasant skies or gloomy days. 



In this farm education, the child sees the business of the 

 father go on from day to day, and from a very early age he 

 begins to take part in it and soon becomes a member of the 

 firm. From the time he' begins to feed the chickens or drive 

 the cows, he becomes a working member of the establish- 

 ment, and has a sense of responsibility in the management of 

 affairs. His own importance is correspondingly increased, 

 and along with it his sense of personal worth. The city 

 child is made to feel by the adults of the household that he 

 is a nuisance ; he is at the bottom of the little social king- 

 dom of home, more useless by far than even the menials. 

 He is always in the way. Not so with the country child ; he 

 feels that he is a member of the business firm, sharing in its 

 work and its responsibilities. In no other vocation can the 

 child be so trained to habits of industry without detriment 



