VOL. LV.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., JAN. 6. 1C00.
NO. 1
%xpttieuct Depavtment
THE EDUCATED FARMER.
Or th* Good and Bad Effects of Education oo tha Farm.
Education, If of the tight kind and balanced by good common sense, le simply Invaluable to the fanner. There have been
times ln the paat when the farmer, possessing
book learning, wes regarded ae decidedly impractical if not somewhat "looney," but the
Ignorant man, however worthy he maybe, no
longer haa an equal chance with hie educated
neighbor, for farming ln this age ls a complex affair. Something more than plowing
and sowing are now required to Insure bountiful harvests.
But what do we mean by "educated?" In
one of Eggleston's stories we read of a man
who had no "book larnin' " but plenty of
"eddicatlon." These terms are often used as
meaning the same, when, ln reall y, to be
educated requires far more than a familiarity
with books. What cultivation is to the soil,
education Is to the life of an Individual; lt
nourishes, strengthens and enriches the best
in a man's nature. Education goes beyond
the mere acquisition of knowledge and givee
nom. tn .__» *-___.<_ -.-.o-wlc-lf;-. widely ana irStT,
--.lltKI- '. o- _u.il £,a 5'i'J_._..ij_i i__ .ar
reaching. In this day all admU that men in
other callings must have education to succeed.
Does not the farmer need to be equally wel*
equipped with practical knowledge pertaining
to his particular work, as well as systematic
methods and good judgment? The educated
farmer is heir to the knowledge accumulated
through generations of practical experience
He need not necessarily know Greek and
Latin, but he should understand the composition of soils and the conditions Of plant life
He should know what grains and products are
best adapted to certain soils, and should carefully determine what rotation of crops will
prove mott profitable in every fi_ld. He must
know how to render available the plant food
stored in the earth, and to supply what
may be wanting to insure a good
yield without impoverishing tbe land.
Such an insight into nature's laboratory
will enable him to change the humus and
mineral elements of the earth into profitable
crops; while a lack of such knowledge will
lessen the yield, waste the natural fertility of
the soil, and materially reduce profits. Not
only must he understand soils and crops, but
he should know something of live stock, and
some knowledge of the anatomy and hygine
of stock will prove of great advantage. He
shou'd know markets and values; he ought to
be familiar with business forme, and be able
to keep his own account books. For lack of
such knowledge farmers labor under great
disadvantages. Were farmers better educated
they would be more self reliant, and better
able to to take care of their own interests.
Other industries are organized while farmers
are in great measure at the mercy of the
forces combined against them. Perhaps
■ome older farmer chancing to read these
lines may think too much stress is placed upon education, because he succeeded in amassing a comfortable living with very little
school knowledge; but such a person should
remember that he has been educating himself
for 20 or 30 years ln the school of experience,
and he should not forget that he has paid
dearly, at times, for his mistakes—mistakes
which a little knowledge of practical chemistry would have made impossible. If it requires training to build a bridge across a
river doea it not also require trait* Ing to grow
a good crop? The manufacturer df-**ls with
Inanimate materials, wood or stone, cotton
or wool; but the farmer deals with living,
growing thing*; plants that are alive and
have strong preferences, and animals  posses
sing wills of their own and powers to be developed, The manufacturer works with materials that stay where he places them, while
the farmer must ever cope with problems of
soil and seasons, never exactly the same. The
world declares the man who builds some
wonderful machine a genius, but Is lt not a
greater achievement to raise a herd of fine
cattle, or to grow a profitable crop on unproductive land? There ls no place where an
education can be of greater value, or where lt
will afford more unalloyed pleasure than on a
farm. Fabmie'b Dauqtkb,
2d__Premlum.—Education haa the same influence upon tbe farmer and hie work, that :t
has upon persons fitting themselves for oth. r
occupations. It enables him to master individual difficulties upon the farm because he
has  been systematically trained ln   genert 1
cation le eo potent as to need no proof. That
a technical education, c .insisting of a course
ln advanced mathematics, language and literature, w_u!_ benefit the plowman and haymaker will ln many minds admit of question.
