50 WE FARM FOR A HOBBY 



literature of amateur obstetrics must be small, that 

 on agriculture and allied subjects is the world's 

 largest. 



Yet there is too often a hiatus between book- 

 lore and practice of every Mystery. By the time 

 one attains the status necessary for bookish author- 

 ity he is liable to forget the beginner's need for 

 the A-B-C's of his craft. Judge Ferguson once told 

 me his first legal job was to have a man arrested, 

 and that nowhere in his "vast cargo of learning" 

 nor in the curriculum of the law school were there 

 directions for such an elemental chore. The in- 

 structions in every craft and profession teem with 

 such deficiencies. Fortunately I knew that to bridge 

 the gap between books and practice there were 

 two other sources of agricultural information: gov- 

 ernment publications and, in Pennsylvania, the 

 free correspondence courses offered by the State 

 College. The latter, like the "refresher" courses 

 given to line officers behind the front during the 

 last war, are primarily designed to recall to prac- 

 ticing farmers elements in their agricultural school- 

 ing that they may be overlooking or neglecting; 

 they are true extension courses. At the same time, 

 they have been written with a mental eye on the 

 farm rather than the classroom. 



There are thirty-two courses offered in the State 

 College Correspondence School, in four to sixteen 

 lessons apiece. Up to date I have taken all or part 



