710 BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. 



period was an extremely poor farmer. Looking back upon his methods 

 and on his work it is hard to say which were the more crude, his imple- 

 ments or ideas. 



He used a wooden plow— he was afraid an iron one would poison 

 the soil. He had not yet learned that glanders were contagious and 

 would Avork and stable healthy stock alongside of stock affected by it, 

 and Avouder what was in the soil, air or climate that carried them off. 



He didn't understand the use of fertilizers, and instead of spreading 

 the barnyard gleanings on his fields he let it accumulate around the barn 

 until the approaches were impassable. Then he dug the barn out and 

 moved it. Instead of rotating crops to save the soil, he planted according 

 to the phases of the moon. In Virginia the belief prevailed that it would 

 kill cows to house and milk them in winter. It is quite different at the 

 present time as we would think it an impossibility to milk cows without 

 housing them in winter. 



Among our advantages we also have the gang plow with which our 

 farmers can turn over more ground in one day than our forefathers could 

 In three or four. And the hay loader which saves the expense and 

 spoils all the fun of hauling the shocks up with horses. Also the free 

 gravel roads, the rubber-tired buggy, the automobile, the patent washing 

 machine, the gasoline stove and steel range for the wife, and last, but not 

 least, the telephone which is one of the greatest advantages to the farmer 

 that has ever been invented. The farmer uses them to find out the daily 

 market, sell his stock and produce, gather in his help for threshing, etc. 

 His wife uses them to exchange ideas with her neighbors about her 

 work, find out where her neighbor is going to spend the day, what is 

 the latest fashion, and— O, well, just a little of everything. 



CAN A COLLEGE GRADUATE UTILIZE HIS EDUCATION ON THE 



FARM? 



ALBERT RUSH, COLUMBIA CITY. 



[Read before the Whitley County Farmers' Institute.] 



We will ask what is the aim or purpose of an education? and by 

 .answering this will imply the other. 



The doing of anything presupposes some knowledge, for every action 

 is the employment of certain agencies wliieli stand in the relation of means 

 to our practical end, or object of desire; and we could not select and 

 make use of these means unless we knew beforehand that they were 

 fitted to bring about the fulfillment of our desire. 



Thus, after sitting reading for some time, and becoming cold, I go 

 out and take a brisk walk, because I know that by so doing I am certain 



