234 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE uff. Doc. 



MR. B. P. K II. LAM: Do we get proper plan! food by vising com 

 mercial fertilizers in sufficient quantities? 



PROF. COOKE: So far as the mere plant food is concerned coin- 

 mercial fertilizers till the bill completely, but that is only one-half 

 of the story in the successful growth of crops. We must have a 

 proper mechanical condition of the soil, and that is controlled by 

 filling the soil with humus, so that if we want to raise crops on com- 

 mercial fertilizer, we will in some way or other have to provide for 

 the getting of vegetable organic matter into the soil. The commer- 

 cial fertilizer is all right as the source of nitrogen and potash. 



MR. SEEDS: Would you say that nitrate of soda or potash on 

 clover — that nitrate of soda would not be of any use to the clover if 

 it had once gotten a start, as we were informed this forenoon, if it 

 had the nitrifying bacteria on its roots? 



PROF. COOKE : The potash is a direct food to the clover and the 

 clover needs potash more than any other of the plant foods. 



The CHAIR: You will next be entertained with a talk on the 

 "Consolidation of Rural Schools," by Mrs. Mary A. Wallace, of Ell- 

 wood City, Pennsylvania. 



The paper read by Mrs. Wallace is as follows: 



CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS. 



By Mrs. Mary a. Wallace, Elhvood City, Pa. 



Before beginning a discussion of the subject assigned me this 

 evening, I desire to say that it is one in which I am intensely inter- 

 ested. I am not of those who think that whatever was good enough 

 for them when they were children should be good enough for the 

 children of the present day. If it had not been for the great, pro- 

 gressive, far-seeing minds of the past, what think you would have 

 been the condition of our country to-day? And next in importance 

 to the conception of the Declaration of Independence, was that of 

 our free educational system. It was an innovation, a startling in- 

 novation on the old plan, when facilities for giving children an edu 

 cation were only within reach of monied families. The idea of tax- 

 ing all to educate all was for a long time unpopular, but when men 

 learned by observation, that our institutions could only be main- 



