Now the chief reason why young men and women leave the rural districts for the cities is to be found in the outward attractiveness of city life. This attractiveness is really not so great as it appears to be; but it is the appearances that often count. Rural comforts and conveniences have been all too few in the past; the hours of labor have been long and the work often disagreeable; the dearth of social recreations has also been a factor in making rural life seem monotonous to youth. These drawbacks, however, are not essential and permanent features of rural life. The balance of advantage which towns and cities have heretofore possessed is in fact being steadily reduced by the advent of things which greatly enhance the attractiveness of life in rural communities. [Sidenote: The increasing attractions of rural life.] The motor car, the paved roads, the parcels post and rural mail delivery, the extension of telephone service and electric lighting into the country, the tractor and other labor-saving devices, the organization of societies and clubs among the young people of the rural areas, the improvement and centralization of rural schools—all these are having influence. The application of scientific principles to agriculture, moreover, has made it a skilled occupation, not a common industry. Routine farming by rule-of-thumb methods is not very interesting and not very profitable; but scientific farming is both. For these various reasons the exodus from the farms is not likely to be as great in the future as it has been in the past. This is a fortunate circumstance for, as President Roosevelt once declared, our whole civilization rests upon the attractiveness as well as the prosperity of rural life. General References H. R. BURCH, _American Economic Life_, pp. 209-232; H. C. TAYLOR, _Agricultural Economics_, pp. 13-30; G. F. WARREN, _Elements of Agriculture_, pp. 372-398; SIR HORACE PLUNKETT, _The Rural Life Problem of the United States_, pp. 59-82; JOHN PHELAN, _Readings in Rural Sociology_, pp. 162-183; K. L. BUTTERFIELD, _The Farmer and the New Day_, pp. 1-29; E. G. NOURSE, _Agricultural Economics_, pp. 210-223; A. H. BENSON and G. H. BETTS, _Agriculture and the Farming Business_, pp. 1-12; S. J. BUCK, _The Agrarian Crusade_, pp. 111-141. Group Problems =1. How the national and state departments of agriculture help the farmer in your state.= =References=: J. E. BOYLE, _Agricultural Economics_, pp. 312-327; L. H. BAILEY, _The State and the Farmer_, pp. 89-111; E. G. NOURSE, _Agricultural Economics_, pp. 553-565. =2. Making country life more attractive.= =References=: C. J. GALPIN, _Rural Life_, pp. 212-260; J. M. GILLETTE, _Constructive Rural Sociology_, pp. 168-199; L. H. BAILEY, _The Country Life Movement_; University of Virginia, Alumni Bulletins, _Rural Life Conferences_, _passim_; _Report of the Country Life Commission_.