The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette., June 25, 1910, EDUCATIONAL SPECIAL, Page 449, Image 5

About The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette. (Starkville, Miss.) 1910-1920

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MISSISSIPPI HIGH SCHOOLS.
Much Interest Shown in Agricultural
Districts—Six Schools Established
Two Years Ago to He Revived.
Many requests have recently been
made on State Superintendent of Ed
ucation J. N. Power for copies of the
agricultural high school law, enact
ed at the recent session of the Legis
lature. Mr. Power has had the act
printed in circular form for distribu
tion among those seeking informa
tion, and one copy or more has been
sent to nearly every county in the
State.
Six of these schools were estab
lished under the law enacted at the
session of 1908, and which the State
Supreme Court declared unconstitu
tional, and these schools will be re
vived under the new act, which, It is
believed will meet all legal require
ments.
Not only is the county high school
authorized under this act, but anoth
er act was passed making an appro
priation for the support and main
tenance of these schools. This makes
It possible for every county In the
State to establish an agricultural
high school, and many of the coun
ties are preparing to organize and
have their schools ready for the next
term.
Mr. Power Is taking a great deal
of Interest In the establishment of
the county agricultural high schools,
nnn win give any aid In this work,
which he regards ns an important ad
junct to the State's educational sys
tem. Those counties already having
schools, nnd for which taxes were
levied under the previous law, are:
Kossuth, Aleorn County; Buena Vis
ta. Chickasaw County; Bay Springs,
Jasper County; Poplarvllle, Pearl
River County, and Oakland, Yalo
busha County.
MADISON COUNTY AGRICULTUR
AL 11 Kill SCHOOL.
What Is Doing Done by Prof. Dent
nnd His Associates Along tbe Line
of Tenrhlng Practical Agriculture.
Messrs. Editors: It once was said
that any fool can farm, but the peo
ple of Madison County, Mississippi,
showed their lark of faith in such
a doctrine and their good sense when
they established an agricultural
high school one year ago, as pre
scribed by the laws of our State.
The school lias in connection with
it a fnrm of 31 acres, about 12 of
which is divided Into two pastures,
one being fenced with hog wire.
With the exception of two acres at
the dormitory, the rest is in culti
vation. Ten acres of the cultivated
portion is sandy loam land, nnd was
covered with a network of wire
fences and mnrsh grass last year.
The other 10 acres in cultivation Is
sandy clay hill land and was in pas
mm mm year.
The farm owns two good mules,
two milk cows, and a pair of fine
Poland China hogs. A good com
fortable barn has just been com
pleted and the supply of tools is in
creasing ns needs demand. The farm
will be devoted to raising corn, cot
ton, soy beans, cowpeas, potatoes,
sugar cane, velvet beans and such
other crops as are suited to this
climate. The dormitory has a gar
den spot of two acres that is oi
sandy loam nature with red clay sub
soil. This will bo devoted to grow
ing vegetables with the view of re
ducing the cost of board as much as
poBsiblo. A canning outfit is bolng
considered for the instruction ol
students and for the benefit of the
dormitory. An orchard will be sel
out this winter and a strawberr>
patch this fall. This is an ideal
peach and strawberry section. Hoi
bods and cold frames will be con
structed this winter for growing ear
ly plants for an early garden.
AN UP-TO-DATE RURAL SCHOOL HOUSE
-- M “i'S’
[Courtesy North Carotin* Department of Edueatljn.
Here is the front elevation and door plan of one of the new
type of school houses—the type that provides plenty of room for
each pupil; plenty of fresh air and plenty of light. Notice espe
cially the numerous windows on all sides, and the rolling parti
tion which permits the two rooms being thrown into one. Almost
any pupil, it would seem, could do better in this building than in
a poorly lighted, unattractive, unsanitary place; and the cost is
not so great that any progressive community could not afford such
a school house.
The farm work is all being plan
ned so as to build up the soil and at
the same time produee prof table
crops.
The dormitory is a alee kwe-stery
building containing IK IMP*, well
ventilated rooms and supplied with
water from one of the best wells in
the country. It has a lady matron
and the boys are subject to the same
influences that they enjoy in their
own homes. Board is given at actual
cost, usually from $6.50 to $8.00.
Some boys may pay practically all of
their board by working in the after
noons after school. Each student
will bo required to work four hours
a week, and more if he so desires,
for all of which he receives 8c. per
hour.
The work in the class room will
bo supplemented by practical les
sons; a practical study of the condi
tions on the school farm and on
lands adjoining and how those condi
tions may be bettered. Each after
noon the patrons will Bee a class of
boys and girls make their way to the
field and there receive a lecture on
the best methods of managing soils.
