FARMING MORE PROFITABLE THAN EVER 23 



consider a day or a week in the country a privilege. 

 They are looking for but a glimpse of natural beauty 

 that can be part of the farmer's home surroundings 

 during the entire season. 



At present 2,000 American high schools are teaching 

 agriculture ; 37,000 students in these schools are studying 

 this subject. There is a great shortage of well-prepared 

 high school teachers of agriculture, and such teachers re- 

 ceive 50 to 100 per cent greater salary than do teachers 

 of other subjects. There is no reason why a part of the 

 studies carried on in the agricultural colleges today 

 could not be given to pupils in properly equipped rural 

 schools, a greater portion of which equipment would be 

 an experimental plot. 



We now recognize the need not only of knowing the 

 general laws of nature and their application to methods 

 of culture but that each farmer should be able to 

 make the application under his peculiar conditions of soil, 

 climate, topography, market and transportation facilities. 

 So long as there are unsolved problems lying before our 

 farmers, which can be solved only in the light of knowl- 

 edge which the average farmer can not gain for himself, 

 then the schools must help. 



There is the problem of distributing products once 

 grown; nearness to market, transportation, character of 

 market, competition for the market, function and rewards 

 of middlemen, development of agricultural credit, busi- 

 ness co-operation among farmers, etc. These economic 

 considerations, just because they are vital to the success 

 of agriculture, are a subject for thorough investigation. 



Our greatest concern is with the quality of people de- 

 veloped by the rural mode of living. Hence, the condi- 

 tions of rural life — moral, religious, recreational — are 

 of significance. Because these things are vital to the wel- 

 fare of the nation they must be studied. 



Next to this is the recognized need of stimulating 



