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[Illustration: Hon. R. W. Dunlap, Kingston, Ohio, graduate of course in
agriculture, Ohio State University, 1895, noted football player, state
senator, state dairy and food commissioner. Farmer and institute
lecturer. Introduced alfalfa fourteen years ago into his farm and
community. Introduced commercial fertilizers and raised thereby more
wheat from 50 acres than his father did from 150 acres, thus convincing
his father and neighbors that when rightly used commercial fertilizers
paid. Mr. Dunlap claimed that the agricultural college made him a farmer,
because when he left for college he had no intention of returning to the
farm.]
The
Young Farmer
Some Things He Should Know
_By_
THOMAS F. HUNT
Imperial man! Co-worker with the wind
And rain and light and heat and cold, and all
The agencies of God to feed and clothe
And render beautiful and glad the world!
--_Stockard_
NEW YORK
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY
LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., Limited
1913
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ORANGE JUDD COMPANY
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Entered at Stationers' Hall
_LONDON, ENGLAND_
PRINTED IN U. S. A.
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I ESSENTIALS OF SUCCESS 1
II MEANS OF ACQUIRING LAND 14
III FARM ORGANIZATION 31
IV OPPORTUNITIES IN AGRICULTURE 44
V WHERE TO LOCATE 57
VI SIZE OF FARM 64
VII SELECTION OF FARM 71
VIII THE FARM SCHEME 88
IX THE ROTATION OF CROPS 101
X THE EQUIPMENT 109
XI HOW TO ESTIMATE PROFITS 117
XII GRAIN AND HAY FARMING 135
XIII THE COST OF FARMING OPERATIONS 148
XIV THE PLACE OF INTENSIVE FARMING 162
XV REASONS FOR ANIMAL HUSBANDRY 172
XVI RETURNS FROM ANIMALS 185
XVII FARM LABOR 195
XVIII SHIPPING 210
XIX MARKETING 220
XX LAWS AFFECTING LAND AND LABOR 233
XXI RURAL LEGISLATION 248
XXII RURAL FORCES 268
THE YOUNG FARMER:
SOME THINGS HE SHOULD KNOW
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CHAPTER I
ESSENTIALS OF SUCCESS
Columella, the much traveled Spanish-Roman writer of the first century
A. D., said that for successful farming three things are essential:
knowledge, capital and love for the calling. This statement is just as
true today as it was when written 1900 years ago by this early writer
on European agriculture.
Every man who loves the calling and has an ambition to become a
successful farmer should understand that no two of these essentials
are sufficient, but that all three are necessary. Although this is so
simple as to be almost axiomatic, it is indeed surprising how few
people believe a knowledge of farming is really essential to success.
America is strewn with cases of failure, in farming, by men investing
capital acquired in other business. In nine cases out of ten failure
has been due to lack of knowledge of farming.
There is known to the writer an expert mineralogist and metallurgist.
On the subject of coal and gold mining he can give the most valuable
information. His advice is constantly sought on all such matters.
Instead of investing his money in mining, on which he is a recognized
authority, he has invested it in a farm, about which he knows next to
nothing. He has not even had the advantage of being raised on a farm,
since his father was a railroad man.
A mechanical engineer remarked that if he had $25,000 he would invest
it in a farm. This man is supposed to be an expert in business methods
as applied to manufacturing in general, and he is especially
conversant with the manufacture and trade in automobiles. About all he
has seen of farming he has observed from the window of a Pullman car
or from the steering wheel of an automobile. Instead of investing his
earnings in some manufacturing business, about which he has spent
years of study and in which he has had some training, he would invest
it in farming, of which he has only the most rudimentary knowledge, if
only he had sufficient capital. As a matter of fact, he is more in
need of knowledge than of capital.
