stretches of mud and marsh from the sea. When this has been done, the
land is first enclosed with a dyke to prevent any water flowing into it.
On the edge of this dyke wind-mills are erected, each of which works a
pump. You remember how every picture of a Dutch landscape shows a
country dotted with windmills with wide-spreading arms and sails. As the
mills draw up the water, it is discharged into a canal, which takes it
to the sea. Only fifty years ago, an immense piece of submerged land
called the Haarlem Lake was drained and rendered fit for cultivation,
and one of the favorite projects of certain Dutch ministers is the
draining of the Zuyder Zee, an enormous stretch of water of which you
have certainly heard, and which once must have been dry land.
When I traveled in Holland, one of the greatest discomforts which I
experienced was the want of good drinking water. The Dutch people are
used to it, and drink a good deal of tea and coffee; but both are
taken so strong and so bitter, that, even if made with the purest
water, they would be undrinkable for you and me. Once, when I was
staying in a tiny village called Volendam, I had taken a little crying
child home to his mother, whom I knew. She wanted to wash his face
which I could hardly see through dirt and tears, and from where do you
think she drew her water? She lifted a loose board in the floor of her
room, and there, immediately underneath, was a canal which passed
under her house. The house was built on piles over the water, and the
whole family used this dirty water for everything--to wash in and to
cook with and to drink. Besides much dirt, there were two or three
tiny fish in the bucket that she took up when I was there, and when I
asked her if she filtered the water at all for drinking, she shook her
head, not understanding the reason for anything of the kind. So I told
her how much better it would be for her and her family if she boiled
the water before drinking it; but she replied that she thought this
would take away all the taste. Just imagine wanting your water to
taste of dirt and fishes!
--_From "A Peep at the Netherlands",
by Beatrix Jungman._
AGRICULTURE
Here is an article from a cyclopedia for schools. The farther you go in
school, the more frequently you will need to consult such books. In such
cases you should learn to turn quickly to the part of this article you
want without reading it all through. Sometimes the topic you are looking
up will be the same as one of the headings in the book. Often it will
not. Instead of reading the whole article, however, you will generally
be able to judge what heading is likely to cover your topic.
If you don't find what you want, keep looking. For example, if you
wished to find more about wheat, oats, poultry or cattle you would
turn to other volumes of this cyclopedia and read the special article
on the subject you were seeking.
Your teacher will assign different individuals or different sections
of the class one or more of the following topics covered in this
selection. Of course you will not think that you have in this brief
selection anything like a complete discussion of each of these topics.
You will, however, find something interesting about each of them.
1. How much time it takes to raise a bushel of corn.
2. How barren areas can be made productive.
3. Four causes of progress in agriculture.
4. Four different kinds of agriculture.
5. Where America raises her cereals.
6. What agriculture does for each of us.
7. Good roads and the farmer.
8. Things the farmer has to fight.
9. Truck farming.
10. Where animals thrive.
11. Agriculture experiment stations.
12. Changes in agriculture methods.
Agriculture is the art of cultivating the soil to produce material for
feeding and clothing the human race. It is the oldest of all
occupations. "The first farmer," says Emerson, "was the first man, and
all historic nobility rests on possession and use of the land."
Agriculture is also the most widely-extended of all occupations, and
it lies at the foundation of all other industries. Daniel Webster once
said, "When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers, therefore,
are the founders of civilization." Unless man were fed and clothed the
race would perish.
ILLUSTRATING ITS IMPORTANCE.
Mr. and Mrs. Adams with their children, John, aged 14, and Mary, aged
12, lived in the city. Like many other city children, John and Mary
knew but little of the country, and did not seriously consider farming
or anything connected with it. Their father and mother, however, had
come from the farm, and they decided to help John and Mary to obtain
correct ideas of the country and of a life such as they lived in their
younger days.
"John, where did this bread come from?" asked Mr. Adams, at dinner.
"Why, mother bought it at the baker's, I suppose."
"Very well, but where did the baker get it?"
"Oh, I know," said Mary, "he makes it."
"But what is it made of?" continued the father.
