PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION. 369 



The Lessons of the Experiment Stations. 



The average production of corn in the corn belt is only 30 

 bushels, yet the boy corn growers and the experiment stations 

 have shown that we can grow 100 bushels of shelled corn per 

 acre. 



The average production of wheat in the United States is 

 only 14 bushels per acre, but the experiment stations have demon- 

 strated that we can raise more than 40 bushels per acre. 



The average production of potatoes in 1911 was but 80 

 bushels per acre, but the agricultural colleges and experiment 

 stations have shown the student of agriculture that we can raise 

 from three to four hundred bushels per acre. 



The average production of lint cotton in 1910 was 170 

 pounds per acre, but the government experiment stations of 

 the south have raised from 700 to 1,500 pounds per acre. 



The average production of butterfat per cow in the United 

 States is but 160 pounds per year and yet there are herds of cows 

 reported by the government as producing 400 pounds of butter- 

 fat per year. 



The experiment stations of the United States have obtained 

 similar results in nearly all their attempts to increase the produc- 

 tion of the leading farm products of the country. 



On the whole it is very apparent from the scientific demon- 

 strations of agriculture that we can increase the average produc- 

 tion of our great staple products from two to three hundred 

 per cent. 



Exercises. 



The Community. 



This work should begin with a study of community life. 

 The child should know the people of his community, and how 

 they live ; how the community supports itself, and its relation to 

 the neighboring communities; how churches, schools, roads, tel- 

 ephones, telegraphs, mail routes and many other modern con- 

 veniences came to be here; pupils should be taken on trips to 

 visit shops, mines, and factories where they can have an oppor- 

 tunity to see different classes of the leading trades of the coun- 

 try; let them see the working of levers, pulleys, derricks, cranes 

 and steam shovels; examples of water power, steam, electricity 



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