The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1890-05-15
THE FARMING WORLD.
FARM SUPREMACY.
Some Reasons Why the Farm Boy Ceu
orally C0anaa alnf All RIGHT.

Some Reasons why the Farm Boy Gen.
orally Comes Ont All Right.
Iwish to compare. says writer in
the Country Gentle. ian, the city boy
with the farm boy. The average boy in
town Is bright, keen and self-asscrting.
He is feet OF hand and eye. He is Of
ready answer. His look takes an air OF
self-defense. graceful and evasivc. His
life is in the passing hour, needless OF
things gone, ready for things to come.
OF the farm boy hardly know wha.
to say. know him too we'll The glilt
Of the wind is on his cheek. IIc has tho
air Of one who could do chores. work and
obey. Nor Is he dapper. nimblc, flip
pant, impertinent, unplucky. While he
reflects upon the past his face is toward
the future. In starting then, the quick
perception OF the city youth is matched
against the tireless reflection Of the
country boy. Who makes the better
fight?
Mark how uneven the start Equipped
for the city boy stand the primary, the
grammar and the high-schocl. Within
his reach are public Libraries. news
papers, museums and theaters. lie may
visit churches, courts, political halls
and clubs lie may study the forms of
banking, merchandising, manufacturing
and shipping. He Is in touch with the
active, progressive world. knowing men
of eminence, whose daily walk points
cut the pathway Of success.
The farm boy looks out from between
the pillow handles, detected by the re-
pose and silence and loneliness OF his
daily toll. Slim the chance for him to
acquire lazy. temporizing, yielding,
luack view of life. Tho great blue sky,
whose beauty has mover been told,
teaches him to reflect lie acts in the
open field where the air and earth are
built into grain, and then into power
which pulls his pillow, and then into
higher one which holds its course to the
furrow, and to him these become the
fnger-boards to . still higher whose
very mystery inclines his thought to
truth and honor-two things alone need
full to keep the boy Alright.
History gives strange reckoning for
these boys. Over against one city boy
who reaches like places, ten country
boys go to Congress-; twelve 60 on the
bench; ten become governors Of States;
ten come to the head of great business
enterprises Not single city-bred boy
has yet been elected President of this
Republic. This, to me, makes the farm
supreme. In legislation, either State
Or federal, 1t may strike blow for blow,
and one better. But the knowing OF
its might should make it serene. In
Iced. he who is conscious OF q just cause
and an adequate force, inclines to be
generous.
/ now wish TO illustrate wherein l
think . good may be done the farm boy.
Three years ago had two companion
Transcendent crab trees growing in the
clay which came from my we'll. They
we're not SO thrifty rs my other trees
The leaves were light-colored and
small; the trunks marked with sun
scald. In July l stimulated the one
further back with strong mulch. Its
leaves widened and darkened; it made
magnificent growth. Twas proud OF
that tree. The next July it began to
blight; cut away the dead limbs, but
the poison settled, and pruned until
the trunk and tender branches were cut
to the ground. The other tree bore fruit
last year.
II, as school boy, had studied the
geography of Persia . little les, and
apple-trces . little more. both trees
would have fruited last year. Indeed l
think farm boys ought to be taught
something OF root-grafting, budding,
pruning and top-working-al little some
thing about kinds Of trees and berries
which will stand the winters and then
bear fruit. Many an orchard in the
country has plenty Of trees but little
fruit. It will pay to raise bed OF
Crescent Seedlings and Captain Jacks
It may pay to raise few others; it will
not pay to raise still others. This
knowledge is worth more to boy in a
State than the foul yarns of old-time
Greece.
Tho boy who can tell you something
about breeds OF dne stock, their relative
merits, their history, their owners, the
fairs and fat stock shows; who can tell
wherein and why an Aberdeen Polled
Angus differs from . Galloway - is
equipped better than he who can tell
about the war elephants Of Hannibal or
the white camels Of Allah. In matters
Of taste, too, that boy who loves tree
and lawn and . garden and field. has
In him that which is better than tropes
and seni-quavers. These things 60 to
thu vary cora ~ aNrr0morv