"There is flour in it," said John, "and water, and--and--lots of other
things."
"A boy never knows anything about cooking; let me tell," said Mary.
"Bread is made of flour, water and yeast and--what else do they put in
it, mother?"
"I don't see as you know much more about it than I do," said John.
"You children can learn how to make bread some other time," said Mr.
Adams; "I want to know where the baker got his flour."
"He bought it of the wholesale grocer," replied John.
"Well, where did the grocer get it?"
"That is about as far as I can go," said John. "I have often wondered
where all the things we eat come from, but I have so many things to
study in school that I don't have time to read about anything more."
"Well," replied the father, "suppose we make a little study of these
things at dinner. Let us begin with the bread. What you and Mary have
said is true, but we need to look into the subject a little further,
if we would know the real source from which we obtain bread and all
other articles of food. The real source of all these is the farm, and
were it not for the farmers all the people who live in the city, as we
do, should soon be without food."
"Why, I never thought of that before; I never supposed the farmer
amounted to much, anyway," said John. Mary expressed a similar idea,
and both asked their father to tell them about those common articles
of food which we all eat without giving a thought to the source from
which they come or the labor required to prepare them for our use.
During the next few days Mr. Adams took the children on a number of
imaginary journeys. With him they visited in fancy the great wheat
fields of the Dakotas and Canada, the corn belt in Illinois and Iowa,
the cattle ranches of Texas and Montana, the fruit orchards of the
Pacific states, the dairy farms and creameries of Wisconsin, the sugar
plantations of Louisiana, the beet farms of Michigan and Colorado, and
the poultry farms near some of our great cities. Then he took them to
far-off lands--to the coffee plantations of Brazil, the tea gardens of
Formosa, the rice plantations of China and the spice groves of India.
Before these imaginary excursions were ended, John and Mary learned
that everything they ate, except salt, came from a farm in some part
of the world and that agriculture was carried on in every country. But
Mr. Adams did not stop here. In the same delightful way he led the
children to the study of cotton, flax, wool, and silk, so that they
were convinced that we depend upon the farm for what we wear as well
as for what we eat. In their minds the farmer at once became a very
important individual.
PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE.--Agriculture began when the first man
selected plants for his food. His next step was to scratch the ground
with a stick and plant seed. Then he took a forked stick and made a
plow of it. Two or more men hauled this plow while another held it in
position. But this labor was too hard, so man tamed the ox and the ass
and made them do the hauling and the carrying of his burdens, as well.
From these simple beginnings, agriculture has advanced through the
centuries until to-day traction engines haul over our great wheat
fields gang plows that turn more than fifty furrows at a time. Later
these same engines haul over the fields of ripened grain a machine
which at one operation harvests, thrashes and sacks the grain ready
for market--does everything, one humorist says, except to cash the
check for the crop.
Such has been the progress in agriculture since the middle of the last
century that the labor of producing a bushel of wheat with the most
modern appliances has been reduced from a little over three hours to
about ten minutes. Formerly it required four and one-half hours' labor
to produce a bushel of corn; now it requires less than forty minutes.
Then, it took thirty-five and one-half hours' labor to grow a ton of
hay; now, it takes eleven hours and thirty-four minutes. But this is
not all. Production has been increased many fold; new and better
varieties of grains, vegetables, fruits and live stock are being
constantly produced; the use of agricultural machinery has enabled the
farmer to give more attention to the business side of his affairs, and
the best farms are now operated on a systematic plan which includes
both the fields and the home.
CAUSES OF PROGRESS.--While the progress of agriculture may seem to have
been slow, it has advanced about as rapidly as other arts. The more
rapid advance of recent times is due chiefly to the following causes:
_Transportation._--It is of no advantage to the farmer to raise crops
that he cannot market; therefore, good roads form one of the most
essential conditions to his success. Of these the country has far too
few, but railways have become so numerous that most farms are now
within a few miles of a station if not directly on the railway itself.
Increased facilities for marketing his crop have greatly increased the
farmers' production.
