84 THE farmer's education. 



roads, when it will be possible at all times of the year easily 

 to reacli the town, the distance in miles will become of less im- 

 portance. But with conditions as they are now in a very 

 large proportion of our rural districts, when, for a part of the 

 year, the public highways are in an almost impassable con- 

 dition, the distance ^/iroit^/i which one must travel such high- 

 ways in passing to and from the market should have an 

 important influence in determining what farm should be 

 selected for a home. 



The Farm as a Source of Income. — Being in possession of a 

 farm, there is then at hand abundant opportunity for study, 

 and the ways in which different ones will take up the study 

 will probably be as various as the farms to be studied. There 

 are, however, certain important considerations which should 

 be given careful thought, for, no matter how pleasant the loca- 

 tion as a home, if one can not secure a competence upon the 

 farm, tlien it will be necessary to look to other employment as 

 a means of sustenance. 



With the farm there is possessed not only a certain area 

 which can be measured in acres, but also a vast amount of 

 plant food, raw material, from which are to be manufactured 

 certain products. The plant food in the soil really consti- 

 tutes the stock of the farmer. The value of this stock will 

 be determined, very largely, by the treatment the land has 

 received, the availability of the plant food in the soil, the tex- 

 ture of the soil, and the methods of agriculture to be pursued. 



There will be found certain fields of the farm which 

 exceed the average in fertility, and other fields will be found 

 deficient. Those fields which are deficient will naturally 

 receive attention first. A fertile field is one which will pro- 

 duce crops at a profit. If a field is found not to be producing 

 crops at a profit, then investigation should be commenced at 

 once to -determine the causes. The most common causes of 

 infertility are abuse of the land, poor texture of the soil, lack 

 of adaptation of soil to crop grown. It is probable that the 

 first cause mentioned is the most difficult of any to detect, 

 and it is one of the most common causes of infertility. 



The abuses most frequent are the annual removal of crops 



