The Lure of the Land; Farming After Fifty (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ni THE BOOMERS AND THE BOOMEES THE city man of small means who has acquired a passion for the country is picked out as an easy mark by the boomers who have attractive (on paper) orchards, gardens and farms to sell. The " boom" perhaps may take the form of a poultry campaign, and some of the older readers may remember the epidemic of " hen fever " that spread over the country forty or fifty years ago. There is the same principle underlying all exploitations of this kind: first, the skilful and insidious play upon the human desire, and the attractive and deceptive form in which that desire may be gratified. The typical promoter is by no means devoid of intellect; in point of fact, he is shrewd, keen, intelligent and conscienceless. He is, above everything else, a profound student of psychology. He knows to the uttermost limit the moods and passions of man. He plays upon them skilfully, as the virtuoso touches the keys of the piano. A story is told of an event which took place at a meeting of the makers of automobiles. At this meeting the various proprietors or manufacturers of the different motor cars had the opportunity of freely advertising their own special brands. One of the largest of the makers, while on the floor, described the wonderful scope of his business. He said, " You scarcely realize the magnitude of the business which I represent, and perhaps a simple illustration will suffice. We make and sell a complete car every two minutes." The manufacturer who followed him did not fail to take advantage of the opening. He remarked, " The business of the gentleman who preceded me is undoubtedly of great magnitude, and well illustrated by what he said. The business of the gentleman is, however, not nearly so great as it ought to be. He should be ashamed of not havi...