may be sown without replowing the land, and it may be drilled in or sown broadcast and harrowed in.

The texture, or physical condition, of the soil has much to do with fertility. Not all fields of the farm, nor all parts of the same field, can be treated alike to secure the best results. A field of grain is unsightly as well as unprofitable where on large portions of the field there was failure in securing a stand, or where the crop is a partial or complete failure. Earnest endeavors should be made to discover and remove the causes which produce these conditions.

A study has been made of the means by which the moistureholding capacity of soils may be increased, but an equally important subject for study is how the surplus water of the soil may be removed by some other means than by surface drainage or evaporation. If the subsoil is porous and open, then it is probable that no artificial drains will be required. But when there is an impervious subsoil, or where owing to seepage a soil is kept in a water-logged condition for a considerable length of time, then the matter of drainage should receive careful study. In planning for the removal of the surplus water it is probable that a complete system of drainage would not be put in at first, but a complete system should be planned and a partial system provided for those places which seem most to need drainage.

The farm is not only a storehouse for plant food, but it is a factory where, through action of sunlight, moisture, and warmth, the raw material, plant food, is changed into a more or less finished product according to the system of farming pursued. In deciding what class of products shall be manufactured it is absolutely necessary for success that the farmer make a study of himself. If he loves the form and lines of the Jersey cow and takes delight in her beauty, then it would be manifestly improper for that man to breed Holsteins. He should breed that class of animals which he loves and will take pride in and care for. If a farmer takes delight in growing potatoes and it gives him pleasure to see their luxuriant foliage, and to care for them and keep them free from blight and insects, then he should make a specialty of potatoes, pro

viding his soil is adapted to the crop. There should of course always be adaptation of crop to the soil upon which it is to be grown. Once it is decided for what crops the soil is adapted and what crops or products it will give pleasure to the farmer to produce, then the energy of the farmer should be concentrated in mastering all the details which enter into their production. Success on the farm can not be obtained by fluctuating from year to year between various products. Some fixed policy should be decided upon, and then that policy should be adhered to and not thrown up because of one season's failure. By this we do not mean that one's energy should be all concentrated upon one crop, but whatever crops are decided upon as specialties they should not be changed from year to year, because permanent success with a crop depends upon mastering all the details which enter into the growth and sale of that crop. There is almost no farm product for which there is not a market; but it may be safely said that there is always a greater margin of profit on those products which require in their production a maximum of brains. The location of the farm with reference to the market will, in a large degree, determine the class of products to be produced Those farms far from market, where there is necessitated a long haul, or a long shipment, should produce as nearly as possible a finished and concentrated product. Instead of selling the bulky hay it should be manufactured into a finished product, as beef, or mutton, or butter and cheese. Those farms within easy access of the market can better afford to sell the coarser products. They are in closer touch with the consumer; fluctuations of the market can be studied, and advantage taken of any temporary rise in prices, while the farmer at a distance must largely produce those articles for which there is a staple demand or for which he has created a special demand.

In brief, a study of the farm should begin with the adaptation of the farm for a home, and as a means of securing a competence. If it is not capable of meeting both these requirements, then some other farm or some other occupation than that of a farmer should be selected.

BOOK THIRD.

The Farmer's Relationships.

T

CHAPTER I.

THE FARMER AND HIS FAMILY.

HE moral and emotional features of the family relation so greatly overweigh, in most minds, its economic importance that it may at first seem out of place to consider it in a volume avowedly devoted to business affairs, and yet the manner of discharging even these sacred obligations has its bearing on the family prosperity. Obligations of business duty, as well as of affection, exist between husband and wife and parent and child. These business obligations are not one-sided, but mutual.

The farmer's family consists of his wife, his children, and his employees. Of these, more important than all the rest is the wife. If there is or ever could be about a farm a being who is entitled to the utmost consideration and respect, it is the one who feeds the family and bears the children. If any one earns an easy time, or the easiest time possible, it is certainly she. And yet I do not believe that there is in all America a farmer so distressed as to willingly change places with his wife.

The husband, to a great extent, does what he will; the wife, to a great extent, does what she must. The woman, when she marries, voluntarily puts herself in the power of one who is stronger than herself. If that power is exerted to protect and comfort, she is happy; if it is employed to oppress,

she is miserable.

It makes little difference whether the intent be to oppress. If the result is oppression, she is unhappy. The wife thinks continually of the happiness of her husband and family. She constantly sacrifices herself for their comfort and welfare. If she is repaid by the little attentions she received before marriage it is all she asks. She seldom gets them, and that this is true is evidence of the meanness of men. Work does not hurt a healthy woman any more than it does a healthy man, and the girl who becomes a farmer's wife expects to work, but she ought not to work more hours than the man does, nor to work at all when unable to do so. She does both. There are very few farmers' wives who do not work hard for days when their husbands, feeling no more able, would lie on the bed and be waited on. Doubtless some of this is inevitable. Most of it is not. The farmer could make his wife's life easier if he would, and he would if he were less selfish. He thinks less of his wife than of his stomach, and in this American farmers are the worst offenders in the world. We commiserate the lot of the European wives who work in the field. They probably have an easier life than the American wives who kill themselves cooking and washing dishes while their husbands sit by and smoke.

To most men women are incomprehensible. They love flowers and ribbons, and all things that are beautiful. They not only love them, but must have them or be unhappy. They like a friendly chat with a neighbor, and a horse to go and visit. They enjoy social intercourse to relieve the monotony of their lives. The farmer may care for none of these things. His work is not monotonous and his business takes him about. He comes home to rest while his wife must go away to rest. These things she pays for, and if she does not get them she is cheated and yet can not help herself. The wife studies her husband and knows him through and through. No weakness of his is hid from her, and since the man will not pay his debt to her in a manly way, she plays upon his weakness to get her dues by indirection. Watching her time she cooks a good dinner and then asks for help to make her flower garden. The rest obtained by going away

from home, and the pleasure of a flower garden, and neatness about the house, are part of the necessary cost of carrying on any farm. These and similar things are the wife's due. The man owes them. If he does not pay, he defaults, simply because his wife is helpless. She gives her love and her life. She is entitled to affection in return, shown daily in the little things that make up her life. And how she repays such things! The wife will work herself to death for a kind word, and deem it happiness. As a pure matter of business it is as profitable to treat a wife well as it is to feed a steer well.

Men are accustomed to assume that they alone provide the family income. This is not true. In farmers' families it is true that the man usually provides the gross income, but the net income is what counts, and for this the woman is in great part responsible. Money saved by the wife is as much a contribution to family support as money earned by the husband. The wife's contribution to the partnership has upon the average as much pecuniary value as that of the man. In some cases it is more, and in other cases less. The man, being stronger, is not inclined to recognize this. The woman is entitled to control one-half the net family income, and to the independent use of what she needs for enjoyment. She has the same right as her partner to take partnership funds for individual use.

If a man has children he has a certain duty towards them. If unwilling to discharge that duty he should not marry. If he has a family and neglects his duty he is as much a defaulter as if he fails to pay money that is due. I have no occasion or intent to discuss the duties of parents to children except in so far as they are peculiar to the condition of the farmer.

The farmer's children are more subject to illusions than those brought up in towns and cities, because they are brought less in contact with reality. Their imagination is stimulated by the unwholesome fiction which constitutes much of what is called literature in country homes, and their tendency is to acquire a distaste for country life and a longing for the imaginary ease of the city.. This tendency is increased by the