The Colfax chronicle., 1903-05-16
FARMER AND PLANTER.
EDUCATION FOR FARMERS.
The Present Day Farmer Must Have
Technical Education II He
Would be Successful

A"'S II pfc-ciiuucnttt udy OI eOu-
cation. There is felt need for skill
In order TO insure success in any un-
dertaking. The man with hand and
head trained in unison comes rapidly
to the front. 1t is not so much gener-
al education that is called for, as
specific education. The great demand
Is for leaders i'm every line who have
technical knowledge in that particu-
lar line.
In other words, industrial education
Is the demand of the day in this great
and growing and developing country.
Agriculture is no exception. Rather
IL stands in the front of the process
sion. There is general appreciation
of the need for the science of agricul-
ture to be more clearly understood,
and made the basis of the art or the
practice of agriculture. We are
more fully realizing that the success
ful growing of crops depends upon
certain fixed laws. We are beginning
to know what those laws are, and
how they should be applied.
A growing demand. The demand
for men whose education fits them to
manage farms on these lines is in
creasing far beyond the supply.
Other pursuits have been thought to
be more profitable and more desirable.
A large number of those educated in
the agricultural colleges have gone
in these pursuits. The time for a
change has come. The farm calls
loudly for the best brains, the high
est skill. and the farm proposes to
pay for them.
The farmer needs to understand the
nature and composition of soils. also
the nature and life habits of plants.
He especially needs to know the re-
lation between the soil and the crop
he wishes to grow upon that soil.
With this knowledge he can so direct
as to get larger crops for the same
labor.
Much has been written upon the
above point. But there is another
important point which has received
very little attention. BY thorough
knowledge of the science and thor
ough practice of the art. the farmer
can be practically sure of his crop.
He can lay his plans and feel that
II he does his part. he will be sure
of his reward. He can see that fail
ures are chargeable to the farmers
ignorance or mistakes or laziness.
For example: science shows that GER
tain elements of plant food are
needed TO make healthy plant. 1t
shows that there must be a proper
balancing of all the elements to In
sure success. The absence of one
element may cause failure, when all
the rest are present. A man may
have every element of life and health
except iron, and yet he may be a very
sick man. Give him this little lack
ing element. and at once he begins to
nse all the others, and becomes
healthy and strong.
The same is true in the vegetable
Your crop may be supplied
with every element needed to make q
large yield, except the potash. They |
will sicken and die; rust, mildew,
mould, wilt and hundred other |
forms of disease will appear. Your |
crop will fail; you will lose. But il |
you supply the needed element-pot-
ash-tbe plant rejoices in the rain |
and sunshine. Health and growth go |
on hand in hand: large |
yield II the result. We are just be- !
ginning to realize the value of potash |
in giving health to our crops, and in
resisting well nigh the whole range |
of fungus diseases. These diseases
have robbed the world of countless
of dollars. The rust on wheat |
and oats and cotton. the brown rot on |
peaches and the blight on pears are a
Few familiar examples. A judicious /
use. of potash will prevent all this.
The educated farmer can prevent /
these. When we learn the causes of
these and other sources of failure
we can apply the remedies. When we
the economy of air and
water and soil in building up plants;
when we know what part each sup
plies and how ii supplies it; when we
zee how marvelousir. and yet how
simply, they all co-wolss to the same
great end-then we will know how to
arm. Then we will become more and
more prosperous, and more and more
But il will require educa-
ion to bring this happy day.
We must teach our children these
yreat laws, and how to apply them.
they will not get this information in
,lassics or literary colleges. They
must 60 to the agricultural and me-
college and experimental
arms. They must see and experiment
'or themselves They must under
Itand how the fertility has been main
aimed in the soil in China and 9TH
n eastern countries, where the
,oil has been in continuous cultiva-
ion for over five thousand years.
They must learn that there is no such
hing as wearing out soil by intelli-
rent growth of crops.
We need more educated men ON the
arm. We need more intelligent work
lpon the farm. This kind of work
low pays and pays well. No other
pursuit offers surer reward for
killed labor and intelligent supervi-