The Question Box. 403 



the tax on colored oleomargarine sufficientlj high, so it could 

 not be manufactured and sold for a less price than butter, it 

 would do away with the temptation for people to put it on the 

 market and sell it as butter in States where State laws and State 

 machinery are not suflScient to cope with the evil. 



Would it be detrimental to educational interests of our schools to have 

 an hour's agricultural talk each day? 



Mr. Jolin W. Spencer, — I would say, most emphatically, it would 

 not be detrimental in the hands of any teacher competent enough 

 to pass examination for a teacher's certificate. Of course, many 

 teachers, by favorable temperament, could bring better results 

 than others. The longer I am in this work, the more impressed 

 I am that agriculture is valuable information to give city chil- 

 dren. There are tens of thousands in the tenement district who 

 do not know a dandelion. Teachers write me that when taking 

 them to the park they throw themselves upon the turf and actually 

 kiss it. In some parts of the sweat-shop district of New York not 

 50 per cent, of the children have been to any of the parks. This 

 I believe to be credible information, having received it from prin- 

 cipals who have worked in those districts for a dozen years. De- 

 tails of rural life, you and I knew at such an early date that we 

 cannot recall when we did no't know them, are as interesting and 

 wonderful to city children as though Stanley was relating some- 

 thing that he had seen in darkest Africa. 



Resolved, That keeping more sheep, doing more ditching, using less phos- 

 phate and selling less raw material, is tlie only salvation on American 

 farms. What do you say to that? 



Mr. Cook. — Amen to that. I am fully convinced that it would 

 be much better for the owners of these rough, hilly farms if they 

 would keep fewer cows and put on some sheep, and I would 

 allow some of the hills to grow another covering of forest trees. 

 As to phosphates, I do not want to say that a man shall not 

 buy them. If I want them I shall buy them; but I do not believe 

 that any man can go into the market and buy mixed fertilizers and 

 get his money back. But I know that I have made a profit from 



