Oklahoma Farm Journal (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 9, No. 1, Ed. 1 Tuesday, January 1, 1901 Page: 1 of 16
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MININEMOO
Successor to -
HOME FIELD AND FORUM
Established 1893
The Farmer Boy
It is a maxim of the philosopher
that the strength of a nation springs
from those of its people who till the
soil—the people who are closely in
touch with nature and are influenced
by nature's teachings This being
the case ought not the sons of such a
people be carefully taught to respect
fully and honor the calling that
most truly supports all others? Un-
fortunately belief and opinion has it
differently in mind To such the
farmer boy who has bright active
mind and the ability to think quickly
judge rightly and give expression to
his ideas in forceful logical lanuage -
always seems "cut out for" a lawyer
a journalist or a clergyman' -'If he is
of an inquiring disposition and is a
close observer why "of course" lie is
destined to take up the study of
medicine or at least follow one of the
scientific occupations If he is quick
at figures and shrewd in business
matters why then it is taken for
granted that he must become a
banker a merchant or a factor of
some sort in the commercial world
Vet all of these boys of special talent
can find ample opportunities for the
fullest development and 'the- greatest
usefulness in the farm world
-
It is perhaps only natural for the
boy who at his home on the farm
has seemingly an endless round of
tasks and duties beginning at day-
break and closing alter (lark to note
that the Rev- Mr A or Banker B
or Lawyer C or Mr D the mer-
chant does not work as many hours
as his father does lives in a better
house dresses better has more books
and papers thread enjoys many more
social advantage3 and in short from
the boy's point of view enjoys an
easier happier more useful more
satisfactory life It is only natural
for the boy to draw such a comparison
and to arrive at the conclusion that
the farm is not the place for any one
with ability energy and ambition
Whose fault is it if he makes a mis-
take in reasoning? Are his own sur-
mundinga such as to give him a
practical knowledge of the very best
type of farming?
When the farmer boy attends the
district school the -very books that he
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Oklahoma
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OKLAHOMA CITY OKLAHOMA JANUARY 1 1901
studies tends to interest him in other
matters than that of fanning Ile
studies the arithmetic of the banker
the broker or the merchant He
learns all about the rates of interest
discount commission and profit as
they relate to the city business man's
affairs but he is never called upon to
work out a problem which will demon-
strate the difference in the profit be-
tween selling corn by the wagon load
or feeding it to a bunch of well grad-
ed steers He never has a chance to
figure out the exact difference in the
productive value of a field which
yields three-fourths of a ton of prairie
I ock
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hay per acre each season and that of
the same field which will yield three
crops of one ton each per acre of
alfalfa hay during the season his
geography tells much about the
plants and trees that grow in the
tropics and yet it is more than doubt-
ful if his teacher can tell him the
names of any of the weeds and grasses
that grow about the school house It
contains spirited pictures of the
various antelopes of South Africa and
the strange marsupialb of Australia
but not one of his school books tells
aught of the standard breeds of domes-
tic animals
It is not alone the school thA is
lacking in facility to give the farmer
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boy an interest in the farm It is the
home influence as well The average
farmer if he were to apprentice his
son to a mechanic would be sure that
the latter was not only skillful but
also that he had good tools Ile
would not place his boy in a bank or
a counting house where business
methods were lax or inexact lie
would not have him to learn business
Nvith a merchant whose shop was
slovenly or whose stock of goods was
poorly setected Neither would he
have the boy to study law with an
attorney whose library was inade-
quate and out of date Vet this same
fanner has no well defined method of
conducting his own business affairs
he keeps no book accounts at all he
has some scrub live stock and a lot of
unhoused farm implements and the
chalices are that he does not possess a
single book that treats of any one of
the many branches of the art of agri-
culture—indeed it may be that he
does not even take a farm paper And
yet he wonders why his boy does not
want to be a farmer !
Most farmers are liones': and more-
over they have at least a normal de-
gree of affection for their families and
yet they are sometimes forgetful It
may be that the boy is given a calf
an orphaned colt or a stunted pig
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VOLUME 9
NUMBER I
The sense of proprietorship—of
possessing something that he can- -
call his very own—is apt to arouse a
new or latent interest in life in the
thoughts and activities of that boy
He pets and coddles and curries and
feeds the brute till it becomes both
tractable and valuable and then the
father sells it and pockets the pro-
ceeds while the boy—well he has
had some valuable experience as an
amateur feeder even thought he may
feel disgusted at the loss of oppor-
tunity to try his hand at financiering
Give the farmer boy a chance Of
course it goes without sayiug that he
should be comfortably clothed and
veil fed All the influences that are
thrown about him and all the envir-
onments in which he is placed should
not only be elevating and ennobling
in their tendencies and effects but
they should also be such as to inspire
a love and respect for the farmer's
calling To this end in school he
should have competent teachers and
books will( h in some measure at
least recognize that the farmer and -
his operations have a place in the
world of business a6 Nvell as the
banker the broker the merchant or
the professional man At home the
minds of many farmer boys crave for
something else in the way of intel-
lectual diversion besides the weather
the crop prospect and neighborhood
gossip Books and papers pertaining
to agriculture are not difficult to ob-
tain and the literature of the farm is
more varied in its character and more
fascinating in its hold upon the in
than that of any other profession
trade or calling and besides it is
worth more than its cost on the farm
each year Finally it being granted
that the farmer boy should be a
trained business man no less than men
who fonow commercial financial or
professional lines then rather than ap-
propriate the proceeds of any special
efforts that the boy may have made
his father would do better far better
to take the boy into partnership with
him even to allowing him a small
percentage of profits Teach him
how to buy and how to sell as NVell as -
how to plow and plant—teach him to
hope as well as to hoe It will mean
cleaner fields and bigger yields It
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Thoburn, J. B. Oklahoma Farm Journal (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 9, No. 1, Ed. 1 Tuesday, January 1, 1901, newspaper, January 1, 1901; (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2193677/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.