No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 815 



In most of the places where 1 have done work the story teller is not 

 wanted. For the time being he has the house, and his stories will 

 be rehearsed at the corner grocery and bar-room and other gather- 

 ings, where every solid thing is forgotten. As a matter of fact people 

 get so full of the stories that they have no room for anything else. 

 Deliver me from working with the professional story teller. A story 

 with a lewd or immoral interpretation never shoud be tolerated. 

 I once saw one of the ablest agricultural lecturers this country has, 

 disgust the better part of a large audience at a State meeting, by 

 one statement with a lewd interpretation. The apparent fact that it 

 was not a slip of the tong-ue, was what made it unpardonable. I 

 think he has never been invited to that state since. 



As I see it to-day, a story in an institute talk is only permissible 

 either because it really and forcibly illustrates a point, or is needed 

 to wake up a dull audience. A fact made clear or emphatic by an 

 illustration is always desirable. As a rule the most forcible speakers 

 use illustrations. 



What about charts? Always desirable as long as they are not 

 complex, for they are readily seen and comprehended. The mind can 

 take in more from the eye-gate and ear-gate, than by the latter 

 alone. Many things are hard to describe by word of mouth. A 

 picture will show more in a minute, often, than will ten minutes 

 talk. Few formulas can be carried in the mind. From a chart 

 they can be copied. This coming winter, I shall to a greater extent 

 than ever before hand out printed sheets containing tables, directions 

 and fomulas, given in the lectures. Of many charts I have seen, the 

 less said the better. They were fearfully and wonderfully made, 

 and the figures on them might have been taken for the beasts in the 

 Apochr3'pha. Better none than such. 



FOR SUBJECTS. 



It is a mistake for a man to try to cover the whole field of 

 agriculture in his address. Better a few subjects in which a man 

 lias a message than many talks. If a man becomes known as an au- 

 thority in some things, his advice will be sought after. People 



know T. B. Terry because of his potatoes and Todd for his 



hogs, "tloe." Wing for his alfalfa and "Bob" Seeds for his cow-horn 

 turnips. 



A bright young man, Avith Avhom I worked in Ohio, was talking 

 on horses and sheep, and doing it well. It was his first winter, and 

 he seemed to think he lacked because he had not a feeding topic. I 

 advised him to stick to his specialties and when he had made a repu- 

 tation with them, then add the talk on feeding. Several times I have 

 been asked for a man to speak on horses and sheep, and I have been 

 glad to recommend my young friend. Would I ever have thought of 

 him again if he had no specialty? 



Avoid many general topics. Some men list half a dozen with titles 

 that attract. I have generally found that no matter what the title 

 the same talk in substance followed. A good wrought out general 

 lecture is a help to any man, and happy is he who has one or two 

 such, but not every man is adapted to that kind of work, and one not 

 so adapted will in no way lessen his value if he sticks to his practica,] 

 themes. 



