Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-01-09
TOPICS.
The Recent County Institute in
Detail.
THE PROGRAM IN FULL GIVEN.

failed to be present; nevertheless
those old stalwarts-T Thomas Camp.
bell. j. H. Vanderslice, w. f. Craw.
ford, 5. w. Heath and w. S. McCul.
Tough were present, although they
had to travel miles through the bit
ter cold early in the morning to
catch the train. On the whole it was
happy gathering sort of farmers
experience meeting. 1t does one
good to get out once in a while in
order to have the cobwebs brushed
off you. especially when you meet
such friends as there are in Port
Byron, who take a special pride in
making all your surroundings pleas
ant and comfortable. 1t has a ten
dency to make you feel. with all our
troubles and trials, that life is worth
living after all.
Corn Culture"
The paper read by Hon. W. F.
Crawford upon the topic of Corn
Culture" was very interesting. and
was freely discussed and criticised.
Mr.. Crawford claimed that s.corn il
king" and it would be a great bless
ing to mankind if more was used for
food. He would not pillow more than
four inches in depth; then he would
use the disc. He did not have as
much faith as some people in clover
as fertilizer. We make a mistake
in planting corn too deep. MIR.
Heath claimed that Mr.. Crawford
had model farm. which had been
made rich at the expense of his
neighbors--that is, he had Dough,
their grain and converted it into fer
tilizers and had enriched his OWE
farm. while his neighbors had be.
come poorer and they were obliged
to pillow deeper and adopt other
methods not necessary to Mr.. Craw.
ford. Mr.. Cox claimed that the
farmers of the upper end were
obliged to clover their land, in order
to fertiiize it. or they could not raise
anything.
| The farmers were unanimous with
regard to the proper method of Sc
lecting and caring for seed corn. L,
was not best to 90 into the field be
tore corn was ripe and select the
ripest ears; We would soon have al
early planting corn and small ears.
The better way was to select the best
and largest ears when we first com
mence cribbing corn, having a bas-
kct in one end of the wagon for that
purpose, and carry 1t into the cellar
as it is selected. BY adopting this
method it was claimed every kernel
would grow and would sprout and
be through the ground "a hours ear.
lier than seed selected in the old
way. The following year we should
select about half q bushel of the mos,
perfect cars for our first planting.
from which We could select our seed
for the folio wing year, and thus con-
tinually improve the quality of our
corn.
County's Future.
S. w. Heath followed on the topic,
The Future of Rock Island County. =
He claimed we could only Judge the
future by the present and past. He
then spoke of the hidden wealth
which nature had bestowed upon US.
We had coal and fire clay in alum
dance and porous subsoil; the two
streams, Mississippi and Rock rivers.
The Indians selected this part of the
country because there was every
thing necessary to their existence.
The centre Of population will shortly
and ultimately be found in Rock ISL
and county. We shall soon have a
continuous city from Milan to Wa.
tcrtown and will be conveyed that
distance by electricity for q nickel;
and he firmly believed that although
electricity will he an important fac
tor in our future progress, yetit will
be finally displaced by something
superior. He had talked with men
who had travelled extensively. who
said they had not found anything to
comparc with Rock Island county,
and he could not sec any reason why
the congress of the United States
should not he convened in our midst
After MIR. Heath's paper there was a
spirited discussion which was very
interesting.
Rcv.R II. Ncwlands sang two select
solos which were highly appreciated.
In the evening the topic was "Shoald
Farmers Give Their Sons and Daugh-
tiers a Liberal Education?" DE-.
Evans who should have given an ad-
dress on the above subject not being
present, several spoke, j. G. Osborne
taking the lead. Severed good ideas
were brought out with regard to
what was meant by liberal educa-
ton.
Woman's Place In the World.
a feature was the paper by Mrs
). w. Simonson. of Port Byron. on
"Woman's Place in the World" Sine
said
III anyone had ventured 100 years
ago to breach the question of
woman's place in the world people
would have looked at him askance
and wondered if he was q little lack
ing in the upper story. The world
was for man to civilize, to cultivate.
to occupy for himself. Woman was
an inferior being. if you please, q
weaker one at least: her place was
home Of course. 1t was her duty to
see that the male members of the
household were fed aud clothed. She
might sP:S syd weave. CT ru.s -