The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1908-12-24
EDUCATIONAL.
By w. Z. LARSON.
THE FARM BOYS EDUCATION.

THE FARM Boys EDUCATION.
Better cultural methods are badly
needed on most farms The soil is not
pulverized thoroughly before seeding
nor cultivated properly after. What
would Wisconsin farmers think of pay
ing $50 to S24 per acre rent for land up
on which to grow sugar beets? That is
what German farmers pay in Germany.
The land upon which they grow beets is
worth $500 to 5000 per acre. and besides
the rent they have to pay, they are oblig
ed to add $l2 to Sl5 worth of fertilizer
per acre, bringing the rent up around
$40 per acre. The land is no better in
any way for sugar beet production than
our Wisconsin land, hut is given better
cultivation. The Germans better under
stand the value of fertility, humus and
filth than do American farmers. The
high priced land has forced them to pay
attention to essentials of crop growth.
Their land will produce no bigger crops
under the same conditions of manage
ment than our own land that rents tor
81 or IS per acre, and can he kept fertile
indefinitely by crop rotation aud live
stock farming combined with few
acres of beets annually.
German farmers know what humus is
composed of, and what its action is in
the soil They know all about soil mois
ture and how il is controlled largely by
cultivation, tilth and humus They un-
derstand how the soil must he aerated
and how this is accomplished. These
things are taught in schools over in Ger
many. The school children know all
about them, just as our children know
their geography and spelling Why are
we 80 far behind in this country Why
is it that the farmers son knows nothing
about the great problems of agriculture?
He is taught pretty much everything
else but that which is to be his life
work
As it is now, the wideawake farmers
son must go to the University, he must
attend the Short Course in Agriculture
in order to learn a few things highly
important to him. and which he should
have learned in the district school We
have been very stupid in this respect
and have given all of oui attention to
so.called higher education, We have
been educating the boys away from the
farm instead. of TO it.
We do not seem to do things right in
this country until forced to by circum.
stances. We seem incapable of looking
ahead, of planning for the future. High
priced land in Germany calls for skilled
farmers, and the German government
long ago provided way for making
them by teaching agriculture in the
schools. In this country, however. we
have lad plenty of cheap fertile land
and we have been content with unskill.
ed farmers We are not shrewd enough
to see that the fertility of our soil is fast
being dissipated by this poor farming
and that our farm lands are fast rising
in value and will soon be so high that
unless better methods are employed they
will hardly pay the cost of cultivation
| Why haven't we looked ahead to this
state of affairs and prepared for it by
properly educating the boys that are to
be our farmers in the futureY Onr sys-
TEN Of education seem to be all wrong
as it applies to the farmers children. 1t
doesn't fit them for the work they must
do, and unless the farmer is able TO send
his children to some special school where
agriculture is taught they know only
what they learned from Father and
from observation