PRINCIPLES OF PERMANENT AGRICULTURE 29 



tunity. This tendency is being overcome in a con- 

 siderable measure at present, but its ultimate 

 solution demands a type of agriculture which 

 will require a high degree of intelligence and 

 will necessitate the exercising of mental and 

 executive ability equal to that demanded by the 

 best professional work. American agriculture may 

 well heed the example of English husbandry in this 

 respect. British and American farming will always 

 diflfer, in that in England farming is essentially an 

 occupation of the aristocracy, while American agri- 

 culture depends for its development upon the small 

 landowner. The feature which it is desirable for 

 American agriculture to adopt from the English is 

 the tendency of transmitting not only the land, but 

 the farming practices and experiences of one 

 generation to each succeeding generation, so 

 that one definite system may be followed 

 out in all its details through many generations in 

 the same family. The development of some of the 

 famous breeds and families of cattle has been 

 brought about by this English custom of training 

 the son to continue the father's work. Agriculture 

 of this type has never been developed under any 

 condition which does not include a large proportion 

 of live stock husbandry. On the other hand, sys- 

 tems of exclusive grain farming have always tended 

 toward a relatively low plane of country life, and in 

 the last analysis, toward peasant farming. 



CONSIDERATIONS OF FARM LABOR 



The farm labor question is one of the most seri- 

 ous which now confronts the American farmer. 

 One needs to look no further for evidence of this 

 problem than the cry which goes up annually from 



