FARMS 
investment of over $6,000 for land, stock 
and farm machinery. So long as it is true 
that the average wage worker, with no 
investment at all, can live in town and 
receive for his year’s labor as much as 
the average farmer receives with his 
$6,000 investment, it will be impossible 
to keep our best, most educated and 
spirited young people on the farm. 
The tendency has been to build up 
our manufacturing, mining, and com- 
mercial industries by bonuses, subsidies, 
tariffs, land grants and other devices, 
disproportionately when compared to the 
importance and extent of the wealth pro- 
duced and the number of persons em- 
ployed on farms. The tendency is now 
to give more attention to the farm, to 
educate the farmer as to the best meth- 
ods of production, to show how larger 
crops can be produced for a given amount 
ot labor, and how greater profits may be 
obtained without raising the cost to con- 
sumers. 
It is a fact that work on the farm is 
conducted with less system, and less 
scientific analysis of all the factors in- 
volved, than most other lines of business. 
Comparatively few farmers keep any- 
thing like correct book accounts of the 
expenses and income of the various de- 
partments of farm work. Few have any 
idea as to the best methods of soil con- 
servation for the various kinds of crops, 
and how to leave to their children land 
as rich or richer than they found it, and 
fewer still seem to recognize the value of 
a proper cultivation of social life. 
The isolation of farm life is being, 
in part, overcome by the use of auto- 
mobiles which, on account of the rapid 
travel, seems to shorten the distances be- 
tween places. But the ownership of 
automobiles implies more than average 
conditions on the part of the owners. It 
implies an additional expenditure for 
good roads. This means that the farm 
must be made sufficiently profitable to 
pay for all these expenses. 
Generally a fruit growing district 
yields more wealth, in proportion to a 
given area, than a country devoted to 
other kinds of production. It would 
probably be easier therefore for fruit 
937 
growers to live on smaller tracts of 
land, live in closer relations to each oth- 
er, have better roads, more modern im- 
provements and better social life than 
farmers in general; but it is neverthe- 
less a question largely of financial profit, 
which must be worked out in a more 
scientific way than formerly. 
GRANVILLE LOWTHER 
MINOR ARTICLES OF FARM 
EQUIPMENT 
Few farmers realize the extent of their 
investment in small items of equipment 
or the time and inconvenience involved 
in buying numerous articles singly or in 
small lots. Before planning the farm 
equipment, due consideration should be 
given to the necessary outlay for minor 
items, and where possible the latter 
should be secured at one purchase, there- 
by saving time and, usually, money. The 
purchase of these articles in such a man- 
ner will mean a total expenditure suf- 
ficient to impress the farmer with the 
need for their systematic care. The 
minor items for a general farm of 160 
acres in the Middle Western states will 
probably cost from $200 to $300. 
The lists given below are in the na- 
ture of a census in that they present 
data from which each individual may 
secure the information suited to his own 
use. These lists are printed with that 
object in view rather than as a recom- 
mendation of what should be purchased. 
Farmers’ Bulletin 347, following a discus- 
sion of the various workshop tools, states 
that the complete equipment of a shop 
for the making of general farm repairs 
should include a blacksmithing outfit, a 
$25 collection of wood working and gen- 
eral purpose tools, a pipe working com- 
bination, miscellaneous tools, a harness 
repair outfit, a work bench, a pair of saw 
horses, and a grindstone, and that this 
entire equipment for a shop can be se- 
cured for about $100 in a fair quality of 
goods, while for $150 tools of excellent 
quality can be obtained. 
The great number of general purpose 
items, other than those mentioned, to- 
gether with those for use in connection 
with the producing enterprises, and the 
stock of materials needed for the repair 
