Rocky Ford enterprise., 1904-01-29

Of The Boy on the Farm" Wendell
Phillips had said the farm and the country
school we're the best things our civilization
had yet developed for he making Of .
man. The speaker said the boy on The
farm Vas ths frss thing Of importance on
farm. unlsss il Was the gsi on the farm.
Il vss ths boy On. he farm Who wse
turned 70 ell soFts Of ssFvles. vas turned
out 70 bssase the stogm on bed days, 70
run here and !ush these vhsss lsss robust
and isss nimbls msmhess Of ths household
sIs,' sso VS. ." lsh. :noash g d. IL 5. ssl.is.-
Tor and heavy enough 70 hold down ths
alfalfa stack. While The boy on the farm
thought ell this 70 b. great hefdship. ths
real Truth VS. that this was ths making
Of the man. He oissn heard old psople
like himsslf cay that they were overvosksd
vhsn they were young. but the fact was
that sscsps but rarely L was the seeming
hasdships Of boyhood life on the farm that
developed the mssue tor the years 70
come. He paid. In closing. suiogy 70
W. E. Gladstone and 10 the senior senator
from Colorado. Senator Teller as boys
from the farm.
Mr. Matthews thought the boy on the
farm vas not fairly treated. The poor
est horses and the poorest tools were
Mr.. Conner said the subject Was big
ono hut the use Of the farm To the hoy
should he point kept In mind. The
hoy on the farm was IN place where all
the eatablr raw material for making boys
and men was available. The boy on the
farm learned what II cost To raise hogs
and p1,atoes. he learned how TO handle
machinery and animals. and IN such
ways the farm was broad education ior
the hoy. on the farm too tho boy had
no, tho temptations to play and waste
time tina, the town boy had. and when lac
came TO town he had both tho brain and
constitution To- lay hold 81 his school
studies and the qualifications to succeed.
a. =. Kouns spoke Of sharing with ,hc
boy On the farm some oi the earnings oi
tic farm. and no, criticising too severely
the boys use Of his share OF the earn.
ings.
Mr.. Nanny suggested that there was
considerable csoiism in the farmers
view Of the imp Hiant part he played In
furnishing the nation with men.
Mr.. Nrvingcr spoke OF the modern
trend Of the farm boy To the city and the
evils that besct him there. For every
boy iha, rose to greatness in the city
there were ten who went down To de-
s,rueiion there. The responsibility ot the
Il
len, with farm life was onc oi the most
! important questions for the farmer to
, consider.
Chairman Pollock said this was an
important, topic and they had no, done
with l, yet. They were discussing some
thing more important, than dollars. The
boy was the most iinporian, erop raised
on the farm and the question of how to
keep the boy on the farm was pressing
one. He had asked Mr.. Ebbcrt To pre-
pare himself to say something On the
subject and they would now hear from
him.
gwen him by the chair made Il impos.
siblc for him to give the topic the prep
ara,ion Il deserved and he would not be
able to more than suggest a thought or
two. He dwclt mainly on the point oi
making the farm home an attractive
home TO the boy. Of the importance of
the parental character being such rs to
command the respect OF the boy and
hold him. "lf," he said. "wc set the
boys such an example as TO lead them 10
bank on the old man; II VIC inspire them
with the conviction that We arc always
and ever trying to do our duty by them
in all the relations OF lie. then we may
have good reason to hope that they will
incline their minds and their hearts To
walk humbiy. to do justly and to love
mercy in whatever sphere OF lie they
may come to occupy.
MIR. Fenlason said the life Of the iarm
was undoubtedly the place OF develop
mcnt of the physical fiber OF the boy,
but IL the boy was not mentally adapted
to the farm he was not going to stay
there, and he expressed the regret at the
too common view that the life OF the
farm was low calling and that distinc-
ton and greatness must be sought IN the
city. The worlds work was hard work,
practical work, and no work that served
the world was wv work. He said to make
the boy like the farm by making the
farm an attractive place, give the boy
his share in the good things OF the fair
home, a good room to sleep in and a
good tool to work with.
The discussion held the close interest
OF the meeting right up to the noon hour.
Saturday Afternoons Session.
The Saturday afternoon session was
opened by S. S. Bailey with talk on the
selection of cantaloupc seed. Mr.. Bailey
does not wash his seed. He squee:es
what pulp he can off them, dries them
and stores them in that condition. He
picked for seed the cantaloupes that first
set on. He took them by weight,
heavy melon having a small seed open
ing and therefore plenty of meat. He
picked the well-netted one. A first class
seed cantaloupe was positively rarity.
He never could get more than 5 to 7
pounds of truly fine seed from an acre.
II anything but the very. best seed was
used the cantaloupe was bound to deteri-
orate. That was universal experience
with all seed and all stock on the farm.
In answer to a question he said there
was a little gain in earliness by taking
seed from the first setting.
p. K. B'inn emphasized the statement
of Mr.. Bailey that the perfect melon was
rare. and what the seed seeker wanted
was not necessarily the first setting but
the earliest perfect melon. Every grow
er should gather his own seed because