Agriculture as a Profession

AGRICULTURE AS A PROFESSION. BY LEWIS A. MERRILL, PROFESSOR OF AGRONOMY, UTAH AGRI- CULTURAL COLLEGE,

A profession, as defined by Webster, is the business which one professes to understand and to follow for subsistence. We can- not, however, use the term in speaking of an occupation which is merely mechanical. If tilling the soil, producing crops and feed-

ing and caring for our domestic animals, calls for nothing beyond mere hand labor, then we cannot dignify this occupation by calling it a profession; if, on the contrary, this labor calls for accurate and knowledge in its pursuit, if it permits of careful scientific

study, and if its operations can be carried on in accordance with scientific principles, we must place it on a basis with those voca- tions with similar requirements. Formerly the word profession was applied only to the voca- tions of law, medicine, and the ministry, but today those vocations which call forth men's mental activities, combining these with the skilled labor of the hands, take equal rank with the so-called "higher professions." One of the most hopeful signs of today, among all classes, is the sympathy which is coming to exist close between education and labor. Formerly the man who had spent several years in the study of Latin and Greek, who had delved into the mysteries of mathematics and philosophy, was called educated, but the education of today is not alone the training of the brain, but also of the eye, and of the hand. In the work incident to pioneer life, few have time and inclin- ation to become familiar with plant and animal life, and most peo- ple look upon the soil as a mass of dirt, to be avoided or removed whenever it offends the sight or interferes with comfort. Growing

—

120 IMPROVEMENT ERA.

up in ignorance of the most ordinary things with which we come in contact, is it any wonder that we gradually come to look upon tilling the soil, cultivating plants and feeding animals, as operations requiring no thought ? We have made in this paper three demands upon any occupa- tion which shall be dignified by the name profession, and it is the purpose of this discussion to show that these requirements are all met in the occupation followed by the agriculturist. 1. Agriculture requires accurate and scientific knowledge in its pursuit.

Most people "have eyes to see, but see not, and ears to hear, but hear not." For instance, there are many intelligent young men in Utah, who have been looking at ash and elm trees all their lives, and yet they could not describe the bark, leaves or general

appearance of these two kinds of trees so as to distinguish one from the other. They have heard the songs of a dozen or more different species of birds in the fields, as they worked month by month, yet they have little or no knowledge of most of them their color, markings, songs or habits. Most young men raised on a farm have had experience with a powdery substance found growing on the wheat and oat plants, and known as "smut." They know that crops on which smut is found are very disagreeable to handle, and that wheat so affected makes a very poor quality of flour. How many, I wonder, know that the black dust consists of the spores of a tiny fungus plant, that this plant grows upon the wheat or oat plants, ripens its spores on the head, and is scattered among the grains of wheat or oats as they come from the threshing machine. A knowledge of the fact that the smut plant can gain a foothold only on very young oat or wheat plants is of some assistance in enabling us to combat the dis- ease. The annual loss to the farmer of Utah from this disease amounts to several thousands of dollars, yet a substance has been found that will, without injuring the seed, kill all the smut spores clinging to the gram. It is certain that an accurate knowledge of

the history and characteristics of the fungus plant would be of incalculable benefit to wheat growers. A knowledge of the soil is also essential to the successful farmer. Carry a handful of soil filled with humus to the bacteri-

AGRICULTURE AS A PROFESSION. 121

ologist, and see if he can recognize one half of the living forms of this little kingdom of life; take it to the botanist, well trained in the lower orders of plants, and see how many there are of these living forms with which he is familiar. Present the soil to the chemist, and while he can analyze it and determine the kind and amount of plant food it contains, yet he is unable to tell you whether this plant food can be made use of by the plant or not. When you think of it, is there any calling so broad, so multi- tudinous in its relations, so difficult, as that of agriculture? Count up the sciences which have not only a bearing upon but a most vital connection with agriculture: chemistry, botany, bacteriology, physiology, entomology, geology, soil physics, together with the vast and as yet scarcely formulated mysteries of plant and animal breeding (thermmatology). These are departments of knowledge which every successful farmer must use every day of his life. It is the work of a life-time to thoroughly master any one of these sciences, and yet, if such a thing were possible, the ideal farmer would be thoroughly familiar with each one of them. Chemistry deals with the nature of soils, the composition of plants and their relative feeding value at various stages, of growth, essential and non-essential elements of plants, the composition of fertilizers, and the best form in which to apply them. Not less important is the science of botany which aims to discover the laws of plant growth that lie at the foundation of successful crop production. Botany has produced new varieties of wheat and other cereals; has given us our seedless fruits, and revealed the nature and effect of our fungus diseases. Bacteriology, though comparatively a new science, has revealed the cause of some of the most serious diseases of plants and animals, and in many cases has been able to find means of treating them. Thus science has done away with a great many false ideas in regard to diseases of animals, and has shown the utter uselessness of many of the remedies formerly used for our domestic animals. Those familiar with the condition of much of the fruit grown by our orchardists can realize the importance of a knowledge of the workings of insects. Only the entomologist is able to say

how each insect may best be held in check. The growing demands made upon the soil, simultaneously with

122 IMPR0VEMEN7 ERA.

its decrease in productive power, together with the spread of weeds, of injurious insects, and of diseases of animals and plants, the close composition necessitating the production of varied crops, have so increased the difficulties of farming as to render an accu- rate and scientific knowledge of these various sciences an absolute necessity for the highest success in agriculture. 2. Agriculture requires careful study. It is true that agri-

culture has been successfully engaged in by many well-meaning people, who have given no study to their methods. Recently a farmer with much pride, called the writer's attention to a field which had successfully produced oats for the past twenty-five years. He confessed that the crops were gradually becoming lighter, that the soil was gradually decreasing in productive power.

The thoughtful student of agriculture is familiar with the wastes of burning sand, lands which once smiled with abundant harvests when occupied by the great empires of Assyria, Media and Phoeni- cia, seats of the greatest civilization of their day. The once fer- tile lands of Europe are becoming exhausted! Recently the writer received a publication from a Board of Agriculture of one of our eastern states, entitled "Abandoned Farms." The lack of informa- tion regarding the proper method of handling the soil for the re- tention of its fertility has led to a soil exhaustion, and conse- quent abandonment of excellent homesteads. The writer main- tains that we have no right to exhaust the soil of its food supply in one generation, when, by intelligent methods of culture and proper rotation of crops, the farm can pass on to succeeding gen- erations with a better supply of plant food than it had in its vir- gin state. The farmer who does not make a study of his business is still planting his crop in the "dark of the moon," while he who is in line with the research work which has been done along these lines, plants his crop in the light of all the laws which control the development of crops. 3. Agricultural operations can be carried on in accordance with scientific principles. The one fundamental labor of agricul- ture is the stirring and mixing of the soil. The effects of this simple practice are most numerous, complex and far-reaching, and the problems associated with it seem to be beyond the comprehen- sion of most farmers. When should the land be plowed; what is