St. Tammany farmer., 1903-05-02
FARMER AND PLANTER
EDUCATION FOR FARMERS.
Technical Education If He
Would be Successful.

This is pre-eminently day of edu-
cation. There is felt a 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. It is not so much gener-
al education that is called for, as
specific education. The great demand
is for leaders in every line who have
technical knowledge in shat particu-
4 lar line. y.
| In other words, industrial education
is the demand of the day Il this great
and growing and developing country.
Agriculture is no exception. Rather
it stands in the front of the process
of the need for the science of agricul-
turs to be more clearly understood,
and made the basis of the art or the
| prae tice of agriculture. We are
more fully realizing that the success
full 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 u
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 a 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
if 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 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 very
sick man. Give him this little lack
ing element, and at once he begins to
use all the others, and becomes
healthy and strong.
The same is true in the vegetable
kingdom. Your crop may be supplied
with every element needed to make a
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 if
you supply the needed element-pot-
ash-the plant rejoices in the rain
and sunshine. Health and growth go
vigorously on hand in hand; large
yield is the result. We are just be-
ginning to realize the value of potash
in giving health to our crops, and in
resisting we'll nigh the whole range
Of fungus diseases. These diseases
have robbed the world of countless
millions of dollars. The rust on wheat
and oats and cotton, the brown rot on
peaches and the blight on pears are
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
understand the economy of air and
water and soil in building up plants;
when we know what part each sup
plies and how it supplies it; when we
y
simply, they all co-work to the same
great end-then we will know how to
farm Then we will become more and
more prosperous, and more and more
But it will require educa-
ton to bring this happy day!
We must teach our children these |
great laws, and how to apply them.
They will not get this information in
classics or literary colleges. They |
must go to the agricultural and me-
chanical college and experimental
farms. They must see and experiment
for themselves. They must under
stand how thefertility has been main
tained in the soil in China and 9TH
er eastern countries, where the |
soil has been iK continuous cultiva-
ton for over five thousand years.
They must learn that there is no such |
thing as wearing out soil by intelli-
gent growth of crops.
We need more educated men on the |
farm. We need more intelligent work
upon the farm. This kind of work
now pays and pays well. No other
pursuit offers a surer reward for
skilled labor and intelligent supervi-
sion. Young men, go to your agri-
cultural and mechanical colleges.
Study farming in some of its
branches. Fit yourselves for lives of |
independent prosperity and the high
est type of manhood.-James B. Hun
nicutt, Atlanta, Ga.
CONSERVATION OF LABOR.