May, 19U 



company with the champions of 

 the other States), is the inicst of 

 the Federal Government. These 

 bovs are shown evorvthinp of in- 

 terest in the Federal capital, espe- 

 cially that wliich pertains to agri- 

 culture. 



Prizes to the value of £-8,000 

 were awarded in i^^To, and to the 

 yalue of 10,000 in 191 1. 



These corn clubs are operated by 

 yarious Government departments, 

 which are correSated for the ex- 

 press piirjiose. The arran.erements 

 vary slirhtly in different States, 

 but in all of them the Fe<leral 

 Department of AjiTiculture assists 

 financially, allows its experts to 

 ^i\'e ad\ice, and issues bulletins 

 and circulars to every body in the 

 movement, advisinsr him how to 

 treat his crop from time to time. 



The best scheme I can find is 

 that afforded by Viroini^i, where a 

 board, created by leifislation, cor- 

 relates the Collep-e of Aericulture 

 and Polytechnic Institute, the 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 the Commissioner and State Board 

 of Agriculture, and the Federal 

 Department of Agriculture, for the 

 management of these clubs. 



The scheme is becoming very 

 popular in America in the South- 

 ern (aericultural) States, and it 

 is arousing ffreat interest, as the 

 boys are showing that the aericul- 

 turafl output of the State can be 

 doubled b\' the adoption of mod- 

 ern methods. Many farmers who 

 have stubbornly followed conserva- 

 tive methods have at last been 

 converted to the new e-osTJel of 

 agriculture bv .seeing what their 

 own bovs can do on one acre. 



The folio w*ing statistics for 191 2 

 show what is being a.ccoimplished 

 by American boys : — 



How Horses are Spoiled. 



There arc a good many people 

 who, either by reason of their bad 

 or careless driving, succeed in 

 spoiling a horse which came to 

 them as free from vice or tricks 

 as could be desired. A horse which 

 by nature is not a shier can easily 

 be transformed into something 

 very like one i)v^ 1)eing unmerciful- 

 ly thrashed if he becomes startled 

 at some unfamiliar .sight. The next 

 time he encounters anything of the 

 kind he remembers his thrashing 

 and as.sociates the sight with 

 suffering ; then he shies again, and 

 the punishment is repeated, with 

 disastrous effects. The man who 

 is careless about his harness, and 

 who allows his horse to drive him- 

 self, will spoil any animal, and is 

 as likely to end up by letting his 

 horse down as not. But this ob- 

 servation must not be taken as 

 suggest! nir that a driver should al- 

 ways be fidgeting and worrying his 

 horse. His aim should be to get 

 the animal to go right and to 

 keep him at it ; it is often the 

 slo\enly coachman | who produces 

 the ill-mannered horse. In frequent 

 cases it is the driver's fault when 

 a horse stumbles, but even when 

 it ' is not so it is quite unnecessary 

 to use the whip in nine cases out 

 of ten. If the horse once begins 

 to connect a stumble with a 

 thrashincr, he gets flurried when he 

 puts a foot wrong, and is very 

 likely to come down in conse- 

 quence ; but if he gets careless it 

 is necessary to wake him up by a 

 light stroke just to remind him' 

 that he must keep awake. Of 

 course, the jagging at a horse's 

 mouth is as certain a way to 

 ruin the animal as anything can 

 be ; and it is very far reinoyed 

 from a good practice to shout at 

 and rate a horse for no particular 

 fault. A naturally timid animal 



is lial)le to lose its head on such 

 occasions, whilst a bad-tcm])ere(l 

 one resents it ; for horses arc not 

 fools, and are far nM)re amenable 

 to kindness comlnned with firm- 

 ness than they arc to ill-usage 

 or violence of any kind. This l)eing 

 the case, it is unfortimate that 

 their memories .should be so good, 

 for the recollection of chastise- 

 ment has often transformed an or- 

 dinarily tempered horse to a perfect 

 savage, and a good reliable work- 

 er into a useless brute. Of course 

 hor.ses can be spoiled in many 

 other ways, but it is believed that 

 the causes mentioned aboye are 

 respon.silde for mo.st of the losses 

 incurred 'by owners through the 

 deterioration of their animals. — 

 T4^■e Stock Jotirnal. 



^ 



Life in Soil. 



The soil of a farm is not simply 

 an inert mass of material contain- 

 ing certain mineral substances 

 which plants utiQise. It is full of 

 livine organisms. Besides the nu- 

 merous insects, worms, etc., it 

 contains myriads of low organ- 

 isms, not visible to the naked eye 

 but capable of examination by the 

 aid' of the microscope. Th^y are 

 known as bacteria or micro-organ- 

 isms and are so minute that a 

 grain of soil may contain many 

 thousands, increasing and propa- 

 gating under favourable condi- 

 tions with incredible rapidity. 

 They exist in soils chiefly in the 

 upper layer. A pinch of soil may 

 contain from several thousands to 

 .several millions ; loamy soils and 

 soils containincr much organic 

 matter contain most, sandy soils 

 contain least. The number de- 

 creases gradually from' the surface 

 soil downwards till about 3 feet 

 where few or none are present. 

 Each different kind of bacterium 

 performs its own useful purpose in 

 nature, but in the interest of 

 economical cultivation it would 

 appear that the growth of some 

 of them ha^'e to be encouraged and 

 the development of others to be 

 .checked. The subject, however, is 

 not at present clearly understood 

 and has to be further investigated 

 by scientific men ; for us the prac- 

 tical knowledge is that organic 

 matter, increasinpr the supply of 

 humus to the soil, has been proved 

 to favour the rapid p-rowth of the 

 kind of bacteria which conyert or- 

 tranic ammonia into nitrates, suit- 

 able for assimilation by the crops. 

 We haye, therefore, to see that we 

 l- r^oM up in the soil by application 

 of farm-yard manure, the vlov^'^- 

 ing under of green crops, and other 

 suitable means a sufficient supply 

 of humus.— Mark Lane Express, 



B 0,0 



s I III sll lis 



bu». bus. bus. 



Alabama 10,000 600 57^ 19'^ 24.0 



Arkansas 2,675 1,386 60% 16% 17.2 



Florida 1,200 364 47^4 2X% 20.4 



f>eoreia 11,400 179 37^ 73^ 13.0 



Louisiana ... 2,125 2,100 54% 1V/2 13.8 



Mississippi ... 4,825 200 53% 19% 18.0 



North Carolina ... 3,200 1,500 64',^ 17'^ 18.3 



Oklahoma ... 6,200 635 60^ ig% 18.2 



South Carolina ... 2,200 325 46% 2i^< 18.7 



Tennessee ... 2,600 400 66^4 jyv, 179 



Texas 10,375 73i 88^ 34% 26.5 



Virginia 2,256 289 36^ 23^ 21.0 



