142 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



Starting as a young man without capital. A young man can 

 take up any kind of business that he Hkes, and if he first prepares 

 for the business and then works hard at it he may hope for suc- 

 cess. The way to prepare for farming is by working as a hired 

 man on a farm. Visiting on farms does not prepare one for farm- 

 ing any more than visiting in town prepares one to be a banker. 

 There is no way to learn to farm except by farming. It is an 

 excellent thing for city boys to work as farm laborers during 

 the summer vacation while they are in high school. 



It pays a young man to make a thorough preparation for any 

 business before he goes into it. Such a preparation for farming 

 includes work at an agricultural college as well as work as a farm 

 hand. Neither one can take the place of the other. The work on 

 a farm should precede the college work. It is a serious mistake 

 for one who plans to farm to take a college course in agriculture 

 before he has worked on a farm. There are many reasons why 

 the farm work should come first. Not until one has worked on 

 a farm does he know whether or not he wants to be a farmer. 

 Many young men are quickly cured of any such desire as soon as 

 they find out what farming means. The sooner such men find 

 this out the better. Others like farming better than they expected 

 to. It is a great mistake for parents, or anyone else, to try to 

 make farmers out of young men who are not going to like farm- 

 ing. When a young man is deciding what his life work is to be, 

 he does not need blinders. 



A person who has never worked on a farm is not prepared to 

 take a college course in agriculture. He will gain vastly more 

 from such a course after he has had farm experience. The young 

 man from the city should spend at least one full year on a farm 

 before he takes such a course. Two years would be very much 

 better. 



Farmers usually hire men after they have seen them. They do 

 not ordinarily hire by correspondence. If one does not know 

 where to get work, he should go to a farming community and 

 start out in the country to look for work. He will usually get a 

 temporary place if he looks as if he would not be afraid of work. 

 At first an inexperienced city boy is rarely worth his board. As 



