THE YOUNG FARMER 



may, however, greatly reduce the time 

 necessary to acquire even this practical ex- 

 perience. For example, a course in shop 

 work as taught in technical high schools and 

 colleges, requiring two hours a day for five 

 months, may shorten the time of apprentice- 

 ship by one or more years, in acquiring the 

 trade of carpenter or iron worker. In the 

 same manner a course in butter making, 

 cheese making or floriculture, may shorten 

 the time required to obtain the necessary 

 practical details by ten months or even 

 more. Eventually, also, the man thus 

 trained will be the better man. 



If the industrial activities of the world 

 be divided into farming, mining, manufac- 

 turing, trade and transportation, it will be 

 noted at once that farming is the only one 

 which deals with living things. In fact, the 

 definition of agriculture, in its broadest 

 sense, is the economic production of living 

 things. The farmer is thus brought face to 

 face with some of the most difficult and in- 

 tricate problems with which the human race 

 has to grapple. It is this fact that makes 



6 



