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HUMAN EFFORT AS A FACTOR IN PRODUCTION 217 



children and some men, too, go from the city to the farm at certain 

 seasons to harvest cucumbers to be sold to the pickle factory; to pick, 

 grade, pack, and dry fruits; to harvest hops and berries, and dig 

 potatoes; and so on with other crops that need a rush of labor at time 

 of harvest. Some labor of this sort is applied also to the cultivation 

 of crops, as in pulling weeds from beets and onions, but this labor 

 does not seem to be used much for cultivating crops and not at all 

 for planting. 



There are no indications that the town and city populations will 

 supply any considerable part of the agricultural labor of the future. 

 At any rate, the farmer would not need to get his labor from the 

 cities if he could hold the country population to the soil, and the 

 recognition of the importance of retaining the children on the farm 

 and of keeping country labor from migrating to the cities is governing 

 most of the work by nation and states in behalf of agriculture. 



The old practice was to trust to the printed page for the instruc- 

 tion of the farmer, but in the course of time it was found that this 

 was poorly productive of results. Then followed the farmers' insti- 

 tute movement, which consisted of lectures; sometimes later with 

 practical demonstrations. 



In the meantime the United States Department of Agriculture 

 and the experiment stations got into more practical lines of work by 

 means of special advice in particular cases, formerly by mail and now 

 also by personal visits; so that it has been discovered that the most 

 successful promotion of agricultural knowledge and practice is caused 

 by practical demonstrations under the observation of the farmers to 

 be instructed. 



The largest exponent of this latter plan of instruction is the 

 farmers' co-operative demonstration work, maintained in the South 

 by the Department of Agriculture with outside financial assistance 

 and with the effective help of farmers and planters, without whose 

 aid it would be a failure. 



Along with the foregoing is the very recent movement to instruct 

 country children in agriculture at the beginning of their school life 

 and to continue this instruction in the high school and the college. 

 In this way the foundation will be laid for successful farming, and 

 such farming implies the retention of children upon the farm. 



Still further and to the same end, many agencies are at work upon 

 the country people to improve their dwellings, their modes of living, 

 their home life, and their social life, which are already beginning to 



