enjoy the fruits of the earlier victory.
The well-trimmed woodland and fertile field are attractive to him;
nature in varying moods interests him. Even on the edge of the Western
desert the farmer is the master of a process of dry farming or
irrigation, so that he can smile at nature's effort to drive him out.
Science and education have helped to make man more independent of
natural forces and natural moods, but still it is nature that provides
the raw materials, that supplies the energy of wind and water and
sunshine, and that hastens prosperity if man learns to co-operate with
it. Success in the economic struggle of the family has always been
conditioned upon the physical environment, and it will always remain
one of the factors that shape human destiny.

31. =Inheritance of Family Traits.=--Another factor that enters into
family life is the physical nature of its members, the quality of the
stock from which the family is descended. Heredity is as important in
sociological study as environment. It is well known that a child
inherits racial and family traits from his ancestors, and these he
cannot shake off altogether as he grows older. Families have their
peculiarities that continue from one generation to another. The family
endowment is often the foundation of individual success. Without
physical sturdiness the man and woman on the farm are seriously
handicapped and are liable to succumb in the struggle for existence;
without mental ability and moral stamina members of the family fail to
make a broad mark on the community, and the family influence declines.
Mere acquisition or transmission of wealth does not constitute good
fortune. This fact of heredity must therefore be reckoned with in all
the activities of the family, and cannot be overlooked in a study of
the psychic factors which are the real social forces.

32. =The Domestic Function of the Family.=--The farm family for the
purpose of study may be thought of as composed of husband and wife,
children and servants, but the makers of the family are of first
importance for its understanding. The family has a long history, but
it exists, not because it is a long-established institution, but
because it satisfies present human needs, as all institutions must if
they are to survive. The family serves many ends, but as the primary
social instincts are to mate and to eat, so the principal functions of
the family are the _domestic_ and the _economic_. The normal adult