No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUJtE. 647 



^impose and ,sc'i\(_'d it well, Iml, liiioiigli I In- inruriiuilioii lliiis (li> 

 st'iniiiated, tlio people lunc, of uecesyity, iiuule advances along" all 

 lines and they now demand more and better instruction. It will 

 no longer do to take the progressive farmer over from one district 

 or country into adjoining territory to instruct his brother farmer. 

 Both have been studying from tlie same sources and what the one 

 wants to know the other has failed to learn. The demand is not 

 for more but better instruction. The call is for scientilic instruc- 

 tion. (Just what was repudiated five years ago). Farmers have 

 reached the position where they can make the application if they 

 have the approved method. That we have most able and excellent 

 instructors on the institute force goes without question. That we 

 need more of this class is equally patent. That the farmer is ready 

 to use his influence to aid in securing this is just as true. The sug- 

 gestion made yesterday by our most worthy Deputy Secretary, Mr. 

 Martin, that a week of normal instruction be given the instructors 

 preparatory for next winter's work was most excellent and timely 

 and much good is certain to accrue. This summer or fall meeting, if 

 cari'ied forward on the plans outlined by Mr. Martin, will certainly 

 prove a long stride in the right direction and we all hail its an- 

 nouncement with uumingled pleasure. 



There is one class intimately connected with this work that has 

 been obliged to see the bright side by climbing up and peeping over 

 and doing it at their own risk and expense. They may not be 

 scientists. Thev need not be classical men. Thev must be w'orkers 

 and managers. I refer to the local county chairmen, generally 

 members of the State Board of Agriculture. About the only func- 

 tion of this Board to-day is to attend the annual meeting 

 at their own expense to receive instruction to take home to our 

 respective counties and disseminate without compensation. The 

 chairman who will make his institutes a success must begin his 

 work in June and keep it up in a quiet but persistent way for the 

 next six months, and then give a solid week at the meeting, driving, 

 possibly, a hundred miles over all sorts of roads and in uncertain 

 weather. For the next six months he is plied with questions by 

 telephone and by mail, each demanding an intelligent answer, and 

 all for love of the cause with thirteen niilli ms of doll us in the State 

 Treasury. There may have been a time when such sacrifice on the 

 part of the members of this r>oard was necessary and commendable, 

 but to continue this practice under existing circumstances is ques- 

 tionable policy. The State is sending out men to assure the farmer 

 that he cannot expect his boy to do good work and be loyal if he 

 does not grant him remuneration, and at tlie same time it is asking 

 the members of this Board to be loyal, faithful and industrious, but 

 refuses them compensation or recognition. Tlie hobo is paid to 



