HUMAN EFFORT AS A FACTOR IN PRODUCTION 247 



and guard against their carelessness. There are still some kinds of 

 farming in which machinery is little used, but more and more the 

 farmer-mechanic with his machine is replacing the hand laborer. 



The farmer has ever been a naturalist. He used to conspire with 

 the moon and the almanac to coax nature to yield a bountiful harvest. 

 Today he may learn from the experiences in other states and countries 

 and from scientific investigation. If a farmer is to compete with his 

 neighbors, he must study the science of planLand animal production. 

 If he takes a keen delight in watching plants and animals thrive it 

 will add much to his pleasure and, if tempered with good judgment, 

 will go far toward bringing success. 



A generation ago the farmer was primarily a laborer. His few 

 machines were all muscle testers. Physical strength and physical 

 skill were among the greatest assets, and they will always be important 

 considerations for the farmer. The prospective farmer who is skilful 

 with his hands and likes to do manual labor has two of the very 

 desirable traits for a farmer. 



69. FARMING DEMANDS EXPERIENCE AS WELL AS 

 KNOWLEDGE 1 



BY G. F. WARREN 



Many persons, who are not closely in touch with farming, believe 

 that the introduction of machinery has done away with the necessity 

 for strength and skill in manual operations. Few people realize how 

 hard it is to acquire this manual skill. The writer has had an 

 opportunity to see the efforts of many city persons, and has been 

 surprised to see how difficult it is to acquire manual dexterity. The 

 children on the farm learn by years of practice. It takes thousands 

 of efforts for the boy to learn to throw a baseball straight. Apparently 

 it is just as difficult to learn to pitch hay. If this skill is acquired by 

 ten years of practice in childhood, little is thought about it, but if it 

 is to be acquired by a mature man, it is a serious undertaking. Milk- 

 ing, using a saw, using an ax, and a thousand other manual operations 

 are hard for a grown person to learn; but if one has been used to 

 manual labor so that he has trained muscles, new operations are not 

 so difficult. Grown persons who have never learned to do manual 

 work of any kind rarely become successful farmers. The time to 

 train the muscles is when they are young. 



1 Adapted from Farm Management, pp. 4-7. (Copyright by the Macmillan 

 Co.) 



