Albuquerque evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1911-1914, 1913-09-02
Teaching Agriculture to the
Young Spanish-AmericanI

The proRram committee has given
mo the privilege of developing ans
phase Of this topic That seemed most
adapted 10 our purpose. Therefore
have chosen the above topic n will
not be ms purpose 10 treat this sub.
iect IN any scientific manner, bat in
siead. 10 throw out limos of sugFos.
lions that may be followed by our
farm schools.
The study 81 agi culture has boz
c,m me o. 'mportan' topic In roth city
aud O. tniy ever since james Wilson
became secretary Of agriculture.
Every state In the union has one
or more costly experiment sta
tons where scientific experiments are
carried on by experts Ia their depart
iu"nts. Thousands Of men are em-
piuyed by tho government GO investi-
Eite agricultural problems abroad az
we'll as IN this country. Through
them q vasts amount Of valuable
knowledge has been accumulated,
which Ia not always distributed by
our government In the wiscst manner.
N these documents we're given TO tho
department ~ agriculture for dlstTi-
button instead Of 20 our congressman
who give tons OF it to persons who
have not nor ever viii have the slight
est interest IN agriculture. mach more
good would be accomplished with H..
To-day, In many states. besides tho
regular experiment stations there are
also sub-EtatlOns And IN some states
the counties have demonstration
farms which usually are directed by
some federal or state expert who
makes a study Of local conditions and
cndeavors TO improve on both quality
ana quantity on the crops grown In
that community. In this manner the
farmer Is literally shown how to inn
prove on his efforts Of farm produce
ton.
In New Mexico In c~dar to dc suc-
cessful teaching In the science Of ag-
rlculture ! believe We must employ
similar methods as suggested above.
And especially 80 since the native
people are not aware of the literature
distributed by the government. And
" they were many Of them not being
acquainted with the English language.
would not be- able 10 use u. There
fore to be Instructed they must be
shown. For this reason the mission
school which has connected with "a "a
farm or garden IL In position TO do
"A vast amount OF good for our youths.
our boys mostly are the sons Of
men who are interested IN general
farm crops. cattle. horses. sheep and
goats. trucking and q few In fruit
growing. II would therefore. seem TO
mo that the farm schools ought 10
give instructions In these branches.
Naming them In their relative inn
portance they are: On The Improve
mcnt of the cattle herd; ca the inn
provoment OF the horse; CD improve
mcnt ~ the sheep and goat; co i'm
prOvemcnt of general farming; (5) a
study of fruit growing and trucking:
CiD the wiscst use OF human energy
Since vast areas Of New Mexico land
viii never be- adapted 90 ans hing but
grnzing 81 is quite probable that there
wiz always be large herds Of cattle and
iorses ana hOcks of sheep a1A goa o..
And since this ~ 70 cfute for stock.
why not just ns well raise an animal
that b. worth treble the amount of
money as those that are commonly
raised by the father OF our pupils?
In respect 90 cattle We cannot see
why good beef strain cannot be
cared for az well as the scrub. good
type OF beef animal viii bring $50 In
the market, where the scrub. as COM
monty raised viii bring but SIS or
81 the farmer 10 so situated that he
can dispose Of his dairy product. why
not keep q COW that viii return him
SIS per year in the way of dairy pro-
duet and he have the offspring be-
sides. instead of having only the on
spring. which viii require two years
90 bring the gross return Of $50. II
craving cattle for beef is To- be his
specially then the pupil ought TO be
given an opportunity 10 learn how to-