Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-05-10
Carriers Practical Agriculture
About Potato sab the Loss in
Burning Corn of

| There must be this that we call humus
in the stalks, and it is only made from
vegetable matter. The man who burns
I his stalks is destroying a great deal
more than he is likely to put back in
| 10 years. From 81 to SO is the value
of corn stalks per acre, besides adding
| humus to the SOIL Now that might
sound like big talk, but the teacher
needn't tell it to the children at one
time Yet the child can understand
bacteria as we'll as other things.
Oh, we hear the people say we must
| burn the corn stalks to kill the insects.
Your entomologist here will tell you
that there isn't a single insect but
what has eggs down in the ground so
far they won't be harmed by the fire.
l would have the children taught these
things not because it is scientific. but
because it is a part of their life, and
by and by it will all hitch up together
perhaps if we want a theory. 1 know
| it ought not to be done-this burning
of stalks. 1t is true they have burned
out there all the nitrogen and 15 or 16
pounds of phosphorus.
Pasturing Grass OTO Close.
Some farmers turn their cattle and
horses out to eat the grass right now
March 25). Let the teacher tell the
child about this and its Ill effects.
That all of the growth of the plant is
made in the leaf. and it grows very
slowly unless it has leaves. The one
grows the fastest that has the largest
Of 1%r oee
til the grass is or inches high The
result is that one acre of ground keeps
a milk COW all summer, all that she
can eat. but if it has been eaten down
early She could not get much on that
area Show the child about these
things. Do these things all in the sea.
son. And have some little text books
1 heard a man say the other day
that all horses should have binders
straight out from the eyes so they
can't see anything. l want my horse
to look at me all the time, and then
he is always safe and ready, If he is
intelligent. A stupid horse Is made by
a stupid driver. Some say that if the
horse comes in muddy his legs should
be washed of; but if it is cold weather
don't want any man turning stream
of water on my horse.
Now the teacher ought to teach these
things, and teach them intelligently.
She should get acquainted with the
she can teach the children today what
is coming next week, at their homes.
There is enough for any teacher to
have Is or 20 minutes each day for
the 6-year-old or the 16-year-old, and
then finally we shall get il so that
farming would be done better, and we
would have better farming all along
the line.
Tenant Share Added Value of Land.
1 believe that the time will come
when the tenant, instead Of giving up
a share of the crop, will have a part
of the value of the land, if he stays
there. Every year the increase in the
value of the land is going to be more
to us than the share of the crops.
am not a socialist, but l am fair.
would like to take some young man
and put him on a farm and see what
he would do. That would give the
tenants an interest in bringing up the
land. Their purpose now is to get
every last thing they can out of the
land. And it is to the detriment of
the land and finally to the detriment
of humanity.
To Feed Hens for Winter Eggs.
/ would like to have the teachers
trained how to feed the hens so eggs
wouldn't be worth 40 cents a dozen. I
have % hens and we get Is eggs day.
One of my tenants has over 100 and
he gets six eggs day. We want the
children taught what the old man is
going to do tomorrow. or next week.
don't want them trained scientifically.
All the teacher has to do is to trans
late bulletins in her own vernacuiar
and fix up the child so that he can
tell his parents how to farm.-Report-
ed by Arthur j. Bill for Illinois Farm
Inc %