The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1897-03-27
College Wisdom.

y
wealth.
That great thriving and growing state
has connected with its university a So
called agricultural department, from
which eminates, from the mouths of
wise professors, intelligence and infor-
nation of vast moment to the horny
! handed tillers of the soil. No expense
seems to be spared in ditfusing among
the people this collegiate wisdom, and
the daily press teens with articles of
; from one to ten columns in length, tell
! ing the poor, ignorant farmer all about
! his shortcomings and acknowledgement
/ in his own line Of business. Illuminated,
| as he must be, at the expose of his ig
nOrance thus made by these learned
! professors, with due reverence to the
wisdom OF the schools, be viii undoubt
! eddy bend his head in reverent adora-
| ton to such teachings and will in conse
! quence become sooner or later the most
scientific farmers III the world.
! We have been led 10 this conclusion
| by perusing lately the lucubrations that
emanated from one of these college
professors by the name of Sh w. He
seems to be the same man who last fall
made a trip to the Puget Sound country
and discoursed learnedly to tt ignor-
anus farmers of that region or the cul-
ture of flax. No matter-as to hat here
| after. Now we are almost paralvzed
with admiration oyer a four column
article from him III the st. Paul Pioneer
| Press, on "Growing Sugar-Beets in
| Minnesota" OF course in all learned
dispositions on any subject there are a
few salient points which embody, so to
speak, the comprehensive grasp of in
tellect in the author. So in this matter
of the beets. Among a good many I'M
necessary words drop out in various
places large nuggets of wisdom, proof
conclusive that its writer is a professor
in college, and an almighty good one
! also.
He begins his article with this pro-
| found piece of information: The seed
| should be soWn in the spring'i
Farmers, ordinary farmers, who haye
never been to college, will seize upon
this nugget with aviditv. So few of
them with the poor advantages they
| haye had are aware that "seed should
be sown in the spring." that now they
| know it is a fact endorsed aud promul-
gated by one of the learned professors
III the agricultural college, they will
| probably quit sowing seed in the winter,
| if in their ignorance, as is likely, they
have been doing so heretofore. Just
this opening remark, az it were, i'll his
article, is therefore likely to do much
good. Il should stop, if believed, winter
planting Of beets, to say the least.
He says further: a severe frost
would injure young plants! lie does
| not, of course, say that the agricultural
department of the State University has
| learned this by actual experiment, but
| the natural inference is that it has done
SO. Doubtless some young plant, has
been by this wise professor left out in
the cold just on purpose to try the effect
of frost on 1t, and having found ont that
freezing harms the young plant, he
hastcns to let farmers know of this use
full discovery. This one thing is worth
millions to the agricultural interest.
Aealn: "In planting it is important
to get good seed" There are so many
many farmers who, in their dense ignor-
| ance, prefer TO plant poor seed that this
warning is decidedly well timed.
Again; " Before sowing the seed the
| soil should by brought to tit state by
cu!tivatiOn'l This remark shows how
closely the professor Las watched the
practices of uneducated farmers the
world over who always SOW their seed on
uncultivated land. No wonder indeed
| they have mortgages on their farms ,
! How farmer can expect to raise crop
| unless lie cultivates his land is Incom-
! prcLensible, and, thanks to the profess
sors of agriculture in the State Univers-
| lty here seems to be an authoritative
| opinion on the subject! There's another
million in that nugget.
"Bcets should be sown in rows.
! This instruction so at variance with far
mers' practice may arouse some antag-
onism among the more stupidity ignor-
| ant. If, without the headlight of a
university to point the way, they have
| been all the past sowing beets broad
! cast like wheat they may not be willing
to settle down to "sowing in rows" We
! shall see.
| Again: Gas soon as the plants are up
or can be seen in the row, cultivation
/ should begin, And then, m;rubJc
! diCtu, "use the hoe on both sides of
| the row to prevent weeds from beCom-
/ ing rooted'l This instruction in regard
| to the hoe is particularly useful. With
! out it an ignorant farmer might not use
hoe at all, or using one, might cOnfine
| his war on weeds to just one side of the
row. But here is authority he dare not
! ignore to slaughter weeds on both sides
Of the row. oh you stupid farmers, if
| only such wisdom as this could have
! been gwen you when you were young
In that case Minnesota would have
| been-What?
Again: When the beets are pulled
| they are topped with a knife; the
/ knife is made to sever the roots from
the tops! Indeed, this is worth know
] ing, surely, There are so many farmers
! ignorant Of what 4 knife Is for. that this
! plain statement of Prof. Shaw is still an
/ other nugget. And last, but by no
/ means least comes this concentrated
I quintessence Of wisdom. Dug out, from
/ the very roots OF things, by the persis-
/ tent mental application of college pro-
/ fessor, il must henceforth stand rs a
literary guideboard for the horny
banded son of toll. Here it is: -