432 ANNUAL RIOl'ORT OF THE Ofif. Doc. 



iiized as establislicd facts; l(» cairv tlieiii oul. however, under pre- 

 vailing conditions, is another i»robIeni. Wlien (lie average farm 

 products realize tlie producer thirty-tive cents on the dollar, it be- 

 comes a (piestion of dollars and cents. While it is true that the 

 application of potash, phosphorus, nitrogen, lime, manure, turning 

 down green crops and intense cultivation does maintain fertility, the 

 question of cost and the capital necessary to conduct operations alid 

 av/ait results entei- into ilie problem which the average farmer does 



not ]»OSS('SS. 



Tiie problem of soil preservation is one that has concerned nations 

 for ages and is therefore not new. All ^lations in history had the 

 same experience; their rise and fall, a prosperous and declining agri- 

 culture, extravagance and corruption in government, waging wars 

 of conquest with vast armies that wasted all the Avealth that agri- 

 culture could produce, are now in a condition of ignorance and 

 bigotry. Some of the most renowned, once famous, prosperous and 

 wealthy sections are today the homes of poverty and distress, re- 

 membered only in history, poetry and tradition. 



Agriculture in Public Schools 



ME. ELYHOLDEli: Too much turkey at one meal won't do, so I 

 want to inject another subject that is not on the program. We have 

 discussed for many years the subject of inf:roducing agriculture in 

 our public schools. It is a live question and the great trouble has 

 always been that it has been said that we do not have books suitable 

 to introduce in our public schools. 



Now, the reason that 1 raise this point is that I want to call your 

 attention to the book that I believe is the very thing to supply that 

 want. We have all been handling it for a number of years and 

 never thought of putting in the public schools, and that iiook is to 

 take the place of the advanced readers in our public schools, and very 

 naturally it does not only teach agriculture but it will teach the chil- 

 dren business along with agriculture and I believe if Ave were to in- 

 troduce in our public schools the proceedings of this body we would 

 have a reader in that school that could not be equalled by anything. 

 (Applause) Now, I refer you particularly to the proceedings of the 

 Spring meeting. I do not know but what the Winter meeting's pro- 

 ceedings would do as well ; but I think the Winter meeting has more 

 business in it and is more of a business session than the Spring ses- 

 sion. Take the proceedings of the meeting last May at Butler. I want 

 you to examine that because I want to call the attention of the 

 Legislative Committee to that fact, and I want you to examine that 

 and then be ready to say to us whether you think this committee 

 ought to put this proposition in proper shape and form to be put in 

 your public schools as a reader. 



The first thing the teacher would do would be to explain that this 

 book is the proceedings of the State Board of Agriculture. The boy 

 would say, Avhat is this State Board of Agriculture. Well now, there 

 is an opening for the lesson, for the teacher to explain that. Then 

 we open up the books and Ave see how the Board conducts its busi- 

 ness and the matters that are brought before it and discussed and it 

 teaches the boy and girl to do business and how to conduct public 

 meetings and it teaches the scientific truths of agriculture up to the 



