Farm Management: Preface

Farm Management

Andrew Boss

Professor of Agriculture and Farm Management, and Chief of the Division of Agronomy and Farm Management, College of Agriculture, University of Minnesota

Lyons & Carnahan

Chicago and New York

PREFACE

Farm Management as a subject for study in the class room is comparatively new. Specialists have for years pursued certain lines of agricultural education and have gained a vast fund of information about the treatment of the soil, the culture of crops and the care of animals. This information is of use to the farmer only when it can be applied to the management of the farm. It is the duty of the teacher of farm management to bring together in a systematic manner the information gained by the specialists that may be applied in an organized way to the business of farming.

This text has been prepared for use in the secondary agricultural schools and in high schools giving courses in agriculture. It is intended to follow the more specialized subjects, such as farm crops, feeding and care of live stock, soils, and other similar courses. The best results will follow its use in the junior or senior years. Only the large and more general problems in farm management have been discussed. It is impossible to treat, in a text book of moderate size, all of the problems that a farmer would meet in operating a farm of even average size and complexity. It is believed that a careful study of the problems presented will enable the reader to understand the principles of farm organization.

The value of the instruction in farm management will depend largely on the instructor. The pupils should be encouraged to undertake the exercises at the end of each chapter. So far as possible, these exercises should be connected with the home life of the students in the class. If the exercises are connected directly with the farms from which they come or with farms in the vicinity of the school, they will be much more useful than if performed in an abstract manner. The pupils should be required to work the problems following each chapter.

4 PREFACE

The correct solution of these problems will give much information regarding farm enterprises and operations and give training that will be useful in meeting and solving successfully the problems that arise in the management of farms. So far as possible supplementary reading should be assigned. It is expected that the text, with the exercises and problems, will make a full semester course. It should be preceded if possible by a semester course in farm records and accounts, thus completing a full year in farm management.

While the book has been prepared primarily as a text book for students in agricultural and high schools, it is believed that it will prove useful to farmers as well. The problems discussed are of a practical nature. Technical terms have been avoided so far as possible. In reading the book the viewpoint at least, of good farm management can be gained. Following the exercises and working the examples would benefit many farmers.

Acknowledgments are due my associates in the Minnesota Agricultural College for many helpful suggestions and criticisms. Messrs. F. W. Peck and A. H. Benton have assisted in reading the copy and in preparing the problems. Mr. Guy Fitzpatrick has given valuable assistance in the preparation of the illustrations for chapters vii and viii. Mr. T. J. Horton and Mr. C. H. Welch kindly assisted in preparing the other illustrative material.

The author is indebted to Professor C. G. Hopkins for the tables on Fertility and Farm Produce and Fertility in Manure, Rough Feeds, and Fertilizers, used in the appendix, which are taken from the book "Soil Fertility and Permanent Agriculture," published by Ginn & Company of Boston.

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