THE PROSPECTIVE FARMER 435 



lation of all things with which he has to deal in farming. No one 

 should expect to go into farming who dislikes to handle tools, 

 machinery, the soil itself, animals and plants. 



A feeling that the farm is to be a permanent home should enter 

 into the heart of the prospective farmer. It should not be thought 

 of as a stepping-stone to something else, although many farmers 

 are called to legislative halls and to other public positions. 



In deciding whether to be a farmer or not there are a number of 

 things to be taken into consideration: (a) The comparative 

 cost of living on farms and in cities. This when figured correctly 

 always results in favor of the farm. The cost of living is then 

 reduced far below the average cost in the city. Many of the arti- 

 cles are produced on the farm, and indeed much of the living is 

 obtained from products that would otherwise go to waste, (b) 

 the farm land naturally increases in value far more than the home 

 in the city. Many a farm has netted the owner a handsome 

 income above the original investment, to say nothing of the profits 

 from the farming operations and the value of the place as a home, 

 in the meantime, (c) The profits to be reasonably expected in 

 the farming operations should be the chief item for consideration ; 

 that is, the income from crops or animals as compared with the 

 cost of producing and preparing them for market should be con- 

 sidered the labor income from farm operations. It is not fair 

 to merely compare this labor income with city wages, because 

 the city wage ; s used chiefly, or perhaps entirely, in cost of living, 

 including rent or maintenance of the home, while the farm may 

 furnish all of that in addition, (d) The investment in farm land 

 is always safer than the investment in city property. Deteriora- 

 tion in land values due to hard times, or falling prices in general, is 

 less marked in farm real estate than in city properties, (e) The 

 attractions of farm life are numerous. Freedom and indepen- 

 dence of action, opportunities for suiting environment to the per- 

 sonal desires of the owner, really make the owner a "captain of 

 industry. " (f) The farm is a suitable place to train the younger 

 members of the family. With improved rural schools and rural 

 churches, and the natural freedom from vice and contaminating 

 surroundings, the young boy or girl has far better opportunities 

 in the country than in the city, (g) Less extreme poverty and less 

 extreme wealth are found on the farm as compared with the city. 



Methods of Getting Started. When a young man has a true 

 ambition to become a farmer he will find a good way of making a 



