Vol. LXI. No. 2725 
NEW YORK, APRIL 19, 1902 
$1 PER YEAR 
FROM CITY TO FARM. 
A Home in the Country. 
Part II. 
Having in my last paper touched upon some of the 
obstacles in the way from city to farm, let us see what 
can be done to surmount them. For the loneliness 
that will be felt on the farm by the former city fam¬ 
ily there will be many compensations. Aside from 
the verdant landscape, more beautiful than domes 
and spires; the growing crops, more interesting than 
books and factories; pure air, water and sky, more 
wholesome than theaters and beer, there will be found 
solid comfort and ennobling interest in the beautiful 
young lives of farm animals. To the writer there is 
nothing more charming than this communion with 
these farm babies—so tender and honest. To own a 
nome, to be king of all you survey, to eat your own 
productions, unsalted with sand and ungreased witn 
oleo, must be some com¬ 
pensation for the loss of 
the city feverishness and 
fraud. 
If one cannot succeed 
without a knowledge of 
his business, neither can 
he determine whether a 
given business would suit 
him without knowing the 
nature and requirements of 
such business. The fact 
that one has a longing for 
the freshness and beauty 
of field and forest is no 
evidence that he would be 
content in the cultivation 
of that field or with its 
products. Contentment and 
success, then, must depend 
on a knowledge of the soil 
and of the productions pro¬ 
posed. It would be folly to 
invest money and time in 
the new enterprise until a 
fair knowledge of the busi¬ 
ness is attained. But how 
can that be best attained? 
In seeking to answer this 
1 must keep before me the 
circumstances of those 
asking the question. I see 
a man at his desk or his 
machine. He is receiving 
a salary sufficient to sup¬ 
port him, and perhaps has 
laid up a few hundreds. If 
he stops his work his salary ceases. He cannot af¬ 
ford to do that at present. The fact is he is not sure 
that he would like farming, though he thinks he 
would. If, now, he can begin his research into the 
laws of crop and stock production, without interfer¬ 
ing with his present income, until such time as he 
may be able to work an income from the soil, that is 
the first thing to do. And this is precisely the oppor¬ 
tunity furnished in the correspondence courses of 
some of our State agricultural colleges. These 
courses can be pursued at no cost except the small 
expense of text books, without interfering with the 
daily avocation of the student The studies will be 
directed by competent professors in those colleges, 
and examinations made through correspondence. 
These courses are very comprehensive and thorough, 
giving the student practically all he would receive 
in the recitation room. Besides this, most State col¬ 
leges provide short Winter courses of 10 or 12 weeks 
on some specialty, such as dairying, poultry keeping, 
gardening, etc., that, after one has taken the more 
comprehensive correspondence course, would fit him 
to enter at once upon the pursuit of that specialty. 
Further to assist those who may be interested I give 
below the addresses of such college professors and 
authorities as I have in my possession, who will glad¬ 
ly furnish all the information asked for: President 
College of Agriculture, Storrs, Conn.; R. W. Silvester, 
College Park, Md.; Chas. D. Woods, Orono, Me.; W. 
P. Brooks, Amherst, Mass.; Louis Bevier, Jr., New 
Brunswick, N. J.; I. P. Roberts, Ithaca, N. Y.; Geo. 
C. Watson, State College, Pa.; John H. Washburn, 
Kingston, R. I.; W. A. Henry, Madison, Wis.; A. M. 
Soule, Knoxville, Tenn.; Thomas F. Hunt, Columbus, 
O.; W. E. Stone, Lafayette, Ind. 
I strongly advise all who think of changing from 
city to farm life, as well as all farmer boys who can¬ 
not take the full college course, to take such studies 
in these correspondence courses as cover the special 
lines they wish to pursue. Or, what would be better, 
take a general course in crop and stock production, 
and then take a short Winter course in their chosen 
specialty. If one has, say three or four hours a day 
to devote to study, two years will he sufficient to pre¬ 
pare any intelligent, studious person for his chosen 
work, so far as can be done without actual practice. 
In the meanwhile he can pursue his business and add 
to his savings in preparation for such investment as 
may be necessary to begin his new work. 
Now the day comes when such change is to be 
made, and the perplexing question is, how shall he 
begin? If he has sufficient capital to purchase such 
a place as is needed, and if he is sure of what he does 
need, and where he needs it, and that he will be con¬ 
tented with it, and that at the price proposed he could 
dispose of it without loss if he should so desire, I 
would advise the purchase. But these are important 
matters, and such as not one in 50 could be sure of. 
If the inquirer is a single man, and possibly if he is 
not, I would advise that he secure employment under 
some successful farmer or gardener, according to the 
line chosen for future pursuit, who will agree to give 
careful instruction in all the different operations, for 
a year. Thus the theoretical knowledge gained in 
study would be perfected by application, and some¬ 
thing of the business end of farming be learned—an 
exceedingly important matter. But if it is decided 
to go at once on to a place, then I would advise that, 
if practicable, a place be rented for two or three 
years until the occupant becomes waywise, and can 
be reasonably sure of what he wants and what he 
can do. But whether he buys or rents, he should em¬ 
ploy a good farmer as helper and adviser, for with 
all he may have learned in his studies, he will daily 
find many details of his business that will greatly 
puzzle him, and may determine between success and 
failure. He will be surprised to find how much de¬ 
pends on the mastery of these details and the busi¬ 
ness management of his affairs. Much will be saved 
if he is not compelled to learn these through the ex¬ 
perience of a thousand 
mistakes. The man train¬ 
ed in trade in the city will 
appreciate this, and will 
readily see the business 
requirements of the new 
vocation; but it cannot be 
too well learned. 
I have been asked many 
questions by these corre¬ 
spondents relating to the 
relative advantages of 
general farming, vegetable 
and berry gardening, poul¬ 
try keeping and floricul¬ 
ture, that are very difficult 
to answer without know¬ 
ing the tastes and abilities 
of the querist. It may be 
said in general that those 
specialties require much 
less acreage and capital 
with which to begin, and 
less hard labor than does 
general farming; but they 
require more care and skill 
in cultivation and in mar¬ 
keting. Near a good mar¬ 
ket, not requiring shipping 
of produce, a skillful gar¬ 
dener or poultry man will 
make more money for his 
investment and labor than 
will the general farmer. A 
man not physically strong, 
but with fine taste and 
business tact, who has a 
family of boys and girls to help in the lighter work 
of weeding and picking, and who is unable to buy a 
large place would probably do better to settle on a 
small place, say of 25 or 30 acres, of which half is 
rich garden soil, or that can be readily made such, 
well watered, and devote himself to berry and vege¬ 
table gardening and poultry. With two stout boys 
and two or three girls, with a wife of proper intelli¬ 
gence and taste for the business, as queen of the poul¬ 
try yards, he could raise two acres of strawberries, 
one acre of blackberries, five or six acres of the 
coarser garden truck, feed for 300 Winter-laying hens, 
besides that for his horses and cows, and, at a mod¬ 
erate estimate, turn off $1,000 to $1,500 worth of pro¬ 
duce. The cost of his living on such a place should 
not exceed one-half of his income. Of course, the 
conditions of soil, climate, markets and skill vary so 
widely in different cases and locations that the above 
can be taken only as an approximate hint. I shall 
be glad if any of these suggestions prove helpful to 
any son of nature who longs for the freedom and 
healthfulness of outdoor life, and shall be glad to 
answer any specific inquiries. i. a. xhayeb. 
