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Editorial Pag 
American 
Agriculturist 
Founded 1842 
Henry Morgenthau, Jr .Publisher 
E. R. Eastman . Editor 
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CONTRIBUTING STAFF 
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Jared Van Wagenen, Jr. . Van Wagenen Corner 
Herschel H. Jones . . . Market Department 
K. J. T. Ekblaw . Farm Engineering Department 
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George T. Hughes .... Investment Adviser 
Dr. S. K. Johnson .... Veterinary Adviser 
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Entered as Second-Class Matter, December 15, 1922, at the 
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VOL. Ill March 3, 1923 NO. 9 
The Home Garden 
P erhaps you win note as you look 
through this issue of your paper that 
we have made a little attempt to give you 
something special in the way of a Spring and 
Garden Number. 
One of the things we try not to do is to 
“preach,” but we do wish we could drive 
home the thought some way that farmers and 
their families would get more out of life 
and be much better off if they would grow 
and use more of their own products. One 
way to do this is to grow -a larger and bet¬ 
ter home garden. A variety of vegetables, 
and it is surprising how long the list of dif¬ 
ferent kinds is, add much to the attractive¬ 
ness of the table and to the general health 
of the family. 
But on most farms the home garden is con¬ 
sidered of little importance. Where there is 
a good garden the women of the family are 
usually responsible and there is much growl¬ 
ing and grumbling from the men folks when 
they are asked for a little needed assistance. 
Men usually feel that they have little time 
to bother with a garden, but we claim it is 
the most profitable time spent in the farm 
work. 
Artificial Rain Making 
T he other day a man at Dayton, Ohio, 
went up in an aeroplane above a cloud 
and by dropping some electrically charged 
sand into the cloud, he precipitated the mois¬ 
ture and caused it to rain. After many gen¬ 
erations of experimenting to control weather 
conditions there is now considerable hope 
that the amount of rain-fall can to a certain 
extent be controlled. 
All of us are familiar with the fact that 
day after day during a drought, clouds 
loaded with moisture constantly pass over- 
e of the American 
head to unload their water into the ocean 
or into some section where it is not needed. 
If it were possible at a reasonable expense 
to make these clouds discharge where rain 
is most needed, the possibilities to agriculture 
therefrom can hardly be estimated. The 
amount of rain-fall determines crop produc¬ 
tion more than any other factor or more 
than all other factors put together. If, there¬ 
fore, men can determine the amount of rain¬ 
fall, bumper crops can be assured every year 
and less farmers would be needed to feed 
larger city populations. 
The Rural School Bill 
BILL has been introduced in both the 
New York State Assembly and Senate, 
which includes the fundamental suggestions 
made by the Cornmittee of twenty-one to im¬ 
prove the rural schools. This bill should be¬ 
come a law. 
Every rural school patron knows what the 
Committee of twenty-one is and why it was 
organized. The committee represents both 
farmers and educators, with the farm repre¬ 
sentatives in the majority, and it has been 
working for three years studying the rural 
schools and bringing the results of its find¬ 
ings to the attention of farm people. Well 
advertised mass meetings have been held in 
every section of the State where the people 
were asked what they thought should be 
done to improve the schools. Lengthy ques¬ 
tionnaires were sent out to the different local 
farm organizations to get in detail their sug¬ 
gestions. The subject has been discussed in 
practically every one of the nearly one thou¬ 
sand subordinate Granges in the State, and 
many of these Granges have had the subject 
up several times. Within the last few 
months about four meetings have been held 
in practically every rural county in the State 
where the recommendations of the com¬ 
mittee were explained to the people and their 
suggestions and reactions secured in return. 
In addition to this, the subject has had 
lengthy discussion in the farm papers and 
in the daily ^and weekly press. In spite of' 
what those who are opposed to any changes 
in the schools may say, the proposals in this 
bill have had more preliminary discussion 
by those most concerned than any other bill 
that has ever been introduced in the Legis¬ 
lature. Complete information has been the 
one fundamental principle that the Com¬ 
mittee of twenty-one has worked on all of 
the time. 
