Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1910-10-28

STUDYING FARM MACHINERY AT AN AGRI-
CULTURAL COLLEGE. s,..
really come to fill the place for which
they were designed At first the idea
of educating Il farmer was laughable
to many people who rejoiced in a lit
tie learning Even the farmer him.
self did not realize the advantage of a
college education to a man who must
make living from"the soil. 1t took a
good many years to bring people to re-
alize that college education is as val
liable for farmer as for a doctor or
lawyer The main difference is that
the law compels a man to get col
lege diploma before he starts to prac-
tice medicine, while he may start
farming with nothing but a team and
a plow.
Even at the present time there are
many men both on the farm and in
the cities who doubt the value of a
college education for the farmer
Many a farm boy is squarely con-
fronted with the problem of choosing
between four years in college or start
ing to farm at once. Four years is a
long time to young man. Fifteen
hundred to $1,000 is a large sum of
money to him. To spend both for a
college education requires a great deal
of courage and faith in the future.
The amount of money necessary to-
pay four years expenses in college
will enable the young man to start
farming on a rented farm. The four
years will. if he is Industrious, enable
him to earn enough to make a good
sized payment on a farm of his own
If he goes to college he will have
nothing at the end of the four years
but the experience and knowledge he
has gained there. Is it worth it?
1 have put this question squarely to
dozens of men in their last year at
an agricultural college. Without ex-
ception they say that it is worth the
outlay. Not one regretted the time
or the money which he had bartered
for his education. Few of them placed
it on money basis alone, but even
from that standpoint they considered
that the chances were in favor of the
college man.
The boy who starts farming for him.
self without any education will run up
against a good many snags which the
college man will miss. He will learn
by experience many of the things
which the college man learns in
school. In doing so he will pay much
dearer for his knowledge. The old
prejudice against book farming" is
fast disappearing. People are coming
to realize that book farming is merely
the fused experience of successful
farmers everywhere, explained and
illuminet by the light of science Prob
ably in no one respect is the advan-
tage of the college man more clearly
apparent than in the case of soil fer
tility. Long after the unframed man
has begun to notice and wonder at
the decline of his crop yields the man
who has studied the science of soil
fertility will be raising undiminished
crops The art of keeping up the
soil fertility cannot be learned from
the neighbors. for they have not prac-
ticed it 1t cannot be learned from
father or grandfather for in their
day the fertility of the soil was con-
sidered inexhaustible.
The success of the agricultural col
leGe graduate cannot be measured in
money a'cnp The agriculture COM
munities just now need leaders much
more than they need men who can
simply make money on their own
farms. 1t is necessary for the aGri-
cultural college graduate to succeed on
his own farm. of course. His every
move is closely watched by critical
neighbors Even the shadow of
failure starts a chorus of II told yon
So"
Success Cd his own farm is the first
essential to the young man who would
be leader Given that for backing.
he can do almost anything be wants
to with his community. Farmers have
a vast deal of respect for the man
who can do things. Their prejudice
against college farming is lost in adj
miratiou for the results achieved by
the college farmer If be advises or
ganizing a club they are willing to
join in and help. If he tells them the |
school needs recognizing they are
willing to be convinced They may |
even consent to bringing two or three
schools together and using the money
saved to hire better teachers. The in
spiration of one mans success and the |
1,
start whole community to thinking
Once you get man to thinking, there
is no need to worry further about him. |
He will take care of himself.