HOBTICULTUEE 



August 5, 1916 



BUY YOUR FALL SUPPLIES NOW 



New^ Stock is in. Ready for You. A Rare Shipment of Im- 

 ported Goods Just Received. Don't Miss This Chance 



Stock up now and have the goods to show customers. Send for prices and 

 you will be astonished to see how much you can do with a little money when 

 you go straight to headquarters— THE FLORISTS' SUPPLY HOUSE OF AMERICA. 



H. BAYERSDORFER & CO. 



1129 Arch Street, PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



tlu-y have an opi)ortuiiily tu do most 

 of the important farm operations that 

 aro performed hy liaiid. The second 

 year is a review of the first year's 

 work with added responsibility and In- 

 struction, depending tipon the pupil's 

 ability. In his second year they begin 

 to use the team and the horse Imple- 

 ments, carting out the manure, using 

 the spreader, plowing, jjrcparing the 

 land with roller, spring tooth harrow, 

 disk and cutaway, learning to use the 

 smoothing and acme harrow and culti- 

 vator. They help in the hay field, to 

 rake and to load, to pitch on and oft 

 and to stow away the hay. 

 The Second Year 



All of the second year men spend at 

 least one month in the dairy, where 

 they cool and care for the milk as it 

 comes from the barn. They ship it to 

 the city, then separate any remaining 

 over for cream. Butter and cottage 

 cheese are also nuide from this un- 

 shipped milk. Some of this class aro 

 allowed to select work in the poultry 

 department, which is well equii)ped 

 with modern incubators and brooders. 

 We hatch over 2.000 chickens each 

 year and their brooding and care, in- 

 clude scientific feeding and cajjonizing 

 gives good training to the student of 

 poultry culture. 



Our horticultural department has its 

 portion of students. The preparation 

 of land for the vegetable gardening 

 and the nursery is quite like that of 

 general farming, but the care of the 

 nursery, the propagation of the plants 

 and trees makes an interesting diver- 

 sion of instruction that is |)rofitable 

 and lays the foundation of an elemen- 

 tary knowledge of landscape garden- 

 ing. The care of the lawns and orna- 

 mental flower beds and hedges and 

 slopes contribute to this knowledge. 

 The three greenhouses give opportu- 

 nity to have some knowledge of the 

 of the production of cut flowers for the 

 market. Their propagation, care and 

 packing are studied not only from an 

 educational standpoint but to train the 

 boy for the business end of practical 

 horticulture. 



Finishing Off 



The third and last year Is a review 



of the two previous years with still 



more reeponsibility being placed on 



the boj'. This year they are allowed 



to clKjo.se upon wliat specialty they 

 will spend the majority of their ener- 

 gies. Some select the horticulture de- 

 partment and stay there the whole 

 year, others select from the other de- 

 partments, not all choose specialties. 

 These later are changed from one de- 

 partment to another once a month, 

 that they may acquire a better Idea of 

 farm management. During this third 

 year we endeavor to have the boys 

 learn to do those operations not al- 

 ready taught; for example, using the 

 corn planter and grain drill, caring for 

 gasoline engines, handling fodder and 

 silage cutter and feed mills. They car- 

 ry out what is called project work or 

 studies on agricultural topics in which 

 they are specially interested. For ex- 

 ample, they will try to raise the yield 

 of milk and butter fat of a cow by judi- 

 cious feeding. They make accurate 

 measurements of feed and resulting 

 |)roduct, to ascertain how far an In- 

 creased grain ration pays. Similar 

 lirojects are conducted with swine and 

 poultry, also on pieces of land, to see 

 the effect of different fertilizers on 

 crops and quality of produce. One of 

 the most fruitful sources of individual 

 work is found in our boy's vegetable 

 and flower gardens which each one is 

 recpiired to plant and care for. During 

 the first year they must raise potatoes, 

 cabbage, peas, beans, beets, corn, 

 onions, squash, turnips, tomatoes and 

 celery. The idea is if they only stay 

 one year, on leaving they would have 

 some definite knowledge of planting 

 ami caring for a garden. These indi- 

 vidual gardens are altogether so that 

 the boys can compare their own re- 

 sults with two or three scores of oth- 

 ers around them which is a great in- 

 centive to do good gardening. The 

 second year calls for the planting of 

 salsify, lettuce, parsnips, carrots, pars- 

 ley, radishes, chard, lima beans, cauli- 

 flower, brussels-sprouts and egg 

 plants. While raising these he watches 

 others who are beginners, growing the 

 vegetables of the first year. He there- 

 fore receives review and advance gar- 

 dening. Besides these eleven vegeta- 

 bles they are required to raise, and 

 upon the culture of which is awarded 

 a first and second prize for each class, 

 they have the liberty to select a few 

 other varieties that may be of special 

 interest to each pupil. The last year 



men raise cucumbers, leek, caraway, 

 okra, martyma, dill, spinach, whitloof, 

 horseradish, peppers and melons, with 

 the privilege of a flower garden. I 

 have dwelt at length upon our instruc- 

 tions in practical agriculture and said 

 less about the academic work and 

 class room instructions, because that 

 Is the spirit of the school. If during 

 the growing season, It is to the ad- 

 vantage of the crops to occasionally 

 drop for a few days the class room 

 work to attend to planting or harvest. 

 It is done. Otherwise we would 

 be a school Instead of a farm school. 



The Outcome 



If any of yoti gentlenu-n have ever 

 had the excruciating pleasure of hav- 

 ing a young graduate of our agricul- 

 ture colleges who bad no other know- 

 ledge of farming than what he learned 

 at the college, work for you, you will 

 appreciate why we keep our boys at 

 farming seven hours a day from the 

 middle of May until the first of October 

 and three hours per day from October 

 to May. Even then it is little enough 

 and only those who are most earnest, 

 observing and interested can acquire 

 the knowledge of farming required to 

 begin for themselves. Years of earnest 

 book study In any or all Institutions 

 cannot teach men to farm. The know- 

 ledge can lie acquired only by actual 

 l)ractlce. Do you make farmers? This 

 is the pertinent question. We do. Wo 

 have made some most excellent farm- 

 ers, men who have their farms and are 

 doing well. One drawback about hav- 

 ing more of our boys in f.-irming for 

 themselves has been, that In most 

 cases they are poor boys. It takes 

 capital, quite a large amount for a 

 young man to have in order to go to 

 farming for himself, and our boys have 

 not that capital. It takes more capital 

 for a boy to start business in general 

 farming than in most branches of hor- 

 ticultural work. The cost of a farm is 

 (pilte as nnieh or more th.-\ii that of a 

 small area with a good greenhouse and 

 the other equipment of tools, wagons, 

 machinery, horses, cows, swine and 

 poultry require much more capital. 

 !f2500 Is required to equip and stock a 

 farm and buy the feed and grain until 

 the same may be raised by the young 

 farmer. We have a number of our 

 graduates who are doing excellent 



