New Jersey Agricultural College - Four Leaf Clover Yearbook (New Brunswick, NJ)

Page 98 text:

The Forge Shop lt is the Short Course blacksmith shop that most appeals to us, W' ith Mr. Holfman and his forge to keep us company. You take some soft pine shavings and mix them with the coal, Then with a match you start the thing and the smoke begins to roll. The room is small, the ceiling low, the ventilation poor, Your eyes they run, your nose you blow, you cough and sneeze and roar Then you see a ligure faintly standing by the door. It is Mr. Hoffman praying the boys will smoke no more. And when the smoke has cleared a bit you pound and pound away Upon a. piece of red-hot iron the balance of the day. If we could get Boss Minkler to some day come inside, We know 'twoulcl take some urging, and none of us have tried, We are sure he would see the hardship of this suffocating job, And if he stayed there long enough we're sure his head would throb. So now our poem is hnished, but some day we hope to see A decent shop upon the hill, where the old one used to be. 97 C73

Page 97 text:

Or if old Adam's trade you'd fain To fullest measure know, You'll hear about Montana's plain, Or hills of Idaho, But when you come to Jersey soils All information ends, None yet has studied local styles, On which lt all depends. And if a working horse you keep, Or dairy cow you own, Be economical, not cheap, In building flesh and bone: And doubt all balanced rations And concentrated blends, They need strict investigation, Because, it all depends. Or study soil fertility Until you're blue of face, You'l1 hear of N, and K, and P, Of acid and of base: Some you may choose and some reject, As science or custom tends, Still you're but partially correct, Because, it all depends. Or go to lecture or to quiz On entomology, You'll hear the meatmorphosis Of bug and moth and flea. But if to poison or repel Your inclination bends, You've got to know the mouth-parts well On these it all depends. In poultry and in forage crops Those words still largely loom, When drinking in the knowledge drops Re broiler or legume. You'1l hear them in the blacksmith shop, Where heat the steel extends, Or where the wood you cut and chop, The words- it all depends. And so, young man, in after years, VVhen busy farmers come, To tell their troubles and their fears, And ask what should be done, just look as one who sees the wayg To know it all pretendsg Then shake your head, look wise, and say, My friend, 'it all dependsf 96

Page 99 text:

A More Efficient Short Course x BY josnrrr R. BERDAN. FFICIENCY in agriculture is the prime object of the State in providing the Short Courses, and it is only with a desire to increase this efhciency that any suggestions relating to the school curriculum may reasonably be made. The eight years elapsing since the inauguration of Short Course work by the State of New Jersey has witnessed great development in this direction, and a constant effort to fit the courses to the growing and ever-changing needs of the student body has been always evident. That further improvement may still be made is only natural, and it is with the hope of aiding such improve- ment that the suggestions here made are offered. There is probably no occupation in which environment plays such an im- portant part as in the practice of farming. The student entering an agricul- tural course should be positive that he is temperamentally fitted for agricultural work and that rural life is to be fully as attractive to him as life in the town or city. Completion of a Short Course term by the student lacking familiarity with actual farm. conditions, only to find that prolonged association with such surroundings is distasteful, would not only involve useless expense on his part in pursuing his studies, but would entail an actual loss to the State in the investment it has made in the education of that individual. Such a result might be reasonably obviated by an entrance requirement of at least one year's practical farm experience. This requirement would naturally add to the efficiency of the courses by placing the entire student body on a more common footing and by furnishing a sounder basis for the successful study of the sub- jects offered. A The duration of the course is necessarily limited by the period of compara- tive inactivity on the farm, and yet the wide range of work to be covered would seem to make a somewhat longer course desirable. By the lengthening of the term to seventeen weeks, or from November first to March first, the subjects offered might be more thoroughly absorbed without serious interfer- ence with the farm program through the student's extended absence from his home. 98