r Q ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



home conditions, the conditions in the district where they live, and make 

 true farm life seem to them something more than mere drudgery? If 

 studying horticulture during this period, especially m the spring, there 

 are lets of subjects that would keep them more than interested if they had 

 teachers who understood the subjects themselves. Would not this also 

 interest the parents in the schools; they would say ''That teacher knows 

 what she's doing." If later the work was cultivation of the orchard, 

 showing how to prevent the dust muck from forming on the trees and pre- 

 vent them from withering, as in orchards not cultivated; would that not 

 raise them in their estimation? In northern Illinois, if the question of 

 corn raising was considered, showing the difference between two ears; 

 taking a typical ear, well filled at each end, and explaining about the rows 

 being close together or apart, would that not be another feature in the 

 farm life? Not until we began talking at the Farmers' Institute and hear- 

 ing the matter discussed, had I realized the great difference in the quality 

 of corn planted from ears which had a large space between the rows, in the 

 deep-grained cob; is not that a thing that would appeal to the boy and 

 his father at home? Then, again, in oat producing counties, the simple 

 treatment for oat smut would reach a large per centage of the farmers, and 

 a talk on this line given at le ngth would be worth hundreds of dollars, 

 not enly in the district where they live, but to the farmers throughout the 

 state of Illinois. All this could be carried on indefinitely. 



In talking of stock raising, the types of beef animals with the square 

 flat back and the flat underlines, etc.; then the dairy lines and the bal- 

 anced rations, of which we heard so much today; and the carbo-hydrates 

 and the protein — it is all Greek to them — but if brought in these lessons, 

 after a few lessons bringing up the various kinds of foods and the feeding 

 of the animals at home, would they not become interested and get them to 

 looking at the significance of the farm work? The main thing is not all 

 technical work, but to open their eyes to see what there is round about 

 them. 



In only one way can this be secured, and this is through your help. I 

 am County Superintendent of Perry County schools and Brother Burton 



