But it is the small farmer, the man with the quarter-section or less, who is the special focus of the search-light of educator, scientist, and sociologist. During what I have called the intermediate period--the winter of the farmer’s discontent--the politicians did not wholly ignore him. The demagogue went forth in every campaign with special appeals to the honest husbandman, with the unhappy effect of driving the farmer more closely into himself and strengthening his class sense. For the reason that the security of a democracy rests upon the effacement to the vanishing-point of class feeling, and the establishment of a solidarity of interests based upon a common aim and aspiration, the effort making to dignify farming as a calling and quicken the social instincts of the farmer’s household are matters of national importance. It may be said that in no other business is there a mechanism so thoroughly organized for guarding the investor from errors of omission or commission. I am aware of no “service” in any other field of endeavor so excellent as that of the agricultural colleges and their auxiliary experiment and extension branches, and it is a pleasure to testify to the ease with which information touching the farm in all its departments may be collected. Only the obtuse may fail these days to profit by the newest ideas in soil-conservation, plant-nutrition, animal-husbandry, and a thousand other subjects of vital importance to the farmer. To test the “service” I wrote to the Department of Agriculture for information touching a number of subjects in which my ignorance was profound. The return mail brought an astonishing array of documents covering all my inquiries and other literature which my naïve questions had suggested to the Department as likely to prove illuminative. As the extent of the government’s aid to the farmer and stockman is known only vaguely to most laymen, I shall set down the titles of some of these publications: “Management of Sandy Land Farms in Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan.” “The Feeding of Grain Sorghums to Live Stock.” “Prevention of Losses of Live Stock from Plant Poisoning.” “The Feeding of Dairy Cows.” “An Economic Study of the Farm Tractor in the Corn Belt.” “Waste Land and Wasted Land on Farms.” “How to Grow an Acre of Corn.” “How to Select a Sound Horse.” “The Chalcis Fly in Alfalfa Seed.” “Homemade Fireless Cookers and Their Use.” “A Method of Analyzing the Farm Business.” “The Striped Peach Worm.” “The Sheep-Killing Dog.” “Food Habits of the Swallows, a Family of Valuable Native Birds.”