86 COUNTRY CHILDREN 



19. Drawbacks in the Farm as a Nursery.. An oak tree 

 growing alone spreads out and forms many thick limbs. 

 The growth that went into the limbs would have been 

 more useful had it gone into the main trunk. It would 

 have then formed a long, tapering body, yielding little 

 waste in lumbering. Forest trees growing together pro- 

 duce this desired form. Like the solitary oak, children 

 brought up on a farm, away from the touch of close neigh- 

 bors, are in danger of developing characteristics, like side 

 branches, that impair their usefulness. 



Isolation or separation from other people is a weakness 

 of our rural life. The country is too often a mere collection 

 of homes, rather than an association, or a community, of 

 homes. Alone with nature, young people tend to become 

 selfish and do not learn to cooperate. They receive little 

 practical training in service to any outside the home. 

 The little farm on which they were born and reared 

 assumes too great an importance when compared with the 

 rest of the world. The church and the school, agencies 

 that should train for rural service, are frequently poorly 

 adapted for effective work. 



Farm crops often suffer from a bad environment ami 

 heredity. The climate may be too cold or too hot, too 

 wet or too dry. The soil may be too rich or too poor. 

 Diseases may appear. The seed may have been weak 

 or diseased. All such conditions interfere with the best 

 growth of the farm crops. 



In the farm home, in like manner, children may be ex- 

 posed to too high a temperature or to impure air. Their 

 food may be too rich or too poor. Eye strains, ear defects, 

 and other general physical weaknesses may go uncorrected. 

 Parents may transmit tendencies to physical and moral 

 weaknesses, thus giving their children poor bodies and 

 minds. Little or no opportunity to develop the sense of 



