136 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



in cities is primarily that they have learned to take an interest in 

 their work and have learned to stick to it even if they had rather 

 not. Children who have grown up in idleness in a city do not 

 often take kindly to the discipline of farm life. The family that 

 can derive much of its pleasure from the labor on the farm has 

 one of the most important qualifications for success in farming. 

 The primary ways of overcoming the isolation of farm life are to 

 derive pleasure from work and to be able to entertain oneself 

 by reading. 



The many other advantages of farm life are fully discussed in 

 the magazines. The purpose of this circular is not to discuss the 

 advantages or disadvantages of being a farmer but to give some 

 cautions to those who are going to start farming. 



First learn the business. There are several reasons why one 

 may wish to buy a farm. One may desire to live on a farm while 

 he continues his employment in the city. One may want a farm 

 as a country home. Or one may desire a farm as a place on 

 which to make a living that is, a real farm. 



If the farm is to be a home only, it is of course desirable to 

 know something about farming, but it is not necessary, because 

 the living is made in some other business. The farm is not ex- 

 pected to furnish the income ; but if the aim is to make farming a 

 business, then one should learn the business before he invests 

 money in it. The farm boy who goes to town starts in at the 

 bottom and serves some time in subordinate positions before he 

 enters business for himself. If a successful farmer should decide 

 that he desired to go into the grocery business, he should begin 

 in a subordinate position in order to learn the business. It would 

 be very unwise for him to start by buying a store before he had 

 had any experience. It is even more unwise for one who has 

 never farmed to buy a farm before he knows anything about the 

 business. The way to gain the necessary experience is to work 

 for a farmer as a hired man. The failure to appreciate the neces- 

 sity of an apprenticeship before starting farming is the reason why 

 a circular such as this is needed. If prospective farmers were 

 willing to learn something about the business before starting, they 

 would not make the many errors that call for this advice. The 



