£©r i\)t JJoimg. 
• YOUTHS’ 
HORTICULTURAL CLUB 
OF THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER! 
EIGHTH REGULAR DISCUSSION. 
TOPIC.—Boys Leaving the Farm: Why 
they do it, and what is the Remedy? 
Uncle Mark: —As the Club assembles for 
its eighth discussion the chairman congratu¬ 
lates the members, i. e. some of them, on the 
renewed interest they have shown in writing 
upon this subject. Surely, it is one of very 
great interest to every farmer’s child, and 
every one can say a word or two about it. 
There are many boys, to day on the farm, 
who are uneasy and “chafing in the harness'’ 
and want to go to the city or the village to 
serve as clerks, bookkeepers, or even errand 
boys—anything to get away from farm work. 
They see bright visions of fine clothes and 
easily-attained wealth before them, and they 
grow weary with the drudgery of farm life. 
How many succeed! How many fail! But 
let’s see what the young folks themselves 
think about it. 
Don Folinno:— The subject is one of the 
best we have had yet: “ Why do boys leave 
the farm ? ” is the fi rst question. The answer 
is, they are not treated rightly. The farmers 
make their sons work as hard, if not harder 
than, the hired help. They do not pay them 
any wages, that is most of them don’t; if they 
do, they don’t give it to them as heartily as 
they should. They give them their clothes; 
make them work early and late, and when 
they see the city chap when he comes to the 
country to spend his vacation, all dressed up, 
watch, chaio, etc. (that is they generally have 
a chain, if they don’t have a watch), the 
country boys then wish they too could have 
such a good time as the city chaps do. This is 
the time the hard-worked country boys wish 
they could go to the city and make such lots 
of money; but once they try it, they want to 
get back. Where one succeeds a thousand 
fail. On rainy days you will find the coun¬ 
try boy in the barn or at the store. Now, 
why don’t the farmer have a work room 
where he can teach the boys something t No: 
it will cost him some money, and they will 
waste woodaud wear out tools; that s what he 
thinks about, but never what good it will do 
them. Si the world rolls around, and the 
farmers’ boys go to the cities and towns, aud 
are led into temptation, it may be, and when 
they fail, then they sigh for the free life in the 
country, even if they do have to work hard 
and get their hands dirty. 
“ What is the remedy ? ” is the second ques¬ 
tion. The answer iB, Let the farmers treat 
their sons above the hired help, pay them 
wages, give them land to work for them¬ 
selves and give them the profits of it. But 
let them neglect it and the boys will grumble, 
and the first thing you know off to the city 
they start. Instead of that, if the farmer 
will give him a calf or lamb aud say, “ Now 
this belongs to you for good, and all the 
money you can make out of it belongs to you,” 
and also with this give him a few rods of 
ground for his farm (that’s what he will call 
it), also seeds, the use of tools, horse, etc., and 
for pay let the boys do light work, Buch as 
weeding etc, the boys will take pride in their 
work, love the farm, and wili have no desire 
to leave it. Let the farmer gradually in¬ 
crease the boys’ land each year, and by the 
time they are 20 or so the boys will have 
much of the farm under their care, and the 
farmer can then rest in his old age. And also 
let the boys road more; the average farmer 
does not read, but only works as his father 
worked, and we all see the results. The 
farmers’ boys want more play and enjoyment, 
also some pay and leas work while young. 
Ezra J. Moore:—I think the principal 
reason for boys leaving the farm is that they 
believe it would be more genteel to be a 
merchant, a lawyer or a doctor, and 1 think 
that if they could be interested in the farm 
while young, they would be more apt to like 
farm work, I think thatU ucle Mark is doing 
his best to interest the young folks in farm¬ 
ing. 1 believe there is no better and more 
healthful employment than working on the 
farm. 
