The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-12
FARMERS CLUB MEETS
PREsTDENT HoUoHroN DE.
 LINERS AN ADDRESS.
Planters of Montgomery County May Have Big Barbecue in August. To Award Premiums for
 Good Crops.

10 AW0r0 Efem1Um9 TOT Good Crops.
 -~ About forty farmers attended the meet ing of the Montgomery County Agricul- tural Club at Il o'clock yesterday morn ing in the rooms of the Commercial and Industrial Association and the club was established on a good working basis. The meeting was opened by President M. B. Houghton. who called attention to the work of organization, appointment of standing committees and printing of the bylaws, constitution and membership roll, after which he submitted his views as to the work and scope of the club.
 We should feel greatly encouraged at the increased interest manifested in the improvement of our farm conditions" said MT. Houghton. When any good cause gets the earnest, active attention of a thoughtful people some better results will follow. believe in getting together. conferring with each other and then act ing.
 We came near a famine the past winter and spring. The bounty of the west and the transportation companies saved us from suffering, almost starva- ton. The one crop and tenant system has 30 exhausted our lands that they refuse to yield profitably unless the sea- sons are very favorable. There are ways by which we can improve and build up the capabilities of the soil and we will be unworthy Of our heritage unless we find and adopt them. Every industrial and material interest feels the inyigoratng touch of full crops and fair prices. Every branch of in- dustry prospers when the harvest is plen- tif,il and the reward abundant. The mer- chant fills his store house and increases | his help, the railroads are burdeped with trafic. work is plentiful, labor is rewarded and the merry hum of prosperity is | abroad in city and county. Therefore | everybody should be the farmers friend. Everybody is interested in his success and the best talent and thought should be en-
 listed in the upbuilding of his industry. "Old Mother Earth Is our unfailing | friend, our Alma Mater, and from her | generous bosom comes the pabulum that | nourishes the life of the animal creation. i All flesh is grass, so said the Wise Man, l and the grass produces flesh to again | produce flesh with ceaseless round. The
 Montgomery Agricultural Club does not expect to revolutionize our farm methods
 or our conditions, but by discussions and conference one with another and by the
 aid and advice of trained, scientific, suc- | I heritage a little better and brighter than
 we find 1t. We hope to raise the stan-
 dard of successful farming and bring the | agriculturist into prominence as the prime | or necessary factor in supporting and developing the community at large.
 Let us leave our heritage a little bet l ter and brighter than we find 1t Is @ good l motto for this and all other clubs. We can imagine what a good world this | would be, what delightful land ours
 would be if our forefathers had adopted and praoticed this maxim.
 we must expect the usual criticism | from men who have no faith in their fel- low men and but little in themselves: or
 from those who think they know enough already, or from those who are satisfied
 with all there Is in the old ways both
 good and bad. The man who acts as if | he prayed to thke Lord to bless him and | his wife, his son John and his wife, we four and no more, will do us but little good. We want the men of willing re- ceptive mind, anxious to learn and to | impart, willing to cooperate with their
 fellow men and do whatever they can, however, little, towards upbuilding the community.
 | We want more educated farmers. the | kind that have scientific business and l pTaCLlCdi IL requires ulOro OuSl-
 ness ability. skill and profound thought
 to manage large farm successfully than
 is necessary to run a large mercantile establishment.
 Agriculture should be taught in all of
 our public schools. It is more important
 for the farmer boy to have a thorough
 knowledge of his fathers corn field than be versed in the classical history of an- | cient battle fields.
 We welcome the man of science and
 theory. The value of brain work Is ln-
 estimable. It has been said that brains
 are the best fertilizers. It was an un-
 known Georgia lawyer some years ago,
 who revolutionized the fertilization of cotton and put thousands of his fellow
 men to experimenting. Furman's For
 mula became widely known and adopted
 and caused a great increase in the pro-
 duction of cotton on poor lands. Gov
 ernor Hoard of Wisconsin has the credit of changing the agricultural conditions of
 the farmers of that State from poverty
 and depression to a State of great pros- perity. One man from Ohio has per-
 sistently and ably advocated the grow
 Ing of Alfalfa so that hundreds of thou
 sands Of acres are now planted and is
 considered a great boon to the Western
 farmer. The Investigations of one pro-
 lessor of the Iowa Agricultural College
 in seed corn is said to have been worth
 a million dollars to the farmers of the
 corn belt Secretary Wilson says that
 we know but little about agriculture so
 far. that we are on the verge of great
 discoveries in the science of cuitivatinR