436 THE BUSINESS OF FARMING 



start. There are a number of plans, any one of which he may 

 follow in doing this: (1) He may rent a farm already equipped. 

 (2) He may become a farm laborer and gradually accumulate 

 experience and a little money with which to start. (3) Oppor- 

 tunities are afforded for borrowing money to be invested in farm 

 lands, and the necessary equipment. (4) He may earn money 

 in some other occupation and save for the first investment. (5) 

 He may start in a small way by buying enough land to start some 

 small line of farming such as poultry keeping or gardening. 



There are several methods in vogue of renting farms, among 

 tenants and land owners in different parts of the country. Proba- 

 bly the most satisfactory for both parties concerned is cash rent. 

 Share rental is practiced in many cases. The tenant usually gets 

 two-thirds or three-fifths of the grain sold, if it be a grain farm. 

 In cases where the owner furnishes considerable equipment in the 

 form of machinery, stock, rather expensive buildings and barns, 

 the landlord usually receives one-half the returns. Where special 

 crops, such as small fruit, garden truck, sugar beets and others 

 requiring much labor are produced, the tenant receives a corre- 

 spondingly large share of the returns. Whether to start into 

 farming as a tenant or not will depend very much upon the ex- 

 perience and industry of the operator himself. He may succeed 

 very well and soon be able to buy a farm for himself. On the 

 other hand many farmers remain tenants all their lives and move 

 about from place to place, taking little interest in the community 

 in which they live. This condition is very deplorable. 



A young man with a little farm experience and with a determi- 

 nation to do the best he can his hands and his heart full of will- 

 ingness to make the farm pay his employer a good return may 

 receive board and washing, and perhaps a dollar a day as an 

 average throughout the year on the farms of the East and Middle 

 West. Wages will vary considerably in different regions. Such 

 a wage is fully equivalent to fifty or sixty dollars a month in a 

 city where he must pay out much of his income for board and 

 washing. His incidental expenses are naturally much less on the 

 farm. If he is married his house rent is given instead of his board 

 on the farm. Indeed, a single man may be able to save most of his 

 wages and start a bank account at interest from the very beginning. 



If a young man chooses a suitable farm on which to hire out as 

 a laborer, he should count as no small asset the experience which 

 he will gain in a few years in the management of the soils, the 