Uncle Mark: —Having so much that is in¬ 
teresting from the numbers I shall say but 
little on the subject. But one reason for boys 
leaving the farm is that the surroundings are 
too often unattraotive and depressing aud too 
much hard work is put upon them while they 
are not old enough and strong enough to per¬ 
form it. Barents should not “Hud fault” too 
much, but correct or reprove in some other 
way. Many boys feel that there is something 
more in them than brawn and muscle to de¬ 
velop; they long for good books and a cbance | 
for an education that they may measure them - 
selves with others. They feel constrained and 
burdened; they feel that they are fitted for a 
different work, and they break away from 
home though they love it still. Such boys 
might never make good farmers, but would 
doubtless succeed in other vocations. 1 am 
inclined to think that a majority of the boys 
who leave the farm belong to the above class 
and do not leave it simply to get rid of hard 
work. As essay by "Allie” will now be 
presented on the topic: 
Why Boys Leave the Farm. 
You want to know Uncle Mark, why boys 
leave the farm, and how they shall be pre¬ 
vented from doing so. Why shouldn't they? 
There is so little to keep them there. It is 
work, work, work, from one year’s end to 
another, with no reward. They see other 
boys enjoying themselves with nice clothes, 
good pay and a holiday every little while; 
but there are no such for them. No pay at all 
or very little, few holidays, if there are any 
they must be spent at home, for every farm 
has some stock that cannot be neglected. Few 
farmers can measure the capabilities of a 
boy, they expect as much of him as they do 
themselves, Rnd by the time the boy is 21 he is 
generally broken in health and no longer fit 
for farm work. Moreover, no boy or young 
man will want to bring a wife to work as his 
mother has had to do. She is always at wort, 
night and day, with no rest. When night 
comes the farmer and his sons can sit down 
and rest. They might go to the village to 
hear a lecture, or to spend an hour in the 
public library if they were not so tired; they 
cannot drive up for the horses have been at 
work all day and they must rest, so they sit 
around the house doing nothing until they 
get tired of it and go to bed. The next morn¬ 
ing they get up and go to work again, so it 
goes on from one year to another. The boy 
sees his father all bent over, with white hair, 
wrinkled face, tough lmids and a heart soured 
by a long life of labor and anxious care. 
When he dies he leaves not more than fifteen 
hundred dollars to his children, and his farm. 
A whole life spent in drudgery and only fif¬ 
teen hundred dollars to show for it and many 
have not even that, and more than one farmer 
has worked bis very life out and yet leaves a 
heavy mortgage for his children to pay. Is 
it any wonder that the boys get discouraged 
and sell the place their father and mother 
worked so hard to earn; and go into business 
induced to stay upon the farm even if they 
did have to work hard if they thought they 
had any chance of being something; but, as 
it is now, they have not even that hope. 
Geo. B. Fox:—I think the prime cause for 
boys leaving the farm is on account of their 
having to perform so much hard work. Then 
their fathers (many of them) do not take any 
interesting agricultural papers or never buy 
any books, and keep on in the same ruts that 
their fathers have followed, and, as a conse¬ 
quence, the boys 9oon become disgusted with 
farming. They don’t want to break their 
backs over the scythe when a mowing machine 
can do the work better and at a tithe of the 
expense. They want other improved imple¬ 
ments, full-blooded stock, etc. They want to 
move a little faster and do business on a 
larger scale. Give them a gradually increas¬ 
ing interest in chickens, cows or anything 
they may wish and I do not believe the boys 
would leave the farm bo often.. 
Earnest M. Woi.okh:— I think boys leave 
the farm because they have so much hard 
work to do, and have bo few holidays. Town 
boys have more pleasure, more time for 
study and wear better clothes than moat of 
the farmers’ boys do. I think the remedy is 
more home amusement, better clothes, less 
bard work and more time for study. 
J. B. Jones:— Probably the main reason 
for boys leaving the farm is because of lack 
of education. A man may Bend bis boys to 
school three months in the year until they are 
old enough to do a man’s work, and say “I 
have got along and my boys can do the same.’’ 
