The progress., 1904-05-14

FARM EXPERIMENTS.
Every Individual Farmer should Ne
the Head Of = Private ESperi-
ment Station.

| Every man owning or operating .
farm should be the foreman Of an in
dividual agricultural experiment sta
ton. The record Of his many successes
and failures ought to be published
for the benefit of the farm community
in which he resides and for the edif-
cation of farmers generally. Man Is .
social being and interested in the af-
fairs Of his neighbors. 1t is this faui-
ly tie that bincs humanity in one great
cooperative union. Without the ex-
perience Of others man goes on in the
dark pathway Of uncertainty and
wastes much of his life in scaling the
mountains once explored by his ances-
.ors.
A college education Is not absolutely
necessary for any farmer to become
successful instructor in the science OF
agriculture. Many of the best men OF
the past had little more than com
mon school education They entered
into the study Of nature with determ-
ined minds, and, to certain extent,
conquered the enemies of soil husband
ry. They found out, by constant COM
munion with nature, the many defects
in system and the weaknesses OF soils
and consequent effect on plant life. The
first school of agriculture was estab-
lished less than a century ago, yet
there were great tillers of the soil
many years before the colleges.
The first lessons in agriculture
must convey some idea of soils and
their components. A good worker can
not succeed on poor soil If he does not
know how to replenish wasted fertility.
AS we'll expect an engineer to furnish
power after the fuel fo- making steam
has been exhausted. 1t is a common
law of nature that for every sin there
is a punishment and for every good
deed a reward A soil can not con-
tinue giving up annual returns of in
creasing value if continually robbed
of its plant food without any recon-
pense That food consists Of nitrogen,
phosphoric acid and potash and Is
necessary to healthful plant life.
The farmer who discovers some
thing new in soil cultivation and I'M
parts that information to his neigh
bors IL public benefactor. If he makes
two blades of grass grow where but one
had grown before his method OF OBJ
tanning such results is worth much to
all tillers Of the soil. Sometimes new
variety of seed gives surprising re-
suits Often a new piece Of machin-
cry saves labor and thereby adds dol
lars to the farmer. The practice OF
fall plowing in some sections proves
beneficial and in others detrimental. A !
fertilizer enriches the land and enables
the owner to get better crops. All these
things should become public property.
A practical study of soils and their |
effects on plant life may be conducted
in an easy and inexpensive manner.
Tile nature of plant food may be DEM ,
onstrated on the same land and in the
same field A small tract could be di-
vided into eight distinct sections and
upon these the experiments may be
conducted One portion may be FER
tilized with nitrogen, another with
DnOSpnOTlC dClu, d Ihitu WAeAA POee~SAs
the fourth with potash and nitrogen,
the fifth with nitrogen and phosphoric
acid, the sixth with phosphoric acid
and potash, the seventh with a COM
plete fertilizer, composed of nitrogen,
phosphoric acid and potash, and the
eighth be simply aHunfertilized plat
The experimental farmer does not
require the diploma of business col
Iege to keep a record of the products
Of a given area. He can keep ac-
counts with every form of experiment
and every mixture of fertilizer with
out seeing the inside of a double entry
set of books. The record would give
the cost of preparing land, the fertiliz-
,rs used, labor and seed expense and
results in different crops. In this
manner every farm becomes an expert
mental station and the owner or oper-
,tor. the foreman and conductor. When
MS plan of operations and conclusions
are made public he becomes an educa-
or to the extent Of his labors.--Joel
shoemaker, in Farmers Home Jour
lal.