_Machinery._--The machines which have done most towards the progress
of agriculture are the harvester, or reaping machine, the gang plow,
the seeder and the horse hoe. What these have accomplished in reducing
the cost of production is told in the preceding paragraph. Without
these inventions cultivation of the large farms in the Prairie states
and the Canadian provinces of the Northwest would be impossible. Many
other machines have also contributed their share. Among these are the
steam thrasher, the traction engine, the gasoline engine, and the
cream separator. Moreover, we must not forget the improvement in the
simpler farm implements such as the hoe, the spade, the rake, and the
ax, which, by being made lighter and of better material than in the
long-ago, have enabled those using them to do more work with less
expenditure of strength.
_Chemistry._--The application of chemistry to soils, plants, and
fertilizers lies at the foundation of scientific agriculture. The farmer
can now learn from the nearest agricultural experiment station what
fertilizer is best suited to his soil and what crops he can grow with
greatest success. Agricultural chemistry is now applied to the study of
soils, of plant food and of fertilizers wherever there is an
agricultural college.
_Education._--Not many years ago the average farmer was glad to
express his contempt for what he styled "book farming". Happily, that
day is past, and agricultural education (see subheading, below) now
occupies an important position in the educational systems of all
civilized countries. In the United States and Canada the demand for
graduates from agricultural colleges and high schools is greater than
these institutions are able to supply. Furthermore, the outlook for
supervisors and teachers of agriculture is so promising that young men
from the city constitute no inconsiderable portion of the student body
of these institutions. This is the beginning of a right sort of
movement from the city to the country, and it is increasing.
_Scientific Agriculture._--All the foregoing movements have combined
to make agriculture a science as well as an art. The influence of the
agricultural colleges and experiment stations extends to the remotest
regions, and everywhere the trained scientist is helping the farmer to
solve his problems and to make his farm more profitable. No longer can
the old hit-or-miss methods maintain themselves in competition with
the scientific methods of the "new agriculture", which in the near
future will not only render productive vast areas still barren, but
also reclaim the so-called "worn-out farms" and repopulate with
prosperous families those which have been abandoned.
_Prevention of Disease._--The application of scientific methods to the
study of those diseases of plants and animals which are ever robbing
the farmer of his profits constitutes one of the most important
contributions of science to agriculture, and is saving annually
millions of dollars to the farmers. While not all of these diseases
are conquered, many of them have been; the ravages of others have been
checked, and new victories are gained each year.
_Insect Pests._--What has been said about the study of disease applies
with equal force to the study of destructive insects. These pests also
deprive the farmer of a portion of his income every season, and, now
and then, they destroy his crop altogether. Through the discoveries
made by the Department of Agriculture at Washington and in Canada by
the same department of government, and at the various experiment
stations, we are now able to deal successfully with these pests on the
American continent.
BRANCHES.--Agriculture is so widely extended over the earth and so
varied in its industries that it is naturally divided into a number of
branches. While many farmers are interested in several of these
branches, each gives special attention to one or two. The farmer in the
corn belt, for instance, makes corn the chief product of his land, but
he must give enough attention to growing other crops and to dairying to
produce sufficient food for his family and live stock, unless he would
purchase this food at an expense considerably greater than would be
required to raise it. Likewise, the dairy husbandman must raise most of
the feed for his herd to make his business profitable.
The following are the chief branches of agriculture in America:
_Raising Cereals._--In some regions the soil and climate are
especially suited to raising cereals. For instance, Canada, Minnesota
and North Dakota are adapted to raising spring wheat, and this
constitutes their chief crop. On the other hand, Kansas is especially
suited to raising winter wheat. Illinois and Iowa are the great corn
states, because of the particular adaptation of the soil and climate
of the corn belt to the production of this cereal. The growing of
cereals is more widely extended than any other branch of agriculture.
_Other Crops._--In some of the Northern states having a cool climate and
in Southern Canada, flax is extensively grown on new soil. Potatoes are
also successful in these regions. Oats is an extensive crop throughout
the northern half of the United States and in most of the Canadian
provinces. In Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, and a number of the other
Southern states, cotton constitutes the chief source of revenue. Fodder
crops, including corn for ensilage, clover, timothy and alfalfa, are
also of great importance in those localities where live stock is raised
or dairying is the chief line of agricultural industry.
