The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1906-04-25
The Farmers Eight Cents.

land. There were scveniy-six mil
lion people, by the census of 1900
(Which means over eighty by now, and
the Agricultural Department and the
separate States spend, in all, some
thing like six and one-half million for
the farmers. As We all live upon
what the 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 good deal more than
eight cents apiece for every man, wo.
man aud child in Dakota.
How is our eight cents used, and
where does itgo2 A great many very
interesting articles are being printed
in the magazines on this subjeot, but
we will take only two Of the ways the
American farmer is being belped-the
object-lesson farm and the experiment
station. The idea of the objeot.les.
con farm came from Northern Stste,
where o clergyman, with no expert.
ence in farming, inherited q fifteen
acre "worn.out" farm and set to work
to run it on scientific and business
principles. He succeeded so we'll
that farmers journeyed from all round
to see it, and those who could not
come wrote to ask about his methods.
He YVES so overwhelmed with letters
and visits that in the end he sold his
farm to get rid Of the annoyance Of
it's complete succcssl But before he
sold it, government expert had visit.
ed and examined it aud written pam.
phlet about it.-"A Model Farm"-
which had circulation of fifteen
thousand copies, and is one Of the
classics Of the Agricultural Bureau.
All this set the Agricultural Dc.
partment to thinking, and it was de-
cided to give the farmers of America
object-lesaon 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 farm is
needed until he finds a successful and
intelligent farmer, anxious to learn
moro than he knows already. The
more he knows and the more ambi-
tious he is, the better; but tho gov.
ernment does not bring in o man; it
only takes the best one it can f::d.
The farm is next made the subject
Of q consultation Of experts, the Di-
rector of the State Experiment Sta
tion being the chief. Assomprehen.
sive and scientific plan is made for
the management Of the farm, and the
farmer must egree to keep il to the
letter. he is also expected TO keep q
careful record oe his work, if he can,
aud for this be receives q hundred
dollars q sear. If he is not capable
Of doing this satisfactorily, the gov.
ernment will attend to doing it. In
any case,' an expert visits the farm
every month OF so, and assists and
teaches the farmer. A farmers in
stitute is held. on the farm at least
once a year,. and all the visitors who
come get en- object lesson in the prao-
tical benefits Of sole ntifia agriculture.
In some places in the South the OBJ.
,eot.lesson farmer gets ten times as
much money each year. from each acre
as the ordinary farmer does. -, ~ %}5$ }$:
+ Experiment ststions, which have
been spoken Of, are another form in
which our eight.eent assessment gets
to the farmers. There are sizey 'of
these, and the governments allows
each one fifteen thousand dollars a
year to spend. Every State aud Ter.
sitory, even Alaska, has one OF them,
and some States have two. Fifteen
thousand dollars il not enough to
carry one on, but the state allots tie,
station liberal amount of land, ard
':anetimes good deal Of money, too.
More than million and aihalf dollars
is spent annually in the sixty stations,
and nearly thousand trained axnarta