338 ANNUAL REPORT, OF THE Off. Doc. 



a balanced ration almost equal to a professional dairyman, and he 

 owns the finest herd of Ayershire cows in Lackawanna county. It 

 pays to be a committeeman in a farmers' institute when there is a 

 desire for agricultural information and application made on the part 

 of the farmer to receive it. 



In order to have successful institutes, the committee should have 

 full confidence in the executive ability of their chairman, and the 

 co-operation mutual. One cannot succeed well without the help of 

 the other. It is far better for the chairman to resign his position 

 as soon as circumstances will permit, when he discovers that there 

 is an element of antagonism working against him in the institute 

 committee, rather than to persist in holding his position to the 

 detriment of the work. In our agricultural society, the chairman 

 does not alwaj'S appoint his committeeman. In accordance with our 

 by-laws he is elected each year by the local institute, to represent 

 their interests in the regular meeting. But in that meeting the 

 chairman can appoint others to assist when it meets with their 

 approval. Our committees, however, have always worked in har- 

 mony with the chairman, and our institutes have been for years a 

 satisfactory success. For all of this, much is due to the able and 

 satisfactory management of the Director of Institutes, Hon. A. L. 

 Martin, who has sent to us an excellent class of lecturers, and fur- 

 nished a sufficient amount of advertising material, for which we 

 are all very thankful. The ordinary farmer is many times greatly 

 helped by his attendance at the institute. Mr. George T. Powell, of 

 the State of New York, was at one time the Director of Farmers' 

 Institutes. He relates the following circumstances: At a certain 

 place, the institute meeting was to be held, and it was a fearful 

 rainy day. Only two persons beside himself came out. He walked 

 up and down the platform for some time, questioning, in his own 

 mind, just what would be best to do. He decided, however, that he 

 had better go down and speak to these two men. He did so, 

 and asked them how far they came. One had walked seven miles 

 in the rain, and the other not quite so far. He then decided that if 

 farmers would come that far in the rain, he would go on with the 

 institute alone. His first topic on the program w^as a talk on the 

 silo. He gave it as faithfully as he would to a full house. At the 

 close, one of these farmers came up to Mr. Powell and said: "Would 

 you advise me to build a silo under discouraging circumstances. 

 I have a farm, but it is mortgaged for more than it is worth, and 

 I am about discouraged." Mr. Powell told him that he could build 

 a silo on the inside of his barn for |40. If he could spare a cow and 

 sell her for |40, that would be money enough to built it. A number 

 of years afterward, Mr. Powell came into that neighborhood and 

 he enquired about this farmer. He was told that the man had built 



