Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1913-12-06
s Agricultural Education
e. By Prof. NJ E. buckles Elk Rapids, Mich.
s-o<..Jc e~~nr~-~.~-~S
Farmer Boy NOW-a- Days Holds His
Head just as High as Boys in Town

the soil to the people as whole. And
the boy who has an interest in the
farm is fortunate. He is, so to speak,
in on the ground floor of the nations
big life insurance building.
Within the last few years agricul-
tural education has gone forward with
leaps and bounds. There is hardly a
school in the land but that now gives
it some consideration, and many high
schools have already adopted we'll
arranged courses while others are
planning to include this science just
as soon as qualified teachers can be
secured. The breadth and extent of
it is governed chiefly by the time and
equipment at the disposal of the
school. A general understanding of
the underlying principles of botany is
usually recognized as the first thing.
From this the course branches out to
cover special studies of seed selection,
soil fertility, fruit culture, stock rails
ing, dairying, and so forth. The course
in agriculture without an outdoor
laboratory in the shape of a plat of
ground where the students can put
their theories to practice, is deficient
in very essential feature to make
it worth while.
Time was when "any fool could
farm" That was when the soil was
new and rich in the elements of plant
growth, when all that was necessary
was to pillow and drag and plant and
nature did the rest till the harvest
time came. Even weeds were hardly
thought of as a nuisance to be dread
ed, for weeds like whiskey are a pro-
duct of our so-called civilization, and
have to be fought with the same de-
termination. In these days it takes a
wise man to farm successfully, for
natures capital stock, her reserve
fund, has been drawn upon to the
point of exhaustion. Where simple
methods of conservation might have
been employed to save the situation
we have now thousands of worn-out
farms grown up to burs and wild
mustard.
Fortunately the condition of these
abandoned farms, which are more
numerous in the east than in the west
is not so hopeless as at one time we
thought A rebuilding process has
been worked out, and though slow, it
is practical and is within our means
to follow to the salvation of many a
poor acre. And by the same process
thousands of acres of wild land, which
on account of slight activity or lack
of humuS was once considered worth
less, are now being made to yield
great crops of potatoes, beets, alfalfa,
and fruit. What more gratifying,
more satisfying work is there than
that of taking a tract of otherwise
unproductive land and causing it to
blossom into wealth? To do that is
to experience the joy of the Creator
of the ancient Garden of Eden.
Every boy and every man should
include in his plan of campaign for
success the idea of owning and OPP
Grating farm. To own a good pro-
ductive farm is to possess the most
substantial form of security to be de-
sired. 1t gives one a sense Of indie
pendence and self-reliance that is not
to be enjoyed without such security.
Today it is not so hard a matter to
get hold Of such a piece of property
as it will be few years from now.
With our rapidly increasing popula-
ton and an even more rapid increase
in the cost Of living, it will not be
long before every available square
yard of productive soil will be in
great demand. Farmer boy, stay by
your farm.