Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-12-16
School Goes to Farmers.


School Goes to Farmers.
The Northwestern Illinois School Of
Agriculture and Household Science is
impressing upon the farmers of Illi-
following out a scientific plan for the
conservation of the soil, which, if ac-
conlplished, will obviate forever the
necessity Of retaining abandoned
farms in that state. The school is un-
der the supervision of instructors from
the University of Illinois. and was de-
signed to give "the man behind the
plough" the fruits of scientific study
of agriculture.
a herd of steers and other cattle.
from the University farm at Urbana,
were brought in to the opera house at
Polo last week and examined, the
farmers We're given points on feeding,
housing and breeding. and asked
many questions and called upon by
the instructors to relate some of their
experience on the points at issue.
In another building other students
were gathered to learn the secret of
soil fertility in relation to good crops.
In another hall. the wives and daugh-
tiers of the farmers were engrossed in
thv problem Of how to get the best
results from the bread oven and fry
ing pan. A farmers wife may not
have to worry about the price OF mill,
or the cost of butter and eggs but
She is nevertheless anxious to trans
form these ingredients into as arpe-
tizing food as that prepared by her
city cousins. While she is universally
looked upon as a good cook. she, like
her husband, loses no opportunity for
self-improvement.
The short term course offered by
the school of agriculture and house.
hold science was the first Of its kind
ever held in that state. There is at
the state university an established
school for farmers, but to take that
school. Here. we find the school 60
ing to him, the instructors landing,
bag and baggage, in town accessible
to the farmers Of nine counties. and
giving to the tillers Of the soil q COM
piete course.
The reason for the efforts OF these
educators to reach out and HELM the
farmer help himself may be cleaned
from figures gathered recently by the
conservation commission. In these it
is shown that there are 5000 square
miles of unoccuped farms, chiefly in
New England and New York, and In
the Southeast and the middle central
states. There are in the Southeast, at
present. 100000 acres of abandoned
farm land, an area as largo as the Gull
tivatcd part of the Canadian north
west. Is times the size Of Rhode Is
land, four times the size of Connecti-
cut, twice the size of Massachusetts,
and half as large as Ohio.
1
this desertion of farms, two or three
perhaps arc worthy Of note. The most
important of ell is the wasteful sys-
tenn of cultivation that long has pre-
vailed in the United States. Fertile
soil in countless cases has been ex-
hausted by a system of farming that
4
nothing to it. There is also a marked
trend of population from country to
city, resulting in an increased cost of
farm labor. Colonel Theodore Roose-
Welt pointed out and has emphasized
these conditions. Others heretofore
have made an effort to reclaim aban-
doned farms and to inspire the tiller
of the soil with the knowledge that his
chosen work consists not merely In
routine chores of the barn, and the
drudgery Of life behind the plough.
Railroad companies. seeing the wis
dom of project which. II successfully
carried out. would result in increased
! eoA'"o6cs AdSc 1idolrASu u cooperate
with the university men. If the farm
ers can grow bigger crops, shipments
viii increase in proportion. Thus,
while the farmer is the immediate
beneficiary of the course of instruc-
ton brought to his very door, the
railroad with the increased tonnage
will not suffer. The agricultural
school of the University Of Illinois,
with its corps Of agricultural experts
and its 1000 students, therefore well
coined the proffered assistance Of the
railroads.
Pointed Paragraphs.