ioi8 Rural School Leaflet 



You may want to try a rotation of crops on the piece of land that has been 

 turned over to you by your father. If you raise corn this year you may 

 wish to raise oats next year, following the oats with clover. 



We are learning that the successful farmer is the man who knows how 

 to take advantage of other men's knowledge, but only so far as it fits his 

 conditions. It may be that the condition of your potato land is such that 

 flat cultivation will bring you the best yield and the best potatoes, but 

 this does not signify that the same is true of your neighbor who has a 

 different soil condition. It is to be hoped that you will get some practice 

 in adapting information to your own farm. 



You have learned in your geography study in school about the products 

 of other countries and of the States in your own country. In what parts 

 of the world is your special crop grown to the greatest extent, and what 

 are some of the reasons for this distribution of production? How does 

 it compare in acreage with other crops? in cash value? Is it marketed, 

 fed, or manufactured in these various regions? These are some of the 

 questions the answers to which help determine whether or not, in the 

 long run, the crop is likely to be a paying one. 



You have learned to read and to use a dictionary. Can you read and 

 understand the various terms used in connection with your crop? How 

 accurately can you express in your report the account of your work and 

 its results? 



Do you know what weeds will probably grow with your crop, and how 

 best to head them off? Do you know the general means of determining 

 the character of soil in a field? Do you know what insects and diseases 

 may possibly attack your crop and, if so, how to fight them? All these 

 questions will afford you plenty of opportunity for study before you plant, 

 and during your spare time after planting. These are some of the problems 

 that the successful farmer must solve. 



In the early history of our country the farmer was almost a social 

 hermit. He had little contact with the centers of trade. This condition 

 was due both to the undeveloped means of travel and communication 

 and to the fact that few persons were entirely dependent on him for all 

 the necessities of life. The invention of the telephone and telegraph, 

 the development of railroads, and good roads have made travel and com- 

 munication easy. The collecting of great numbers of persons in cities, 

 where they cannot raise even a blade of grass, has caused a multitude 

 to become; entirely dependent on the farmer for the food necessities of life. 

 The gap between these dependents and the source of supply is wider than 

 it should be. The farmer of to-morrow, either himself or through his 

 agents, will conv directly in contact with these dependents. This 

 means that the successful larmer must work hand in hand with his 



