1901 
435 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER: 
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 
At an early age the thoughts of a boy begin to 
dwell upon his future occupation. Too often the boy 
on the farm begins to plan, long before he puts on 
long trousers, of going to the city or becoming a pro¬ 
fessional man. The boy from the farm may be found 
in the pulpit, behind the desk, in the bank, in the 
private office of the successful merchant, or on the 
street carrying the physician’s medicine case. But 
times are changing. The farming profession, for 
such it is, is beginning to attract, and the farm boy is 
now content to take a course in an agricultural col¬ 
lege instead of a technical or professional institute. 
A few weeks ago the Students’ Agricultural Club of 
the North Dakota Agricultural College met the me¬ 
chanical students of the same institution in debate 
on the following question: 
Resolved, That a mechanical course is of more 
value to the average person than an agricultural 
course. The negative debaters corresponded with 
several of the leading colleges of the United States, 
which brought out some valuable points. It will be 
clearly seen by the following that 80 to 95 per cent of 
the students return to the farm to become indepen¬ 
dent. Of those who do not a position is waiting at 
good salary. Prof. I. P. Roberts, of Cornell Agricul¬ 
tural College, writes: 
Fully 87 per cent of all of the students who have had 
instruction in the College of Agriculture here have 
gone back to the farm, and 85 per cent of the gradu¬ 
ates. Comparatively few students take the four years’ 
course, or remain to take a post graduate course. The 
salaries of those who do, and who have secured posi¬ 
tions, range from $1,200 to $4,000 per year. 
E. Davenport, professor of animal husbandry, Illi¬ 
nois College of Agriculture, writes: 
within the last two years our numbers have Increased 
from 21 to 157, and with this new prominence given to 
our work have come many calls for young men to fill 
various positions in agriculture at various salaries. In 
one case I remember replying that we had no man 
that we could recommend for the place, and If we had 
he would be worth a profes.sor’s salary. The party re¬ 
plied by return mail that if we could find such a man 
as he wanted he would give him a salary at the be¬ 
ginning equal to any professor’s salary In the Univer¬ 
sity. This is somewhat unusual, of course, and still 
there are many calls, almost none of which we can fill, 
because our young men are nearly all expecting to 
serve themselves rather than others. I am therefore 
unable to give you very much Information of value for 
your debate, excepting to say that this call for well- 
trained young men Is sharp, and the opening extremely 
good, the consideration always being that a man can 
do a particular line of work and do It extremely well. 
W. C. Latta, professor of agriculture of Indiana 
College of Agriculture, writes: 
With any worthy young man, it is not a question, "In 
what line can I make the most money,” but "What am 
I best fitted for by nature?” Having settled this point, 
the next thing is to seek preparation necessary to be in 
the highest degree successful in the chosen pursuit. The 
young man who chooses agricultural or mechanical 
pursuits for the sole reason that he may make or save 
more money thereby, has a very low ideal of his call¬ 
ing, and although he may secure his object, he must 
surely fall of the highest success of life. I believe, 
however, that v/ith equal preparation and with equal 
application, the chances are in favor of the young man 
who takes up agricultural pursuits, from the money 
standpoint. 
P. D. Tucker, of the Minnesota College of Agricul¬ 
ture, writes: 
We have about 250 alumni, and I may say that 90 to 
95 per cent of these have returned to the farm, many 
of them to their own farms. I do not think that any 
of them want for employment. I thoroughly believe 
that the man who is dealing with the soil and with de¬ 
velopments that belong to farming has as large a field 
of opportunity as in any pursuit, at the present time. 
Prof. R. A. Moore, of Wisconsin, writes that it will 
be well to remember that the short course of which 
he speaks consist of but 32 weeks’ work, two Winters, 
and the creamery course but 16 weeks. 
