American Agriculturist 
THE FARM PAPER THAT PRINTS THE FARM NEWS 
“Agriculture is the Most Healthful, Most Useful and Most Noble Employment of Man .”—Washington 
Reg. U. S. Pat. Off. Established 1842 
Volume 114 ■ For the Week Ending October 18, 1924 Number 16 
The Judgment of Experience 
What an Old Man Thinks of a Boy’s Chances on the Farm 
By A. K. GETMAN 
and are all doing decently well. Fred, who 
stayed here with me, agreed to buy the other boys’ 
share in the place, and before I realized it he had 
them paid off. We built Fred a house down the 
road a piece and he and his family live there, f For 
about twelve years Fred has had entire charge of 
the farm. Just as soon as he got into the swing of 
it I gave him the reins.” 
“Keeping in mind Fred’s best interests and 
knowing what you do now about the difficulties 
that farmers are experiencing, if you were back 
T HE large white house of the Whitman 
place stood high on a green knoll over¬ 
looking the grain fields and the orchard. 
It cast a long morning shadow across the 
neatly kept lawn, a shadow which ended at the 
base of several stately maples. Across the road, 
and placed at an attractive distance from the 
house, stood a group of barns and outbuildings, 
all painted red with white trimming. 
I had walked along the macadam early that 
morning on my way from town to the Whitman 
farm. The neat appearance of these buildings 
find the well-kept premises were a source of real 
attraction. They were made im¬ 
pressively so by contrast with a few 
of the ill-kept farmsteads which I had 
passed on my two-mile walk out from 
town. I had written Mr. Whitman 
(for that is what I shall call him 
here) that I was anxious to stop off 
for a little chat with him. He was 
expecting me for as I came up the 
drive to. the side entrance he ap¬ 
peared in the doorway. After an 
informal introduction he invited me 
to join him on the front veranda. 
I was impressed with the old gen¬ 
tleman’s elastic vigorous step and his 
strong handshake in spite of his 72 
years and his slightly bent shoulders. 
I had chosen Mr. Whitman for my 
interview because he represented a 
successful farmer in a broad sense of 
the word. He was known over the 
State as a man who took an active 
part in farmers’ meetings and one who 
practised the best progressive methods 
in agriculture. At the hotel in the 
town I learned that his neighbors 
regarded him as a good father, and 
an honest, law-abiding citizen with a 
keen interest in community affairs. 
“I am interested in boys, Mr. 
Whitman,” I began. “I asked if 
you could see me for a little while this 
morning because I want you to give 
me some suggestions out of your years of ex¬ 
perience that will help the young lads who are 
thinking about following farming as a vocation.” 
“There isn’t much that I can say to help the 
boys now-days,” replied Mr. Whitman. “Boys Fred would swap places with any of his brothers, 
do about as they please anyway, no matter what I have reached some conclusions of my own about 
the farming business in this country. Lots of 
people don’t agree with me blit that doesn’t 
affect my opinion any. Farmers have always 
been the balance wheel. They have always stayed 
in the middle of the road. Season in and season 
out, in good weather and bad weather, in peace and 
in war, in hard times and in good times, they are 
always found on the job striving to earn an honest 
STATE CHAMPION CALF RAISERS 
J UVENILE state calf club champions from twelve states, who won a trip through their 
agricultural supremacy as the guests of the Blue Valley Creamery Company at the 
National Dairy Show in Milwaukee, were brought to Chicago. After being taken to the 
principal points of interest they were given a banquet at the Hotel Sherman as the guests 
of the Creamery Company. Left to right, front row: Kieron Hoyt, Hawkeye, Iowa; Jerome 
Olson, Britton, South Dakota; Walter Nierman, Concordia, Missouri; Miss Rowena Mc- 
Bane, Morristown, Indiana; Willard Whitney, Valley, Nebraska; and Victor Uhlig, Backus, 
Minnesota. Left to right, back row: John Haedt, Cathay, North Dakota; Thomas Patter¬ 
son, Plainfield, Illinois; Wallace Newman, Mattingly, Kentucky; Ralph Schwartz, Marietta, 
Ohio; and Douglas Curran, Taylor, Wisconsin. 
fifteen years would you advise Fred to stay on the 
place?” I asked. 
