SHALL I BE A FARMER? 13 



owner may be called away. The farm-hand, as well as 

 the owner, must be a man who will finish his job. 



Well-meaning persons have tried all kinds of philan- 

 thropic schemes for putting the submerged population 

 from the cities on farms. Such attempts always have 

 failed and always will fail, except in the few instances 

 where the submerged man has real ability. The in- 

 efficient person is much better off in a city, where he can 

 sweep streets, dig ditches, or work in a factory. Under 

 constant supervision, such as can then be given, the most 

 will be gotten out of his feeble talent. He will there 

 contribute most to the world and will receive a better 

 reward than he can obtain on a farm. There is now a 

 tendency for the extremes to move to cities, the ineffi- 

 cient and weak-willed and the strong executive to manage 

 them. 



Usually the attempt to place inefficient persons on farms 

 is further doomed to failure by the kind of land chosen. 

 In nearly all cases cheap or abandoned land is chosen 

 land on which the most intelligent farmers have failed 

 to make a good living. If such persons are to be placed 

 on farms, they should have the best land. They have 

 handicaps enough without adding the one almost insur- 

 mountable one of poor land. 



This does not mean that reform schools and similar 

 institutions should not be on farms. This is the best 

 possible place for such institutions. A discussion of such 

 farms is given in Chapter 20. 



8. Summary of personal traits of successful farmers. 

 - From a study of the most successful farms, it is found 

 that the preceding qualifications arc desirable. Occa- 

 sionally a man makes a fair success when he has no par- 

 ticular qualifications except muscle, but success under this 



