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"Agriculture, the basis of a rural existence, must be regarded 

 as a science, as a business and as a life. I have already adverted to 

 President Roosevelt's formula for solving the rural problem "better 

 farming, better business, better living." Better farming simply means 

 the application of modern science to the practice of agriculture. 

 Better business is the no less necessary application of modern com- 

 mercial methods to the business side of the farming industry. Better 

 living is the building up, in rural communities, of a domestic and 

 social life which will withstand the growing attractions of the 

 modern city. 



" This threefold scheme of reform covers the whole ground and 

 will become the basis of the Country Life movement. But in the 

 working out of the general scheme, there must be one important 

 change in the order of procedure ' better business ' must come 

 first. The dull commercial details of agriculture have been sadly 

 neglected, perhaps on account of the more human interest of the 

 scientific and social aspect of country life. Yet my own experience 

 in working at the rural problem in Ireland has convinced me that 

 our first step towards its solution is to be found in a better 

 organisation of the farmer's business. It is strange but true that 

 the level efficiency reached in many European countries was due 

 to American competition, which in the last half of the nineteenth 

 century forced Continental farmers to reorganise their industry alike 

 in production, in distribution and in its finance. Both Irish experience 

 and Continental study have convinced me that neither good husbandry 

 nor a worthy social life can be ensured unless accompanied by 

 intelligent and efficient business methods." . . . 



"Better Farming and Better Living. We want two changes in 

 the rural mind not omitting the rural teacher's mind. First, the 

 interest which the physical environment of the farmer provides to 

 followers of almost every branch of science must be communicated 

 to the agricultural classes according to their capacities. Second, 

 that intimacy with and affection for Nature, to which Wordsworth 

 has given the highest expression, must in some way be engendered 

 in the rural mind. In this way alone will the countryman come 

 to realize the beauty of the life around him, as through the teaching 

 of science he will learn to realise its truth. 



"Upon this reformed education, as a basis, the rural economy 

 must be built. It must, if my view be accepted, ensure, first and 

 foremost, the combination of farmers for business purposes in such 

 a manner as will enable them to control their own marketing and 