There is no reason why a farmer should not 
have as good an education as a doctor or 
lawyer, and a great many reasons why he 
should. Perhaps the boys are obliged to use 
dull, rusty and weather-beaten tools, poor 
horses and broken harnesses, or they may 
never be given a holiday, or an afternoon to 
go fishing, coasting or skating, until they be¬ 
come disgusted with the farm and go to the 
city to become street car drivers or some¬ 
thing else, or, if they are able, to reach out 
after an education and strive to make their 
mark in the world. The remedy then is to 
give the boys an education (girls too); give 
them good agricultural books and papers to 
read; give them a colt or calf for their own; 
give them a garden to cultivate themselves, 
only advise them bow best to manage it and 
give them an occasional holiday. If these 
directions were carried out we would have 
happier homes, more contented children and 
cities less crowded with vagabonds and pau¬ 
pers. Then children will grow up to love the 
farm and stay upon it. 
or occupation where they can Bave as much 
in a few years as their parents did in their 
whole lifetime? 
Farmers are apt to be cross and snappish in 
their families, not that they are naturally so; 
when they were young they were as pleasant 
as any one, hut they have toiled all their 
lives, their plans have been thwarted at almost 
every turn, they have been cheated oy those 
they roost trusted, for almost every one 
tbiuks a farmer their rightful prey and that 
they do no wrong in deceiving and imposing 
upon him, and having no protection, therefore 
he submits. No boy of any independence 
will stay to be commanded and driven like a 
dog, so he leaves the farm as soon as he is his 
own master. His father does not intend to 
be ugly to his children, but he has got so in 
the habit of snapping (it grew upon him im¬ 
perceptibly) that he never speaks in any 
other way. The mother speaks pleasantly 
to her children, but she has very little time 
to spend with them for the farmer’s wife 
thinks iier house must be in perfect order 
and her pantry must have a good sup¬ 
ply of pies aud cakes, before she attends to 
her children; then, the principal object of her 
attention is their clothing, which must be in 
perfect order and as dean as soap and scrub 
biug can make them. If these mothers would 
turn to the children and mane it rr pleasant 
as possible, no matter if her house should be 
somewhat disorderly I And the fewer pies and 
cakes the better for them. What if the child¬ 
ren do get their clothes a little soiled—they 
are even happier. If a mother has spent an 
hour in the forenoon making her children 
happy she will be happy herself aud can work 
with a lighter heart ali the rest of the day, 
aDd when the big boys come from work she 
looks upon them pleasantly and they love 
their mother. When any one speaks sneer- 
ingly of farming, as many do now, let the 
farmer stand up boldly and say: “lam a 
farmer and 1 am more independent than the 
teacher, doctor, lawyer, merchant or any 
professional man;” instead, he stands back 
aud laughs with the reit, and his boys think 
it is a disgrace to be a farmer. If they would 
keep their sons upon the old farm, let them be 
united with each ocher and staud up for their 
rights and insist upon proper representation. 
Let them show their sons that farming is as 
honorable as auy other occupation. 
All boys are ambitious, aud they could be 
“ Ever Green I think there are a num¬ 
ber of reasons why so many boys leave the 
farm. Borne bave a natural gift for some 
other profession or business; but not a few 
leave it, to their regret In afteryears. Farm¬ 
ers are looked down upon by city people as a 
class below them. It is a common expression 
among city fellows when they see a farmer 
to style him a “ country granger," which 
makes him feel awkward and out of place, 
and he longs to get a position in the city 
where he will be looked up to instead of 
looked down upon. I wonder how many of 
the Cousins have frieDds or relatives in the 
city that they occasionally visit and attend 
various entertainments with, and then go 
heme thinkiDg that it would be almost a para¬ 
dise to live in the city. 1 think as a general 
thing the boyB have to work too steadily on the 
farm; if they could have a little time to them¬ 
selves to earn some spending money, or have 
a piece of land and have what they could | 
raise, it would be a great source of pleasure I 
to them. .Plenty of good reading mutter I 
think would help the cause. 
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