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Show Director Advises Teachers To Know Rural Utah In "order to make a contribution to the rural industrial life of any people it is necessary to know the detaile of the rural 'districts, the present and potential industry cf t e people who live in the rural districts," says Willi'aiml Peterson, director of Utah's extension service. In a discussion of rural industrial life before & group of rural school teachers, convened for summer school at the Utah State Agricultural Agricultur-al college, Director Peterson pointed out a few of tie more important problems facing farmj people and educators. He cautioned the teachers that 'it is necessary to know the local geography by States and counties coun-ties and provinces. Geography as written in the textbooks and taught m the sc.oels seldami applies to the rural district, in fact the geography of our rural secion is not written. It needs to be worked out in the local districtwhere the people live and jain a liveli.iood." Axong the things recommended for teachers as well as laymen were familiarity with the climatic records wind velocities, irrigation water, .and land classification. . There are 100 wheather stations in the state, each one gathering data on rainfall climate, and temperature. tem-perature. This information is particularly part-icularly useful in telling the length of growing season in practically every area of our state. The Director pointed out that ti.iere are two coxplete weather stations in the state. One atModena. in southeastern Utah, and at Salt Lake City. The records kept at these stations are for the benefit of the people in those districts and are available for use in meeting the problems of any industry that may develop there. "The very existance of the rural hemes in Utah are dependent on irrigation 'water. To date we have put only 1,324,000 acres under irre-gation. irre-gation. We are farming 480,000 acres without irrigation, principally with wheat," the Director pointed out. This totals 1,804.003 acres or an average of only 2.1 acres per capita for the population of the state. Brocking Instute, in its research, says that 2Vs to 3 acres are necessary neces-sary to produce the fo:d and clothing cloth-ing for an individual. According to the figures presented by Mr. Peterson saj'S Utah definitely has a, population pressure. |