Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-11-23
Agricultural College Substa lions

present development has been the
work Of several years. and is5thes out
growth of direct college activities, as
stitute work, and the field covered by
the Demonstration Farms. These lat
ter lines are in sense extension
work of the widest and most valu-
able character. but having had their
inception in lines apart from the
teaching work of the school, are not
here, nor are they elsewhere, given
the name of extension work.
The Slogan Is Back to the Farm.
the supervision of Professor Rand.
lett has grown out of the demands
upon the regular teaching work of
the school. The developing interest
in the cultivation of corn, for exam
pie, has called into being the corn
shows of the state. Indeed it is hard
to say which takes precedence, and
whether in larger measure than we
can fairly compute, the growing of
corn in North Dakota does not trace
back to the influence of these county
corn shows. Only few years ago
there was nothing of this kind in the
state. Today the Agricultural Col.
lege, in cooperation with the coun-
ty superintendent, is holding corn
shows in territory covering one half
the area Of the state, touching every
section, and enlisting an army Of
5000 boys and girls who are learning
the elements of success in the grow
ing of corn.
Potatoes and Strawberries.
And then there are potato and
strawberry contests, on the same
lines as the corn growing. Hun
dreds of girls and boys are learning,
not by book rote, but through the
growing plant and the ripened fruit,
that strawberries, luscious as any
that grow for the markets of the
east, ripen under the North Dakota |
sun, and that potatoes possessing a |
nutty favor envied by the potato
grower of Wisconsin, Michigan,
Maine. and topping the markets of
the west, return per acre far larger |
net income than the wheat so long
believed to be the abiding staple crop
of North Dakota. .,.
Small, or Large?
Call it a little thing if you will
this educating boy to do what his
father has done, and what he must |
do if he is to make the largest pos.
'sible success out of the advantages !
about him, call it superficial if you
want to, it's power in the general
uplift of the next generation you nor |
cannot measure. 1t gives the boy or
the girl new view point from which |
to face the world, new goal to
reach, and they will go long ways
farther with that goal in sight than
had it never been shown them.
Shaping the Course of Study.
Another line of work is the pre-
paration of the agriculture lessons |
for the course of study followed by !
the common schools of the state.
Under the direction of Superintend. |
ent Stockwell the country schools are
teaching agriculture, and the Depart
ment of Extension prepares monthly !
outlines and suggestions as to the
way in which the subject shall be
carried forward. so that directly
through the contests, and indirectly
through the agriculture teaching in
the schools of the state, the Agricul-
tural College is reaching, out into the
years to be, and is preparing the
farmers Of tomorrow for broader
concept of agriculture. In the hope
that as the years pass fewer and still
fewer of the boys will find their in
clination leading away from the farm,
and that as population increases, and
land becomes more valuable. the
farmers of North Dakota may keep
step financially, and enjoy to the full
the comforts of life possible only to-
those who know how to utilize to
the best advantage the things com.
Ing to their hand. !
But What of Today? II
service to society that waits ten
Or twenty years to make it's resultsl