The progressive farmer., 1901-11-26
Agriculture.
DO WE NEED EDUCAT1ON4

Ii Is 4lbbAo "OuuoE budb l6 SQOulQ
be difficult 80 grow grasses and
clovers in the South, if one examines
the bare and gulleyed hillsides on
which the attempts are made. Treat
these same hillsides with COW peas
and plOw them under and make the
soil friable and store it with fertil
ity, and the trouble, so long bug
bear 80 the development of stock
husbandry, quickly disappears. The
remedy seems simple enough, but it
has not been generally praoticed be
cause of the belief that the crop of
cow peas plowed under, which really
represented an investments, will not
yield a profitable interest It has
been deemed the better policy so
waste more in the purchase of grass
seed, considering a period of years,
than several crops of peas would be
worth and still no pastures and mead.
Ows have been obtained. Is is not
time that something we're done to
cOun teract such a disastrous poll Y :;
and how can it be accomplished, ex
cept by teaching men TO think, and
is not that the true import of all
education?
The average yield of wheat in the
South is about nine bushels per acre,
notwithstanding the fact that great
many farmers annually obtain from
25 80 35 bushels per acre. About
1,18O, 900 acres are suwn in wheat in
Tennessee, the annual production
being about IL, 900, 900 bushels. There
produce $4,000, 900 bushels What
is the matter with the ma ajority of
the wheat growers? Is is the soil or
is it the treatment of the soilP lt
must be the latter by reason of the
large crops obtained on many farms.
Is is obvious that the State could
easily produce $4,000, 900 bushels of
whe It more than it now does, which
at the present market price, rs cents,
would be $18, 200, 900. Is not this an
expensive tribute TO ignorance? 1t
is enough money TO educate all the
farmers boys in the State, and not
only show them how 80 improve the
yield and quality of their wheat at
practically the same expenditure of
time and labor as as present, but
make them equally skillful in the
handling of other farm crops. Flu
cation holds the key TO the situation.
The major portion of the beef cat
tIe produced in the South, and in the
Southeast particularly, are shipped
out as stockers for winter feeding in
the States further North, in spite of
the fact that profit of from So 60 $S
per head could be made by feeding
them at home, exclusive of the drop
pings, which when the animals are
fed on cotton seed meal are very
rich. Feeding these cattle at home
means much to the Southern farmer
as it opens up the way for the re
claiming of his wOrn-out land.
Swine are generally fed on whole
corn or on crushed corn and COB
meal with water. Experiments show
that where hogs are fed on this ration
as compared with one of skim milk,
crushed ourn and cob meal, the diff
ference in profits may amount TO
81 As per head If a man we're feed
ing 100 hogs, he wOu d lose $146. 1t
is often said that hog feeding Is un-
Drofita ole. Under such clrcum-
stances it is n, t surprising, and it IL
no wonder that stock husbandry does
not dev elop as it should when labor
ing under such manifest disadvan
tages
Oae hundred instances could be
multiplied to show the infinite value
Of education for the farmer, but 1t Is
ugt nee Ces4ary. The thoughtful man
must realize it's Importance. This
little article is not written in spirit
Of criticism, nor to show inherent
weaknesses. If is should Set our
farmers to thinking and cause them
&. real rs how v1tally dependent the
Success of their avocatiOn is on IN
te-EgeHt methods which an education
provides, it will have served it's pur-
pose ANDREW M SOULE.
-uIversity of Tenn KnoxvllI-
Tie State of Mi sissippi owns and
operates with convict labor the