St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1916-06-24
COMPULSORY EDUCATION
SCHOOLS

Inc increasing VI tAE
| idea of compulsory attendance in
schools is one of the most crafty
ing signs of the the progress in the
South at this time.
The South is today about the only
considerable portion of the civil
lied earth in which it Is thought fit
and proper for a careless and igno-
rant parent to bind his children for
life in the bonds Of ignorance, blind
them for life in the struggle for
existence; and this fact is a blot
upon our boosted civilization. a
blot we should like to enlist every
man, woman and child in our Pro-
gressive Farmer family in helping
wipe out.
The argument of personal lib
erty,' the rights of the parents"
ETC., which have been so long in
voked in this matter cannot stand
the light Of reason. What about the
rights of the child and his own
God-giyen right tto liberty of
mind through the emancipating
power of knowledge? And as for
the parent, we may well say in the
language of the great philosopher
Huxley Il have liberty to do right;
I will thank any man to take away
my right to do wrong" The right to
keep a child in ignorance Is "a
right to do wrong" and it should be
! taken away from every careress
parent in the South, as it has az
!, ready been taken away from such
parents nearly everywhere else out
side of heathendom-The Progress
sive Farmer.
SOIL FERTILITY TRUE REASON
FOR DIVERSIFICATION
Our agricultural advisers as we'll
as our farmers, seem to have COM
pletely lost sight of the true eason
for Investigation and livestock
| production. To produce the food
and feed supplies of the farm is ar
economic necessity which no one
seems no doubt; but this is not
enough to build up or maintain a
sound agricultural system, because
it is not enough to build I'D and
maintain soil fertility.
Until we begin teaching diversf-
ffcation as a necessity for economi-
cal soil building we shall make lit
tie progress toward a sound agri-
culture. 1t is not practicable to eco
nomically maintain soil fertility and
grow n crop a year on the land
and make the crops cotton and food
and feed crops like corn, oats,
wheat, potatoes, etc. We must re-
duce the cotton acreage because OF
the necessity of growing Iegume,
soii-impToving crops, and because
more cotton can be produced on
less land when this is done.-The
Progressive Farmer.
The more we study the livestock
business,especialiy as generally
conducted in the South, the more
thoroughly we become convinced OF
the utter folly Of expecting a profit
from animals that are not well fec.
Breeding is of great value, but, to
the South, good feeding is even
more important, for breeding with
out good feeding passes for naught.
The Progressive Farmer.
CUT OUT DISEASED AND INFE-
RIOR TREES
Timber has been considered too
much as a Find" as clear velvet
and has been wasted. The years OF
time taken to yield that timber
have not been considered. He must
begin to think Of that now, and in
crease the yield Of his wood lots by
giving them proper attention. He
must cut out and utilize the ma
ture and old trees and those of the
poorer species. In this way he IS
not only getting a return fran them,
but is giving the space taken up by
them to new growth and better
species. Too often the best trees
are cut even for fire wood and the
poorer class of trees left (the
crooked, knotty, limby and decay
ing. Such a process Of handling
depreciates the timber.-The Pro-
gPessive Farmer.
MAKING SECOND APPLICATIONS
OF FERTILIZER TO CORN
A reader asks if we advise two
applications of fertilizers to corn.
1t seems quite certain that in 80 far
as phosphoric acid and potash are
concerned it does not pay to make
two applications, because they are
not leached from the soil by the
water that passes down through it.
IF no nitrogen is used, then the an
swer to the question is an unquali-
fed no.
Possibly the most satisfactory
way of applying nitrogen to the
corn crop is to use some such nj
trogen supplying material as cot
tonseed meal in rather small guam
IT, 49, ,lon4.n~ onl thar .,ofun