VOL. LXV
INDIANAPOLIS, FEBRUARY 26, 1910.
NO. 9
HIGH COST  OF LIVING  AND AGRI-
CULTURAL EDUCATION.
Edlton  Indiana   Farmer:
At no time in the history of our
nuintry has there been such an
ai wakening of agricultural thought as
ihe present high price of food is creating. For two months past every newspaper and magazine has devoted much
space to the discussion of the topic of
„nr daily bread. Every householder
lias been made to feel that the increased cost of living is a reality. The
merchant has repeated daily, times
without number, his explanation of the
cause of the high price of every arti-
, le of food the family consumes. The
preacher refers to the fact as he pleads
for increased liberality on the part of
his people to aid the needy. The
statesman everywhere speaks and
writes upon this living topic, until it
now has passed its way into our national legislature.
The eyes of the American people are
l.eing opened to see the facts as they
really exist, and are ready to acknowl-
. ,]ge that the problem of our food supply is one that merits the thoughtful
consideration of every educator and
economist. Nothwithstanding he fact
that a warning has been sounded for
ai generation that the time was rapidly
approaching when the priee of foodstuffs must greatly advance, because of
our rapidly increasing population, yet
the trend of our population has been
away from the farm, and the idea of
alucating young men in the science of
agriculture has not appealed to the
educators of our country.
The day of higher cost of the necessities of life is upon us. No argument to prove this statement is needed.
The word of the grocer and butcher,
and baker is sufficient, and now for the
first time the eyes of every inhabitant
of this great Republic are turned to the
farm. The owner and cultivator of a
piece of ground for the flrst time in the
history of our country is in the limelight for sure and how well he shows
up. He is discovered as the man who
is filling the most important place
among men. No farmer, no country.
Xo farmer, then follows no preacher,
teacher, lawyer, doctor, merchant, or
mechanic or anybody else. This important truth is really being taught the
sons and daughters of America for the
first time. Such terms of reproach as
"hayseed" and "clodhopper" are no
longer to be applied to the man who
tills "the soil. The farmer has now
come into his own. We have awakened to find that he has the stupendous
task of producing the world's food. We
should have realized the fact, but
strange to say we have not done so, and
as a result the farmer has not always
received fair treatment. The farm
has been robbed of hundreds of thousands of young men whose brain and
brawn were needed to help develop the
first industry of the country. .The necessity of educating the boys for the
farm as he is educated for other vocations never dawned upon the average
citizen. We are now beginning to pay
for our folly. It is true we have had
those who have fought valiantly for the
cause of agricultural education, and we
have gotten so far along as to have at
least one agricultural school in every
state, with probably an average attendance of from three to five boys
from a county.      Think  of lt,  a  great
agricultural county like Kosciusko,
with her 4,000 farms with but one
name recorded in our State Agricultural College, shown in the catalogue
of 1908-9. Evidently the parents and
school teachers of this county are not
enthusiastic in the cause of agricultural education. It is clear that a small
per cent of people have come to realize that one of the profoundest of
sciences is that of agriculture, and that
ignorance on the part of those engaged
in farming of the science of the same
ahas cost the country billions of dollars
and has resulted in the discouragement
and       unhappiness     of       millions     of
of 1910 will break all records of low
yield. Put this article where you can
read it occasionally and proflt in the
reading by doing your best to make the
prophesy a false one.
Our reasons: lst. Seed corn will
be bad in spite of all your judging.
2d. The spring will be unusually late
for planting and very wet.
3d. A long serious drouth from
middle of July till late fall.
Now we have told our reasons. Work
to avoid disaster from their occurrence
should they do so. The things to be
considered to do this are: Time for
planting;  manner of planting and cul-
Levee Road,   Winslow,  Ind.
-Courtesy  Winslow   Dispatch.
families who have left the farm to try
other vocations.
But the change for the better is here.
Every year sees thousands of converts
from the mistaken notion that anybody
can farm, and the daily discussion of
the absorbing subject of the hour is
having the effect of arousing the entire
nation to realize the necessity Of greatly multiplying the number of agricultural schools and of turning the attention of our young men to the study and
practice of this most useful, noble and
profitable calling. It's the hope of our
country. Every citizen should encourage the good cause and see to it
that a proper share of school funds are
appropriated to the work of agricultural education.
J. C. Breckenridge,
Pres. Winona College of Agriculture.
Winona Lake, Ind.
Written for the Indiana Farmer:
THE CORN CROP OF 1910.
By J. H. Haynes.