We are giving in the College of Agriculture at the 
present time four distinct courses, namely, graduate 
course in agriculture, long course in agriculture, short 
course in agriculture, and the factory course In butter 
and cheese making. We have at the present time 297 
students in the short course, 120 in the factory course, 
17 in the long course and one in the graduate course, or 
435 all told. In regard to the short course I wish to 
state that farmers, dairymen, horticulturists and live¬ 
stock men now realize that the young men are being 
trained along their special lines of work, and within 
the past 10 days I have received at this office no less 
than 200 calls for the services of these young men, with 
wages ranging all the way from $20 to $75 per month, 
with board, washing, etc. We have an excellent lot of 
young men attending the short course; 101 in the sec¬ 
ond-year class, and 197 in the first-year class; the aver¬ 
age age of our students for this year is 22 years. The 
students taking the factorv course In butter and cheese 
making have no difficulty in securing positions as cheese 
makers and butter makers at from $30 to $75 per month. 
Of the 2,700 cheese factories and creameries in the State 
of Wisconsin, COO were operated last year by students 
from this college. 
Prof. Shepherd has on file in his office at this col¬ 
lege calls for eight men at salaries ranging from $800 
to $1,200 which he cannot supply. It seems that this 
ought to settle the question of the financial side of an 
agricultural education. e. a. cannon. 
North Dakota Ag’l College. 
NOTES ON FARM MACHINERY. 
CLEAN THE TOOLS.—Many times machinery 
works hard, does»poor work, and gets out of repair 
simply from sheer neglect. Keep all nuts tight, and 
when using machinery keep your eyes on parts sub¬ 
ject to most rattle and bang. A little watchfulness 
and turning up of a nut once in a while saves many 
a repair bill. We like to give all parts that come in 
contact with the earth a quick clean at close of day. 
A worn-out whisk broom and an old sack work well. 
When through with a machine for the season take it 
NATURAL AND COMFORTABLE. Fig. 182. 
apart and give it a thorough cleaning the first rainy 
day. It will live longer. We have often found many 
points of value before unknown during this cleaning 
process. It pays to know all about the machine and 
to be able to locate trouble at once. It is surprising 
how many hard knocks among the rocks some of the 
modern machinery will stand, and do perfect work. 
USE OIL.—The average hired man has an anti¬ 
pathy for an oil can, and will run a machine till its 
groans can be heard at a distance before he will look 
into the matter. He must be constantly reminded 
frequently to oil the machine, be it harrow, planter 
or reaper. When work crowds as it does at this sea¬ 
son, and especially so this year, it pays better than 
ever to keep all tools well oiled. They work better, 
much easier on the team, and all hands, team and 
machine will last longer. Oil is not very expensive 
and a gallon goes quite a while. We formerly paid 
40 to 60 cents per gallon when bought locally. We 
now buy by the barrel right from the producing re¬ 
gion, and get the same grades that cost 40 to 60 cents 
for 12 to 18 cents. It pays to buy of the producer, 
and generally to sell to the consumer. 
DEFECTS IN HARROWS.—The ordinary harrow 
makes us tired, for it doesn’t do what it pretends. In 
a season like this, on good loam, or heavier soils for 
crops that need deep soil, it’s worse than a failure; 
STRAINED AND MISERABLE. Fig. 183. 
it’s a positive nuisance. Why? Well, try either the 
disk or spring-tooth, and it will pulverize the soil on 
top for an inch or two, hardly ever go much deeper. 
You may think so, but measure it. All the time you 
are harrowing the horses are packing down tighter 
than ever the soil under this loose top, and by the 
time you have the top in what you call nice condition 
it’s about as hard as before plowing. The harrow 
will not go deep enough for potatoes, and we’ve been 
thoroughly disgusted with their work. It will often 
be better to wait until the ground is in rUiht condi¬ 
tion, then plow deep and run over once lightly with 
weeder or smoothing harrow. The soil then will be 
mellow clear to depth of furrow plowed. 
USE OF WEEDER.—We meet some men who say 
the weeder is no good, but rightly used it is one of 
the great labor-saving tools. We use it after the 
Cutaway and spring-tooth harrow. Then if land is 
fairly good a vigorous use of the weeder once a week 
after planting will give the hoe a chance to get rusty. 
Too many wait until the ground is covered with 
weeds that have a strong root growth, and expect the 
weeder to take them out. It won’t do it, but take 
them just as they are sprouting or pricking through 
the soil, and it will lay them bare to the sun, and a 
quick death ensues without the slower work of the 
cultivator or hand hoe. A weeder can be used soon 
after a rain, and it’s surprising how some crops will 
jump ahead after using it just after a rain; air is ad¬ 
mitted freely to the soil; no baking on top. This is 
the year to push the weeder. ii. g. m. 
