The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette., July 06, 1912, Image 1

About The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette. (Starkville, Miss.) 1910-1920

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| THE NEGRO PROBLEM AT HOME AND ABROAD —Page 11.
I
A Farm aiui Nv^ekly for
Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee.
Vi, ^vTmKMI’HIS, TENN.
fo\. XXVII. No. 27. SATURDAY, JULY 6, 1912^ lOUn| _
r.
* -- 4-— ,«
Make the Farm a Place Where the Young People Will
Wish to Stay.
gE get a great many letters about “how to keep the young folks
on the farm,” also a great many letters setting forth the ad
vantages the country has over the town and telling why young
; as well as older ones should choose the farm rather than the
[ a place to live. Some of these letters are interesting and con
tain valuable'suggestions, but we can say frankly that the slogan,
lieve they can do belter elsewhere. The way to keep the young
people on the farm is to make farming a more profitable occupation—
to give the young people who engage in it a better chance to make
money, to live comfortably, to acquire reputation and to influence
the lives and thoughts of others. How this is to be done, is the great
question, and one not fully to be answered by anyone. Certain it is
tliot t lio mu n li ic 10 n /1
itveep ine uoys on ine mini ap- _
;als to us just about as little as
e cry of “Back to the land.”
The big problem, it seems to
5, is not how to keep the boys
id girls on the farm, but how to
ake the farm a place where the
yys and girls will wish to stay,
he fact that a boy is born on the
rm, is no reason for his stay
ng there. Indeed, the propor
ion of farmers to total popula
ion will continue to grow smaller
ill the time, and this means that
farm boys and girls will continu
ously be going to the city. And
there is no reason why this should
not be the case. There is every
reason, however, why things
should not be so adjusted that the
UOOD FARM BUILDINGS LIKE THESE INDICATE i'ROSl i KI I i
poorer is not helping to keep
the boys and girls on the farm.
Nor is the man who raises poor
crops, nor ihe one who keeps
poor livestock, nor the one who
makes farm work unnecessarily i
hard, nor the one who neglects
the social life of his community,
nor the one who imagines that
the boy who is to be a farmer and
the girl who is to be a farmer’s
wife can get along with less ed
ucation than other folks.
Better farming so as to give the
farmer larger profits, and better
training so as to enable him to do
better work and to deal more ef
fectively with other men, are all
that will make farming a suffi
* ii.. : i _ i:i‘ _i. a l I
Irigntest ana mosi amoiuous
iung people will go to the cit> and leave those of less energy or
ith less education on the farm. This has too often been the case in
ie past, and how to correct this tendency is one of the great prob
ms of our time.
We are told that the way to keep the young people on the farm is
> make the home surroundings attractive, to have books and pictures
id music in the home, to give the boy or girl an interest in some
ling on the farm, to teach agriculture in the public schools. All these
re good suggestions, but might it not be worth while to inquire why
lere are so many unattractive farm homes, with bare yards and un
ispiring interiors, why the country boy and girl so often have prac
tieally no money of their own, why country schools afe often so
poorly adapted to the pupils’ needs? Is it because country people do
not care for convenience and beauty ? Is it because they do not be
lieve in education? Or is it because they get such small profits from
their labors that they do not feel that they can afford to spend money
for beauty and culture ?
I There can be no question that long years of struggle, and mistaken
ideas of what is really worth while, have deprived many farm folk of
a proper appreciation of the value of things which have not a money
value; it is unquestionable that many farmers and many farm com
munities do not fully realize the added power and the added zest in
life a good education gives; but, for all this, we are convinced that
the greatest trouble with country life of today is that the average far
mer does not make enough money to live as well as he should or to
give his children the advantages they should have.
Boys and girls leave the farm for the simple reason that they be
eivn vi j uwou auiu iiif n ui iv iu uc
come the choice of those country-bred boys and girls who, by reason
of their ability and enterprise, are especially needed by the farming
community.
Look after the farm, see that it is a good home for the boy and
that it pays well enough to appeal to him as a desirable business.
Then with the proper training for life and its work he will not be in
a hurry to leave the farm ; and if he does leave, he is not likely to
be one of those who leave only to fail.
FEATURES OF THIS ISSUE.
A CHEAP SILO—A Tennessee Farmer’s Plan . 12
A PRIZE ESSAY ON FARMING—By a Sixteen-Year-Old Boy_ 17
CARE OF THE CHILI) IN HEALTH—Things to Consider in Feed
ing and Clothing. 8
1)R. Bl'TLER’S TIMELY TALKS—Millet, Acid Phosphate, Feed
ing Dairy Cows, Soy Beans, Etc. 3
FARM AND GARDEN WORK FOR JULY—By Professor Massey,
Professor Niven, and the Editors .4, 15
HOW THE STOCK LAW HELPS—Why Livestock Should Be Kept
at Home. 10
LAY CONCRETE FLOORS—How the Work is Done. 5
RAISJXG HOGS ON Ml LBERRIES—Professor Duggar Tells How
an Alabama Farmer Does It. 13
SOUTHERN MARKETING SYSTEMS—How Our Diverse Interests
Prevent Co-Operation . 17
THE CHURCH AND RURAL SOCIAL LIFE—A Great and Neg
lected Field for Church Work . 6
THE NEGRO PROBLEM IN TWO CONTINENTS—Mr. Poe’s First
Letter From Abroad. 11
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