The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-08-14

costiiest one Of the essentiat fefuhxing | ingredients.
 ability of employing high grade instead | of low grade fertilizers, owing to tho | hiRher relative cost of transportation and 1 handling of the low grade goods. 1 The necessity of employing of high grade and strictly pure insecticides, such as Paris green. was called attention to aRd farmers and dealers were informed | that any samples of Paris green sent to | Auburn for examination would be ar- alyxed promptly,
 The attention of the farmers present was also directed to the Summer Insti- | ute for farmers which is now being so successfully conducted at Auburn. | Tn conclusion. the speaker urged strong | ly the necessity of the employment of the same advanced and progressive methods | in agriculture as those which had char | acterized the various other industries which had contributed to the upbuilding of the country.
 address President Houghton announced
 that a recess would be taken until 1 o'clock in the afternoon, and that din-
 ner was ready in the mess hall under the hill.
 Governor Jelks was among the distin- | guished guests of the club at dinner. Before the beginning of the afternoon
 
 state Hefiin spoke to tne crowd few
 minutes. He told a number of stories and said that he stood for the 'Suppres- sion of the boil weevils and peonage, the | freedom of the press ana the right of trial by jury"
 Professor Kaserman's Speech. The principal address of the day was | delivered by Professor Emile O. Kaser- man of the Brandon Training School at Gs,srI fho vii "a fny1 0f
 the Agricultural Club. Professor kaser- man came from Tennessee to address the
 farmers of Montgomery county. Professor Kaserman is one of the best
 known agricultural ecucators of the South. He is recognized authority on agriculture and agricultural training. Education for the farms has been his life study and his life work. His presence in
 Montgomery gave special qualification to | the Agricultural Club, and the farmers l Professor Kaserman's subject was ''The Farmers Preparation For His
 Work" It was a subject in which he was
 thoroughly versed. His address was able and instructive and one which was
 most highly complimented by those who heard him.
 Does Teaching Pay. Professor Kaserman said that he was then to answer the utilitarian question Docs 1t pay?" He was there. he said, to answer that question when 1t was ap- | piled to the education of farmers boys. There is no other calling, he said, that repays as well the application of our | best efforts, our best energies and our | best common sense. He argued that the | most feasible plan for the education of the masses was by making them better providers, and better Dread-winners. Professor Kaserman contended that the public school systems in the agricultural Sll ~l.A Aowr kafe l ranged with special reference to the ed- ' ucation of the farmers children. The South, he said, had always been, and would always be, an agricultural coun- | try. The crying need of the times. he said, was education and the crying need
 of the farms was educated farmers. The startling fact had been brought to his mind recently that illiteracy in the 1, South, was as great as 1t was fifty years ago. With all its teachers. and all It's schools, he said, the South had
 made no perceptble progress in fifty years.
 In speaking of the cause of this condi- ton, Professor Kaserman asked: Why don't the boys and girls in the rural dis tricts make better use of the educational
 advantages afforded them? Does not the solution seem obvious? Who shali blame | the poor farmer for keeping his boy at home to help in the management, or as | is often the case. the mismanagement of | the old farm that their combined efforts may eke out a somewhat less scanty sub
 sistence, when he believes that one of
 will learn at the rural school is to des- pise the calling of his rather?"
 A Boys Working Capital. l Teach the farmers son" said the l speaker, that the farm is to be his working capital, which he is to invest to | the best of his abilities. Let him realize l that the unproductive fields are dead cap-
 ital which must be invested to better ad- l vantage, unless he is willing to be the
 loser. Show him how simple the task | may become if pursued along the same | rational lines that business men conduct their affairs. Cultivate in him love for | his fields and a closer acquaintance with | Mother Nature who Is ready to throw
 around him her fostering arms. to shel- | ter him in her kindly bosom, and to whis- l per into his listening ear the secrets that
 will bring peace and plenty to him and
 his.''
 The problem which confronted the South
 ern farmer, he declared, was one which
 would be ultimately solved by the farmer
 himself with the teacher of the rural
 school playing an important part. | It was important, he contended that the
 dignity of the service of agriculture
 should be emphasized. One of tthe difl-
 culties encountered by the agricultural
 colleges, he pointed out was that large | portion of the students looked forward to
 professional Or departmental service rath- l CT than to life on the farm. Agricultural | education, he declared, took the most in- | telligent effort directed by the best in-
 formation that could be commanded.
 In closing Professor Kaserman said: l Pleads for Education.
 "I plead for an education that will en- l able our farmers to make use of these
 and many other helps, that will enlighten | little the benighted condition of the l thousands who do not know that these helps exist and can be had for the ask | ing
 The science of agriculture Is both | broad and complex, but the fundamental | principles of this and related sciences can | and ought to be taught in rural schools. | The average boy of twelve is of an in- l vestIgative turn of mind, and it Is these | principles that will serve most admirably | for his mental discipline. and at the same time furnish that knowledge which will | be most useful to him as a man, and | which his natural curiosity will lead him | to translate from the abstract principle into the concrete fact. It is the birth | right of our farmers not only to make a good living. but to lay by something for
 the proverbial rainy day Then let us no longer stand in his light and our light ! .E-H. H.