VOL. LXII
INDIANAPOLIS. NOVEMBER 16. 1907
NO. 46
The Farm School.
By Walter S. Smith.
There are some serious difficulties in the
way of applying the lessons of the last two
or three issues of the Farmer. I will
name a few, and suggest the remedy.
First, the inadequate provision for
study. A smoky lamp, a eold room, a
poor place for reading or writing, a crowded apartment, a very limited library, a
bad place as to time.
These are evils entirely too common, and
yet not one of them is necessary. A good
lamp that makes a clear light is no more
expensive than one that smokes. Not so
much so, indeed, for the smoke takes
more oil and blackens the walls and ceiling, so making more cleaning necessary.
The farm house should be so built as to
provide a study room, whose heating apparatus will be easily operated. The
table, book case, chairs for reading and
• hairs for writing, a couch for reclining
and a full outfit of books and papers and
writing materials can all be provided in a
farm house as easily as in the house of
the lawyer. In fact, a type-writer is
worth more in the actual utility than the
aud horse sp. freely provided.
\ pIpp not condemn the horse and buggy.
nor even the automobile, if a farmer is able
to have them, but I mean to say the study
rppoia equipment is worth more; and if not
ahle to have both, have the equipment.
Secondly, some complain that they have
not the taste for study. Tliis is too often the case, but not as supposed, a necessary evil. We are largely the managers
ppf our own tastes and inclination. We
'•an compel ourselves to like a good thing.
I myself had to force myself to read history. I read it a whole year before 1
legan to like it. I once knew a
teacher, wbo said she had not once in her
life felt an inclination to pray. I saw
her. shortly afterward with the New York
'•edger spread out before her, reading a
etory all through the sermon delivered by
the minister.
Of course we will have no relish for
Ptndy, if we go every night to some loafing place, spend the evening at cards (at
'""if) or go crazy after some lodge or
<iub. Nor will the appetite for study overtake us if we read trashy stuff, in which
'here is no lesson. The "David Har-
"m" and "Knighthood in Flower" type of
matter will not only do us no good but will
: ' tnally dull what sense we have of appre-
' iation for solid reading. We will like
study if we wHl go about it as we go about
making a corn crop.
It is a good plan for two to study togeth-
'''• The mind that inclines to wander
''"in a subject is brought back to it by
nnother mind, even tho it may be suffer-
"ig from the same weakness.
It is also all-important to study with a
definite purpose in view. Suppose, for
instance, that wc do not understand the
'natter of circulating interest. In any
good encyclopedia there is an article on
that subject, more readable than the same
"ieme in a text liook. It is elaborated
•ind illustrated on purpose to be read.
'''"tpi it over there, and then go to it in
•■"•ithmetic. Hold onto it till yon under-
Rana it and then practice enough on
prn,|lems to fix it in the mind: especially.
Problems in which you are personally interested. Then nse that history as a
means for the mastery of another matter.
Ihere is a bank discount, the partial payment of a note or .bond, the adjusting of a
Partnership difficulty,   all of them hinging
m—"      -
___
llliHiiiutlliMIslmnHUiniiHin
buying something useful for the society.
Each member should respond at roll call
by giving a quotation from some well
known   author  or  poet. The   program
Committee should select interesting subjects for debates of local, state or nationnl
importance. A critic might be appointed
to criticise the program given each week.
Thus the members will try to do their best.
The best place of meeting is in a school
house. li. V. B.
Farm Residence of W. C.   Bray.  Hamilton, County.
Mr. Bray's Big,  Well Filled Barn.
more or less on interest!; and their study
will deepen the knowledge of interest.
In this same way our fund for understanding matters of scholarship will be
increased by each lesson mastered, and our
knowledge of what we have studied will be
increased by the study of the next .branch
higher.
Summing up, then we reach these conclusions: lst. It is up to us to make
things convenient for study. 2d. Our
taste for stuily will be all right if we com
pel ourselves to study. The whole matter under consideration is cumulative. As
we study more our taste for study will increase. As,our taste increases our power
of comprehension is enlarged.
