VoL. LXXVII. XnW YORK, MAY IS. lOlS. Xm. 44S2. 
The Plain Tale of a Back to the Lander 
He Reviews His First Year 
Pakt I. 
[We have had all sorts of artifles on going back to 
■'the land. Here is a new one—this time a fair and 
honest review of the first year on a farm. As we see, 
the writer was far better fitted for the work than most 
“back-to-the-landers.” xVt least he knew what a farm 
was. Yon will see that the year has forced him to 
understand two things clearly. One is the endless and 
if a man Avanted to be .somebody he must I)e a doctor, 
lawyer, minister or a Avhat-not. I should like to 
say that this is one of the most undemocratic ideas 
that has ever fastened its hold on the ideals of this 
country. The idea of saying that a good farmer or 
a good blacksmith, or a good bricklayei’. or a good 
housekeeper is not the equal of any other man or 
woman in any other profession is a most undemo¬ 
cratic thought, and has Avorked untold harm in this 
supposedly democratic country. A farmer Avho lOA'es 
realize this i;ast year tliat there Avere very few 
things tliat I really did learn. 
A SIZ.VRLE JOB.—Then in 1012 I bought this 
farm of 200 acres; 50 in pasture. 50 in Avoods and 
the rest tillable, Avithout stones. .Since lOl.l I have 
had farmers on the jdace running it on shares. On 
the first of April, 1017. I arrived here determined to 
find out if farming Avas AA'hat it Avas cracked up to 
be by city folks, or Avhether it is in such a bad Avay 
as most farmers believe it to be. For the first six 
Some of the Possibilities of a Bael. i/ard: Roses anti a Stra tcberri/ Barrel 
complicated Avork on a farm ; the other the indisputable 
fact that the farmer’s share is too small.J 
FARMER BOY OOES BAt’K.—I am one of 
those oft-called fools avIiu liaA'e heard the 
call of the sod and have responded by coming ‘‘back 
to the land.” So that Ave Avill know Avhere Ave are 
at. I Avill say that I was born on a farm and lived 
there until I Avas fifteen, choring it before and after 
school in common Avith the lot of most country boys. 
Then I was packed off to high school in the endeavor 
to “make something of myself,” the supposition being 
that a farmer Avas nothing more than a farmer, and 
his Avork and keeps his farm Avell tilk*d. his buildings 
Avell painted and kept fip. his fences clean, and Avho 
raises good crops, is as much of an artist as any of 
the so-called artists avIio draw or jiaint good imita¬ 
tions of the real thing. He is more .so, because the 
farmer is dealing Avith the realit.A', Avhile the arti.st 
is making an imitation. Well, to get back to the 
subject: On A'acations I have come back to the 
farm and have helped there: so that I have never 
entirely lost hold of the fundamentals of farming; 
but, having left farming so early, there are very 
many things I never learned; indeed, I have come to 
months I lived and Avorked with the farmer, then 
he left to .go in a munitions plant, Avhere he could 
make three times as much money as I could afford 
to pay him in one-half the time; since Avhen T have 
been bles.sed Avith a farm family consisting of father, 
aunt and sister. 
THEORY AND PliACTICE are tAVo entirely differ¬ 
ent things, and it is. therefore, needless for me to 
say that my pre-farming ideas have been consider¬ 
ably jolted, dented and knocked sky-high. I came 
here Avith a long list of things •! had determined to 
do and not to do; for instance, I was sure that 
