No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 191 



RESrONSE TO ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 



Bv Mtt. ALVA AGBE, Wooster, Ohio. 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Genticiuen: The privilege of a response 

 came to me unexpectedly a few moments ago. While thanking 

 President Atherton for his kind words of welcome, I want to say for 

 the farmers everywhere that we have learned to feel at home at our 

 agricultural colleges. W"e have learned to come to the college ex- 

 periment stations for all the facts that we need. Now that was not 

 true twenty years ago. I do not believe it was hardly true a dozen 

 years ago. We, as farmers^ didn't know there were facts here that 

 we wanted. We hardly realized what attitude these scientists pre- 

 sented to us as working farmers; but that day has changed, and it 

 seems to me one of the best facts that we can present, that to-day 

 all over this country the progressive men among the farmers are the 

 true friends of the agricultural colleges of their states because they 

 have learned that through these colleges they can obtain that which 

 they need in their own life-work. I recall the fact that as a farmer 

 I had gone to my own experiment station for one thing concerning 

 the croj) that I am most interested in, that was worth many hundreds 

 of dollars to me, and to the experiments at State College I owe thanks 

 for information as to another fact, that I converted into hundreds of 

 dollars on my own farm. We are, therefore, to-day the friends of 

 the agricultural colleges and experiment stations. 



Now, friends, the pleasantest thought that came to me in that 

 address of welcome, was the public assurance of President Atherton, 

 that I received from him Monday in private conversation, that the 

 State College proposes, as soon as we give it the money, to put in 

 a course of instruction that would fit our youth who propose to re- 

 turn to the farm to live. 



President Atherton well says that we must train our youth to go 

 into the cities and cope with those in the cities; but the great need 

 to-day over this country of ours is not so much the recruiting of the 

 cities as it is to revive and save our agriculture. There is serious 

 danger that our lands are going into the hands of large and absentee 

 landlords, that the brighest farmer boys are going to go into more 

 lucrative life-work, and we want here, at State College, a course of 



