The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1903-08-15
FARMER AND PLANTER.
AGRICULTURE IN SCHOOLS.
Why Agricultural Science Should he
Made . Part of the Curriculum
Of Our Public schools.


To this question there are very
many answers. We desire to call at
tention TO a few of them.
We say it should be taught in all
our schools because il is the leading
upon which many sciences rest for
their usefulness. We know it has
not been so considered. There are
many good and sufficient reasons why
it was not thought to be science at
all.
But that day is passing. A brighter
day is dawning.
This world was not made by acct
dent, neither does it continue to ex-
list by accident.
Everything moves by law. Gods
laws in nature are simple and beau
tiful and unchanging.
If We were capable of fully grasp
ing these, then science would be prop
erly defined as Gods way of doing
things.
But as our knowledge is SO limited
and imperfect it is better to say that
as far as we are concerned science is
what we know of Gods way of doing
things.
The science of medicine In what we
have learned of Gods way of health
and disease and how we may apply
His remedies for the cure of disease.
The science of astronomy is what
we have learned OF Gods way of bal
ancing worlds and systems of worlds
in space and keeping them in harmo-
NOUS movement to the rythm of time.
The science of mathematics is what
we have learned of the relations and
combinations of numbers.
In the same way we define the sci
ence of agriculture to be what we
have learned of Gods way or laws of
fitting the soil to the production of
plants and plants to the finding in the
soil the support and food necessary
for growth.
We do know enough of these to con-
stitute science and we can teach
enough of them to make the study of
agriculture a scientific study.
To illustrates: we have learned that
water constitutes three-fourths of
the vegetables and animals upon the
face of the earth. That twenty-three
per cent. of the remaining fourth is
air. That only three per cent. is min
eral. And that is all that the soil
furnishes direct to the plant life.
We know that water carries and
feeds this fourth to the plants. We
know that plants can not use solid
food. That everything must be given
to them dissolved in water.
We know that where there is no
water there is no life. "The
Water of Life" is not a mere fig
ure of speech, but a law of the uni
verse.
Thus we learn that we are abso-
lutely dependent upon water and
plenty of water for success in farm
ing.
We have learned that God supplies
us plenty of water for this purpose
but we have just begun to learn how
to use. this ample supply. Instead OF
permitting it to run away from our
farms, we can store it away for flu
ture use.
We have long known that when we
stirred water and soil together we
made mud, and when we dried this
mud we made bricks. But in violation
of the plain law we went right on and
plowed the soil when it was wet, and
when it dried we had millions of sun
dried brick-bats. We plowed or
scratched about three inches deep
and with our feet and the mules feet
and the plows feet, we packed the
subsoil into a strata six to ten inches
deep, so hard that water could not
penetrate it readily.
This hard-pan caused the water to
run off the farm and carry with it
the finest and richest of our soil. All
this was in violation of Gods laws.
And the violation gave us gullies and
CALLED hill sides and bleached soils un-
til millions of acres have been ruined
for farm purposes.
We have learned better than that.
The science of agriculture as it can
now be taught, teaches to pillow only
when the soil is dry. To make dust
instead of mud.
1t teaches US to break this hard
pan and let the water sink into the
earth when it rains. 1t teaches us
that We can in this way store away
the excess Of our winter rains for
summer use. And that it will in re-
Spouse to the beautiful laws of capil-
larity come back in the summer to
feed the hungry plants in time OF
ueed.-Southern Cultivator.