50 THE AFFAIRS OF THE FARM 



individuals are thrown closely together in their habits of 

 living. Quite as naturally do we look for collective action 

 in most of the rural districts of Europe, for the reason that 

 the farms there are much smaller in size than the average 

 of America, thus bringing the rural workers together more 

 directly. Our broad acres, without the best means of com- 

 munication and travel, do not lend themselves so readily 

 to community planning. 



One of the best means of fostering early in life a feeling 

 that should later ripen into a wholesome cooperation is 

 group contests. When a pupil raises a patch of corn in 

 competition with many others, he is receiving, no doubt, a 

 kind of training which can not be excelled by any other 

 method ; but if we carry these individual contests very far, 

 pupils begin to think too much of themselves, or of winning 

 the prize. They become selfish and distrustful of others. 



When, however, the young people of a farm section form 

 a group or club and then plan and strive to get superior 

 results as a group, each member becoming willing to sacri- 

 fice a little personal advantage for the good of the whole, 

 we are laying the foundation for an efficient community 

 spirit in later life. Just as we play or work together, as 

 young folks, so later on we will select together certain 

 varieties of fruit, kinds of poultry, cattle, or grains, and 

 soon develop a high degree of local pride by producing 

 products of the highest merit. Instead of one farmer alone 

 trying to place his district " on the map " there will be 

 team work, united effort. 



The leader of this community action, whether the local 

 minister, teacher, or Y. M. C. A. director, will have one 

 ideal; namely, to make the local farm life better for all, 

 both socially and economically. Dealers who are looking 

 for produce in large quantities will then soon learn that in 

 the southern end of a certain county, for example, farmers 