But If he have a taste for the care of stock
and the cultivation and care of growing
plants, of field or garden, a knowledge of "all
thlrg* useful and valuable under tbe sun,"
will not disqualify him for farm life. This Is
equally true of any woman who with domestic tastes, combined with a love of knowledge, as contained ln books and advanced by
training in tbe schools devotes herself to the
duties of farm life. The training in careful
observation, the drill in attention to detail,
the long continued practice of systematic di
vision of time, and proper application to
various duties, as they come In the order
which belongs   to   any well regulated school
"J 1
l<
■s
4
<_
.<_ ;
<_ I
SMiTKI
—\~if- htfi
21 2. 23
28 2 i 30
51 6
0.13
24 25 26
31 -I	
S  M T \V T   F   S
1 ~2   3| 4l 5  6|~7J
_*> 23 24 2" "6 K7 2" *
M-*.pzbcl.
FEBRUARY
—I— I—1—I 1! 2, 3
41 5 6| 7 8| 910
11 1213 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28	
MARCH
 1 2 3
4 5 6 7 S :■ 10
11 12 13 14 15 10 1
_|18 19 20 2122 23 24
j 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
MAY
—I—I 1, 2 3 4
6 7 8, 9 10 11
13 14 15 16 17 18
.'1121 22 23 24 25
l~i 28 2.(30 31 —
JUNE
_| 1   2
3 4 6 6 5H 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16|
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30*
1   2   3   4   5   6, 7
AUGUST.
J—1—1—I   II  2|  3   4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
121314 1516 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25|l8
26|27i28 29:30 31
SEPTEMBER
2   3   4
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 2.
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
'30!—.—-I—I—t—
1   2   3   4: 6
29 30131 —	
their children to the >ch _,ols. And these children may well rise up and call b'eesed such
parents, for there ls an Inspiration and a general spirit of elevation ln the very atmosphere
ot such a household. 0. G.
BBVIBW,
From readlDg these excellent letters I am
pursuaded that the unpopularity of education
for the farmer which once existed was due to
Its impractical nature. It taught him everything but farmiDg And even taught him to
despise farming. Let me call attention to a
peculiar change which has taken place during
my own recollection. When I wae a lad I inquired what I had better etudy. I was told
that the languages were essential to the life of
a scholar. Well what did one go to school
for but to be a scholar? At present public
sentiment has changed so that it now advises
one to use the languages not to be'a scholar,
but ss needed in his life research. The most
sweeping change of sentiment today is in the
aim, or purpoee, and the direction, of education. The inventions of the age have made
us one common human brotherhood. They
have disparaged the sentiment of casts, aud
made prominent the individual. So that today the r<_y<_l fellow ls the one that does the
NOVEMBER
1
5  6| 7
12 13 14 15 16 1'
19 20 21 22 23 24
26 27 28 2'.i :;i I —
|   >
2| 3J   '
9 10 j   *>
DECEMBER
4   fi| 6   7   8
11 12 13 14 15
18 19 20 2122!:
24|25 26 27 28 29|i
sit—I—I-
y li_  t_l V_p -_i_---ij" -a-  _&j  -_i'\?-i&-iy vW --jj*1-^-"-^
price pes underlying success In almost any
line of agriculture.
Education broadens the vision of the farmer. He can see more than one side to a question, weigh problems ctirefully, and when decisions are reached he has a mental insight
that pr.-. mpts him to a eu**ce a'ul termination
of his plan. It increases the activity of the
brain without lessening the power of the band.
It combines the mental and phyetcil worker
in the one individual. The educated farmer
can sift from the great maee of agricultural
literature that which ie of value, and practicable under a given environment Should
the farmer be too narrow or too ehort eighted
to secure the higheet development education
can give him, he might be led astray by his
enthusiasm. This tendency must be bridled
through costly experience, or he may fall to
get the true lesson taught him, and come to
wrong conclusions. No farmer is likely to
be led astray by receiving an agricultural education. Instead, he becomes a ready listener
to good counsel, and not only deelree the
higheet success upon his own farm, but ls ever
ready to lend a hand in sending to others the
"gospel of good farmiDg." W. B. A.
31 Premium.—By the "educated farmer"
we usually mean one who, whether man or
woman, has had more of school life and training than that afforded by the district school.
