What Is Farming?

Report Foreword: This book was prepared by men and women in the Department of Agriculture for men in the armed forces who are seeking to understand farming. American farmers have always been as handy with the rifle as with the plow. And they have been quick to seize the rifle and leave the plow when their American land was threatened. But never before have soldiers and sailors had the opportunity to study farming while in the service. There is a great deal about farming that can be learned from study wherever you are. This book, or any other, cannot be a substitute for farm experience, but it can help you to see the job as a whole and find your way around with less of the error of trial. What Is Farming is for men with or without farm background. It lays before you the whole picture of American farming, big farms and little farms—the growing of potatoes, oranges, cotton, corn, cattle, hogs, or whatever—from Maine to California and the Great Lakes to the Gulf. Needless to say, there is much more to be learned after you have read this book. It is only the beginning. The book will have served its purpose if, after careful study of it, you can say to yourself, farming is, or is not, for me.