The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1906-09-28
AN ENCOURAGING SIGN.
Increase Of knowledge Among Farm
ers Means Better Farming.

Recently some have expressed the
idea that the people living In the
country are not increasing In in
formation relative 10 the scientific
handling Of stock and the methods in
vogue among scientists In the cult
yation Of the soil This Is a mis-
take, says Farmers Review. Agri-
cultural science is gaining among our
farmers and is destined TO gain more
rapidly as the years go on. IL was
natural that at first the progress
should be slow. A body OF 5000. 900
| persons is not TO be moved in a
hurry. II is an aggregation of hui
man beings so vast that no one can
conceive OF its real import.
IL must be remembered. too. that
at first the means for affecting this
great mass and moving IL were very
meager. When our agricultural coll
leges were organized there were few
men capable Of acting as instructors.
for the universities OF the country
had not been fitting men TO teach ag-
ricultural science. In many cases men
had To be taken out of the fields and
the creameries TO teach in the col
leges. While they had great deal of
practical information. they had not
studied Systematically the mass of
agricultural information that had been
accumulated. and were but poorly pre-
pared to teach il.
1t is only within the past IS
years that most of our agricultural
colleges have been well enough
equipped to become aggressive Now.
however the material for teachers and
instructors is abundant and great
work is being done. That the farmers
are being reached is demonstrated by
the increasing attendance at farmers
meetings and in the agricultural col
leges Information is being spread
rapidly by word of mouth. Complaint
is made that the bulletins issued by
the stations are not widely read by
the farmers. This is because II takes
something of a student to take liter
airy matter and really absorb 1t, max
ing il into something having force.
But in each locality are a few lien
that have this ability and they spread
the information by word of mouth
and by example.
There are numerous factors that a.e
operating TO bring about better con-
dition in the not distant future One
of these factors is the taking of more
interest in agriculture by the men
that have money and at the same
time have a fair knowledge of farm
ing matters These men are buying
farms and are putting into practice on
them modern methods of agriculture
The farms so handled become object
lessons. Other farmers follow the
lead OF the most enterprising. unless
they lack the will and the ability to-
learn. There are some Of the latter
class. but they are destined to disap-
pear during the next generation or
two for the reason that others will
buy their farms. which will have be-
come Improbable to the present
owners
II is becoming increasingly difficult
o farm without thought and still
make money. Farmers must make
more money from their farms to-day
han they used TO. because they have
more expenses. The expenses cannot
,e avoided. and must increase as pop
Ilation becomes denser and the price
4 land higher With the increase of
knowledge OF how to handle land.
armers will be able TO balance the
expenses with increasing
eturns.