Even farmers of experience do not always realize the training required
to succeed in farming. A letter was received by the dean of a certain
agricultural college saying that a graduate of another agricultural
college had taken one of the poorest farms in his neighborhood and was
raising better potatoes than anyone else could raise. The letter asked
that information be sent by return mail as to how this young man could
be beaten in raising potatoes. Of course the answer had to be sent
that while information upon raising potatoes could easily be supplied,
although not in the limits of an ordinary letter, the training in
observation, judgment and reasoning faculties essential to meet the
daily problems as they arise could not be supplied.
There is no objection to men of other vocations adopting farming as an
avocation if they can afford it. It is a rational form of pleasure for
wealthy people, and one in which they can often be of great service.
This cannot be said of all forms of relaxation. Wealthy men have been
of special service to the cause of agriculture by promoting the
breeding of improved live stock. Men in other callings should clearly
understand, however, that if they have a farm merely as a place to
spend a week end, that they may expect to find the financial returns
unsatisfactory.
To no one is there more significance in the old school aphorism
"knowledge is power" than to the young man who is to become a farmer.
While it is not necessary to be educated in schools in order to gain
knowledge, yet the schoolroom with all its limitations is usually the
most economical and most efficient method of acquiring certain forms of
knowledge essential to every successful man or woman. A farm-to-farm
canvass of a certain region of the state of New York discloses the fact
that farmers with college training are obtaining a higher income from
their farms than those whose school days ended with high school.
Similarly, those who have finished the high school are more prosperous
financially than those who never advanced beyond the grades. The
investigation showed, for example, that with the farmers under
observation the high school education was equivalent to $6,000 worth of
5% bonds. Farming is an occupation requiring keen observation, sound
judgment and accurate reasoning, all attributes which are strengthened
greatly by proper education. This is so true that many men, perhaps
most men, are forty before they have grasped the problems which the
truly successful farmer must solve.
A considerable part of the knowledge essential to success in any
pursuit is acquired by actually working at the occupation, or, as we
say, by practical experience. Some features of any occupation can be
obtained in no other way. A preliminary education may, however,
greatly reduce the time necessary to acquire even this practical
experience. For example, a course in shop work as taught in technical
high schools and colleges, requiring two hours a day for five months,
may shorten the time of apprenticeship by one or more years, in
acquiring the trade of carpenter or iron worker. In the same manner a
course in butter making, cheese making or floriculture, may shorten
the time required to obtain the necessary practical details by ten
months or even more. Eventually, also, the man thus trained will be
the better man.
If the industrial activities of the world be divided into farming,
mining, manufacturing, trade and transportation, it will be noted at
once that farming is the only one which deals with living things. In
fact, the definition of agriculture, in its broadest sense, is the
economic production of living things. The farmer is thus brought face
to face with some of the most difficult and intricate problems with
which the human race has to grapple. It is this fact that makes
farming, in some ways, the most uncertain as well as the most
fascinating occupation known to man. The fact that the farmer is
dealing with living things puts his occupation in a class by itself
for a number of reasons, one of which is germane to the subject of
this chapter.
In most occupations a larger part of the knowledge necessary to success
can be acquired by doing than is the case in farming. Locomotive
engineers are trained for their responsible duty while firing the
engine. The brakeman becomes a conductor by assisting the latter. A
bank cashier is usually a promoted bank clerk. Each obtained the
knowledge essential to success largely by oft-repeated performance.
While, of course, there is much the farmer can learn only by
experience, there are many things essential to his success that the
mere performance of the necessary farm operations will not teach him.
Spreading manure will never teach him that stable manure should be
supplemented with phosphoric acid in order to get the best results. The
growing of clover will not teach him that mineral fertilizer may keep
up the fertility of the soil where clover grows luxuriantly and occurs
in the rotation at definite intervals. Feeding cattle will not teach
him that a good ration for milch cows is one containing one pound of
digestible protein to seven pounds of digestible carbohydrates,
provided it is palatable and, at least, two-thirds of the total ration
is digestible. Nor will the feeding of such a ration teach the farmer
how to calculate the most economical ration from feeding stuffs at
current prices. The cause of potato blight and the methods of combating
it cannot be learned from the operation of planting and cultivating
potatoes.
