Part 1 (1/2)

A Living from the Land.

by William B. Duryee.

PREFACE

Homesteading days are here again. The present movement of people back to the land is of a different type and has different objectives from those which prevailed when a continent was to be conquered and exploited. Today we know that many urban industries will operate on a seasonal basis and we know too that periods of unemployment and shorter working days will provide more leisure and probably lower incomes for hundreds of thousands of families. The utilization of this leisure time to supplement incomes, to raise the standards of living and of health, and to attain some measure of economic security will tend more and more to settlement on the land.

In these days of rapid transportation and all the attributes and conveniences of modern country life, the hards.h.i.+ps of the earlier period of land development are non-existent. Although urban industrial development has reached a point which will not be exceeded for many years to come, the individual who needs additional income may adjust himself to such circ.u.mstances by establis.h.i.+ng a country homestead. Industrial activity is tending to decentralize, largely as the result of widespread power distribution, and a home in the country accessible to some form of manufacturing or business employment offers undeniable attractions.

This book is prepared primarily for the family that is inexperienced in country living and in soil culture. Such a family should know about the nature of the soil on which it lives, how to make it serve the family's needs and purposes, what to do, and what to avoid in order that success may be attained and failure averted. Students of agriculture as a vocation and practical farmers may find, beyond the elementary facts presented, information of value and help to them. To know and to understand the science and practice of agriculture is to have power to cope with and to enjoy soil culture and animal husbandry. If this little volume helps to answer clearly and definitely the many inquiries that are in the minds of prospective and active homesteaders, it will have served its purpose.

The knowledge of many practical people and the resources of agricultural inst.i.tutions and agencies have been drawn upon for this book. Grateful acknowledgment is made to those who have contributed constructive criticism and have helped in the preparation of material. Especial credit is due to the personnel of the New Jersey and New York colleges of agriculture and to my a.s.sociates in the New Jersey Department of Agriculture.

WILLIAM B. DURYEE.

TRENTON, N. J.,

_December, 1933_.

_Chapter_ I

TURNING FROM THE CITY TO THE COUNTRY

America was founded on the rock base of agriculture. The early settlers tilled the soil and derived from it the simple things that they needed.

Necessity compelled them to be self-reliant, courageous and resourceful.

The establishment of a home in early days meant the clearing of land, the erection of a house for human habitation and the building of shelters for a few farm animals. Each farm home became practically self-sufficient so far as the family needs were concerned. Clothing was made there for each member of the family. After clearing and subduing the land, the settlers were able to produce their cereal foods. Animals were slaughtered and the meat processed to provide sustenance throughout the year. Through the exchange of commodities and ideas with neighbors, advances in living conditions were made.

The family that was not resourceful in those days failed to survive.

Neighbors were too busy working out their own existence problems to succor the incompetent. Resourcefulness was called upon in meeting onslaughts of beasts or human marauders. Thus there was built up a tradition of seeking and utilizing resources that has gone on to make our country great and the wonder of the rest of the world.

Since pioneer days we have built a great industrial, commercial and financial machine. American inventive genius, coupled with the best brains of the civilized world, attracted by resources and opportunities on every hand, has invaded every field and created a great industrial superstructure.

With the genesis and development of a great industrial era in the United States there started a movement of population from farms to established centers of population. The application of the sciences to the problems of filling human wants gave this movement greater impetus. Mining and the refining of metal ores, the exploiting of coal deposits, the building of railroads, the construction of buildings for business and residential purposes, as well as dozens of other great enterprises, served to draw from the country the best of its human resources.

Inventive genius began to concentrate on the solution of engineering and construction problems created by congestion of population and successive steps in industrialization. This same technical genius was applied also to farm operations which required laborious effort by men and work animals.

That this development itself progressed rapidly is demonstrated by the fact that while in 1810 the effort of nearly every person was required to produce enough food to sustain the population, in 1910 the efforts of one-third of the people were sufficient to provide food for the nation and export vast quant.i.ties to other countries.

While the nation continued to grow rapidly in population and sought to apply to ordinary practices the newer labor-saving devices, all was well.

It was inevitable, however, that the great industrial machine should become over-developed, at least temporarily. Instead of machinery being a servant of mankind it became an octopus that could not be checked.

Individual initiative, the wellspring of earlier developments in the process, became atrophied. There came about such a high degree of specialization in human effort as to make men dependent upon others for work to do. Consequently, even a slight throwing out of gear of the machine created unemployment, which reduced buying power for the machine-made products and started a vicious downward spiral accompanied by every form of economic distress.