TRAINING FOR THE BUSINESS OF FARMING. 9 



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CHAPTER I. 



TRAINING FOR THE BUSINESS OF FARMING. 



QUESTION. What, in your opinion, Mr. Crozier, are the chances of 

 making a farm pay, if the owner is unable to superintend it himself, 

 and has to rely on the knowledge ef hired superintendence ? This is 

 a question that has been asked me scores of times each season, in 

 regard to the business of market gardening, and my unvarying reply 

 has been, that the chances for success are all against the person 

 undertaking such a business under such conditions. 



ANSWER. I am inundated with the same sort of inquiries, and am glad 

 to have an opportunity of making a general reply. I entirely coincide 

 with your opinion, that no man should attempt farming, or garden- 

 ing, in the hope of making it a profitable business, unless he is will- 

 ing and able to take hold with his own hands and employ his own 

 brains in the work. I have known of many who have made large 

 investments in farming and stock raising, but have never known one 

 instance where the owner who failed to take an active part in the 

 work ever made it a success. It is unreasonable to expect it. If 

 you or I took it into our heads to engage in the dry goods or grocery 

 business, and put our hands in our pockets and trusted entirely to 

 the knowledge, honesty and energy of a hired manager to run the 

 business, it is certain that these pockets would soon be empty if 

 their supply was dependent upon the profits. But the educated city 

 merchant, doctor, lawyer or parson is apt to look upon the tillers of 

 the soil as a slow, ignorant, unlettered class, destitute of business 

 capacities, and often deludes himself with the belief that his want of 

 knowledge of rural affairs will be more than compensated by his ad- 

 vantages of education or business experience, when he concludes to 

 engage in farming. This delusion draws hundreds from the city to 

 the farm, to their ruin, every year. The only true way for a man 

 who has previously been engaged in other business, and who wishes. 

 to become a farmer, is to get the privilege of taking active hold 

 of the work, under the instruction of some farmer who has 

 made the business a success. Twelve months thus spent with 

 energy and application, would give him a knowledge from which 

 a reasonable chance of success might be expected, always pro- 



