The Newark journal., 1920-01-01
Prepared by the United States Depart
 r,larf of \ A.r-t..,Lla,,r.A !

Lent Of AgFIeulture)
 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 did succeed in getting as far as No vember, but it wasn't q good poem Oh. it was q clever piece of crafts ln1nship. and all that, but unjust. It was all negatiyes-"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 perfectly gorgeous month. But they didn't write even negative euIogies uf December Poe mentioned it. along with dying ember,' midnight dreary," and such like g0bs Of gloom. Just the same. December might be made the subject of very excellent poem Indeed, with verse here and verse there, it may almost be said that the United States department of agricul- lure has written a great poem on it- one of the didactic kind that in addi- ton to adorning the tale. points moral entitled to be considered poetry because truth is beauty, and beauty is poetry The theme of the thing must be said 10 he that December is such tremendously important month to the farmer
 December Important Farm Month Now, having pulled up long enough 10 climb over a period and walk around the nook of a aragraRh-eenslder. of course December has not been gen prally considered an important month in agriculture On the contrary, it has been q very much neglected month almost q month ignored. None the less. if does come very close to being tHa most important month in the year for the farmer. Ii is month of such tremendous potentiality, month whose usefulness may be so spread out over the other II.
 There Is no end of things that should be done In December besides getting ready for Christmas. That 10 borrow phrase from very old charge on duty, 'is not on any ac- count to be neglected but it is due te be coordinated.
 You have read in the old pioneer stories how the boys had to work in the clearing all summer, started to school in the winter. That ought to he true still for every farmer, no natter 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 lime to read all spring, summer, and l fall Now he does begin to have lttle leiSure-not that he has any time n loaf. but he has his heels on the l ground. During the year there have i heen printed n considerable number of i good textbooks on farming. Special ists of the United States department of agriculture and other specialists at the state agricultural college have em- bodied in bulletins the result of long l and patient labor on various things nertaining to farming have put in type facts that will mean dollars to the farmer who learns them and puts them i Into practice.
 Pupils Study What They Like.
 Of course, this chimney-corner school of agriculture allows its stu 9ents n lot of Ieeway. The curriculum ie largely elective The farmer may stndv this and leave the other alone as his interests may dictate. But thero will be enough bulletins that are of interest to him to make pretty fnu eourse of study. If he has neolected his education at all and isn't nm fo his grade" there may De ereot deal more than he can handle m ona winter. The United States depart men+ of agriculture has been publish inp bulletins for great many wears There are more than thou- sond farmers bulletins now on the list and every one of them discusses something that means money to large class of farmers. Many ot tue subiects have been supplemented ana localized by state agencies-the asrl- cultural college or the state depart ment of agriculture. There ls aoso- 1r+elv no reason why any farmer may not have all the scientific information +h.+ oxists on all phases of aGfleui- tnra thot mean anything in his par ticular operation. All he has to Go IS to 20 to school to himself by his own freside. If he needs tutoring there is the county agent whom he can con sult when he goes to town on eatur- dov-or he might possibly have the agent out to supper and session py .ba freSide some night
 The United States department or az rIculture maintains printed lists or us various publications, arranged by sub iects. Any farmer-or any city dwell CT or suburbanite who is interested Ill chickens or a garden or any or the things that pertain to farming-cah have a copy merely by writing for It. For the average farmer it Is wortn spene,pg an evening over. reading tns