'^(■iTnination, .uniM'tli, tVrtilization and develi)|iment of grain, and yon 

 c-nnld also notr when, wliere and how insects and fnngou^ di-^easo-; 

 attack the sevei'al crops. By condncting tliese .■xperiment> you would 

 learn many interesting facts that would jjrovc very helj^fnl on tlie 

 farm. 



It is not expected that you would be able to grow as good crop> a- 

 the farmer can under more favorable conditions. You must rement- 

 ber that the chief object of the school farm is lo get hnowUdgi'. which 

 would, later in life, help you to l.iecome more snece^-^ful farmers. 



Do you know how valuable knowledge gained by careful observa- 

 tion and experiment really is? Just this kind of knowledge is con- 

 sidered so valuable that our government expends annually nearly a 

 million of dollars to maintain Agricultural Experiment Station- in 

 the several States and Territories and in the District of Columbia. 



This vast amount is expended in conducting and in publishing tlie 

 results of experiments that will hel]) the farmers to avoid mistake- 

 and employ only the best methods. By using this experimental 

 ^knowledge the farmers of the country will be enabled to save many 

 times this sum. 



A prominent farmer of northern Indiana estimates that the farmer- 

 in Ids county alone might have saved one and one-half millions of dol- 

 lars in the last ten years by fully using the information afforded by the 

 Experiment Station a.nd the Farmers' Institutes, 



PIxperiments have shown that the stinking smut of wheat can be 

 effectually destroyed by simple treatment with hot water. If this 

 remedy alone were faithfully used by all farmers whose wheat is af- 

 fected, it would save them millions of dollars. 



The farmers of Indiana annually expend many thousands of dol- 

 lars for new varieties of grain, in the belief that the old varieties are 

 "running out." Many carefully conducted experiments at Purdue 

 University and elsewhere have clearly shown that these varieties do 

 not necessarily run out, and that the old and tried sorts, if well cared 

 for, will generally do as well as, or better than, the new kinds for 

 which some farmers will pay three or four prices. 



The value of the experiments which you can conduct on a school 

 farm will de]>end on what you undertake and how you do the work. 

 If you begin at the wrong time, do the work in a careless manner, or 

 if you fail to finish what has been well begun, your obser\ations and 

 experiments ma}- have very little value. But if vou will earry out 

 even the simplest kind of an experiment from l)eginning to end in a 

 careful manner, you will sitrely gain some useful knowledge, ilme 



