THIRTY-SIXTH ANNUAL CONVENTION. 379 



the dairy conditions and methods. I^ow can the best boys be 

 prevented from leaving the farm? There are three essential 

 things which must be demonstrated to the average bright Ameri- 

 can farm boy to make him stay on the farm : First, that there are, 

 on the whole, possibilities for as great an income on the farm^ 

 -with the same expenditure of energy and brain, as in other call- 

 ings ; second, that farm life may be made attractive and robbed 

 of its old-time drudgery; and third, that the honors to be attain- 

 ed by the farmer, and the recognition given him, are as great as 

 in the professions in the city. 



With the increased yields now being secured by the most 

 progressive, and the practice of business methods^ the man on a 

 dairy farm may have an income that will enable him to develop 

 the other two requirements. 



Drudgery and Discouragement Are the Worst Side. 



The most serious side of the poor cow question, after all, is 

 not the money she loses, but the drudgery she causes through 

 waste of energy bestowed upon her, which discourages and dis- 

 heartens not only the owner, but drives all of the bright boys 

 from the farm. The way to attach the boy to the farm is by 

 achievement. Think of the energy wasted by a man, and his 

 family who keep a herd like the one shown in the first table, — 

 and there are many such. The children in this family learn, all 

 too early, the meaning of drudgery and discouragement. The 

 only way a man with a herd as poor as this can hold the business 

 together at all is by having his children do a large amount of the 

 milking and other workj for which they receive no compensation 

 whatever. Add to this poor crops, which naturally follow this 

 sort of dairying, and then go still further and think of the mil- 

 lions of needless steps taken in caring for the herd and its pro- 

 duct, due to barns poorly arranged for doing the work conven- 

 iently^ and you have the picture of a life, sad in the extreme. 



The Desolate Home. 



The desolate home — no paint on the house, no honeysuckle 

 over the door, and no time or money for the comforts within 

 that go to make a house a home, — such conditions are far-reach- 



