The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1909-02-17

see there was steady increase of
$1,000 year, or $4,000 in twelve
years. This increase was not in i'm
provements put On it for they were no
better when he sold it than when he
bought 1t twelve years ago. The other
farm refer to, in Denmark township,
is what is known as the Quinton farm,
consisting of 400 acres. About twelve
years ago that farm sold for $4,000.
Quite recently it sold for SAL, 500. Here
you Will see that the rate of increase
In value was about the same as in the
tucker farm, and, as | have said, the
increase in value Of these two farms
is equally true of every farm in Lee
county, and approximately true of
every farm in the state. If Mr.. Tucker
had deposited this $1,000 in bank at
per cent it would have made him
S2lO per year instead of $1,000 in
land. If he had loaned it out at per
cent it would have made him 1920 per
year, but instead of investing 1t at 8
per cent or 6 per cent ne invested it
at 10 per cent and that is about the
kind OF investment that farmers have
been making all over Iowa who put
their money into land. From all indi-
cations this rise in value of land is go
ing to continue for while, at least.
Some one may ask, what is the cause
OF this increase? Well, corn is the
cause OF the most of it, then, surely,
corn is king and the farmers are the
lords, dukes, earls and barons; and
who is it that would not love to bask
in the sunshine of King Corn? Good
government land is not to be had any
more, that has all been taken, and the
poor young man starting out in life
with the intention of winning some of
this high priced land must be better
equipped mentally, that he must I'M
derstand the fundamental principles
OF agriculture better than the men who
entered 1t from the government at
S1.25 per acre, or the man who bought
1t for $40 or $15 per acre. He must be
able to make two bushels of corn grow
where only one grew before or he will
not possess the land. Now where is
this young man going to get his educa-
ton along agricultural lines. If he
leaves school when he is twelve of
fourteen as too many do he will not
know SO much When he Is twenty-one
as he did when he left school and the
city. We are beginning to learn that
the principles of elementary agricul-
ture should enter into and become a
part of a child's education from the
very start. 1t is equally admitted that
the farm is the best place to bring up
children. The history of our country
bears ample evidence of that fact.
There they are brought into contact
with nature, which they can neither
cheat nor fool. But that many have
drifted from the farm and into haunts
that are strange and new to them, or,
/ in other words, to the city, statistics
amply prove. Why is this? Why is
it that the bent of so many boys and
girls is cityward just as soon as they
are old enough to leave the home of
their birth? We all know that tle
books we studied, the stories that we
read and the ideals that are placed be-
fore us are largely based upon city
things and what more natural than for
/ some to seek the city? Now agricul-
ture cant be taught in our rural
schools out of the text books that are
now used, but their books, their
! stories and their ideals can be so
/ changed as to give the mind of the
I young and different bent for the mind
I grows upon what it feeds. Now l say
4 that agriculture can't be taught in our
/ country schools out of the text books
/ We now use. When | went to study
| agriculture at the Mt. Pleasant short
course, two years ago, l found there
more than a half dozen teachers but
I no text books. When l studied corn
/ | took an ear on my desk and dissect
i ed, so to speak; l was taught to exam
/ inc the germ and embryo, | learned
upon examining that germ and EN-
bryo that certain colors and consist
! iencies of that germ and embryo indi
Gated if the ear was good or bad, that
is, If it had strength, vitality, power
to reproduce itself. Now that / could
not have learned out Of text book
OF course, the questions could be EN-
bodied in text books, but the raw ma
terials would nave to be supplied.
learned in studying an ear of corn:
about the amount of starch it SHOULD
contain; about the size, shape ane
; depth of the kernel. learned that {
kernel with full, plump tip had vi
tality and would stand more hardship
in the ground on cold, wet spring
than kernel would that had left the
ear with the chaff adhering to it.
tip, or kernel that had left the eal
with it's tip adhering to the cob;
learned about the amount of starch /
should contain; / learned if the ker
nels were uniform and the ear wal
we'll filled at the butt and tip that /
llad constitution and that it would
shell more corn to the cob and conse
quently to the acre; learned abou
the amount of starch it should contain
!, for oil