The Bemidji daily pioneer., 1919-12-17

A Typical Chimney. Coz
(Prepared by the United States Depart.
ment Of Agriculture.)
The poets, when they got going on
the calendar, usually ran to spring
and summer months, ending at about
|''knee deep in June" Thomas Hood
ibid succeed in getting as far as No.
lvember, but it wasn't a good poem.
IOh, It was a clever piece Of crafts
imanship, and all that, but unjust. It
was all negatives-"No morn, no noon,
no other time Of day; no sun, no
moon, no t'other side the way''-some
such libelous stuff as that about a
perfectly gorgeous month. But they
didn't write even negative eulogies
|of December. Poe mentioned it, along
with "dying ember." midnight dreary,"
land such like gObs Of gloom. Just
the same, December might be made
the subject Of a very excellent poem.
Indeed, with verse here and a verse
there, it may almost be said that the
United States department Of agricul-
ture has written a great poem on it
lone of the didactic kind that, in addi-
don to adorning the tale, points a
moral. entitled to be considered poetry
because truth is beauty, and beauty is
|poetry. The theme Of the thing must
!be said to be that December is such
ia tremendously important month to
the farmer.
December Important Farm Month.
Now, having pulled up long enough
ITO climb over a period and walk around
1.-THE nook of paragraph-consider. OF
course, December has not been gen.
orally considered an important month
In agriculture. On the contrary, 1t
has been a very much neglected month,
almost q month ignored. None the
less, it does come very close to being
rthe most important month in the year
ifor the farmer. It is month of
such tremendous potentially. month
Whose usefulness may be so spread
out over the other II.
There is no end Of things that
Iahould be done in December besides
|getting ready for Christmas. That,
Ito borrow a phrase from very old
Ieharge on duty, "is not on any ac-
count to be neglected." but it is. due
to be coordinated.
You have read in the old pioneer
tstories how the boys had to work IN
,the clearing all summer, started to
ischOol in the winter. That ought to
be true still for every farmer, no
matter how old or young he Is. De-
,,cember should mark the beginning Of
THE session in his school. His school
house may very we'll be in his own
chimney corner. He has not much
time to read all spring. summer, and
}fall. Now, he does begin to have
little leisure-not that he has any time
to loaf. but he has his heels on the
ground. During the year there have
been printed a considerable number OF
good textbooks on farming. Special
lists Of the United States department
of agriculture and other specialists at
the state agricultural college have en-
bodied in bulletins the result Of long
and patient labor on various things
pertaining to farming have put IN type
facts that will mean dollars to the
farmer who learns them and puts them
into practice.
Pupils Study What They Like.
OF course. this chimney-corner
school of agriculture allows it's stu
dents a lot Of leeway. The curriculum
lis largely elective. The farmer may
study this and leave the other alone
;as his interests may dictate. But
there will be enough bulletins that are
of interest to him to- make pretty
full course of study. If he has
NEGLECTED his education at all and isn't
up to his grade" there may be
great deal more than he can handle IN
Ione winter. The United States depart
ment Of agriculture has been publish
ling bulletins for a great many
wears. There are more than thou
sand farmers bulletins now on the
list. and every one Of them discusses
something that means money to q
large class Of farmers. Many Of the
subjects have been supplemented and
localized by state agencies-the agr1'
cultural college or the state depart
Iment Of agriculture. There Is abso'
,lutely no reason why any farmer may
mot have all the scientific Information
that exists on all phases Of agricul-
ture that mean anything in his par
fticular operation. All he has to do Is
Ito 20 to school to himself by his own
6reside. If he needs tutoring, there
Is the county agent whom he can con-
suit when he goes to town on Satur'
day-or he might possibly have the
agent out to supper and session by
the fireside some night.
I1-,Aoxl dom ont Of q,