American Agriculturist, July 28,1923 
No Longer A Haphazard Business 
Skill and Training Needed in Modern Agriculture—A Radio Talk 
O NCE upon a time, and it is not many 
| years ago—if Dame Fortune failed 
' to smile upon a man in a trade or 
a profession, he still found comfort 
in the thought that if “worse comes to worse 
we can go farming and at least make a liv¬ 
ing.” And as a matter of fact this was pret¬ 
ty near the truth—when all other efforts 
failed, the farm was a haven where a man 
could at least eke out a living. It was hard 
toil and a living was scant but it was a living 
hevertheless. 
Strange to say, there are folks, more com¬ 
monly of the big cities, who say to-day that 
farming is the only life—that it is a life 
of ease, free from cares and worry—in 
which it is merely necessary to wait for 
• crops to grow, to harvest all the good things. 
Some folks get the idea 
that farmers are rolling 
in wealth, basing their 
contention on the fact 
that prices of foodstuffs 
at the corner grocer are 
so high. 
It is not many days 
since I had this impressed 
rather forcibly on my 
mind. I chanced to be in 
a vegetable store and a 
rather portly gentleman 
was purchasing potatoes 
and vegetables. When 
paying for his produce, 
he turned to me and re¬ 
marked, “How fortunate 
the farmers are, they 
simply have to dig their 
potatoes and sell what 
they do not need for 
these prices.” He had 
paid 50 cents for 10 
pounds of potatoes, at the 
rate of $9 per barrel. I 
told him approximately 
how much the farmer had 
received for those potatoes which by the 
way, was a great deal less than $9 a barrel. 
And I didn’t stop there, but mentioned 
some of the factors that the farmer, who 
grew those potatoes, had to figure on. There 
was cost of preparing the seed bed, cost of 
seed, cutting and planting it, cost of fertil¬ 
izer, cost of cultivation and spraying, cost 
of digging and hauling to market, cost of 
land and interest on the investment. And 
on top of that, there was the gamble with 
the season, with drought, with plant dis¬ 
eases, insects and a flooded or glutted mar¬ 
ket. The price the farmer received, hardly 
paid for the risk. The yentleman nodded his 
head once or twice and departed. He had 
evidently never thought of those factors. 
And yet to-day there are hundreds of 
“back to the landers” who believe that all 
there is to poultry farming is to throw some 
corn to the hens, wait till they lay their eggs 
and collect and sell them for 50 or 60 cents 
a dozen. Speaking of poultry keeping as a 
farm venture, reminds me of the experience 
of a city man who had the “back to the land” 
fever. I shall pass the story on as it was 
told me by a friend of the victim. 
This prospective farmer had read a few 
books on poultry. It all looked so simple and 
the returns seemed so alluring that he de¬ 
cided that there he would make his fortune. 
He fell prey to a real estate shark out on 
Long Island who sold him a small farm for 
something like $8,500. I know the section 
well in which he bought and agriculturally 
the land is almost worthless. He paid be¬ 
tween $500 and $1,000 an acre, a real estate 
valuation. This man knows nothing of the 
practical feeding problems poultrymen have 
to meet. He knows nothing of the problems 
By FRED W. OHM 
encountered in raising young stock. He is 
absolutely “green.” Added to this, he has 
to pay outlandish prices for feeds which his 
own land is too poor to raise. He has some¬ 
thing to learn. 
The biggest thing that he will learn, how¬ 
ever, the thing that all “back to the landers” 
soon learn, is that no longer is farming a 
business for the man who has failed at every¬ 
thing else—a sort of haven of refuge. On 
tlie contrary, men who have been success¬ 
ful in business in the city and have tried the 
farming game, find that with all their busi¬ 
ness experience they cannot make farming 
pay. These “back to the landers” will learn 
that a successful farmer must be a skilled 
man. He must know something of the trades 
for he is called upon to do much of his own 
work about the place. He must be some¬ 
thing of a carpenter to repair his buildings 
and a mechanic to fix his own machinery. 
He cannot wait for or stand the expense of 
high priced artisans. The farmer must be 
a scientist to identify plant and animal dis¬ 
ease and be able to determine how to fight 
each, after its own manner. The farmer 
must have unbounded faith that the season . 
will deal kindly with his crops and that his 
herds will not fall before an epidemic of 
some new disease. 
