Old Ideals Versus New Ideas in Farm Life

[Contents:] America's Inheritance from “The Age of Enlightenment” --- Some Early American Agricultural Institutions (Agricultural Societies – Agricultural Fairs – Agricultural Journals) --- The Seed of a New Growth --- Agrarianism (The Tradition – Rural-Urban Antagonisms – Regional Differences in Rural-Urban Relationships – The Democratic Character of American Agrarianism) --- The Virtue of Labor (Work Was Work in Town and Country Alike) --- The Idea of Progress (Rapid Development of Mechanical Devices – Resistance to “Book Farming”) --- The Vogue of Nature Study --- Belief in the Triumph of the Good --- Rising Land Values and Boomer Psychology --- The Vogue of Self-Education (Growth of Farmers’ Clubs) --- The Drive to Democratize Education (Education as a Means of Personal Advancement) --- Democracy and Security a Century Ago --- Forces of Change: Commercialization, Urbanization, and Technological Advance --- New Economic Demands Upon Agriculture (Self-Sufficiency Gives Way to Interdependence) --- The Influence of Farm Bookkeeping --- The Farmer Becomes a Businessman --- Changed Attitudes Toward Labor (Rural Opposition to Organized Industrial Labor – The Widening Gap Between Proprietors and Hired Hands – New Ideas About Success) --- The Persistence of Some Older Ideas --- Changing Ideals in Agricultural Education --- The Popular Acceptance of Science Applied to Agriculture (Technical Progress in Many Fields) --- The Development of Professional Farm Leadership --- Paper Values Versus Work Values --- Farmers and Middlemen --- The Country Adopts City Ways --- Loss of the Old with Acceptance of the New (The Conflict Between the Old and the New) --- Literature Cited.