Published by 
The Rural Publishing Co. 
333 W. 30th Street 
New York 
The Rural New-Yorker 
Weekly, One Dollar Per Year 
Postpaid 
Single Copies, Five Cents 
The Business Farmers Paper 
\'or.. LXXYI. 
NEAY YORE. .lANUAUY 1.3, 1917. 
No. 4412. 
• 
College Training for the Back-tc-the- 
Lander 
What It Gives and What It Lacks 
[We have had many letters lately from men who 
want to go “back to the land" and ask whether 
they shall take the time to study through a course at 
an agricultural college. What are the advantages or 
disadvantages of such a course? The subject is evi¬ 
dently important to many people, and we have i)!anned 
for several articles on it. The lirst one follows.] 
FFECT.S OF TIlAIXINCx.—The training now 
given stndiuit.s in agricultxiral colleges has both 
advantages and disadvantage.s, some of which are 
as follows: The college student is trained to study 
evei-y prohlein in college and in later life in a 
.scientific manner. This means that he must be 
thorough, and that before deciding any question he 
must find out all the facts on both sides. The habit 
of jumping at conclusions after looking at only one 
side of a question is dangerous enough anywhere, hut 
is especially had on the farm, whore the iirotits of 
a .season or even of future years may depend on 
the formation of a correct judgment on some farm 
problem. 
Wir.VT THE COLLECE TEACHES.—Eecause of 
the immense diversity of conditions in a country as 
l:irg(‘ as on.rs it is often impossible to give much 
definite and detailed instruction to students in 
actual farm practice. I’.ut the college can and does 
give the general principles of good farm jiractice, 
leaving the student to ai)i)ly them later to the spe¬ 
cial conditions of his own farm. In college one 
meets the sons of successful fanners from many 
St;'.les and from other countries. Naturally from 
them the student accumulates a mass of informa¬ 
tion about farming under many conditions. iMost 
of Elis will n('V('r he of direct us('. Its value' comes 
in helping the stueh'nt’s judgment when his farm 
lerohlems must he solved. One of the' most common 
failings of farmers is jerejudio' in favor of any 
method, crop or tend to which tlu'.v have become 
accustomed. 
(TIAXGINC roXDITTOXS.—The beginner must 
understand that the methods in use in any loc.-ility 
represent the expc'rience of the most succe.ssful 
L'.rmers. T’he men who stuck to anything else have 
been starved out. Evei’.v region is now using tlie 
n.ethods. animals and crops best adai)ted to its cli¬ 
mate, soil and markets. I'kirming is always chang¬ 
ing because of changes in market demands, trans- 
]i(!rtation methods and new inventions. If the col¬ 
lege tr;iins the student to study every new condi¬ 
tion without i)rejudice it will go far to make him 
successful. In the narrower sense of the term 
“scientitic farming,’’ the better ai)i)lication of the 
sciences of chemistry, bacteriology, etc., to farming, 
is easier learned in colle.ge than from hookxs. 
DISADVANTAGES.—The investment of a large 
amount of money and six or more years of time in 
pi’eparatory school and colle.ge at a time of life 
when time is valuable must he followed by a large 
increase in labor income later or the investment will 
he unprofitable. Farm w'ork is skilled lalxu* to a 
degree which the city man rarely understands. The 
year's work is made up of many oi)eration.s. each 
of which must be learned .seiiarately. The farmer's 
son who is already a .skilled workman when he 
leaves his old home has a great advantage over the 
city man who on taking up a farm must largely 
train himself. 
TIIEOItY AND PEAGTIGE.—It is unfortunate 
that most of the scientific study of agriculture has 
been too much separated from actual farming, the 
business of earning a living from the soil. To some 
extent this is unavoidable. Accurate scientific work 
is difficult at l)est, and in most cases workers have 
tried to simplify it by excluding all financial ri'- 
sults from their work. The scientist who devotes 
his whole effort for a number of years to the study 
of .some one subject will know f.ir more about it 
than another man who has u.sed part of his time 
to keep touch with the busine.ss side of farming. 