Therefore of the more or less "college bred"
farmer we ehall speak. The first object of all
education Is "to make men and women," ln
the truest and highest sense. Those who ln
all affairs of church and State will exercise a
wholesome regenerating influence on the
world. Those who in all their intercourse
with their neighbors or with the world at
large will not deecand to anything that ia not
elevating and ennobling ln its tendency.
That tbe farmer has need of this kind of edu-
life, can have but one eff_et i n the character
of any one So far from unfi ting him or her
for domestic duties, lt only the better prep an s
one fer the various deUil* of act ve life
whether in doors or cut. I believe this to be
true of the purely literary education. If
added to this there be tbe specific trainirg
Intended especially for the farmer there must
needs be no question as to the advantage of
education to the farmer. If however education ba m led ire cted so that lt makes one despise honest toil with the hands, the evil
eff. cts are great It le only by the severest
cons ilentlous effort that one can do well tbat
which ls distasteful. If the so-called -'educated farmer" goes unwillingly to hts dally
task lt ls quite likely tbe wcrk will ba neglected, and the newest magazine or even the
dally paper will receive the time and attention that should be devoted to farm work. O'
all occupations lt has long seemed to me that
farming neede ae much ae any the Inspiration
of education, that the farmer may not become only "the man with the hoe." He, and
equally ehe, with household affairs, chickens,
turkeys, etc may, I believe, easily become
only a grinding, groveling thing. Not long
since a lady of culture raid: "I am not sure
that one does not need a college education to
be a perfect housekeeper." The training incidents to college life can only be beneficial
in any sphere of life if the training and
knowledge are rightly applied. Otherwise
they, of ecursa, are only an added ability in
the wrong direction. Q. botany, geology and
natural history in general, I think the farmer
should be well Instructed both for the immediate pecuniary benefit he may gain, and for
the general culture a knowledge of such subjects may give. The father and mother who
are able to teach the child in language, literature and science are a long, long way ln advance of those who  leave  all   Instruction of
Wf   .*(!!  -If'il rn'tnirp an HI"* M(r*-rrF(1,. .B'*r.t>.
But lt must all ba shaped to an active Individual service. It ls remarkable that ao great
Is this revolution that the technical mechanical echoole, like Purdue and others of the
same character, are flooded to two hundred
per cent, while the classical schools bave not
Increased over two per cent. It should be remembered that farming is only one of the
many practical lines of human endeavor that
feed and clothe the world. But lt ls cause for
tha greatest satisfaction that farming ls coming to ba so scientific, that lt ls securing a
standing among the other useful and learned
oe-upatlons of practical life Over eighty-
seven per cent of all the students of the Agricultural school at Purdue return to some kind
of farm life. This ls surely a good showing.
As good as we want lt, because we ought not
to expect those who do not happen to be congenial with farming to remain on the farm,
Mr. W. B. A. is right ln eaylng that a true
education of to-day teachee the student the
principles of agriculture. And calls out "Id.
creaeed activity of brain without lessening
the power of the hand." Mr, A. ought to
epeak wisely since be was a student, and after,
wards an assistant at Purdue, and has now returned to his ft-rin and built a nice home, and
ls using, to the utmost, those very principles
that he has been studying.
Perhaps all of our writers this week advance
the thought that the farmer needs an education for other purposes than simply making
money. Do they not wlEe'y claim that his
duties as a citizen demand that he shall enjoy
a larger life than simply to grow crops and
make a living? Existing is only the basis
that makes the higher growth possible. If we
stop with It, we miss the bast and richest purpose of life. It le true that one needs to make
money. We must bave money ln this age of
specialization, but let us remember that making money ls only making It possible to reach
out for the greater experience of a larger life
and a higher Ideal. The prophesy of the future of farmlcg Is rad'ant with promise for
this fuller life. With rural daily mall and
electric cars and family telephones and good
roads, what more could be asked of delightful
environments In which to make an ideal
home, ln which to raise an ideal family. A
family of the broadest development of body
and mind, and possessed with th. most established and pure and vigorous character.
Motto:—"If you do not keep well informed
the world will pass you by."
Continue*! on pr.ge 18.