No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURtl. 246 



things to be considered that I have thought it wise to jot dowh a 

 few points that I can give to you and bring out in this general line of 

 work, and possibly weave around them and intertwine with them 

 some thought that may possibly be useful to you in the magnificent 

 work that you are doing, and will be called upon to do in the future. 



There are some things about this subject with which you are very 

 familiar, especially with the practical nature of it. I can safely say, 

 without being disputed, that Pennsylvania has produced more farm- 

 ers' institute workers of a practical character than any other state 

 in the Union. Now I do not except the great State of New York or 

 that other state nearly as great, Ohio. But I must say that Penn- 

 sylvania has gotten out in the highways and byways and brought 

 forth some of the best public speakers in the institute work of the 

 United States to-day. 



Now, I say this in all fairness to other states. We realize that in 

 New York and that is why we want some Pennsylvanians with us in 

 our work. Ohio is reaching over the line and getting them there- 

 Maryland, West Virginia and other states in the vicinity are doing" 

 the same thing. There is some reason for this. It simply means 

 that at the head of this great department you have a man who is un- 

 equaled in his understanding of agricultural conditions; and in re- 

 ferring to my good friend, Mr. Martin, I know that one of his strong- 

 est points is the fact that he can put his finger on a man in any sec- 

 tion of the State who has done something to uplift and help agri- 

 culture. When we get back of- the whole thing we find there is 

 always somebody who is leading; somebody who is able to differen- 

 tiate from this great mass of the people who were good farmers, and 

 bring out those particular individuals who have made a success of 

 some one particular thing. If there ever was a time when it was nec- 

 essary for a man, and particularly for a farmer, to concentrate his 

 thought on some thing, it is now. He must be a specialist along 

 some certain lines, which will bring him the dollars and cents. That 

 is what you are working for_, and what you are looking for. Nothing 

 has afforded me more pleasure in my life's experience, and given 

 me more inspiration, than the history I wrote a couple years ago of 

 one of your farmers whose methods have been heralded throughout 

 Pennsylvania and the borders of the United States; not only that,, 

 but throughout the entire world. It is sufficient for me to say that 

 I have had pass over my desk, printed in seven different languages,, 

 the accounts of that famous fifteen-acre dairy farm of the Rev. Dr.. 

 Detrich. 



Now there is a principle back of all this. In the first place, the- 

 man at the head; in the next place, the scientific and fundamental; 

 principles that underlie all forms of agriculture. Whether you differ- 

 entiate those into horticulture, animal husbandry, or graia. and geCi- 