_Horticulture._--Horticulture is that branch of agriculture which
includes the raising of flowers, garden vegetables, and fruit. The
growing of vegetables and other garden produce for market is usually
called _truck farming_, and this branch of horticulture is very common
near large cities and in those localities where soil and climate admit
of raising two or more crops a year. The raising of fruit is probably
the most extensive branch of horticulture, particularly in those regions
which depend upon irrigation for their supply of water. All forms of
horticulture are intensified farming--that is, the thorough cultivation
of small tracts of land that is highly fertilized.
_Live Stock._--Some localities are especially adapted to raising live
stock. Iowa and Illinois, for instance raise large numbers of hogs,
which are fattened on corn. Iowa also raises beef cattle. Kentucky is
noted for its fine horses; Montana, Wyoming, and several other states
contain extensive grazing lands where thousands of sheep find
pasturage, and in Texas beef cattle are raised in large numbers.
_Dairy Husbandry._--Sections of the country having a cool climate, an
abundance of pure water, and soil adapted to growing alfalfa and other
ensilage crops are suited to dairying, and this branch of agriculture
is of great importance in those states.
_Poultry._--The proceeds from the poultry raised in the United States
exceed those received from the wheat crop; strange as this statement
may seem, the hen is a mighty asset. Some poultry is found on nearly
every farm, but there are numerous small farms which are devoted
entirely to raising chickens, and when rightly managed, they prove a
profitable investment.
--_From "The World Book".
Courtesy of W. F. Quarrie & Co._
CAN YOU DO THIS ONE?
Here is another little nonsense test. Be sure that you do exactly
as the test directs.
At the top of your paper copy the longest of these three words: boy,
noise, trouble--and then, if there are more than seven letters in the
word that you have just written, write the figure 7 underneath the word,
but if not, do not write anything but pass on to the next paragraph.
If you think that Christopher Columbus used an ocean steamer to discover
America make three crosses at the bottom of your paper, but if you think
he must have used a canoe make only two crosses. Now no matter whether
there are five days in the week or not, write five days in the center of
your paper, sign your first name below it and hand in your answers.
THE INCHCAPE ROCK
Read the poem through as fast as you can, but not so fast as to fail
to get the full meaning. When all have finished, your teacher will
ask you to write the story the poem tells.
It will be interesting to keep track of the exact time it takes each
of you to read the poem and to see whether those who read it more
quickly tell the story better than those who read more slowly.
Can you take in every word without speaking, whispering, or moving
your lips?
No stir in the air, no stir in the sea,
The ship was as still as she could be,
Her sails from heaven received no motion,
Her keel was steady in the ocean.
Without either sign or sound of their shock
The waves flow over the Inchcape Rock;
So little they rose, so little they fell,
They did not move the Inchcape Bell.
The good old Abbot of Aberbrothok
Had placed that bell on the Inchcape Rock;
On a buoy in the storm it floated and swung,
And over the waves its warning rung.
When the Rock was hid by the surges' swell,
The mariners heard the warning bell;
And then they knew the perilous Rock,
And blest the Abbot of Aberbrothok.
The sun in heaven was shining gay,
All things were joyful on that day;
The sea-birds scream'd as they wheel'd round,
And there was joyance in their sound.
The buoy of the Inchcape Bell was seen
A darker speck on the ocean green;
Sir Ralph the Rover walk'd his deck,
And he fix'd his eye on the darker speck.
He felt the cheering power of spring,
It made him whistle, it made him sing;
His heart was mirthful to excess,
But the Rover's mirth was wickedness.
His eye was on the Inchcape float;
Quoth he, "My men, put out the boat,
And row me to the Inchcape Rock,
And I'll plague the priest of Aberbrothok."
The boat is lower'd, the boatmen row,
And to the Inchcape Rock they go;
Sir Ralph bent over from the boat,
And he cut the bell from the Inchcape float.
