8 



able pursuit, but we must invest it with such attractions that the 

 best young men and women will not wish to leave the country 

 and the farm for the city and the yard stick. 



The farmer's home is indeed one of plenty. Comfortable houses 

 — spacious barns — broad acres of meadow, and field, and of wood- 

 land — good horses, cows, and oxen, and sheep loaded with finest 

 of wool — store rooms filled with milk, and cream, and butter, and 

 cheese, and newly laid eggs — cellars stored with pork and beef, 

 and all the products of the field, the orchard, and the garden — 

 are the almost constant surroundings of the farmer ; and it would 

 seem they leave little to be desired. And yet, the young men 

 and women of to-day find too little attraction in the farmer's 

 home and in the farmer's pursuits ; and too many of them leave 

 the quiet homestead, and cast their lot with the crowded popula- 

 tions of the cities — where some indeed succeed, but where many, 

 after a long struggle, utterly fail. 



Now if there be anything that we can do to make the attrac- 

 tions of the farm and farm life greater than they now are, and 

 thus retain more of the best young men and women in the farm- 

 ers' ranks, surely we are ready, I know, to consider candidly any 

 suggestions which tend to secure this great result. 



Since there is so much of plenty and of physical comfort in the 

 farmer's home and in the farmer's life, it would seem that hardly 

 more is needed to make that life desirable by the young than that 

 the homes should be made still more beautiful and attractive, and 

 that the idea of drudgery should be still more separated from the 

 duties of the farmer's wife. 



I am not unmindful that I am here stepping on delicate ground ; 

 but this shall not deter me from saying that it is my conviction 

 that farmers will greatly advance their own interests and greatly 

 contribute to the welfare of the community and of the state, if 

 they will give still more attention to adorning and beautifying 

 their homes, and thus making them as attractive as possible to 

 those whom they would win to the noble work in which they 

 themselves are engaged. 



A conveniently planned, and architecturally beautiful, and 

 neatly painted farm-house — no matter how humble, if it only 