“Most certainly,” he ejaculated. “These bad 
times are scaring a lot of folks. I don’t believe 
you say. 
“That may be true,” I suggested, “but I am 
sure that there are hundreds of fathers and 
mothers and boys who read the American Agri¬ 
culturist who would like to know what you 
think of farming as a business and what sug¬ 
gestions you have for boys who want to follow it. 
How long have you lived on this farm?” „ _ 
“I’ve never lived anywhere else” said he. “My living and to educate their children. When food 
father and grandfather were both carried from was needed “to win the war” they produced it. 
that parlor to their last resting places and I have They met the demand and because of the over- 
always said that I wanted to start my last journey supply of food these farmers found themselves in 
from that same spot. This is the old homestead a bad hole. They are a long way from being out 
and we’re proud of it. From time to time we’ve of that hole, even yet. One of the points of my 
bought on ’till we’re operating about 250 acres, conclusions is that a fair share of the farmers are 
My oldest boy was the only one of the four boys going to stick in the business because they like it 
who liked to farm so he and I agreed about and because they can’tVafford to change their life 
fifteen years ago to run the place in partnership, work because of temporary bad prices. But the 
The other lads after finishing school went to town big point is that farmers WILL weather the 
storm and when the cloud passes those wdio stood 
pat will see the big advantage of having stood by 
one’s life work in spite of discouragements. To 
be sure a few who haven’t any love for country 
life and who haven’t farmed long enough to get 
interested in it will leave. I think they ought to. 
There are too many farmers of this sort anyway.” 
“Yes, but who should stay and who should go?” 
I asked. 
“America is a free country. Each one must 
make his own decision. I’m done with active life 
but as I look back over the years and look out 
over the community I’m impressed that more of 
the boys would be better off to take 
over the homestead than to try to 
live in the cities. There are many 
stories about the farm boy who goes 
to town and becomes president of a 
corporation and gets rich, but we 
don’t hear much about those who 
don’t become presidents and who 
don’t like town life and towm jobs 
mfter they get there. Some men 
can’t work for themselves. They 
should go to town and work for a 
boss. Another conclusion of mine is 
that there are just as good oppor¬ 
tunities as ever on the farms for 
those who like it and for those who 
are willing to get ready for it. One 
never gets to be a millionaire but the 
farmer has an independent life. If 
one derives happiness from a good 
home and takes pleasure in out-door 
work he would have to look far and 
wide to equal the opportunities on 
the farms.” 
“You’re quite right,” I put in. 
“We are often so close to the woods 
that we can’t see the trees. We are 
quite apt to look over into the other 
fellow’s pasture and think that it is 
greener than ours. I think you have 
expressed some excellent conclusions 
about farming and the best of it is 
that they have grown oiff of ex¬ 
perience. (I’m long on experience and short on 
theory.) Turning again to some of the problems 
that many of the lads are facing may I ask how 
you think a young man can best get into farming?” 
“ A lot more experienced and grayer heads than 
mine have puzzled over that problem,” he re¬ 
plied. “Almost no other business is like farming. 
In the first place a farmer has to have capital and 
that is the one thing the young man usually does 
not have. Then again the farmer is a boss, 
laborer and mechanic all in one. He’s got to 
have good business judgment and know a thousand 
and one facts and reasons about raising stock and 
crops. To plunge a young fellow into this sort of 
business with the difficulties that didn’t exist when 
I started in, is a big jump. My first choice wftuld 
be to have the boys who want to farm, do as Fred 
and I have done, take over the home place and let 
the father gradually drop out of the business side. 
In this scheme one of the first things to do is to 
build a separate house for the young man as soon 
as he is married. Another important thing is to 
get enough land or otherwise enlarge the business 
to make a good-sized business of it.” 
(i Continued on page 268) 
