Selecting the Farm 35 



farming on a grand scale. In a general way every 

 man considers climate when he deliberately locates 

 his home. He thinks at least of the extremes of 

 heat and cold, of drouth and rainfall, of sunshine 

 and cloud. His instincts guide him. He inherits 

 from his kind the experience of the ages; from cave- 

 dweller and lake-dweller, from the man of the Stone 

 Age, of the Bronze Age, and of the Iron Age, — 

 from that innumerable throng of men and women 

 who have filed across the earth from the beginning, 

 bequeathing to him experiences of long ago which 

 yet dominate our lives. Most serious of experi- 

 ences is of the art of making a living. So man 

 considers wind and weather when he seeks a home. 

 In a rude way he avoids total failure, for wind and 

 weather drive him into a comer in which he can 

 eke out existence. If climate be not too imfavor- 

 able, he concludes that he has made a good choice. 

 At least he proceeds to farm his land. 



But most men come into possession of a farm 

 without being consulted about the climate. Each 

 thus receives a tool as a gift and continues to 

 handle it as did his fathers before him. So near 

 is he to wind and weather; so close a prisoner of 

 climate is he, life with him is static ; he gives climate 

 no serious thought, save to grumble at the biting 

 frost, the scorching heat, the engulfing rain. Who 

 has not witnessed the transformation of a region 

 from grain to fruit; from potato fields to truck 

 gardens? The thoughtless farmer is ignorant of 

 his own sky and tries to raise wheat when he 



