1902.] THE- CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. Ill 



THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



By Acting President R. W. Stimson. 



Mr. Chairman, and ladies 5nd gentlemen: It gives me the 

 greatest pleasure to stand here as the representative of an in- 

 stitution which is working for the betterment of the farmer 

 and his family, the Connecticut Agricultural College. 



That Connecticut farming presents a field for improvement 

 is beyond question. The trouble is that the average farmer 

 finds the task of improvement too difficult, if not impossible. 

 My father is a New England farmer, and so was his. My 

 mother's father was a farmer. Go back in any direction you 

 please along the lines of my lineage, stop at any of the fire- 

 sides of my early people, and you will find that my ancestors 

 have been agriculturists. It is no secret to me, therefore, as 

 it is no secret to you, that the routine of the farmer is unceas- 

 ing, that the duties of the seasons are heavy, that the days are 

 short and the nights mere nothings, and that the strife for a 

 competence grows fiercer every day in proportion as the 

 standards of living become higher. The instituition I repre- 

 sent stands, nevertheless, for knowledge and skill in agri- 

 culture; and knowledge and skill, no matter how difficult 

 they may be of attainment, must be had if the farming of Con- 

 necticut is to prosper. 



How to get knowledge and skill, scientific ideas and the 

 best methods of their application, this is the problem of the 

 farmer. Your presence here today is an indication of your 

 appreciation of that fact. The bulletins of the agricultural 

 experiment stations which you apply for, which you study, and 

 which your neighbors find you turning to account upon your 

 farms, are other proofs of your interest and determination to 

 advance. But how many of the farmers of this State are 

 getting all they would like to get out of the valuable scientific 

 papers that come to their hands? And is it not true that 

 probably the best that these meetings of the State Board of 

 Agriculture will be able to do for you will be to give you in- 

 spiration rather than fact, the awakening touch rather than 

 the guiding hand? It is not much studying that a man can 

 do when the spring and summer work comes on; and it is not 

 long of a winter evening after working in the fierce cold all 

 day that a man can fight sleep from his eyelids, once the warm 



