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Show I'ossiiiii.i rn:s ok 01 1: son, We want to say to tin; fanners of tills community that no fealure of present (lay education is more potent for Kood to tliis country than tliat now being accomplislied by the various vari-ous agricultural schools and expori-inenlal expori-inenlal slations and farms. Twenty years ao I lie "book fanner" fann-er" was looked upon as a visionary by a large per cent of our farming population, and is even yet so regarded re-garded by some, though happily their number is small. Now the man who intelligently studies his Hoil wilh a view to determining deter-mining its needs is coming to the front as an authority on matters agricultural. ag-ricultural. And the reason this is so is because his theories have brought forth fruit in fact. Nothing is more certain than that this country is woefully behind in farming efficiency. For years our farming experts have been pointing oui 10 us me tact mat our tanns are not producing a half, not even a third, of the crops that bountiful nature na-ture intended they should yield. One has only to cite the case of Germany to see the full force of this statement. state-ment. Germany is not as large as the state of Texas, yet Germany today is supplying iter civil population and her vast armies almost entirely from the products of her own soil. But Germany and other old world countries have for years practiced intensive in-tensive farming, a system that is only just beginning to prevail in this country. coun-try. Instead of being merely an experiment, experi-ment, intensive farming should be the rule. Nothing more fully demonstrates demon-strates the truth of this statement than a glance at the results obtained by the many corn clubs of the country. coun-try. From all directions come reports re-ports from these organizations, where the enormous yield of 200 bushels and more per acre has been attained. Not only this, but the reports coming from all sections of the country are proof that almost any of bur soil is susceptible to just such improvement. Then there is another important feature to these big corn yields. It lias been shown that they can be produced pro-duced at a substantial profit over and above the cost of preparing the land for their production. Careful records have been kept of all expenditures, expendi-tures, and in almost every instance the proceeds have much more than paid the cost of bringing the soil to its present state of fertility. If these results can be obtained from an acre, or two or three, why not from ten, or fifty, or a hundred acres? If they can be obtained from a patch, why not from a field? Why not from all fields? The deplorable truth is that ton many of our farmers are "necessiHj" farmers. They ask themselves, "How MMllllll mi h bBMW much do I i:red?" and then proceed to satisfy that need, and no more. They should rather ask. "How much can I gel?" and then get all they can. ii has been estimated that America could feed the world if all her soil '.(-rv made to produce to its full ca-I'aeity. ca-I'aeity. What that capacity is, we are only just beginning to discover. |