FLANSEURGH & PEIRSON CO.’S CATALOGUE. 27 
How to Keep the Young People on the Farm. 
Statistics show that in every part of the country young men and women are 
leaving the farms and flocking to the cities. They are badly needed on the 
farm, while the cities are congested with the overworked, the underpaid and the 
idle. 
Something must be done to give our boys and girls an interest in farm life; 
otherwise the farm homes of the country, the best and happiest on earth, are 
doomed to extinction to be succeeded by a system of tenantry with non-resident 
or syndicate ownership such as now burdens many states of Europe. 
The public schools have been appealed to, but they are already congested with 
overwork. Moreover, book-knowledge is apt to fall far short of inspiring an at¬ 
tachment for agriculture. Mere abstract knowledge cajinot establish a lasting in¬ 
terest, and the public schools have no time to give to practical farming. 
Parental Responsibility. 
The problem is up to the parents. They alone can make the farm attractive 
to their children, for they alone can provide the incentives. The most essential 
of these incentives are responsibility and initiative. A sense of accountability, 
encouragement to go ahead, to lead. We quote from a young high school girl 
of Kansas, who i» winning an education from the farm: “If parents could be 
made to realize the importance of interesting their children early in life, of 
having them deeply concerned in the success of the farm, that restless period 
of development from youth to adult life would be safely tided over. Then would 
this great boundless agricultural country of ours be filled with prosperous, 
happy farmers and we would not see so many wrecked or wasted lives in the 
cities. Give both girls and boys an interest in the farm and you will, in nine 
cases out of ten, have solved the problem of making the farm home attractive.” 
The young lady who wrote the above is not only winning an education from 
the farm, but she is making the farm pay for her education in the high school 
where she lives and expects to go to college, paying her way by farming. She 
is the sole responsible head of her business; feeds her own chickens, pigs and 
calves: plants her own corn, beans and potatoes; works in the cool mornings and 
evenings, and takes her own produce to market and sells it where she can get 
the most money for it, thus winning an education in business as well as farming. 
The Flansburgh & Pierson Company are profoundly interested in the educa¬ 
tion of farmers’ sons and dauhgters in the possibilities and opportunities of ag¬ 
riculture. They desire to co-operate with parents everywhere in making this 
education effective. In doing this they are inspired by no anticipation of gain. 
In fact, they feel that as a business it may not pay; but they see in the present 
situation a grave menace to the future of agriculture, which amply warrants 
the educational scheme they have in view. 
Competitive Contest with Prizes. 
The plan of the Flansburgh & Pierson Co. is in the form of a competitive 
contest with prizes in the growing of two specialties, both of which possess ele¬ 
ments of peculiar interest to young and old alike. The specialties are strawber¬ 
ries and potatoes. The contest will be governed by the following conditions: 
Conditions and Specifications. Pead Carefully. 
]. — Contestants may be of either sex under eighteen years of age. 
2. — First and second prizes of $10.00 and $5.00, respectively, will be awarded 
for best and second best results in either contest. Results to be attested by 
parents. 
3. —First and second prizes of $10.00 and $5.00, respectively, for best and 
second best papers on either crop. 
4. —The results of the potato crop and competing papers thereon to be tiled 
with the Flansburgh & Pierson Co. not later than November 1, 1905. and results 
of strawberry crop and papers thereon to be filed not later than August 1, 1906. 
5. — Potato award to be made December 1, 1905; strawberry award, September 
1, 1906. 
6. — Seed potatoes and strawberry plants to be furnished by the Flansburgh & 
Pferson Co. at catalogue prices. 
7. — The contestants will make their own selections, using the 1905 catalogue 
as a guide. The description of both plants and seed potatoes have been written 
with great care by specialists in personal charge of the field operations and trial 
grounds. 
8. — The trial plat may be o^ any size, but a plat of one-tenth of an acre, 1 
rod by 16 rods, or 2 rods by 8 rods, is suggested as of suitable size for this con¬ 
test. In every case the plat must be carefully measured and the exact size 
Licking Co., Ohio. April 13. 1904. 
Potatoes came O. K. We think they are fine. E. T. HOBART & SON. 
