614 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



I got so I could handle a plow as well as anybody, and I could do it now 

 If it was my work. 



I say it is not right to treat a boy in that way. Give him a plot of 

 land if you will, but enter into a partnership with him at the start. Give 

 him some instruction as to what is best for him to do. Find out his 

 inclinations; give him sympathy and help. If the boy has any natural 

 aptitude for farming life you will bring it out. 



That is the best kind of education you can give him. It will teach 

 him method in his work; it will teach him to think his own way out, 

 and, best of all, it will teach him to work for definite results; and that is 

 what is wanted in any line of work, in any calling, and especially in con- 

 nection with farm life. 



I believe in work; a farmer must work reasonably and in due season,, 

 but I would not want my boy or your boy to become simply a drudge^ 

 a machine, going round and round so many hours a day, with barely 

 time to himself to eat and sleep — an unceasing round of work, work, 

 work, from Monday till Saturday and sometimes on Sunday. Boys so 

 treated lose completely their interest in the farm. I say that is not the 

 fair and right policy. Let the work of the boy on the farm have a mean- 

 ing and a purpose. Let him understand that the work gives certain 

 results which can not be accomplished in any other way, and give him 

 a chance now and then to go outside and see what other people are 

 doing. Let him see what good scientific agriculture is, and let him be 

 encouraged to pursue proper methods. 



One other thing: To interest the boy provide for him the very best 

 reading matter that can be found, the best agricultural journals, and the 

 best books. But that is not enough. I think that every father or mother 

 ought to read with the boy, ought to go into partnership with him in this 

 matter. Let him read to you. When you get your paper or your book, 

 hand it to him and say, "I should like to hear you read this." And then 

 you can have a little discussion upon what has been read. 



The development of the boy's body and mind should go together, 

 ought to be accomplished at the same time, and the boy ought to leara 

 in this way that there is not only need of skill, but much thought prop- 

 erly directed. I believe a boy thus trained would grow up to be inter- 

 ested and enthusiastic in reference to agricultural pursuits. 



SCHOOL TEAIXIIN'G FOR THE FARMER. 



Now, I Will say nothing about your country, Mr. President, for I do 

 not know your conditions, but I assume that they may be pretty nearly 

 the same as ours. But I will say that in this country a boy is not likely 

 to receive the education that he ought to have in a common school. He 

 needs something beyond that. I want to say to anyone who happens to 

 have a boy whom he is trying to guide in this direction, beware when 

 you take a boy of that kind and send him to one of the high schools of 

 this country. There is danger ahead, not because of anything wrong in 

 the school or the teacher, but you will find that a great majority of the 

 students of that school have selected other callings in life than that of 



