90 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [ 



the bod}', for the free air, the blessed sunshine, the moderate tasks ended 

 at the school house. It is a sorrowful sound for a child to make at night 

 from a slumber that should be sunn}', and a heart beating to healthful 

 music and with checks hot and eves too bright, to hear it ask with bated 

 breath: 'Do .you think I will pass, mamma?.' " 

 Where are 



THE DEAR OLD PLAY GROUNDS 



over which you and I romped when we were young? Where we grew 

 and thrived, developed well in mind and limb? They are gone, and in 

 their place we see a nicely kept lawn, and notices posted' "Keep off the 

 grass." The happy valley of childhood is very narrow at its widest. It 

 is there that the limpid waters talk to the singing bird, and the leaves of 

 the trees whisper wonderous tales to the little child. There the years 

 are always golden, and the clouds are but exquisite mountains piled high 

 with flakes of downy whiteness, which the fairies sift down. In this 

 enchanted land of delusions let the little children linger. Do not rob 

 them of their rightful inheritance. 



It is only within a few years that women have voted at school elections 

 or that they have had any place on school boards. And while in many 

 states this is now her recognized right before the law, and surely not only 

 a right that she may exercise, but a duty that she should discharge; a 

 duty that she owes not only to her child, but to every other mother's child. 

 We believe that women are eminently fitted for positions on school boards 

 and that without detracting from her motherhood. It is the fact of her 

 motherhood that fits her for the position. A true mother watches over 

 her child each hour, notes its unfolding and developing. She, of all 

 others, best knows its temperament; knows how and what to repress and 

 how and what to bring out and maintain at its fullest, and knowing this 

 in her own children, she is in a large measure fitted to supervise and care 

 for others. 



FRIDAY FORENOON. 



J. G. Noble, presiding. 



QUESTION BOX. 



Q. Isn't the cow a creature of habit the same as a man? The more she is housed 

 the more delicate she becomes and susceptible to heat and cold? Isn't comfort a 

 comparative matter, after all? 



C. D. Smith: Not entirely. It is too well known to need discussion that a cow is 

 kept warm by the food she eats, and that food so used up cannot g-o into the pro- 

 duction of milk and butter. It is true, however, that cows too closely housed are 

 enervated thereby, weakened constitutionally, and rendered more susceptible to 

 disease and less able to withstand cold. Too careful housing is as bad as too much 

 exposure. 



Q. Is black cherry good for fenceposts? 



C. D. Smith: Not very— better use cedai'. 



Q. Has the experiment station tried cow peas, and with what result? 



C. D. Smith: Yes. We have not succeeded as well with them as has R. M. 

 Kellogg of Three Rivers, but believe them to be a promising legume for green 

 manure. Try them In a small way — the seed is expensive. 



Q. Will a stronger solution of sulphate of copper than 10 gallons of water to one 

 pound of the sulphate injure the tree? 



