Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-06-16

mold demands or social duties, is not
a mother if she finds no time of day
to spend with her child A true moth
er will instinctively feel the hungry
interest of the little child in all that
pertains to nature The child loves ma
ture and the little mind is full of eager
questions. Sad, indeed, is the child
who has never tasted the joy of his
own little garden. The agricultural
life begins with the mother. Then in
the elementary school it can be car
ried on most delightfully."-. Bird talks
and insect life. food products and how
they are grown-but not in the school
room alone; they must go out in the
fields and woods among the trees and
flowers. watch the growing corn or
grain, the cutting of the hay, the pre-
pairing of the land And with animal
life, whether wild or domestic, see in
each Gods work for ALL
Practical Agriculture.
1 am tremendously inspired with
what have heard of the John Swaney
school and so proud that 1t belongs to
Illinois. l hear of that school all over
the United States There is another
school in the village of Marshall near
Madison, Wis, worthy of all praise
Claude Eldred. deserving of credit, is
awakening such an interest in agricul-
ture among the boys and girls that
even the farmer is sitting up and TAX
ing notice. One-fourth of the work is
agricultural; physical geography means
something in that school; the class is
taken out among the hills and with
their own eyes study the morains;
they study the soil, surface, country
around; study the weather, take the
velocity of the wind. Why, botany is
a joy; they live ii in the open every
day with the plants of the farm, the
crops, the seeds and the testing of the
seeds. They judge clover seed, pick
out the impurities. weigh the seed and
get the percentage. Why, one father
sells his clover seed at rs cents a
bushel more on account of his 12-year-
old boy who interested him. They
study corn, they judge corn
Boy Beats Farmer Judging Corn.
One day a farmer came in to visit,
and seeing a lot of corn, said no boy
there could pick out the best IL ears.
The farmer and a boy contested and
the boys corn largely outweighed the
farmers corn. Think of the effect
that must have had upon that farmerI
Again, think of the influence it had
for right endeavor on the part of the
boy. Such things write success in
life for the boy.
Another farmer found that rs per
cent of his herd of 81 cows were mere
ly boarders, through the work of his
14-year-old SON. That man now has
but Is COWS and his monthly milk av-
erage is per cent better. Filled up
with such school life the boy and girl
return home and do something-want
to do something. and that is the way
to develop our agricultural resources.
Good Woman Could Guide Child.
l do not believe there is a boy or
girl but who, under the influence OF a
good woman, guided in the right direc-
ton to love the farm life, but would
turn out to be an enthusiastic and
successful farm man or woman. Give
the boy or girl calf or a couple of
pigs or cow, maybe. or a dozen hens,
or u piece Of ground to own and have
the proft-then see the eager little
agriculturist. The father and mother
too often have made farm life for the
son and daughter so irksome that it