248 ANNUAL RKPORT. OP THE Off. Doc. 



myriad forms of life. Books are not the original sources of educa- 

 tion or information. Some of us, at least;, consider them artificial; 

 yes, even second-baud. Boolvs are mere aids and sliould thus be con- 

 sidered by the real teacher. Do not understand that I underesti- 

 mate the value of books. Far from it. In them experience must be 

 preserved; history recorded; great problems in social, economic and 

 political life must be preserved. Yet in the face of all this, do we 

 not tell our children too much; do they not rely more upon a faint 

 and scanty knowledge of recorded facts and the experiences of others 

 rather than incidents in their own lives? This principle is not con- 

 fined to the children alone; but many of us older ones are apt to 

 think that grandfather's methods, usually preserved in an unwrit- 

 ten book, are good enough for us. The records of practical, everyday 

 experiences are far more important. The man who observes that he 

 can produce five bushels more wheat on an acre, by using a new 

 variety equally as good, would be unwise, indeed, to stick to the old 

 seed, used for generations on the same farm. We should be on the 

 lookout for something better. Nothing is so good that improvement 

 of some sort is not possible. 



Methods of farm management are constantly changing, conse- 

 quently the v.'ork of the instructor, teacher and institute speaker 

 varies accordingly. A successful teacher may be one who has mas- 

 tered his subject by familiarizing himself with the work of some- 

 body else and is capable of imparting this knowledge to others; bet- 

 ter still, he may be the possessor of his facts by actual experience 

 and capable to tell in a plain, simple style how he produced his re- 

 sults. Fortunately, this latter class of teachers (they might be 

 called farm missionaries) are increasing rapidly. The effects of 

 this sort of practical instruction are far reaching and it seems that 

 we are approaching nearer the goal of "true art in instruction" than 

 ever before. We find it gradually creeping into our city schools. It 

 has already changed systems and methods of teaching; it has opened 

 up new avenues in the rural districts; it is making the older occu- 

 pants of our farms "scratch their heads and think." Never was there 

 an age when practical knowledge was more eagerly sought; hence 

 the necessity of skilled artists in instruction. Was there ever a 

 time when the call for volunteers was made public, that the response 

 was more promptly answered by "Here am I." It came from the 

 farms of the State. No better confirmation of this fact is needed 

 than the volunteers in the Farmers' Institute Department in Penn- 

 sylvania and other states. 



Each one of you had a duty to perform to yourselves and your 

 family. You have succeeded by "doing things" where others have 

 failed. Some of you have taken abandoned farms, scarred with the 

 experience of poor management and made them, not only profitable, 



