222 Missouri Agriculi ii val Eeport. 



cause they do not know how. Just analyze that statement and if I am 

 not talking the truth I wish you would tell me so. It is an easy matter 

 to put a crop rotation on a chart, but an entirely different one to put it 

 on a farm. It must fit the lay of the land, the fencing scheme, the 

 crops best adapted to the soil, the feeding operations and the labor 

 question, hence crop rotation becomes an individual problem that every 

 farmer must solve for himself. He will find it to be one of the most 

 difficult of solution and yet one of the best ones when he has that 

 problem solved. 



Another factor in low yields is insufficient preparation of the seed 

 bed before planting. Another is that cultivation is both insufficient in 

 quantity and quality — the method may be entirely wrong. Another 

 is too much dry weather, which condition can be largely offset by the 

 proper preparation of the seed bed and by right method of cultivation. 

 Another is too much wet weather, and this last is the only one that is 

 not largely within the control of the man doing the work. As evidence 

 of this last statement, there is not a neighborhood in the State of Mis- 

 souri in which some man cannot be found, who by practicing these things 

 grew twice the average county yield, while just across the fence his 

 neighbor is growing half the county yield — each with the same soil, 

 the same sunshine and same showers, and with the same tools with which 

 to do the work, and yet such a vast difference in results. 



It seems to me that we often talk and waste breath in trying to in- 

 duce the grown-ups to do better work. We are pretty well fixed in our 

 ways and after the middle of life do not take on new notions very rapid- 

 ly. We may agree as to their effectiveness, but when the time comes for 

 doing the work we do it in the same old way. And so it is up to you 

 and me to get the youngsters into it early, and when we do that we can 

 most assuredly feel confident that they will get the answer. It has 

 been the boys anyway that have won the actual battles of the world, 

 and they will win this one if we do our part to guide them and direct 

 them. The line of battle is clearly defined, and it is up to you and me 

 to get busy. 



