240 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



farmer and his family and interest on the investment, there is usu- 

 ally no balance, and on many farms the balance is on the wrong side 

 of the ledger. 



To state the reasons for this condition of affairs would lead us too 

 far away from our present purpose. It will suffice here merely to 

 state that ordinarily profits in farming are not large, and that 

 therefore farm wages are not high. It takes several years of self- 

 denial and careful saving for the farm laborer to lay by enough to 

 become a tenant or a small proprietor. Nevertheless, this has been 

 done repeatedly and can be done if the laborer has sufficient intelli- 

 gence and determination. 



LIMITED OPPORTUNITIES OF THE FARM LABORER. 



As a farm laborer a young man has some chance to study agri- 

 cultural literature and to learn many necessary details of farming, 

 without which knowledge it would be unwise to undertake farming 

 as a means of livelihood. But the opportunity for study on the 

 part of the farm laborer is not as great as it ought to be. Many 

 farmers attempt to overcome low profits by long hours of labor 

 instead of by intelligent study of the details of their business. Com- 

 paratively few farmers limit the hours of labor in such a way as to 

 give time for a proper study of their business. Under ordinary cir- 

 cumstances, therefore, it is hardly practicable for the ordinary city 

 employee to become a farmer through the position of farm laborer. 

 In the first place, even the farm laborer must have a knowledge of 

 details which it takes some years of experience to acquire, in order 

 to make his services of value to the farmer. In the second place, the 

 standard of living of the average farm laborer would greatly dis- 

 courage the city-bred family. Yet where it is possible to secure 

 employment with a view to learning the details of farming, it is wise 

 to do so, provided the city man who is trying to-break away from the 

 city and get on to the land has the courage to undergo the hard- 

 ships incident to such a change speaking, of course, of the man who 

 has little or no capital with which to begin business for himself. 



CONDITIONS THE CITY MAN MUST MEET IN FARMING. 



It is still less feasible for the city man with no knowledge of 

 farming to begin as a tenant farmer. The tenant must pay rent 

 and must know how to farm in order to make ends meet. To move 

 from the city to the country, with no capital, would appear, there- 

 fore, to be a very serious undertaking, and the writer would not 

 advise city people to undertake it. However, if a small capital has 

 been saved up the move can be made; but in practically all cases 

 the beginning should be made not as a farm laborer or as a tenant, 

 but as a small proprietor, the size of the establishment depending, of 