These are only a few illustrations--they might be multiplied
indefinitely--to show that farming is peculiar in that performance of
the daily duties does not give the knowledge essential to success in
the same measure that it does in such occupations as banking, trade
and transportation. Yet, curiously enough, while no man would
undertake to run a locomotive engine or perform the duties of cashier
of a bank without thorough training, there are many who will undertake
to farm without education or knowledge of the business.
The young man who intends to become a farmer should fully understand
that if farming is not a business worthy of a thoroughly educated man,
it is not a business worthy of him; because every young man is worthy
of a thorough education, provided he is a man of clean habits and good
purposes. Do not allow yourself to be persuaded that you lack ability
to acquire a good education. All you require is opportunity,
determination and honesty of intention.
Farming is worthy, moreover, of the most highly educated as well as
the most capable. If lack of means prevents a young man from taking a
four-years' training in agriculture, he will find a two years' course
offered by many of the state agricultural schools. While it is
obviously impossible to give in two years as much training as in four
years, these two years' courses contain the more technical subjects
and are usually very thorough and efficient. No young man, no matter
how thorough his previous training, need hesitate to pursue one of
them.
There are, however, young men who cannot spare the time and expense of
even two years' training. For such many state agricultural colleges
offer winter terms of eight to twelve weeks. These courses are
arranged to allow the student to specialize along some particular
line. The better prepared the man is who enters these winter courses
the more he will benefit by them. This leads to the caution that such
courses should not be substituted for the education offered in the
public schools, but should only be sought after all the opportunities
for education at home have been exhausted.
For the somewhat older young man who is now farming and cannot leave
his farm or for the younger man as a preparation for the short
courses, one or more correspondence courses will be found useful. Not
all colleges conduct correspondence courses, but fortunately those who
do will accept students from other states on equal terms. There are
many persons who will testify to their helpfulness.
Every young farmer should have a carefully selected library of
standard books on agriculture, not only for reading but for reference.
An instance of the value of a standard book of reference came recently
to the attention of the writer. An educated young farmer in Iowa paid
$2.50 for a peck of crimson clover seed which he sowed in the spring
in his oats. A reference to any standard publication on forage crops
costing less than the peck of seed would have disclosed to him the
probable hopelessness of success under the conditions named.
The books to include as well as to exclude from a select list will
depend upon the previous training of the man making the purchase, the
character of the farming to be pursued, and, to some extent, to the
section of the country where the farm is located. Any bookseller can
secure catalogs issued by firms making a specialty of publishing
agricultural books. For the average reader these catalogs are
sufficient to enable one to make intelligent purchases.
Every farmer should take one or more agricultural journals. At present
journals are published on every phase of agriculture and many of them
are of high character. Publishers are always glad to send sample
copies free of charge. By examining these copies intelligent selection
may be made.
The writer of this book has had rather unusual opportunity during more
than a quarter of a century of observing the influence of education
upon the success, financial and otherwise, of those who engage in
farming. As the result of these observations he wishes to urge every
young man to allow no one to persuade him that because he is to be a
farmer, he does not need a thorough education. Remember that you have
but one life to live, and if you let the golden opportunity pass, the
mistake can never be rectified. No man ever regretted that he had too
much education--thousands have regretted the lack of it.
Every young man, no matter what his occupation is to be, should
receive some school training, however little it may be, every year
until he reaches the age of majority. Otherwise the age of majority
should be changed. In no occupation is this more important than in
farming, because the operations involved in farming fail to develop
certain attributes necessary to the largest success.
A man cannot have a mind too well trained, although it is possible
that he may have too much undigested information. The mental condition
may not be unlike the physical condition of the man who is burdened
with too many clothes. When in action he may need to strip his mind of
unnecessary information in order to make the most efficient mental
effort.