No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 263 



these schools was held at the last season occupying less time than four 

 days. In the County of Columbia, where there were two of those 

 schools held, there were eight days of Movable Institute Schools. 

 These meetings dilfer from the ordinary Farmers' Institutes in that 

 they take time to deliberate and develop a certain line of subjects. 

 Thus far we have taken up for the past two years three distinct 

 branches of operations carried on by the farmers of Pennsylvania, 

 namely, and possibly of first importance, the dairy interest. You know 

 the iniportance of this is a vast interest in Pennsylvania, and do you 

 know, my fellow farmers, to increase that nearly a million of dairy 

 cows in Pennsylvania it would possibly be a financial advantage to the 

 owners of the same if one-third of these cows were to-day turned off 

 to the butcher and the balance stabled, fed and cared for as the most 

 approved methods of the day in which we live would teach. In these 

 schools there is demonstration means of instruction. The Babcock 

 test in learning of the butter fat contents, for instance; and in most 

 of the places certain members of the class take hold of this work and 

 learn quite readily how to handle that little implement that tells so 

 much as to the profit or loss the dairyman is receiving from each of 

 his cows if he will only follow its direction. Indeed, in many of 

 these cases not only is the Babcock test used but the churn was ac- 

 tually brought into"^ these meetings and the butter churned and they 

 figured out the contents as to butter making in the lessons given. You 

 listened yesterday to the excellent instruction given by one of our lady 

 butter makers in Pennsylvania, developed along exactly the same line; 

 and hence the importance of this cannot be made too emphatic. The 

 profit to be attained from the dairy interests of the State to-day, my 

 fellow workers, depends upon the manner in which each and every cow 

 is handled and our efi'orts is to develop greater profit from them. 



Now again the other two lines taken up in this school work are 

 poultry and horiiculture: Horticulture requires a line of cultivation 

 to develop the growth of the tree and fruit from the soil of Pennsyl- 

 vania and by reason of its peculiar conditions is indeed tending to de- 

 velop probably the highest type of manhood, and hence we employ the 

 best experts that we can procure to develop lessons in the various 

 and most important lines in selection of the trees the selection of the 

 plot for the orchard, the planting, cultivation, harvesting of the fruits 

 and the marketing of the same. 



And then again the last of the three lessons developed at these 

 movable schools is that of poultry. We are just beginning to realize, 

 my friends, the possibilities, the reasonable business possibilities and 

 profits that can be attained in poultry lines. Indeed, the best figures 

 that I can procure from Pennsylvania for last year are that from the 

 sale of eggs alone in the State of Pennsylvania over |20,000,000 were 

 procured. That says nothing about the value of the poultry, the value 

 of the poultry buildings and the money invested in all these things, 

 I am guaranteed in saying that there has not been developed a greater 

 profit for the money invested in poultry in either the cow or the or- 

 chard. So we are developing along in these movable schools, teaching 

 the most approved methods in the modified class form. They seem to 

 be rapidly taking fast hold on the farmers of Pennsylvania. I have 

 many requests for movable schools in several of the counties where 

 they have not yet been held and most of the counties that has had 

 schools within the last two years are to-day asking for same the com- 

 ing season. 



