The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-10-17
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make more money with their farm AMI
mails.
But something must be done to close
up this gap between the farmer, an
what agricultural science has to offer.
The Short Course in the Wisconsin Ag.
ricultural College, the D4iry School,
the Farm Institutes, the Wisconsin
Dairymen's Association, all aided very
greatly by the agricultural press, r
doing whas they a to close this gap
in Wiec onsin. speak more particu.
larly Of my own State because I am
more conversant with the results OBJ
tanned among the people. These forces
are taking hold of our young men, Civ
ing thCm a broader idea Of what it
means to be q farmer, and how a bet
ter study of what science has to give
will tighten their labor and increase the
prcfs Of that labor. Three great ruling
objects control here: To make better
farmers, and thus encourage the max
ing of more farmers. Hard, unthink.
ing, Improbable farming drive the
bows away from the farm. The farmer
must give his boy a chance to know a
little more than he car teach him about
farming in these days, or he will leave
the farm. The third grand result is
the building up of the wealth and agri
cultural prosperity Of the State, which
comes as the browning result of a wiser
and more practical union of the farm,
the farmer and the teacher of agricul
tural science.
EDUCATION
God said: Let there be light" The
average farmer OF this country does
not yet squareIy believe in that prin
ciple as an aid to himself and his farm.
He has too little sympathy for agricul
tural schools or for organized methods
for g better agricultural education.
This is seen ia the fact that, as a class,
he spends thousands of dollars to edu
cate his children to be lawyers or doc
tors, where he spends q dollar TO
especially fit them to be intelligent
farmers. This strange Indifference to
the advantages which a trained use Of
knowledge imparts, is difficult Of ex-
PLANTATION. But few farmers belle Q
that there is such a thing as a science
of agriculture. The great mass do not
believe that the thing we call farming,
can be taught to their children from
books or schools. The American farmer
will admit the necessity OF a special in-
tellectual training to be a lawyer, doc
tor, preacher, editor, merchant, or me
chanic, and his sacrifice for the educa
tion Of his children in everything but
farming ia without parallel in the his
tory OF any other nation. He sees
clearly that il his boy is to understand
the principles Of law, of medicine, of
mechanics, or of banking, he must look
into books and read there the record of
the experience and judgment that have
gone before him. That boys intellect
must be trained to discern a principle
on the printed page and then, by prac,
tice, learn how to apply that principle
to produce material results
Do you suppose that the farmers who
swarmed cut Of New England and New
York into Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and
the farther West, would have reduced
the fertility Of their lands as they have
done, if they had been taught in the
country shoots, when boys, the mean
ing and methods Of conserving nitro
gen, prosphoric acid and potash, as fer
tilizing agents7
Is there a farmer here that ever
heard those agents of all plant growth
mentioned in the studies of his boghood9
I feel deeply on this great lack Of
primary farm education. Ihad toface
it in my own young life and the boosted
craftsmanship Of my country has not
yet provided conditions much if any
better in this direction than those
which obtained fifty years ago.
The difference between successful
and unsuccessful men in all callings is
not luck, but rather ldgment and
energy. Good judgment is an act Of
the mind, and n must have a mind
we'll stored with sound knowledge, aud
well trained to use it, in order to ex9r-
else the best Judgment. I see a ray of
hope in the fact that this great national
body Of farmers have come to see the
tremendous Importance of this quss.
ton. I hope you will include it every
year in your programmes until discus
sion is ~crystalizsd into action all over
the nation.
Ideas govern. Wrong ideas or lack
OF right ideas govern juet as rigtdly as
the best Of ideas. Good sound thought
correct ideas Of theory and practice