THE EDUCATED FARMER.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 88, 27 September 1915, Page 4

THE EDUCATED FARMER.

Ihe farmer <f to-day must be a better read man, ana a man of wider understanding of all the things be is dealing with than was necessary a few years ago. Tbe farmer has to face a great diversity of problems. There are so many factors connected with the business of farming that their relationship one to another is too often overlooked; but we would be pessimistic indeed if we were to admit lor a moment tbat progress is not being made. The dairy farmer with a first-class herd, a shareholder in a successful co-operative company, has far greater knowledge of his business than he had ten years ago. Tbe farmers are jirojtnrsirg step by step. At tim s we may be disappointed with the rate of progress, but still every step is upwards. The wheat areas are batter cultivated this year than ever before; the dairy production per cow is steadily improving; the cooperative companies are established on a sound basis, and generally ate ia a healthier financial position than formerly. The fruit-grower k.iows m re about his ail, about his crop', about how to protect bis .fruit trees and garden p.ants from pests of various kinds The sugar cane grower is'a man with a widtr outlook and knowl dge of his industry to-day than when Queensland joi-ed in tbe federation of the states. 1 It is knowledge applied which makes succtsi or failure in life, and this is true in agricultural pursuits. The educated farm r studies his soil, stariufl his crops, his co-operative companies, as well as the widor economic questions affecting all his efforts. We are entering on an era when m n and women of refinement and culture and business ability will choose agriculture in one ct its branches as their life work. The educated farmer u learning every day from the experiences of others, as well as from bis own experiences. The man on the land who fcas faced its problems, who has studied the vagarieb of tbe season, who undeistands fcis -crops—how they grow-and surveys with calm judgment the wider economic questions of his State, is as surely an educated man as the bookworm or the classical student. The land offers greater opportunities to-day than ever before. The lad who thinks his father succeeded simply because he bad cheap land forgets that it was giit and perseverance which pulled the old man through. The same qualities with the wider knowledge of to-day, with labour-saving implements and better methods, will achieve success on as great and even greater scale than that of our fathers.

"There is no royal road to success": and the educated producer has hsd a rare opportunity uf proving the truth of this old Baying. His knowledge must be gauiel with caution, for the mistakes cannot bs erased, nor the blotted pagg turned down.—"Pioducers' Keview."