The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1907-12-19
BOOK FARMERS
The Short Course in Agriculture for
Tennessee Boys.


Tennessee Boys.
II would rather go back to my farm
than be Emperor OF the, world. -
Geo. Washington.
Coming along the railway through
the pine hills, we came into Tennes-
sees Valleys, with the blue grass
meadows, and the little orchards of
apple trees. and the we'll filed barns.
and the hocks of sheep and other live
stock-and thought God is good, and
1t is mighty good thing to live in a
country where the blue grass and the
apple trees grow, and the sheep and
hogs and cattle thrive. l thought
this must be one of the best places in
the world to live. Sometimes / get
into country where / wonder wheth-
er man has done wise thing to go
to live there at all-whether he did
not misjudge Gods purpose in think
ing God meant that to be a home
maybe in desert country where moth
ing will grow, or where the mosquitoes
bite you, and everything is disagree
able, but never wonder at all when
| strike Tennessee. I think God
meant people to live here, and to be-
come the best people-the best men
and women in the world. Joe Wing
OF Ohio, to East Tennessee Farmers
Convention, 1905.
Over all the South there is no sec
tion where the farmers are SO progress
i've as in East Tennessee. Yet despite
this progressive spirit, one has not far
to, go in any county to fud that great.
er prosperity would follow a greater
progressive spirit.
We are living in an advanced age
on every hand is the callfor traneG
men, in no industry is the need great
er than in agriculture, but because o.
the prejudice against "book farming,
and "book farmers" the number O
trained men in the different branchel
Of agriculture Is never eqnal to thu
supply, and never will be till this fail
land of ours has been made to blossom
as rose, and to prosper as it deserves
to prosper.
We complain that the boys leave th'
farm, but we as fathers have educateC
them away from it. The Americal
spirit-the blind worship of the al
mighty dollar, is the real reason of /
all. "There isn't money enough il
farming" Farmers don't get to b
millionaires," we say.
Onr boy is too smart to be farmer
and from the day he brings home hi
first school prize till the day he leave
the farm to seek his fortune, he i
never allowed to forget that money /
the one thing to strive for.
As matter of fact farming offer
many opportunities from a financis
standpoint. There are many men ths
are earning good incomes, on bot
large and small farms. they live well
educate their children, they work n
harder, worry less, and have NOR
than many business men, but mar
this, these men know the chow" an
"why."
There are many young men wh
have the training of the short course
in an agricultural college combine
with the practical experience OF th
farm, who are earning good salaries q
dairymen, herdsmen, poultrymer
gardners or tarm managers.
/ know many man who sneers I
'book farming" who is himself usin
methods with profit, that were first il
troduced by the agricultural collegel
he has learned of someone who ha
- learned at first hands, thus we hay
seen the advantages of deep plowine
of shallow cultivation, Of a more ra
: ionaI use of fertilizers, of more ect
nomical handling of crops, etc., graC
ually spread until they have reache
and are practiced by men that new,
heard of an agricultural college.
Why not get the latest ideas in farm
ing at first?
Did it ever occur to you that an il
Z stitution that has every facility for a
quiring the latest agricultural know
edge of the world, ought to know al
does know, more than you aud as i
F. dividual farmersP What do any of
know that we have discovered, for ou
selves?
Think; compare it with the millio
Of things you have necessarily learn
r OF someone else.
Agricultural colleges are only t
= disseminators of the accumulated A
J. ricultural wisdom of the ages.
Underlying all progressive farmi
, in certain basic principals, a know
edge of which enables one to alta
greater success, for in no line of
man endeavor is it more true that
= feet follows cause than in farmin
The doctor that knows that certa
medicine is good for certain diseas,
La l-....iL !. 80. .=.l,.. l. "a :. LIZ.