Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 66, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 November 1918 — “PRACTICAL” FARMERS [ARTICLE]

“PRACTICAL” FARMERS

George Ade of Brook, Warren T. McCray of Kentland, J. H. Dimmick and I. E. Runner of Oxford, and Taylor B. Frazier of Frankfort, are among the fifty persons appointed by Governor Goodrich to represent Indiana at the thirtyeighth annual session of the Farmers’ National Congress to be held at Jacksonville, Florida, December 6 to 6. Evidently Gov. Goodrich knows a sure-enough farmer when he sees one. 'We don’t know how hard Messrs. Dimmick, Runner and Frazier work between the plow handles, but we do know that Warren McCray and George Ade wear out a pair of overalls every few days at hard manuel labor on the farm. Nothing like being practical in these matters. But you can't always tell who is a practical farmer in this country. When the war broke out several professional men, Including lawyers, one editor and a telephone manager, went from Fowler into Union township, one of the best farming communities in the county, and proceeded to instruct the farmers there how to raise crops, with special instructions on pumpkins and rutabegas. People were amazed. Not gifted with erudition of the governor, our people thought these men didn’t know anything about farming. But this was a mistake. The professional geniuses told the farmers of Union township a whole lot of things that they had never heard of before and probably never will again. The eloquent tribute to the despised rutabega was a --classic—enough to bring tears, but ruta-

begas haven’t eyes like potatoes. Then the oration on pumpkin production deserved to be immortalized by publication in the government year book; pumpkin seed could be planted with each hill of corn; one cultivation would answer for both, and the two crops could be husked at the same time; after P. vines had reached a hardy growth they could be hitched together at the end of each row and with small batteries attached telephonic communication could be kept up to all parts of the field during the summer months. However, an ignorant practical farmer marred the whole beautiful theory, by asking how they were going to plow the corn with the field a network of pumpkin vines. Scorning tp reply to such frivlous criticism our agricultural experts returned home and nothing could persuade them to distribute their knowledge any further—except the editor, who, continued to tell them howto do it in his paper. Had Governor Goodrich known of these practical agriculturists Ade and McCray would be out of one honorary job just now. —Benton County Tribune.