The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-08-04
AGRICULTURE AT
SUMMER SCHOOL
INTERESTING WORK THAT IS BE-
ING DONE IN THE CLASSES AT
THE A. C. AT PREsENT-sTUDY
OF AGRoNoMY 49, DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN CATTLE.

ABEICutIuEe Us OLle VI the pUpukdE SUI
jects today. The papers and magazines
are all writing about 1t and the schools
are taking 1t UP. North Dakota teach
ers are no exception to the rule. Three
different courses are being given at the
summer school now in session at the
Agricultural college. One in agronomy
for high school teachers, another in
animal husbandry also for high school
teachers and a third. course for rural
school teachers that takes up both
subjects.
The reporter was interested and
dropped into one of the classes, agro-
nomy was the name given the class.
Prof. w. G. Randlett who was in
charge opened the lesson with telling
about soils that they are formed from
rock in fact that their are rock par
ticyes The size of the particles de-
termines the kind of soil. If the part
icles are large then the soil Is sand
or gravel while IL they are very small
then it is clay. Silt being intermedi-
ate.
He stated that the plant food was in
the rock so that there was plant food
in the sand as well as in the clay. The
plant must have it's food in solution
before it can take 1t up so that 1t is
necessary to have water in the soil
for the plant.
Interesting Experiments.
He started an experiment the day
before. One glass tube about an inch
in diameter and thirty inches long had
been filled with sand, another similar
tube had been filed with a clay soil.
The lower end of both tubes were plac-
ed in a basin of water, the water be-
gan to go up much faster in the sand
and the. students felt sure that IL
would go higher in the sand than in
the clay, but when they came back to-
day measurements showed that the wa
ter had gone up in the sand 714 inches
and Is inches in the clay. This expert
ment shows that clay makes the best
subsoil as 1t will bring up moisture
from below.
Another experiment was performed
before the class. This one consisted
of filing three tubes two inches in dia-
meter and twelve inches high with No
sand, No. 2 gravel and No. 3 Clay
The bottom in each tube was perforat-
| ed and ten inches Of soil was put into
each one. Water was then poured in
to the tubes. The sand took up 36 pei
cent of its volume of water, 1t held that
much water without letting any of il
seep out through the perforated bot
tom. The gravel held 81 per cent OF
| its volume of water, while the clay
! held Sc per cent of it's volume Of wa
ter actually occupying more space thar
| the soil. This emphasized the fact
that clay can hold much more moisture
than sandy soil and in such a way
that it can never be forgotten. The
apparatus was very simple and can b.
provided by any teacher.
| The water in the soil can be divided
/ into three kinds, gravitational, capil
larry and microscopic. The first is the
water that will run out of soil If i
has a chance. 1t is the water tina
runs out through bitches and tina
stands in puddles. The second kind
gravitationaI, is the water that a sol
will hold from running off. 1t is helC
around the soil particles. This is the
moisture that the plant can use, this |!
the moisture in which the plant fooC
dissolves. This was the moisture tina
was held in the soil In the three tubei
and that the clap held so much of.
was also explained that organic mat
ter is in the soil made it hold more
moisture, acting like a sponge or blot
ting.
Such studies are of as high scienti
fic value as any that can be taken III
81 -
thing that Is interesting and of econ
omic Importance. The great problem Il
securing bread and meat. Anything
that makes 1t easier to make a living
that gives more time to think, bring
about higher ideals, and the other goot
things that go with them.
About Farm Animals.
The reporter got SO interested tina
he staid on for the next class. Mos
of the 'schoolma'arns" who had beel
In the first class also staid and other
came in. This time the professor toll
about animals and the important par
they play In our present day life. HI
stated that there were types in an
mails and that an animal of certai
type would be good for a certain pun
pose. The beef animal, for instanct
would be blocky, wide, short, some
thing like a brick with legs and
head stuck on in the proper place,
The dairy type on the other hand
very different. The dairy COW Shout
have large middle piece indicatin
capacity for taking in larg
amount of food and digesting 1t. Foo
is the material that the COW make
milk out of and to make much mil
much food must be eaten and digest
ed. A large udder is to be looked fo
as 1t is here that the digested foo
is made into milk. The milk vein
should be large too, AS it is throug
these that the blood from the udde
returns to the heart. A large one In
dicates that a lot of blood has flow
through the udder and this mean
that a good deal of work has bee
, done there. A large clear prominer
eye indicates good nervous systel
which is important as the nerves al
the force that drives the machiner,
! The dairy COW should also be spare
as indicated by slenderneck by I'll
back being spare and by the thigh
being hollow. Extra flesh on the dair
COW would be like putting WACO
wheels on a buggy, only extra weigh
to carry,
Such teaching is certainly of grei
Importance, when our teachers lear
how to call the children's attention |
these things, when they learn how |
make demonstrations for them
simple principles, then when thes
' bows and girls grow up they viii kno