Fortunes for Farmers 



fashioned well-to-do farmer was the type from 

 which " John Bull " was drawn, with top boots, 

 flap pockets, bull dog, russet cheeks, and the most 

 clearly defined vices and virtues. He can still be 

 seen with his ruddy face and cheerful corporation, 

 looking very like a bull indeed, bucolic and 

 rubicund, the type that Dickens immortalized 

 in old Wardle, with his jolly farm house, 

 his retainers, and his abundance of eatables 

 and drinkables. But he becomes yearly rarer, 

 and is no longer typical. Just now we are passing 

 through a crisis, and no one can point to a distinct 

 farming type, but order will presently resolve 

 itself, and the farmer of the future appear. 



If we look to America we usually see what is 

 going to happen, and already, there, farmers by 

 thousands are buying motors and installing 

 telephones. These will revolutionize rural life 

 and no one realizes what they will accomplish. 

 Already we see the coming of a cheap light motor 

 for farmers, from America, and when the tele- 

 phone is obtainable at a nominal rate, every one 

 will have it. In America the farming subscribers 

 outnumber all the others put together. The 

 great drawback of isolation that has driven so 

 many into the towns will be overcome, and 

 every one will be in immediate touch, a priceless 

 boon. There will be the accompanying develop- 



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