786 SUCCESSFUL FARMING 



ment, and is decidedly educational in its value, and may at the same 

 time be made productive. Farm boys have the companionship of their 

 fathers, and are often made to feel that they are taking a part in the work 

 that he is doing. 



The introduction of manual training into the schools of the cities 

 is but a reflection of the necessit}' for training the city boy to use his 

 hands in productive work. Habits of industry formed early in life are 

 essential to a successful life. 



Healthfulness of the Country. — Recent investigations by several life 

 insurance companies show that longevity and diminished liability to dis- 

 ease are decidedly favored in the country. Typhoid, malaria, influenza, 

 dysentery, apoplexy, peritonitis, paralysis and heart disease are found to 

 be slightly more common in the country than in cities. A number of 

 these diseases, however, are recognized as diseases of old age. The marked 

 tendency during recent years for the young people of the farm to go towards 

 the cities has resulted in a much greater percentage of old people on the 

 farms than in cities. In cities venereal diseases, cancer, meningitis, ente- 

 ritis, bronchitis, pneumonia, appendicitis, Bright's disease, tuberculosis, 

 alcoholism and violence are much more common than in the country. 



Sanitary conveniences and regulations are much better in the cities 

 than in the country, but there is no reason why they should not be equally 

 as good in the country, and the tendency is now marked in that direction. 



The Farm a Home Enterprise. — In no other business is the home so 

 closely related to the business as in farming. Success on the farm depends 

 to a considerable extent on the home. Much of the farm work is done 

 in the home, such, for example, as making butter, caring for the milk and 

 preparing many of the articles for market. The care of poultry, the garden 

 and the fruit often falls largely into the hands of the housewife and the 

 children. For this reason, farming is a family business and unmarried 

 farmers are at a decided disadvantage. Statistics show a very small per- 

 centage of farms operated by unmarried people. Such are usually the 

 result of death of either the husband or wife, and frequently result in a 

 change of occupation. 



The Farm as a Home. — The advantages of the farm as a homo are 

 recognized to such an extent that we find close to cities and villages many 

 who live on small farms, but who are engaged in some other occupation. 

 The advantages lie largely in the reduced cost of living. Land, being- 

 less expensive, may be had in sufficient quantity to produce a large part 

 of the products necessary for family use. These consist of fruits, vege- 

 tables, poultry, eggs, milk and butter, and in many cases a considerable 

 part of the meat. Then, too, there are the advantages previously men- 

 tioned of affording employment for members of the family that would 

 otherwise have no work to do. The work in this case becomes profitable, 

 both from the educational and financial standpoints. 



The farmer frequently fails to give the farm full credit for the pre- 



