NECESSARY PEEPAEATION 109 



ment and corporations are appropriating large 

 sums of money to carry on the mighty work of 

 agricultural education, and if this work is con- 

 tinued with its present enthusiasm, the day is not 

 far distant when the worn, worn-out and aban- 

 doned soils will be no longer our possessions, but 

 simply matters of history. 



Therefore, the conclusion of the whole matter 

 of preparation for the business of farming is 

 more education. The farmer of the future must 

 be educated along the lines of scientific agricul- 

 ture or the nation will perish, for no nation can 

 live without a fertile soil. But education with- 

 out practice availeth nothing. We have reached 

 that period in our agricultural history where we 

 must not only educate but we must think, plan 

 and put into action. 



In the matter of educating the men past the 

 middle age engaged in the business of farming, 

 we are met with the perplexing problem of stolid 

 indifference to the benefits to be derived from 

 agricultural education. The adage that "you 

 can not teach an old dog new tricks " is strongly 

 exemplified in this class of farmers. They 

 learned processes and methods of farming under 

 conditions that made these processes and methods 

 fairly successful, for the soil was favorable to 

 their adaptation. But now under changed soil 

 conditions these men resent and will not adopt the 

 processes and methods necessary for the success- 

 ful cultivation of our soils as we now find them, 

 simply because an environment has cast over 

 these men the magic spell of prejudice and inac- 

 tion. About all we can do with this class is to 



