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American Agriculturist, November 24,1923 
Editorial Page of the American Agriculturist 
American 
Agriculturist 
Founded 1842 
Henry Morgenthau, Jr .Publisher 
E. R. Eastman .Editor 
Fred W. Ohm .Associate Editor 
Gabrielle Elliot .... Household Editor 
BlRGE Kinne .Advertising Manager 
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Entered as Second-Class Matter, December 15, 1922, at the 
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VOL. 112 November 24, 1923 21 
Are The Sheep Coming Back? 
E were very glad to get for you the 
article by su6h an able authority, pub¬ 
lished on the feature page of this issue, on 
the sheep industry in New York State. We 
know of no one better able to discuss this 
subject than Mr. Mark Smith. 
Mr. Smith believes that the sheep are com¬ 
ing back to the East. We agree with him. 
In fact they are back. This was once a 
great sheep country. Then as the ranges 
of the West were opened up, we found that 
we could not compete and the farm flocks 
gradually disappeared. The dogs also helped 
to chase them out. 
But now the East has many advantages 
in sheep husbandry over the West. Land 
is cheaper, markets are nearer. So the sheep 
are returning. Strange how all great move¬ 
ments travel in cycles, isn’t it? 
We do not believe that there should be any 
rapid change from one type of farming to 
another. We do not believe that anyone 
should rush headlong into the sheep business 
without a careful study of the possibilities. 
But we do know that there are many 
thousands of acres better fitted for sheep 
than for cows. 
We believe that there is an opportunity 
for the man living back in the hills, perhaps 
too far from a station to deliver fluid milk, 
to turn his attention back to sheep. Many 
such men have already reached this con¬ 
clusion. Because of this growing interest 
and the great importance of sheep husband¬ 
ry, American Agriculturist will contain reg¬ 
ular, and we hope helpful information on all 
phases of sheep husbandry and we will be 
glad to answer so far as we can, all letters 
asking for information on the subject. 
That ‘'Little Red Schoolhouse” 
ECENT articles on the Rural School Bill 
state that under the proposed community 
plan of rural school administration, the com¬ 
munity board of education could temporarily 
close any district school in the community 
for one year or longer. This statement is 
untrue. As the bill was finally amended in 
the Legislature, the community board has 
no power to close any school in the com¬ 
munity for a long or a short time. The only 
way that any school can be consolidated with 
any other under this bill is by a majority 
vote of the people in the districts to be con¬ 
solidated. Furthermore the only way that 
any school can even be closed for a short 
time is by that same majority vote of the 
people themselves in the local district. 
This statement is a good example of some 
of the misinformation that is being circulated 
against the school bill. We take the stand 
that if after you thoroughly understand the 
main provisions of this bill, you do not want 
it, we hope you will defeat it. But there is 
much in the bill that is good and we hope 
that you can balance the good with what 
you consider the bad points fairly, before you 
reach your decision, in spite of the efforts 
to cloud the issue. 
The constantly repeated statement that the 
bill will take away “the little red school 
house,” is in the same class of misinforma¬ 
tion as the one that we mentioned above 
about the community board closing the school. 
“The little red school house” cannot be taken 
away under any circumstances, unless you 
yourself vote for it. On the other hand, the 
bill provides $10,000,000 of State aid of 
which the cities pay 87 per cent, to help you 
make that “little red school house” even bet¬ 
ter than it is now for country boys and girls. 
A Little Light Ahead 
A NOVEMBER 1 report of the United 
States Department of Agriculture states 
that there is the best outlook for farmers in 
four years. The statement reads: 
As regards relationship to the community at 
large, the position of agriculture slowly but surely 
improved. Purchasing power of farm products, 
though still handicapped, is now at the highest point 
in three years. What is more, prices are better at 
a season when farmers actually have something to 
sell. 
After one of the hardest periods for farm 
people in the history of American agricul¬ 
ture, it is certainly good to begin to see a 
little light ahead. We are by no means out 
of the woods yet. Farm prices are not what 
they should be and the purchasing power 
of the farm dollar is still far too low. But 
it is surely climbing upward a little every 
month for which we are all duly thankful. 
Uncle Sam Goes Berrying 
NCLE Sam Farmer dragged himself 
wearily out of the tangle of briars in 
the old slashing and started the three-mile 
walk across lots home. In his hand he car¬ 
ried a milk pail filled to the brim with black¬ 
berries. Back of him trudged Young Sam, 
lugging another pail which was far from be¬ 
ing full. 