Judging from the number of pictures of pretty boys and girls—of
schools and families sitting around
tables covered with corn we would supposed that all we have to do this year to
have a buncombe corn crop is to judge
seed corn.
Good seed corn is all right and good
judgment is commendable, but we want
to go on record right now as saying
that the corn crop of 1910 will depend
on very far more important things
than judging seed.
The crop of 1907 was poor, 26.2
bushels per acre. The crop of 1908
was 26.8. That of 1909, 26.6 bushels
per acre and we predict that the crop
ture.
Time for planting is when soil is dry
and warm enough to cause quick germination of the seed. Too early plantings result in more poor stands than
arc caused in any other way.
Manner of planting, is to avoid deep
planting or in wet lands. Good seed is
no better than poor seed if your planter
puts the grain four or five inches deep.
We had a tenant last year plant a field
with good seed. It did not come up.
Curiosity to know whether the sprout
was headed toward China or skyward
revealed the fact that it was headed no
way—simply rotten, too deep.
Keep your drill to plant fairly deep,
no more.
Culture. 2 5 per cent of all germinated
corn is destroyed by careless culture
every year. That South Carolina boy
who grew 226 bushels per acre was not
careless (read his report) and it paid
him not to be.
Another prediction. The corn crop
of 1910 will be the most important
grain crop in the world, be it large or
small. We were alone a few years ago
in talking this way but now have a
host of good fellows saying the same
thing, railroad kings, college professors, etc.
Along with corn carry everything
else in the farm line. The world is
calling for it.
PURDUE SHORT COURSE.
The eighth Annual Farmers' Short
Course held at Purdue University January 10 to 15, was attended by more
than eleven hundred and fifty Indiana
farmers with their wives, sons and
daughterg, being larger than that of any
previous   year.    The   interest   and   en
thusiasm throughout the Course was
very marked. The work consisted of
special and distinct courses of instruction in Soils, and Crops, Live Stock,
Household Economics, Horticulture
and Dairying. Lectures with practical
demonstrations were given in all
branches f the work. Ninety-four
boys were given instruction in corn
and livestock, while the girls were under a competent instructor in Domestic Science.
 . ♦ .	
EARLY  POTATO  CULTURE.
Editors  Indiana Farmer:
A goodly number of farmers thruout
Southern Illinois have conceived the
idea that by planting potatoes in the
fall and covering them with straw a
large per cent of the labor of cultivating them can be saved, and just as good
a yield obtained from the same amount
of ground as tho they were planted in
the spring and cultivated in the usual
way. Now this has not been so in my
experience; I have experimented in various ways in the cultivation of potatoes and from the following way of
planting and cultivating I have always
received the largest yield and best potatoes. Selecting the ground for planting I always select a piece of newly
cleared ground, if it is available, for
the potato patch; however, if this is not
to be had and old land that has been
cultivated for several years is to be
used, I flrst look well to the fertility of
the soil, as it requires very fertile soil
for potatoes. It is a good idea to scatter well fined barn manure over thesur-
."ace before starting the plow and then
bi°ak the ground as deep as possible,
say 10 inches deep and pulverize it by
harrcwing and reharrowing it until ...
is fine .T.nd then roll the ground with a
good he\vy lsnd roller. I always lay
my ground off with a one-horse turning
plow running twice in each furrow and
put the rows 3% to 4 feet apart and
then drop in my cuttings from 18 to 24
inches apart. After this is done, I
usually place some kind of manure in
the row, either well rotted barn manure, or from the poultry house, or an
old rotted straw stack makes very good
fertilizer. Then I cover the potatoes
with the plow, throwing two furrows
on the row and then levelling down
with the harrow. As soon as the vines
begin to come thru the ground I begin
to cultivate by running over the rows
with a common tooth harrow and when
the vines can be seen plainly in the
row I take the one horse turning plow
and run the bar of the plow as closely
as I can to the vines, then I turn back
with the double shovel and throw the
dirt back to the potato, giving the plant
a fertile loose bed in which to grow
for the next plowing. I sometimes
use the cultivator, but usually use nothing but the double shovel until the last
plowing when I use the turning plow
again, throwing the dirt to the potato.
Potatoes require fast cultivation. As
they should never be worked, or the
ground stirred after young potatoes
comes on the vines, I usually plow
my potatoes four times and afterwards
keep down the weed growth with the
hoe.
Some farmers make a great mistake
in selecting their seed potatoes; I
never use anything but the largest and
best potatoes available and in cutting
them I have at least two good eyes tq
the cutting. L.. g. .Johnspr).
Illinois.