Connecticut. 
TOR TURE OR COM FOR T IN THE CHECK-REIN 
The pictures shown at Figs. 182 and 183 are taken 
from an excellent leaflet issued by the Humane Edu¬ 
cation Committee at Providence, R. I. This commit¬ 
tee is doing a noble work in calling attention to some 
of the ways in which our domestic animals are 
abused. A good deal of this abuse is thoughtless— 
that is, the owner or driver does not desire to torture 
the animal. He either does not know any better, or 
else does what others about him have been doing for 
years. There are many ways in which the tight, over¬ 
drawn check-rein annoys or injures the horse. The 
picture showing the wrong way of “checking” well 
illustrates the trouble. In fact, the pictures are a 
whole story in themselves. The leaflet mentioned 
makes a strong argument against the tight check, 
quoting some of the most noted breeders, drivers and 
horsemen against it. Here are two samples—the first 
from Wm. Pritchard, president of the Royal Veteri¬ 
nary College, London: 
The continued pressure of the bit of the bearing-rein 
(check-rein) deadens the surrounding portion of the 
mouth with which it is in contact, thus producing a 
partially Insensible condition of it—a condition most ill- 
suited to receive a sudaen impression, as a check from 
the driver, In the event of the horse stumbling from 
any cause; I would therefore say that, instead of pre¬ 
venting horses from falling, the bearing-rein is calcu¬ 
lated to render falling more frequent. Other not un¬ 
common results of the use of this instrument of torture 
are distortion of the windpipe to such a degree as to 
Impede the respiration ever afterwards, excoriation of 
the mouth and lips, paralysis of the muscles of the face, 
etc. Another writer says: “Tying one part of an ani¬ 
mal’s body to another does not necessarily keep him on 
his feet. It is the pull from the arm of the driver that 
makes the horse regain himself when he stumbles. One 
might as well say that tying a man’s head back to a 
belt at his waist would prevent him from falling if he 
stumbled in a race.” 
USEFUL HAY TOOLS. 
The hay tedder is considered by some an unneces¬ 
sary tool except in seasons that are so “catchy” that 
hay must be made “between showers.” Of course in 
favorable weather hand work will do the business, 
but those who have used a tedder find it such a 
convenience and labor-saver that they would not do 
without it. All farmers know what a job it is to get 
the water out of a lot of hay that has been caught in 
a hard shower and beaten into the stubble. A man 
who is always kicking makes a disagreeable asso¬ 
ciate, but it is a real joke to see the tedder kick 
around, pick up this wet hay and toss it in the air, 
until the wind and sun do away with the moisture. 
It is also a big help in drying heavy grass, which 
would otherwise have to be turned and stirred up sev¬ 
eral times with forks. The hay-loader is not so well- 
known in the East, and is not adapted to steep hill¬ 
sides. In the West it is used on the heaviest of hay, 
including Alfalfa, peavine or sorghum hay. It is 
fastened to the rear of the wagon, which moves slow¬ 
ly, the motion working the loader so that it picks 
up the hay from the ground and carries it up to the 
load by an endless chain. In heavy hay a loader will 
keep two men on the load busy They are simple and 
durable machines, the better ones lasting as long as 
20 years with reasonable care. 
The side-delivery rake is a comparatively new ma¬ 
chine, and an excellent tool. A small boy can run it, 
as the operator has nothing to do but drive. There 
is no dumping, the windrows being made lengthwise. 
It also catches the hay at an angle and is thus more 
likely to get it all. The hay is not packed together, 
and thus may be gathered up much sooner than with 
an ordinary rake, as it is left so loose that the air 
circulates through it freely. Of course this loose 
windrow is a disadvantage to the pitcher, more pick¬ 
ing being required to get a forkful into shape, but a 
hay loader will take it all up. These side delivery 
rakes were really made to work with the loaders. 
I have never liad anything injured in orcliard after 
spraying, and I know of no such case. Still, we are very 
careful about turning in sheep, cattle or horses, but hogs 
I never take out; have not had any injured. 
Ontario Co., N. Y. t. b. wilson. 
