SUCCESSFUL FARMING. 



By John P. Honeycutt, 

 Farmer, Amboy, Lee County, 111. 



I have been requested to discuss a subject which to me appears to 

 be of great importance to the average individual of the present and future 

 generations. Successful operation of any permanent or enduring enter- 

 prise depends wholly upon the average net dividends from the labor and 

 expenses of conducting the business. 



How to make the farm an asset instead of a liability is a problem 

 that is engaging the attention of a great many people just now. In fact 

 it is causing some people to worry, and in occasional instances individuals 

 stand up and point the finger of scorn at an individual milk distributor, 

 produce dealer, banker, railroad man or farmer, and say, ''Thou art the 

 man who is getting the money," and immediately there is confusion, if 

 nothing more unseemly. 



Once in a great while it is necessary to fight, but earnest, careful, di- 

 rected work and a pleasant smile are always in order. Let us smile and 

 work. Personally I am glad that I am alive, and I have great confidence 

 in future prosperity, and I say to you that so long as I am alive I am not 

 licked. The conditions which are causing so much complaint are the 

 result of methods, some of which were never correct, from the very be- 

 ginning, and others have been outgrown. With all we have progressed 

 and prospered. We may draw a long face and cuss the government, and 

 all our commercial organizations, but I am going on record by asserting 

 the United States of America has the best form of government and is the 

 best governed country on the face of the earth today. We make mistakes, 

 but we have sense enough to correct them without wrecking the foundation. 

 I am a farmer and consider it an honor to be a worker in this most an- 

 cient occupation, and I believe there is a prosperous future for the busi- 

 ness farmer. 



The story of the beginning of the industry called farming interested 

 me exceedingly. I read it in a book that is generally conceded to be good 

 authority. I confess it has been quite a long time since I read the narra- 

 tive but as I now recall it, two of our excellent most ancient ancestors 

 made a total failure of trying to live a life of leisure, surrounded by every 

 possible luxury. They toiled not, neither did they sweat. No matter 

 what the reason, they failed, and suddenly found themselves thrown 

 ''back to the land," with positive injunction to make farming a paying 

 business, with the assurance that if they worked hard, they would be 



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