“Seems ’though,” said Old Sam as they 
paused on a knoll for breath, “that with ber¬ 
ries as thick as they were in that patch this 
mornin’ that you could of at least covered 
the bottom of your pail. What you been 
doin’ anyway?” 
“Bottom of my pail is covered,” said 
Young Sam indignantly. “Got at least six 
quarts. Darn this berry business, anyway. 
’Long comes the only slack time we’ve had 
in the farm work this summer and you drag 
me off to pick berries. Said it would be kind 
of a vacation—some folks got queer ideas 
of restin’.” 
“And some folks are just naturally plumb 
lazy,” growled Old Sam, as he started once 
more down across the pasture lot. 
They came after a time through a patch 
of woods, to a little spring in its edge, and 
both of them, sprawling eagerly on their 
bellies in the mud and stones on the edge, 
.drank their fill of the ice-cold water. 
When Uncle Sam arose, he remarked, 
“Some fool poet has sung at length about 
the virtue of drinking water from an old 
oaken bucket; but for me, I’ll take the wild 
water bubblin’ out of a hill spring every time, 
’specially after trampin’ that same old hill 
in the hot sun for several hours.” 
Sam made no reply, and the old man con¬ 
tinued : “It’s a tragedy the way these 
springs are disappearin’. It’s only been a 
few years since you could find at least one 
good waterin’ trough on almost every mile 
of country road; but now they are so scarce 
that they’re almost a curiosity. 
“Pa, you talk foolish. What good are 
watering troughs on roads where there ain’t 
no horses?” 
“That’s all right, son. Maybe the autos 
have driven the horses off the roads, but 
there’s still cows in the pasture and where 
there’s water troughs there’s springs, and 
where there’s springs you’ll always find a 
good cow country. Springs furnish water 
in the pasture and in the barns, and also 
you’ll notice that a good spring water coun¬ 
try is always a good grass country.” 
“Uh-huh,” said Young Sam, slapping at 
a fly, “More grass means more hay and more 
cows, and farmers make too much milk 
now.” 
“Now this year,” continued the old man, 
paying no attention to the interruption: 
“many of our springs have gone dry. They 
have never failed before. Gittin’ so it’s hard 
to find a good spring anywhere, and the 
droughts come oftener and stay longer than 
they used to. It’s all because we darn fools 
have nearly ruined this country by cutting off 
the woods. Thirty years ago you could take 
a pail and go out anywhere within a mile of 
the house and pick it full in a few minutes of 
big blackberries from bushes five or six feet 
tall. Now they’re about all gone. When I 
was a young feller, there was quite a little 
timber left and it seems’s though the weather 
was easier to wrestle with too. Yes, sir, the 
best crops some of these old hills could grow, 
is just plain woods. Next generation’s goin’ 
to find we darned near ruined this country 
when we stole the trees. 
“Boy, what say, we write up to the College 
of Forestry or to the State Department, or 
somewhere, and see what we can do ’bout 
settin’ out an acre or so of young pine trees ? 
I understand that it can be done without 
costing much. What say, son ?” 
But “son” made no reply. The old man 
turned around to look at him and then with a 
snort of disgust, picked up his pail and 
started down the hill. 
Young Sam was fast asleep. 
Better Keep It Coming 
“Sometimes it seems to us that we have been 
doing too much bragging about the development of 
certain romantic and specialized lines in California 
production .”—Editorial in the Pacific Rural Press.” 
IGHT you are, brother! Of course, we 
all agree with you about the tremendous 
amount of boasting that has come out of 
California and other parts of the West, but 
after all, we don’t know but that it has been 
a pretty good thing for you. To be sure, it 
has been rather difficult for us Easteners to 
swallow all that we heard, but there was so 
much hot air that we could not very well es¬ 
cape getting part of it, with the result that 
we have bought your apples, oranges and 
prunes whether we wanted them or not. So 
you had better not get a sudden access of 
modesty now, for the farmers in the East are 
learning to do a little bragging themselves, 
and if you stop we might get some of our 
apples or something down the consumers in 
the place of your oranges. 
Keep adding little to little, and soon there 
will be a great heap.—V ergil. 