Down sunk the bell, with a gurgling sound,
The bubbles rose and burst around;
Quoth Sir Ralph, "The next who comes to the Rock
Won't bless the Abbot of Aberbrothok."
Sir Ralph the Rover sail'd away,
He scour'd the seas for many a day;
And now grown rich with plundered store,
He steers his course for Scotland's shore.
So thick a haze o'erspreads the sky
They cannot see the sun on high;
The wind hath blown a gale all day,
At evening it hath died away.
On the deck the Rover takes his stand,
So dark it is they see no land.
Quoth Sir Ralph, "It will be lighter soon,
For there is the dawn of the rising moon."
"Can'st hear," said one, "the breakers roar?
For methinks we should be near the shore;
Now where we are I cannot tell,
But I wish I could hear the Inchcape Bell."
They hear no sound, the swell is strong;
Though the wind hath fallen, they drift along,
Till the vessel strikes with a shivering shock;
Cried they, "It is the Inchcape Rock!"
Sir Ralph the Rover tore his hair,
He curst himself in his despair;
The waves rush in on every side,
The ship is sinking beneath the tide.
But even in his dying fear
One dreadful sound could the Rover hear,
A sound as if with the Inchcape Bell,
The fiends below were ringing his knell.
--_Robert Southey._
SOME DEFINITIONS
Such a poem as this one is called a _ballad_. A ballad always tells
a story; it is never a very long poem; and it is always a poem of
the sort that could be set to music and sung.
Each group of lines in any poem is called a _stanza_, not a verse,
as perhaps you have been used to calling it. In this poem you see
that there are stanzas of four lines each.
Two lines that rhyme with each other are called a _couplet_. How
many couplets are there in each stanza? Can you find the two words
from which the most rhymes are made?
THE BATTLE OF MORGARTEN
Can you read this selection thoroughly in four minutes? Some of
you can read it in less time than that.
One of the most really democratic countries in the world today is
Switzerland, the little republic among the Alps. It has a long and
glorious history, for it is the earliest of modern republics. Its
sections, instead of being called _states_, are called _cantons_.
Switzerland originally belonged to Austria, in the early days when
Austria was ruled not by an emperor but by a duke. The dukes of
Austria were cruel tyrants, and this story tells how the Swiss
mountaineers first began to free themselves from Austrian rule, in
the battle of Morgarten in the year 1315.
As you read the story, notice:
1. The differences between Swiss and Austrians in numbers and
equipment.
2. What gave the Swiss an advantage over the Austrians.
There are people who doubt the story of William Tell and Gessler, the
Swiss archer and the Austrian tyrant; but no one can doubt the great
and decisive victory won at Morgarten by the Swiss on the 15th of
November, 1315. Three cantons beside the lake--Schwyz, Uri, and
Unterwalden: the three Forest Cantons, as they were called, because of
their great woods--were resolved to be free of Austrian rule. The
Austrian Duke determined to crush them once and for all.
He regarded it as a very easy matter. He had vast numbers of horsemen
and footmen, all splendidly armed and well trained in warfare; his
opponents were a few peasants, who clung to their native hills, and
loved freedom, and were ready to die for it. The Austrians looked upon
the affair as a mere hunting excursion. They provided themselves with
cartloads of ropes to lead back prisoners and the herds of cattle they
expected to seize.
When the men of the forest heard that their enemies were marching upon
them, they gathered to defend their rights as freemen. They mustered
thirteen hundred fighting men, armed with the rudest of weapons, many
having nothing in their hands save heavy clubs, spiked with iron. But
before night fell those spiked clubs had been dipped in the best blood
of Austria.
Twenty-four thousand of the Duke's finest troops, led by his brother
Leopold, advanced against these shepherds and herdsmen, and the two
armies met on the slopes of Morgarten. At this point a narrow pass
ascends the hill-side; upon one side of the pass lies the mountain,
upon the other the deep waters of the lake. At the head of the pass
stood the small band of Swiss, calmly surveying the splendid host of
steel-clad knights and men-at-arms which rode against them. The
Austrians pushed up the slope confident of victory.