First Lessons in Beekeeping, C. P. Dadant.
Bee Primer, C. P. Dadant, Free to Soldiers from Bee Journal.
PLAN No. 1235. FARM MECHANICS AS A VOCATION
Acknowledgment is due E. B. McCormick, Chief Division of Rural Engineering, United States Department of Agriculture; American Society of Agricultural Engineers; Curtis Publishing Co.; Vacuum Oil Co.; International Harvester Co.; Domestic Engineering Co., and A. W. Shaw Co., for data, suggestions, and illustrations; also to Dr. John Cummings, of the Research Division, for editorial assistance.
The war, just over, has been a war of machinery. The observing soldier has seen the effectiveness of the tank, the airplane, the truck, the motor transport, and the ambulance. He will remember them almost as comrades in the great struggle. He has seen the systematic care required to keep all this equipment in shape to deliver maximum service.
Many of the returned soldiers have been truck, ambulance, or automobile drivers, or at least have seen the vast field of work that has been done by the gasoline engine in some form and have developed an admiration for machinery. If you have driven any of these machines and experienced the thrill of pleasure on getting your machine out of some tight place, or in overcoming some difficulty by your own ingenuity, you have the best evidence that you will enjoy the vocation that is spoken of in this monograph.
In selecting your future vocation you should aim to profit by your past experiences as much as possible and at the same time select such work as will best enable you to enjoy life and health. You have had an experience in the “great outdoors,” possibly a prewar experience in agriculture, and can readily decide whether you will be contented under such conditions as are found in country life. The majority of soldiers have, barring injuries, been greatly benefited by their Army life.
Uncle Sam having called several million men into his service, many of whom have been injured, is employing the best experts available to restore these to a condition of maximum usefulness. Just as the expert surgeon is restoring to useful condition the injured, so there is need of a mechanical expert to keep in good order the machinery of the farm and to restore to usefulness that which may have been injured.
The farmer is realizing that one of the chief problems of the modern farm is that of getting sufficient help when needed. He has been in the habit of depending on floating labor for extra help. During the past few years this help has been getting more and more uncertain, inefficient, and expensive, and during the war it has in fact often been impossible to get help at any price. To meet this condition a more general use is being made of modern machinery, which enables more and better work to be done with fewer workers.
Modern farming depends to a large extent on machinery. The average farmer is not a mechanic and must employ expert help to get the maximum service from his equipment. You may have had training and experience in mechanical work, and with a little special training this may become a valuable asset to you as a farm mechanic. A person properly trained for this work can save many machines for future usefulness and increase the life of all the mechanical equipment of the farm.