Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-05-01
FARMERS EIGHT CENTS.
What the Government Is Doing For
Experiment Work.

is assessed, annually. about eight
cents for the benefit Of the farmers
Of the land. There were seventy
six million people, by the census Of
1900 (Which. means over eighty now),
and the agricultural department and
the separate states spend, in all,
something like six and one-half mil
lion for the farmers. AS we live upon
what farmers raise, this is fair
enough. Besides, the more we give,
the more we get back. In Dakota,
for instance, farmers have been shown
how to- prevent certain diseases Of
wheat. The result Is that Dakota
makes ten million year more out of
her wheat crop than she used to-
which means a good deal more than
eight cents apiece for every man, wo-
man and child In Dakota.
How is our eight cents used, and
where does 1t go? A great many very
interesting articles are being printed
in the magazines on this subject. but
we will take only two Of the ways the
American farmer Is being helped
the object-lesson farm and the ex-
pertinent station. The idea Of the OBJ
ject-lesson farm came from a north
ern state, where a clergyman, with
no experience in farming, inherited
fifteen-acre worn out" farm and set
to work to run It on scientific and
business principles. He succeeded so
well that farmers journeyed from all
round to see 1t. and those who could
not come wrote to ask him about his
methods. He was overwhelmed with
letters and visits that In the end he
sold his farm to get rid Of the annoy
ance Of its complete success! But be-
fore he sold 1t, a government expert
had visited and examined 1t and
written pamphlet about it--"A
Model Farm"-which had circu-
lation Of fifteen thousand copies, and
is one of the classics Of the agri-
cultural Bureau. All this set the
agricultural department to thinking,
and 1t was decided to give the farm
ers of America object-lesson farms
where they were most needed.
There are now twenty-three Of
them, twenty-five of which are In the
south. They are not farms belonging
to the government, nor does the gov
ernment pay their ordinary running
expenses. On the contrary, the gov
ernment expert goes travelling about
the territory where such a farm is
needed until he finds successful and
intelligent farmer. anxious to learn
more than he knows already. The
more he knows and the more ambi-
tious he is, the better; but the gov
ernment does not bring In man; 1t
only takes the best one it can find.
The farm is next made the subject
of a consultation of experts, the d.
rector Of the state experiment station
being the chief. A comprehensive and
scientific plan Is made for the man
agement OF the farm. and the farmer
must agree to keep It to the letter.
He is also expected to Keep a careful
record Of his work, IL he can and for
this he receives a hundred dollars a
year. II he Is not capable OF doing
this satisfactorily, the government
will attend to doing 1t. In any case,
an expert visits the farm every month
or so, and assists and teaches the
farmer. A farmers institute Is held
on the farm at least once year, and
all the visitors who come get an OBJ
ject lesson In the practical benefits
Of scientific agriculture. In some
places in the south the object-lesson
farmer gets ten times as much money
each year from each acre as the or
binary farmer does.
Experiment stations, which have
been spoken of, are another form In
which our eight-cent assessment gets
to the farmers. There are sixty OF
these, and the government allows
each one fifteen thousand dollars a
year to spend Every state and terri
tory, even Alaska, has one Of them,
and some states have two. Fifteen
thousand dollars Is not enough to
carry one on, but the state allots the
station liberal amount Of land, and
sometimes a good deal of money, too.
More than q million and a half dol
lars Is spent annually In the sixty
stations, and nearly a thousand train
ed experts are employed In them.
Every station must issue bulletin
at least once In three months, and
any farmer In the state can have
COPY post free, IL he wants 1t. AS the
mailing list f. over half million,
1t looks as IL the farmers think well
Of the bulletin idea. The experiment
station Is there to be used. 1t Will
analyze fertilizers for the farmers
test his seed corn or wheat, show him
how to renew worn out soil, how to
feed his cattle, how to make good
butter and cheese, or how to raise
poultry, or bees, or novel crops. 1t
studies for him the soil, conditions,
and possibilities Of the state. What
ever its experts discover or invent
goes to the farmer free, though mill
lions of dollars might be made by
patenting. DIR. Babcock Of the Wis
consin experiment station, invented
a machine for finding the amount of
butter-fat In milk and has saved mil
lions of dollars and would have made
him collossally rich had 1t been pat
ented. In honor of 1t, the state Of
Wisconsin struck a gold medal and
presented 1t to him. Such men sub
ordinate self to the state In simple
and sincere patriotism.
Our eight cents year, In the end,
fs the best paying national invest
ment possible. The American farm
er Is the most intelligent and ambi-
tious farmer in the world. He repays
big dividends on every dollar that
the government spends for him; and
from Florida to Alaska, the land
over, we get back our aid to him a
hundredfold, in ever-increasing ma
tional wealth.-Mary Whiting Adams
in The Forward.
INDIAN PROVERBS. - The coward
shoots with shut eyes.
Small things talk loud to the In
dams eye.
Tba nalaface's arm is longer than