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MAKING THE FARM PAY 



The Modern Farmer's Opportunity 



Modern farming, as the author views the subject, re- 

 quires varied information as well as unflagging zeal and 

 industry. It needs the application of commercial ideas. 

 Real success in agriculture can only be attained by keep- 

 ing up with changing conditions and developing a well- 

 balanced business programme to go with the tilling of 

 the soil. 



The average land owner, or the old-fashioned farmer, 

 as he is sometimes referred to, has a great deal of prac- 

 tical knowledge, and yet is deficient in some of the most 

 salient requirements. He may know how to produce a 

 good crop and not know how to sell it to the best ad- 

 vantage. No citizen surpasses him in the skill and in- 

 dustry with which he performs his labor, but in many 

 cases his time is frittered away with the least profitable 

 of products, while he overlooks opportunities to meet a 

 constant market demand for articles which return large 

 profits. 



Worse than this, he follows a method which turns agri- 

 cultural work into drudgery, and his sons and daughters 

 forsake the farm home as soon as they are old enough 

 to assert a little independence. At this point the greatest 

 failures are to be recorded. A situation has developed as a 

 result of these existing conditions in the country which is 

 a serious menace to American society. The farmers are 

 deprived of the earnest, intelligent help which naturally 



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