I think it. therefore, not at all unreasonable to suggest the study of those deep
matter* mentioned in my last article.
Any young farmer who wishes to devote
his valuable hours to cultivating his mind
can find, some where near him, all the aid
lie needs. There is usually a teacher Iiv- i
ing near us who will rake pleasure in assisting us in matters of perplexity or difficulty.
There are many instances of study
where men have become scholarly without
any assistance'.        The learned blacksmith
and the learned shoemaker    arc examples.
Tliey   stuilicpl       between   strokes  of       the |
hammer, so to speak: and both mastered
most of the difficulties they encountered.
Then I think, a young farmer who really
wishes an education can contrive to attend
college if he will try hard enough.
The Farmer's Club.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
.V society to be well founded should
have well chosen officers. A literary society is a benefit to a neighborhood. President, secretary and treasurer are enough
lor a well ordered society. A committee
of three should be appointed to arrange in
Interesting program for each week. The
society should be divided into three sec-
ti'ppn-p. After the second week, two weeks
allowed each section to prepare the work.
It is a good idea to appoint a reader for
each week and take up a line of interesting reading. The life of some
great        man.      a        study      of the
Japanese, Underground travel in a
large city. etc.. might be choosen
among the many interesting topics to read
up on. Many people do not take time
or have time to know even a touch of the
many things that are taking place today in
this great world. Recitations, songs,
readings and debates would help to make
an interesting program. Let each number be short and to the point. Do not let
nny number drag. A small membership
might be charged, and any member who
does not fill his or her part of the program
shouhl be assessed a small sum, the money
t<. be used towards forming a  library or
To Keep the Boys on the Farm.
Editors Indiana Fanner:
The question among the farmers for the
past few years has been, "How to keep
the boy on the farm." It bas now reached
an age of "hurry up," and in the meantime
if the boy is not allowed anything except
a mere living, farm work is bound to become a burden on the youth's mind and
body and he will gradually turn his
thoughts and ideas toward a more or less
difficult employment. If the father possesses a son who dislikes farm work, do
not retain his services against his will, but
provide him with money enough to secure
an honorable employment, and after he
has been out among the young people of
the large cities and towns and } ,*i given
his work a trial, it is "ten ti one" that
' the son will return to his home better satis-
i fied, and will no doubt choose farm life as
; the most independent and happiest life a
' man can lead.
But the farmer who wishes his son to
remain on the farm must give him a chance
to possess something of his own, in the
meantime the son will indulge in his work
with more interest and skill, and will be
more apt to respect farm life than if he
wasn't granted any privilege or means of
makiug a few dollars on his own resources.
The young man of to-day shouhl be given
a young colt at the age of fifteen, and let
the boy rear and break the colt according
to his own ideas. Then when tbe boy "s
18 years of age he will have his colt broken, and then he should be given some sort
of vehicle, of which he is the sole possessor: this will induce him to take a greater
interest in farm work than any thing that
could he given him. If the boy doesn't
choose something of this sort, give him an
interest in the crop, and when this is done
the boy realizes that a certain amount of
his labor and skill is being done for himself, and he will otherwise consider farm
life a happy independent life rather than
a  burden  throughout  the season.
Madison Co. A Header.
From numerous experiments made in
Wisconsin there has beendevelopied a strain
of white dent corn which grows on a very
short, thick-set stalk and which matures a
good size ear, and the ears run remarkably
uniform. The growth centers in the ear
rather than in producing a big stalk at the
expense of a small ear. After four years
of careful, persistent work, there are numerous corn fields in Southern and Central
Wisconsin which will yield from CO to 80
bushels per ncre, and 100 bushel have been
reported several times. Such results coming from from a state, whkfa a few years
ago was considered out of the corn belt,
demonstrates what coin breeding will accomplish when carried on along sensible
lines.
Mr. John Newby, of Noblesville, 82 years
old died, Oct. 20, leaving seven children.
He came to Hamilton County in 1.S41 and
is the first of a family of ten children to
die. The youngstest of the 10 is sixty-five
years old.