THE EXPANSION OF FARM LIFE 49 



the recognition that there is a basis of science in 

 agriculture. No stronger pleas for the advance- 

 ment of agricultural education can be found 

 than those that have recently been formulated 

 by farmers themselves. 



If this regeneration of farm life were wholly 

 material it would be worth noting; for it prom- 

 ises a prosperity built on foundations sufficiently 

 strong to withstand ordinary storms. Yet this 

 is but a chapter of the story. Not only are our 

 American farmers making a study of their busi- 

 ness, bringing to it the resources of advancing 

 knowledge and good mental training, and hence 

 deriving from it the strong, alert mental char- 

 acter that comes to all business men who pursue 

 equally intelligent methods, but the farmers are 

 by no means neglecting their duty to broaden 

 along general intellectual lines. Farmers have 

 always been interested in politics; there is no 

 reason to think that their interest is declining. 

 The Grange and other organizations keep their 

 attention on current problems. Traveling li- 

 braries, school libraries, and Grange libraries 

 are giving new opportunities for general reading, 

 and the farmer's family is not slow to accept the 

 chance. Low prices for magazines and family 

 papers bring to these periodicals an increasing 



