230 ANNUAL REPORT Ol- THK Off. Doc. 



doubt the kind, beneficent and loving purpose and law of that divin- 

 ity which directs and fixes the course of our every day lives and 

 recompenses our toil and endeavors according to our deserts, ever 

 bringing us closer together and more in accordance with Him, who 

 furnishes the soil we till and gives the needed intelligence to fill 

 our allotted place in the great plan of human economy. We are 

 placed here to help each other. No man can live for himself and by 

 himself and prosper. In that community where there is free inter- 

 course there are marks of thrift and comfort on every hand and the 

 outside w^orld recognizes it. 



It very often occurs to me that the chief reason why so many 

 farmers fail to get their full share of comfort out of their homes and 

 their home life is because they live too much within the confines of 

 the farm and the building called the home. They are too selfish 

 and egotistical. Too often they are heard to say, "I have worked 

 hard and taken very little rest. This farm is in better condition and 

 the buildings are much larger and better than when father was liv- 

 ing, and what was good enough for father and mother is good 

 enough for me and my wife." Now, he is honest in his opinion; 

 he believes what he says, or the greater part of it, because he has 

 not acquainted himself with his surroundings. If he would employ 

 the leisure that comes to him, in common with all farmers, in visit- 

 ing in a social way among his neighbors and friends, both in and 

 beyond his immediate community and take his good wife with him, 

 they would see the advances and improvements, and discuss them 

 and adopt some of them, until they would learn that the shortest 

 and best way to success on the farm is by keeping abreast of the 

 times. 



While this farmer is thus im])roving his mind and making his 

 home and surroundings much more comfortable and valuable by 

 his social intercourse with the world about him, he is also learning 

 new methods of farming and feeding, and discovering new and better 

 markets for his products; catching the latest style of dressing his 

 pork and beef for the market, packing his butter, eggs, vegetables 

 and fruit so that they will open up nicely when delivered; and in 

 the multitude of little things never thought of before he is now 

 adding to his comfort, his wealth, and his standing in the commu- 

 nity, without adding one cent to the cost of living or production. 

 More than this, bv social intercourse farmers learn what varietv of 

 corn, oats, wheat and other grain is giving the best results, and seed 

 is procured, one from the other, and the crops are improved without 

 the cost of experiments by each. The same is true of stock. How 

 easy to find a farmer who thinks a cow that yields 125 pounds of 

 butter or the sheep that shears 3 pounds of wool is a first class ani- 

 mal, until he learns that a neighbor, whom he does not consider 



