DAIRY, SEED IMPROVEMENT, STOCK BREEDERS' MEETINGS. 259 



carry on their experiments at home. An example of this is 

 at Freedom Academy where agriculture is taught as well as 

 English and college preparatory, also. 



The first year is devoted to a study of the soil and also of 

 the different fertilizers. This gives the student a base oa 

 which to build his agricultural knowledge. The second year is 

 taken up in the study of poultry, cattle, sheep, horses, swine, 

 etc., and the feeding of the different animals. The second 

 year is perhaps the most important of all, because the student 

 just begins to get an insight in the work. The third year is 

 passed in studying farm crops, fruit growing and intensive 

 farming. Next comes the fourth year which sums up the 

 whole in the study of farm management. This last year in- 

 volves a rather hard question to be answered, because of the 

 various conditions which some farms are in. 



In a community where there is a high school or academy 

 offering a course in agriculture, there is most always a large 

 amount of competition. The average farmer of today did not 

 have a chance to study the science of farming, but their sons 

 bring home to them the fact that scientific farming is not alto- 

 gether theory, but also practical. It starts a thrill in the 

 heart of the farmer of yesterday and he begins to open his 

 eyes and take an interest in the practically new science which 

 the state department and the local school open up to him. 



In a locality where there is no school the farmer does not 

 have a chance to see the results of farming scientifically, ex- 

 cept from reading magazines, and he will take no stock in 

 them, because he will say, "Father never did that, and I guess 

 he raised as large crops as they do at that experiment station." 

 His statement is true in some respects: If a man has plenty 

 of sound common sense he can reason things out. although he 

 will be ignorant of the manner in which the fertilizers unite 

 with the elements in the soil and form plant food, and also to 

 ascertain when some of the elements are lacking. The boy who 

 grows up in such a community will want to go to the city and 

 leave the farm, on account of its being rather a bore and be- 

 cause he does not get the thrill of getting up early in the 

 morning and out into the fresh air, of getting the cows milked, 

 the horses harnessed and on his way to town with the milk or 

 other farm products. 



