Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-12-19
EDUCATING the Farmers.

living on. The farmer is taking note
Of these things more and more, and
BOYS who have been educated for the
professions are turning to farming.
They are tho ones who are leading
in the movement for education Of the
farmers and conservation of rural
possibilities. We have had them here
in Augusta within the week. We
have felt their influence and it con-
vinces many Of US that there is no
| more honorable or desirable calling
than farming.
The next step is to eradicate the
false notions in the minds of our boys
and girls who feel the lure of the city
through the fascinating tales OF the
| press and other literature of the times.
| Meanwhile, Wisconsin. Iowa and
| Nebraska were sending their staff Of
instructors out into the rural districts
| for heart-to-heart talks with the far
mers. They at first met with a chilly
reception, and were termed "boiled
shirt" farmers. The professors might
tell them that there are ten essential
clements Of plant food, that five OF
these are provided by nature in album
dance, but that the other fve-nitro-
gen, potassium, calcium, magnesium
and phosphorus-are soon absorbed by
vegetation; and when told that this
accounted for the shortage OF crops
ana that the soil must therefore be re-
plenished, they sometimes made the
reply. Il have farmed here for the
last 40 years and do not get so big a
crop today as + did then. still what's
the use of complaining?"
But nowadays, the farmer IS not
only sending his son to college TO mas
tier the, new tangled methods Of
farming, but, rs the owner OF 4 .5-
acre farm said, tho other day, "Tll be
! jggered il I don't master them my
self" To-day" he said, Il am worth
about $4,000 including my land and
stock. Most Of my land was planted
in wheat and corn, and for the first
four or 1--WE years I got about % BUSH
els Of wheat per acre and about 40 bu-
Ishels Of corn. That was doing pretty
well and the mortgage was soon paid
off. cent one Of my boys to the
state agricultural college, and after he
had been there q year that boy knew
more about how to run my farm than
I did myself. He said what VIC need
cd was rotation Of crops and that
there was no phosphorus in the soil
! The cropa had been pretty short dur
ing the past five or six years, and in
stead Of getting 40 bushels Of corn to
the. acre vas getting about co.. II
was the same with the wheat of which
I was now getting about 20 bushels 70
the acre instead Of 30. Still, I hadn't
minded this so much, because the
farm was paid for, and I had some
money in the bank. But the boy Kept
ureing mo 10 adopt some Of his new
idcas.
'sThen when would get mad and
saw he would have to wait until nc
got a farm of his own. the boy would
laugh and say that ! would come
around myself some day. Well, did
TWO years ago I was in Iowa on 4
little trip and in one of those towns
they We're holding one of these schools
for farmers. went into the town
hall. where q man on the platform was
explaining in words that anyone
could understand all about sol,-ricli
soil and poor soil, and he talked right
out from the shoulder and seemed to
have as much sense as my hired man
IT went back there the next day,
d~,d every day for 4 week. Then the
co,rvso vas over and ] came homo;
The next day I went over to town
ami got some steamed bone-lncal, and
VIXEN / got back to the farm L Sneaked
out to tho cornfield and planted that
stuff in tho ground just as tho pro-
fessor safJ 10 do II. I bought some
rock phosphate also, and put it in the
ground. and had q bigger crop Of
corn and wheat that year than I had
had in ten years When I told the
boy what I'd done. he just laughed
and said. I knew you'd come around
to it some day. pa"
President Taft has been urged to
extend the work of forest conserva-
ton to the conservation and reclama-
ton of the country's agricultural re-
sources by sending to each state n
corps of experts.
Tie farmers TO achieve the best pos
sible results must in addition tc scion
tific crop raising and animal husband
~ look to the preservation and i'm
rrovtment Of their highways. They
must prepare to save money in get
ting to market and home again. with
the crops they have to sell and the
goods they have TO buy. They must