/>*»/ 7({.v advice to fanners maij he of much less 
value if he is unable to see the e.raet extent to 
irhieh his </reat special hnoudedf/e vill direetli/ af¬ 
fect the income of the individual fanner. Farming 
is a business pursued for the purpose of earuing 
a living. In the long run the scientist who con¬ 
stantly remembers this fact and shapes his study, 
('xperiments and advice to fanners accordin.gly will 
be of far greater service to the farmer, to the ebn- 
suinin.g public and to himself. 
nXE-isIDED STFDY.—The work of agricultural 
colle.ges is too one-sided. Science has occui)ied their 
attention too much to the exclusion of the business 
side of farming. For example, the one thing which 
has most affected American agriculture ';n tlie last 
7.") years is the marvellous development of hibor- 
savin.g machinery. T'ae American farmer is far 
more efficient in the production of food for each man, 
('iigaged than the farmers of any other nation. Agi- 
cultural colleges have had practically nothing to 
do with this development. Instead they have often 
unjustly criticized American farmers for not raising 
yields per acre e(nml to those of small selected p!)r- 
tions of Northwestern Europe where the climat<' 
is much better adapted to the productioi: of pota¬ 
toes and the cereals than is that of the Fnited 
States. Labor and market conditions also make 
such a com];;irisoii most unfair to American farmers. 
PKAGTIGAI. TEAfNIEllS.—Most of the teach¬ 
ers in medical colleges are practicing i)h.vsicians 
a.nd surgeon.s, most of the teachers in law schools 
rve men who have practiced law, often having bec'ii 
jiul.ge.s, and most of the teachers of the Army and 
Navy academies at West Point and Annapolis are 
(oinmissioned ollicers. Wlien the teachers in a.g"i- 
(ullural collegt's are men who cond)ine scientifie 
knowledge with itorsonal experience in farming they 
can then hope to comi)are with the profession .1 
.schools of other vocations. d.xniei, dka.x. 
Tioga Go., N. Y. 
Local Markets for Apples 
M y ex]ierieuce with ai)ples might interest you. 
I had a .good ci-op and no storage for them. 
I felt that the local mai'kt't ought to be best and rn 
tried it. First I went to Dtinville. otir nearttsf ni,-.r- 
ket town. The iron mills cannot get men to keep ui) 
to their orders and so tire paying the best prices 
(hey ever jtaid. 1 could sell three or four htishels 
('ll a market day early in the morning without (pie.s- 
tioii tts to pric(', but after T.-’tO a. m. could not sell 
tiny above .70c a bushel no matter how good. Next 
I went to Milton, where they are makin.g munitions. 
Everything tibout the place is boomiu.g, and wages 
are high. IMy load Avtis very carefully graded, ttnd 
the groci'i's wtinted all I htul provided I would sell 
ti'.e!!! ftincy apph's ;it oOc :i bushel. I peddled the 
lot'.d and found tinit it was not ditficult to get (iOc 
for a lC)-(piart basket of ftincy apjiles, or half that 
for culls. Then I went to Siinhury, a railroad town 
with lots of railroad men home for Sunilay dinner. 
There were more than 100 wagons on the curb, in 
addition to tho.se who had stalls in the market 
house. Here it was imiiossible to move apples at 
any price, excejit in vt'ry small quantities. I sold 
to severtil travelling men, who carried the apples 
home in their grijis. The market was still full of 
jieaches and every Imaginable sort of farm jiro- 
diice. Next I went to Sshaniokin, a hard-coal min¬ 
ing town. As I came in to back up on the curb 
four men in succession climbed on the wagon to 
buy the load at a bargain. Here I found that the 
The Moving Force on a White Leghorn Farm. Fig. 10 
