The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-05-26
A AND M. GRADUATE BEING PUT
TO THE TEST ON DROWNING CREEK
But His Training is Standing H.. c. Buchan in Good Stead
and He is Meeting and Conquering the Difficulties
Looks Before He Leaps.

IA ~ liz ududSeDlcn OF the grow
ing plantation. 1t is a right question
able venture to put on the shoulders
OF q boy OF tWenty-One or twenty-five
n handling of a farm that is max
ing seven or eight thousand dollars
worth of cotton. a corresponding
OF corn, hay. pork, grazing
seventy-ive to a hundred cattle, op-
goes with such a place. but the boy
took hold. | watched that chap.for
ne was doing a significant thing. a
thing that was to show whether the
theory of the Agricultural and Me-
chanical College is right. L went over
to the farm occasionally as I had
done when h father lived, for it
experiment n a lesson in it's terri
tory.
Training Not Money Wasted.
The boy showed that his A. and
NJ. training was not money wasted.
He had a fund Of know why and
know what.
Farming is the application of
dissects his cotton plant. To him
it is not simply a matter of putting
some seed in the ground and in a
way adding some "gwano' to
the soil that a crop may grow. He
brings out his knowledge of the why.
He has become familiar with plant
physiology. He tells us tina When
the seed begins to swell in the damp
! warm earth a chemical change begins
in the starch of which the seed is
largely composd. That loosens food
for the germ Of life. and the germ be
| gins to absorb the liberated starch.
and the absorption means growth. He
is familiar with the chemical action
OF light on the leaf of the plant. He
l knows that certain minerals like NOT
ash in some forms. PHOSPHORUS in
some forms, magnesia, iron, etc, have
certain influences on the chemical
process of absorption of fOod or con-
version of the absorbed material into
plant tissue.
This young chap came home from
Raleigh knowing why we use nitro
gen. He is familiar with the bac-
terra that COW pea growth
and that discourage it. He pulls out
the fiber Of a cotton boil, draws i,
through his fingers and on his Goa
sleeve shows us the length and tex
ture in a rough way. He will pu'
it under the microscope if we like
and show it more exactly. He know:
why we put arsenate of lead on thu
peach trees, what carbonate of cop
per really is, why we feed cotton sees
meal with corn fodder or silage, ant
all this sort of stuff. He knows
these things just as the rest Of u
know how to nail board over the fenc
to stop a hOle. He has gone ia
enough into the more complicated
things to know them as we'll as w
know the simple things of every-da.
life.
Young Fellows Who Are Doing Thing
And all yer the State the cOlleg
is sending out young fellows like thi
who are doing things in the same way
6n mat nno IN Cny-nro nI0nnS
!, and they all a their know wha
and know why with them. To di
greSS from the story, these boys hav
a long "a to lead the big army Q
recruits which is enliSting some will
ingly and some unwillingly unde
!, their banner. But they will lead be
: cause the road has no end and n
place to turn off. If you start on tn
way to information you get farthe
A along every time you pick up a ne
D idea, and the thing is like the whis
: key habit. for it stimulates itself.
r A young chap who starts out wit
a big proposition. tackling it frOl
a new view point, and standing prett
we'll by himself as a leader anon
e men of all ages and experiences. ma
e get nervous once in a while. But a.
q ter he has heard it thunder a fe
r years and brought his venture to
successful fruitiOn a few times I
gains a confidence in his methods an
n in himself. Then you have a gre;
weapon
d Finding Himself.
The younger Buchan took a coup
of years to find himself, and then I
n planned his campaign. Last wint'
d he set out to have a new clearing, ar
d to begin the real task of making
IF farm of the two thousand acre trat
a Hands were set to work clearing Ian
Some two hundred and fifty acr
le have been brought out of the bla
Jack, and a considerable amount
that will be planted to COW peas tn
year. Clearing two OF three hundr'
is acres of land is not a wonderfully b
TO thing, even in a single season, dOV
,e i'm the Drowning Creek country. +
q feature Of this thing is the entran
Of of the young man into the actl
things Of the farm with a train
ability. and the methods he pursu'
er Except that it simplifieS the descri
> +;on Tho pa"o of Ruph2n might