No. e. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 429 



but a temporary palliative. Where it is possible to get these natural 

 enemies of insects to work for us we ai-e nsini]; Nature's method and 

 gaining ground. Further studies convince us of the importance of 

 recognizing and preserving our various insect enemies. 



(g) Obnoxious Bounty Laws 



One of the best known men in Pennsylvania, who is interested in 

 the conservation of wild life, recently wrote to us that he wondered 

 how long this State would continue to suffer from depredations of 

 hordes of rodents and myriads of insects, because of its bounty laws, 

 which not only permit the destruction but place a premium upon the 

 enemies of our obnoxious creatures. Let us not take it for granted 

 that the owls, hawks, foxes, skunks and the weasels are the enemies 

 of the agriculturist, but rather let us comprehend readily that \vdth- 

 out the co-operation of such creatures we shall have greater difficulty 

 and expense than ever before in making the soil yield returns for 

 the laborer. 



VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 



By PROF. L. H. DENNIS 



It is sometimes necessary, these days, for a man who contemplates 

 speaking upon finy agricultural subject to first qualify himself, be- 

 cause there are so many persons talking about this subject who, 

 some people think, have no license to talk upon it. I am reminded 

 of that little paraphrase that runs something like this: 



"Lives of great men are all reminders 

 That there's one unfailing song; 

 If a name we'd leave behind us, 

 Just be born upon a farm." 



And so the man these days who can say, "I was born and raised on 

 a farm," has said enough to qualify him in the minds of a great 

 many people to speak upon an agricultural subject. I am not sure 

 just what merit there is in the fact of being born upon a farm; 1 

 can say, however, that a boy can learn much and get much valuable 

 agricultural experience if he is raised upon a farm. Now it happens 

 to be my misfortune, if such be the case, not to have been born upon 

 a farm, but to have lived upon a farm as a boy and to have had 

 various experiences which I will not relate at this time. The fact 

 of the matter is, it would not do, probably, for me to relate some of 

 the experiences that I enjoyed on Sundays and other days when 

 the folks went to town and left me in charge. I well remember one 

 incident, however: In my days we used to plow with oxen and used 

 them for various other purposes also, and I recollect that I did not 