They will make a close study of our
staple crops and learn to prune and
graft fruit trees. They will study in
a practical way the diseases and in
sects that damage our crops, and
perhaps that king of pests, the boll
weevil, in the field. They will wit
ness the effect of fertilizers on soils
and perform some of these tests
themselves.
The writer knows what the other
schools of this kind are doing and
can say that Madison County has one
of tho best, and next year with its
eleven grades, 250 students and a
corps of seven teachers, will be sec
ond to none.
It is the ambition of the writer to
teach them how to place business
principles in their farm plans and
how to make farming profitable; it is
his ambition to interest them in farm
life and to persuade them to go back
home, beat their daddies at their
own game and live the most inde
pendent life known to man.
S. P. DENT,
Agricultural Principal.
EDUCATION ON THE FARM.
The Farmer’s First Need is for a
Rroad Culture—Teach the Chil
dren Above All to Read and Think.
Messrs. Editors: In late years
there has been a great deal said and
written about agricultural education,
and much has also been done to fur
ther the interests of this cause. Ag
ricultural colleges have been estab
lished in every State of the Union.
High schools with an agricultural
feature are being planted in many
counties. Finally there is strong talk
of teaching agriculture even in the
district schools.
Such progress is very gratifying to
the farm community. Farmers have
just the same need for special edu
cation as have mechanics, or doctors,
or lawyers. The only caution is that
in reaching out for special we must
not neglect the fundamental prin
ciples of general education. Farmers
need a broad culture just as much as
any other class and perhaps a little
more. Especially is there more need
for science and economic study in
their line than in most others.
We must have more agricultural
teaching in the rural school, but it
must be subordinate to the teaching
of reading, writing, arithmetic and
English grammar or the expression
of thought. The first object of all
teaching should be the development
of the power to think and along with
it the power to express that thought
with facility, accuracy and grace.
In recent years we have made
great progress in the education of
the masses of the people, but there is
a question wrhether or not we are
making better thinkers of them. We
feel sure that the art of oral expres
sion, or public speaking, is not now
taught in our schools with the suc
cess that it once was. The written
expression of thought is also poorly
folks who come from our public
schools seem able to write a common
letter in good taste or even with ac
curacy.
These things should not be. If our
teachers do their work as they should
it ought not take long to have nearly
every child in school to write a de
cent leter. The way is to put every
class at the blackboard in turns and
have them write. The teacher
should then pass from one to another
and have them correct their mis
takes as they make them. The quali
fied teacher can thus have respectable
letters written in a short time. I
have tried it and know what I am
talking about. If there is not time
for such special work, time should
be made for it even at the expense
of nature study, or formal grammar,
or even agriculture. However, these
other things could well come in as
subject matter for written exercises.
There is no need to leave them out.
T. C. KARNS.
Powell Station, Tenn.
Profit in farming depends primari
ly upon soil fertility.
N. L WILLET SEED CO.,
AUGUSTA, GA.
Lookout Mountain Potatoes—4 cars.
Vetches and Crimson Clovers—1 car
lot—importers. Velvet Beans, Cowpeas,
Peanuts, Japanese Millet, Sorghums,
Bur Clovers,—Large Jobbers. Get
prices. State amounts wanted.
IMPROVED
Mexican June Corn
We have Improved the quality of our corn to the
place where it will prodace two large aare to the
■talk, and each ear averaging from Six to mm
hundred grain*. Batter plant NOW, hat will
mature if planted aa late aa July 10th.
Will atand any drought. Weevils will net bother
it. Every grain uniform and perfect. We have
thia corn put up in one-half bushel sacks and will
deliver them to depot for 11.60 each.
Buy the BEST, plant the BEST and got AHEAD.
Every grain guaranteed to came up.
Twkir t Bufwt • Ptckm, Mm.
-—-•— J
Mexican June Seed Corn for
Sale
Selected and nubbed. $1-00 par
bushel. Will mature planted ea late
as July 1st.
H. A. BEATTIE, SUrkTille, Mias.
Dairy Supplies^
DUNN MACHINERY CO.
Catalogue "P I"
54 Martetti Street, • • Atada,
_
WATER
WORKS_
{30 HAY PRESS
thousands in’ use Over
▼ w w 400 sold in 3 months. For 10 jeers ws’ve
made them. Shipped on 6 days’ trial direct from
factory. Write for booklet.
WATKINS HAY PRESS CO. ;; Atlanta. Ge.
ENGINES and BOILERS
Traction Engine, 18 horse compound, 1600: 16
horse compound. <600; 16 horse plain traction: 16
horse plain traction; 10 horse traction; 10 and 12
horse portable, on iron trucks; 20 horse portable,
on skids; 20 horse portable, on iron trucks: gaso
line engines, a'l sizes; new saw mill, <180; boilers,
engines, pumps, heaters.
Casey Boiler Works, Springfield, Ohio