The La Jara chronicle., 1905-09-08
8 RANCHMAN'S COLUMN {
Edited by Hon. D. E. Newcomb.

every district in the county thls
month and / hope that every lit
tie ranch boy and ranch girl will
be on hand the first day and at
tend every day during the school
term. / know that it is very |
tempting when work is pushing to
keep Johnny out of shcool few
days to pick up potatoes or hold
sacks or something of the kind.
This is very discouraging to
bright boy. He loses a lesson
here and a lesson there, he STUN
bles and founders in his classes
until he gives up and don't care
whether school keeps or not. A
parent comes pretty near commit
ting a crime when he keeps Johnny
out of school to pick up potatoes.
l don't suppose that single
teacher in the county will read this
article, but some of the school di-
rectors may and | want to call
their attention to the fact that
nothing on the subject of farming,
a subject of vital Importance to
our boys and girls, is taught in
our common schools. Many lad
can extract square and cube root
and go through a parrot demonstra-
ton that is simply Greek to him,
who cannot give the first princi-
pie of conserving the moisture in
the soil or what humus in the soil
means. Not one tescher in hun
dred can name a plant that in
growing draws nitrogen from the
air and deposits it in the soil.
not one in "a hundred knows
whether nitrogen in the soil is a
benefit or curse to it. Every
boy and girl that has reached the
fourth grade should be able to
name the birds that are an aid to
the farmer. They should be taught
the effect of kindness to animals,
etc. Is there school in the
county that will take up the sub
ject of simple farm topics? Every
country school should be able to
conduct farmers institute on
small scale. Won't some country
school teacher spenttrten minutes
"A week on farm subjects? You
have no idea now interesting the
subject is or what good you can
accomplish until you have tried it.
Ii l can help you in any way |
shall be very glad to do it.
One of the problems to be solved
by the farmers living on the road
running west of town. is the de
struction of sweet clover. 1t has
become such a nuisance that Ger
tain fields are almost worthless in
their present condition. The pest
is biannual and can easily be
destroyed if all who have it grow
ing on their farms will cut it off at
the surface of the ground before
the seed has sufficiently matured
to germinate, Take one day off
or two days off or theree days off
with the whole force, if necessary,
and get rid of the miserable stuff
1t would be of little use for one
farmer to clear his field, if his
neighbor fails to clear his. If all
will work together it can soon be
annihilated. The seed was first
introduced years ago on the Har-
vey ranch in some grass seed. 1t
seems to be no more than fair that
the manager of the Harvey ranch
should take the lead in this mat
ter. Destroying your neighbor's
property by seeding his land with
such abomimable stuff as sweet
clover is crime, as much so as set
ting fire to his hay stacks, yet we
have no law to punish the criminal.
The sweet clover nuisance applies
to Sanford and Manassa ranches
as well as to those west of La Jara.
1 hope the bishops will preach "A
| sermon on this Subiect One of