The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-02-01
HORTIQJLTURISTS CLOSE
 THEIR MEETING AT THORSBY
Third Annual Session of the Society Comes to an End--To Meet Next in Montgomery--An
 Old Officers Reelected.

, quite profitable. The Society leafned from Prof. R. $. Macintosh that Ala bama was freer from the San Jose scale than any other State of the Union, but that xthe warfare against it required eternal vigilance and eternal energy.
 The old officers were unanimously re- elected.
 The local committee which did so much for the pleasure of the visitors were made up of the officers of the Thorsby Fruit Company. They were NJ. 4. Magnuson, P. c. Smith, s. E. Norton and G. H. Gerald Under their auspices and with the help of the ladies of Thorsby the public reception Tues day night was the most enjoyable oc- casion in the history of the Society.
 At o'clock the second days work of the Society began with a large crowd present President Heikes called the meeting to order and introduced Prof H. O. Sargent, who was to read pa- per on The Value of Agricultural High Schools Mir. Sargent is Principal of the Sixth District Agricultural School at Hamilton.
 Mir. Sargent took the position that there was a great need of an agricul- tural school in every county of the State In every school district of every county of the State there should be at least six months of public school. In each of these local schools the foun- dation of an agricultural education should be laid From these local schools there should be a county high school which would equip the students for entrance in the State institutions at Auburn and Tuscaloosa. As 1t is the State now has nine agricultural schools and only nine located in each of the Congressional Districts.
 The Farmers Need.
 Tho men who were working for ag- ricultural schools were often met by the assertion that farmers needed no education. Of all avocations the men who most needed thorough education were the men who engaged in farming. There was so much they had to know to be thorough and successful. They had to know the nature of the soil, the nature of the plants and the adapta- bility of certain plants to certain soils.
 Professor Douglas Allen, the princi- pal of the successful school at Jackson, was called upon for some informal re- marks on agricultural schools, but they evolved themselves into an interesting discourse.
 What we are working for" said MT. Allen, lis to build up our agricultural school until we demonstrate their pos abilities. I, for one, believe that in these schools are great possibilities. And, first of all. we should set the standard high and work up to it."
 Mir. Allen spoke of the difficulties he encountered in building up an agri- cultural schood The great need of the schools was to have sufficient money to fill the field of work which they saw before them. He reviewed fully the financial situation of the District Agri- cultural Schools and what money they needed to carry forward their work. He favored, too. the separation of the common school and the district agricul- tural schools.
 The Educational System.
 The. district school should be the proper agricultural school articulating the common schools with the State col leges The great need of these schools now were trained men to take charge of the agricultural work of the district schools.
 Commissioner R. R. Poole took occa- sion to say that there should he set aside for agricultural schools a fund which should be under the control Of the Commissioner of Agriculture or d Board, and that this fund should be apportioned where the best agricultural work was done. He compIimented Professor Allen as doing perhaps the best agricultural work being done in the district schools.
 pr. c. A. Cary or Auburn, having been called upon for a few remarks on agricultural high schools, addressed the society. He, too, favored an articulated system of agricultural education, with an intermediary agricultural school connecting the State colleges with the common schools. Without attempt ing to criticizing the work of the agr,- cultural schools. and experimenting tho work of some of them, Dr. Cary sad that some agricultural schools had be- gun agricultural experiments which ought never to have been started. Trained and experienced agricultural ists were needed at these schools as they were needed on the farms of the State.
 Dr. Cary discussed the financial sit uation of the agricultural schools and contended that all the funds which came from the fertilizer tag tax should be set apart for the interests of agri- culture. In Alabama more than 90 per cent of the people were dependent up- on farming and it's prosperity. Dr. Cary explained in detail the possibili- ties that would come to these agricul- tural schools from additional funds in telligently expended.
 Auburn's Work.
 The Summer School at Auburn" came in for some complimentary remarks from J. w. Hawkins, a farmer of Clear