Years ago, farmers little knew of the 
Colorado potato beetle, the common potato 
bug, which to-day calls for the expenditure 
of thousands of dollars of farmers’ money 
for poison sprays. Years ago farmers knew 
nothing of the San Jose scale. To-day they 
must be able to indentify it and know how 
to compound the various spray mixtures to 
combat this great scourge of the fruit indus¬ 
try. Years ago farmers did not know of 
bovine tuberculosis and did not have the 
worries of other animal diseases such as the 
foot and mouth disease which can quickly 
wipe out their valuable herds. 
To-day the farmer must be a thoroughly 
skilled and educated business man. Years 
ago farmers could act independently in their 
business transactions. To-day they cannot 
and market their products scientifically. This 
is evident by the coming into being of the 
Dairymen’s League, the poultry cooperatives 
of New Jersey and the Petaluma Valley and 
the great cooperatives of the California cit¬ 
rus fruit growers. They have been forced 
to organize their own sales agencies in order 
to get their product to the consumer at prices 
the consumers can pay, still leaving them 
enough to let the farmers know they are 
working for something besides the fun of it. 
Even to-day the price received by dairymeh 
for milk does not pay the cost of production 
plus a reasonable profit. 
And what is the agency that is helping the 
farmer—educating the farmer, if you please, 
—to meet these new problems. It is the 
State Colleges of Agriculture as well as the 
secondary agricultural schools. Obviously 
the. man on the land has not the time, and 
incidentally very often not the money, to go 
to college to learn those things he must know 
to meet all his problems. For him the col¬ 
leges of agriculture have established their 
extension or field forces to serve each agri¬ 
cultural county. It has a representative in 
each of these counties 
known as the county agri¬ 
cultural agent who has at 
his call a large staff of ex¬ 
perts and specialists in 
every line of agricultural 
endeavor. He prepares 
field tests in cooperation 
with farmers to demon¬ 
strate improved methods 
of cropping. He arranges 
for meetings where farm¬ 
ers may congregate and 
discuss their problems 
with specialists in farm 
crops and animal hus¬ 
bandry. 
It is for the next gen¬ 
eration of farmers, the 
farm boys and girls that 
the colleges are directly 
functioning. But the 
work among the young¬ 
sters goes back even far¬ 
ther than that. It starts 
among the boys and girls 
in the little country school- 
house in the form of 
Junior Projects w T hich are better known as 
calf clubs, poultry clubs, potato, corn and 
pig clubs. It is the junior extension pro¬ 
gram of the college. The youngsters w’ho 
are members of these clubs have their pro¬ 
jects on the home farm—be it a patch of 
potatoes or corn, a calf, a pig or a flock of 
chickens. They are told of modern methods 
o'f better seed, of pure-bred cattle versus 
scrubs. In short they are told of the most 
modern ideas found practical by farmers. 
A county club agent who is a member of 
the college extension service, aided by a local 
adult leader, supervise these clubs and en¬ 
courage and help the boys and girls. 
The greatest good these youngsters get 
is not the income from a few bushels of 
potatoes. What they really get is the reali¬ 
zation of what it means to take hold of 
a job and finish it, in short—achievement. 
Furthermore, they learn to realize the value 
of ownership which ultimately means thrift. 
Incidently by using better methods, they be¬ 
come more interested in the teachings of the 
college of agriculture and there is created 
the desire to continue their education. 
Education means a greater opportunity 
for success in farming. In a survey conducted 
by Dr. C. E. Ladd of the New^ York State Col¬ 
lege of Agriculture, it was found that as a 
man’s education increased so did his earn¬ 
ing capacity increase—the graduate of the 
college of agriculture doubling the income of 
the man who only had a high school educa¬ 
tion. 
American Agriculturist is firmly back of 
the colleges and the schools of agriculture. 
As an endorsement of their very great work 
it has established three scholarships known 
(Continued on page 58) 
To produce pork economically to-day, farmers must study such factors as feeding', breeding 
and selection of type. The ability to raise stock, such as this New York pig club boy boasts 
of, does not come from books alone. Dad’s experience was the background, elaborated by 
the most recent recommendations of the College of Agriculture. 