Of course no matter how many meetings 
were held or how much publicity was given, 
there would always be a minority, usually 
those who will not take the time to go to a 
meeting or to study a question carefully, who 
will claim that they have had no opportunity 
to understand. All that can be hoped for 
on any great question is an approval of a 
majority. 
Many claim that this bill ought to go over 
for another year. If it does its enemies will 
defeat it. Almost without exception farm 
people who have been interested enough to 
study the principles involved, have approved 
them. But there is a lot of prejudice sur¬ 
rounding the school question and while the 
majority favor giving the boys and girls in 
the country a better chance, the minority 
have more time and opportunty to work 
against the bill than those who really favor 
it have time to work for it. 
Something for school patrons to think 
about is the fact that a big change of some 
kind is coming very shortly in the admin¬ 
istration of the country schools. The ques¬ 
tion is, do you want this change to be along 
the lines that will give you more control of 
your schools, or do you want some system put 
over that takes away local control? There 
are many in the State who favor a county 
unit of administration and compulsory con¬ 
solidation, and among these are those who 
j^HPUAgricuIturist, March 8,1923 
Agriculturist 
■are trying to defeat the principles advocated 
by the Committee of twenty-one. 
The committee favors the community unit 
of taxation and administration. It favors 
keeping the district boundaries where they 
are now, such boundaries to be changed only 
upon vote of the rural people themselves. 
This means consolidation only where the 
people want it. The suggestions of the com¬ 
mittee call for better prepared country teach¬ 
ers and more State aid for a country schools. 
These recommendations, in a nut-shell, are 
the fundamentals. If these principles are 
put into effect, the details will adjust them¬ 
selves. 
This is the most important educational 
measure of a generation, and we know that 
those most interested in the welfare of coun¬ 
try boys and girls will not let prejudice, mis¬ 
understanding or propaganda interfere with 
their good judgment in the matter. 
Farmers’ Weeks Help 
EW YORK State College of Agriculture 
has just closed another Farmers’ Week. 
Bad roads and hard times affected the at¬ 
tendance as they have most other meetings 
this year. Yet all who went to Ithaca to 
meet their fellow farmers from all parts of 
the State and to attend the lectures, con¬ 
ferences and entertainments, returned to 
their homes with new knowledge and in¬ 
spiration with which to meet the problems of 
the coming season. 
It has not been so many years since the 
average farmer looked with contempt and 
ridicule on those who thought farming im¬ 
portant enough to study as a great trade or 
profession. The “book farmers” were curi¬ 
ous freaks to be tolerated perhaps, but not 
to be taken seriously. This attitude was per¬ 
haps the outgrowth of a feeling that any¬ 
one who failed at anything else could still 
make a living from the soil. Times change. 
Whether or not it was once true that “any 
old fool could farm it,” that day is forever 
past and Agriculture has become a new 
business requiring great ability and trained 
skill, and with this change there has come a 
different attitude on the part of farmers 
themselves toward scientific agriculture and 
the farm schools and colleges. One only has 
to visit a Farmers’ Week at any of the col¬ 
leges and note how eager the farmers them¬ 
selves are to learn something more that will 
enable them to become better husbandmen, 
to see how completely they have come to 
recognize the necessity uf trained knowledge 
in the business. 
But Farmers’ Weeks provide something 
more than the technical discussion of farm 
problems. They recognize that farmers like 
other folks are interested not only in making 
a living, but in learning how to live. So 
their programs are well provided with enter¬ 
taining features. We were particularly im¬ 
pressed in noting how farm folks seem 
starved for entertainment. They have alto¬ 
gether too few good times and those who 
have to do with programs for meetings and 
with writing which farmers read, will do well 
to recognize that country people are looking 
for something to give them a little inspira¬ 
tion and a little wholesome fun in addition 
to the more technical discussions about their 
business. 
Quotations Worth While 
Nature has written a letter of credit upon 
some men’s faces which is honored almost 
wherever presented. —Thackeray. 
* ♦ * 
Peace does not dwell in outward things, 
but within the soul. We may preserve it in 
the midst of the bitterest pain, if our will 
remain firm and submissive. Peace in this 
life springs from acquiescence even in dis¬ 
agreeable things, not in an exemption from 
suffering. 
