The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-04-16
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.


AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
No man knows all that is to be
learned of agriculture. Experience
is Il thorough teacher, but life is too
short and the average bank account
too small to permit a farmer to get
all his information through personal
experience. The accumulated expo
rience of the best farmers and the
most practical discoveries of science
are available to him. In large mea-
sure this reservoir of knowledge is Il
new one, and many farmers have not
yet learned that it is for their bene
fit and that they are pri vilege1 to
tap it freely. The young man has
here an advantage, for, having no
great length of experience to direct
him, he is more inclined than is an
older man to seek counsel from the
recorded experience of leaders and
experts in other words, from agri-
cultural papers, bulletins and books.
The young man fOrfeits many of his
natural advantages if he fails to
avail himself of the light afforded by
the teachings of science and the re-
suits of agricultural experiments.
A course at an agricultural college,
even though it embrace but a few
months, will teach him not all that
i known about agriculture, but the
mOmentOus fact that science has Il
hundred principles and scientific in
vestigatiOn ten thousand facts which
are helpful to the thinking farmer.
Whatever its omissions, such Il course
of study and observation will serve
him professionally by making him
acquainted in some measure with
the sources of information on agri
cultural matters.
Is proof needed that knowledge is
convertible into cash? Behold the
proof in the richer green of the corn
of the mun who understands by
pr receipt or by true experience, the
capillary movements OF wafer in the
soil AMI the principles of cultivation.
Can the apple grower afford to be
al way s ignorant of the habits and
point of attack of his most fOrmid-
able financial enemies-leaf rust,
sc4b, San Jose scale, woody aphis
and cOdling moth?
Openminde lness is, or should be,
the young farmers natural attitude,
thinking an important part of his
business, and careful observation
his constant occupation. II he keeps
informed on recent agricultural dis
cOveries he will not rest content
with scrub cattle simply because his
neighbOrs have lost with acclimatiOn
fever so per cent. of the thorough
bred bulls that they have brought
in from higher ATTITUDES. Instead,
he Is fortified IN the knowledge that
science has demolished that barrier
N demonstrating that incubation
with the detibrinated blood OF native
cattle HffOT is immunity to the new
corners against this dread disease
He does not despair of winter pas-
lures, of ''pigs IN clover" and f
self-enriching fields simply because
his neighbOrs have failed with req
clover, vetCh and alfalfa in the DAYS
when none knew the mighty role of
root tubercle bacteria. He recalls
the experiments which prove that
the Southern soils which refused to
produce these plants need but to lie
vivifiel by the importation of def
n &c nitrogen fixing bacteria. Mix
ing with the seed the soil from an
old clover field, he sOws for an MS
sured harvest. Choosing fall, in
stead OF spring, for sowing, he hanll
caps the weeds in the Ta Z which the
preciOuS : ceilings must win. Their,
are other means or the acQuiremer t
OF such knowledge besides IL S0iOurH
at an agriculturalcOllege, as by home
study and reading and careful o.
ser vation.-Prof. j. &. Duggar, Au-
barn, Ala, IN Southern Farm Maya
zine.