4 THE PRINCIPLES OF AGRICULTURE 



2. The Personal Factors Upon Which Its 

 Success Depends 



2a. Upon business or executive ability 



10. Since the farmer makes a living by 

 means of trade, it follows that ability to man- 

 age business and affairs is requisite to his suc- 

 cess. Executive ability is as needful to him as 

 to the merchant or the manufacturer ; and the 

 lack of such ability is probably the commonest 

 and most serious fault with our agriculture. As 

 the conditions of trade are ever changing, so the 

 methods of the farmer must be amenable to 

 modification. He must quickly and completely 

 adapt himself to the commerce of the time. 

 Manifestly, however, this business capability 

 cannot be taught by books. It is a matter of 

 temperament, home training, and opportunity. 

 Like all permanent success, business prosperity 

 depends upon correct thinking, and then upon 

 the correct application of the thinking. Suc- 

 cessful agriculture, therefore, is a matter of 

 personality more than of circumstances. 



11. The compound result of executive ability 

 and experience may be expressed in the term 

 farm - practice. It is the judgment of the 

 farmer upon the question in hand. However 

 much he may learn from science, his own 



