No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 475 



1 mean, we must encourage evei'TtMng that tends to distribute in- 

 formation among the farmers that will be of value to them in their 

 calling. 



I understand, Mr. Chairman, that some of our friends here are 

 talking up a State Fair. That is one form and an important form of 

 agricultural education. Some of our states are making a great deal 

 out of their State Fair. Pennsylvania should do as much in this di- 

 rection as the best. There is our State College that needs help to 

 make it most serviceable to the State, our State Department of Agri- 

 culture needs the support, sj'mpathy and help of all of our agricul- 

 tural people, needs a lot of money to do its work, and needs addi- 

 tional force of men properly equipped for work. So also the State 

 Board, to which agriculture is perhaps indebted as much as to any 

 other influence in our State, the old State Board is beginning to feel 

 that they are still of use in the State of Pennsylvania, and are taking 

 a hand in this great uplifting that is going on. It must be a gratifi- 

 cation to the older men who are here, to see the fruitage that is 

 coming from the efforts that they have been making for the last 

 twenty-five years. 



To show how leading business men regard this revival of agricul- 

 ture, in talking with a gentleman in this city who is a banker, said: 

 "Up until a short time ago, electricity was the great thing in this 

 country; the leading interest, and along those lines there was be- 

 lieved to be the greatest development," but he says now "agriculture 

 is the greatest thing in this country, and agricultural education is the 

 greatest thing in agriculture." So that you can see how business 

 men, bankers and professional men everywhere are coming to realize 

 that the calling that we have adopted is the leading profession, and 

 the country is needing more than all else competent agricultural 

 teachers, and skilled agriculturists. 



I am very much pleased to meet with the old State Board and to 

 renew this acquaintenance that has been so delightful through all 

 these years. I hope that the near future will show to you the 

 realization of the things that you have been working for during the 

 years in which the Board has been organized, and that it will be a 

 justification for the existence of the Board and a full reward for all 

 the labor, money and effort which you have expended during the 

 time you have existed as a Board in Pennsylvania. 



MR. BLYHOLDER (in the Chair) : We certainly feel very thankful 

 for the words of good cheer and encouragement from our Ex-Sec- 

 retary. 



We shall now proceed according to our program and take up the 

 next subject, "The Breeding of Cereals," by Prof. Thomas F. Hunt, 

 of Ithaca, N. Y. I have the pleasure, gentlemen, of introducing 

 Prof. Hunt. 



While Prof. Hunt was arranging some charts to be used in his 

 address, the Executive Committee reported as follows: 



