STATE DAIRY ASSOCIATION. 751 



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pay for it at the rate of fifteen cents a pound. Nitrogen is the most 

 important element of plant food. Shouldn't the boys in the common 

 schools be taught that nodules grow on the roots of clover, and on alfalfa, 

 and that they obtain the supply of nitrogen from the air. Wouldn't it 

 be better to use these in their arithmetic problems than to say A, B and 

 G loaned money to D for so much. Something concrete would be so 

 much better than something abstract. Some folks think that agriculture 

 was only made for the common people. The trouble with all of us is 

 that we do not see the beauties that lie within our reach— they are 

 lying around us. We do not see them because we, as boys and girls, 

 were not taught about them. Think of the beautiful lessons we can 

 get out of the habits of the different kinds of birds. Do you know that 

 insect life would become so thick that we could not live if it were not 

 for these little creatures. Some people say there is no happiness on the 

 farm. Burke Cochran has well said, "Some people think a man can be 

 happy if he is only famous, but a man is not famous until after he is 

 dead." Other people seek happiness through work, and I have found that 

 the greatest happiness comes in the performance of some form of effec- 

 tive labor. We hear of the eight-hour plan— eight hours in the forenoon 

 and eight hours in the afternoon, but 1 have found that the man and 

 woman who are the most successful are the man or woman who has 

 worked 16 hours a day. The children should be taught some of these 

 things. Teach them the elements of agriculture in our common schools; 

 teach children about the care of the milk and the bacteria that are souring 

 milk, interest them in buttermakiug, and in this way we can make them 

 a great deal happier. In the city of Chicago not long ago President 

 Harper said to the graduating class: "lou are about to leave this school 

 and those of you who are to gain success will find already too many 

 in the field; and those of you who will be successful for the first few 

 years will find the wolf will be the only company at your door." You 

 only have to look about you to see the number of teachers who are 

 looking for positions— they are making applications for positions. The 

 school boards are besieged night and day by teachers who want positions. 

 If the dean of an agricultural college should say those things to a grad- 

 uating class, "the wolf will be the only companion at the door," I would 

 as soon expect to find myself sitting on some distant star and reading 

 in the morning paper that everything was in an everlasting smashup. 



In the words of Joseph Custer, superintendent of a high school and 

 farmer, "I will close my address." I thank you. 



President Johnson: We will have to cut the discussion of that paper 

 out if we get through with the progi-am. The next thing is 



