198 ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



PAPERS READ AND ADDRESSES DELIVERED 

 AT THE ANNUAL MEETING OP THE FARM- 

 ERS NORMAL INSTITUTE, HELD AT NEW 

 CASTLE, PENNSYLVANIA, MAY 26-29, 1908. 



ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 



By liON. W. E. PoHfER, Judge of the Courts, Nnv Castle, Pa. 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: In behalf of the citizens 

 of Lawrence coauty, I extend to the Farmers' Annual Normal In- 

 stitute a most hearty v>'eleome. V-.'e appreciate, ladies and gentle- 

 men, the honor you have conferred upon our county and upon our 

 city in selecting this as your meeting place at this time. It must 

 have been a kindly sentiment, indeed, gentlemen, that led you to 

 select this place for your meeting, situated as it is on the western 

 border line of our State, and requiring long travel on the part of 

 many of you to reach us. During the sessions of your Institute, 

 we would be very glad to have you drive out into the surrounding 

 countr}' and see our farms, which we believe to be as fertile as 

 any in the Commonwealth, and meet our farmers who pride them- 

 selves upon their proficiency, and the citizens of the city, who pride 

 themselves no less upon fine farms than upon our prosperous and 

 great city of forty thousand population. Our mills and factories 

 are veritable bee-hives of industry. It is true that the sun is very 

 fre(]ueutly dbscnrcd by smoke, bnt this smoke iw onr pride, and 

 this cloud of smoke by day, and pillar of fire by night, is the source 

 of our prosperity, and it is with contentment that we can lie down 

 and hear at night the throbs of our ponderous engines. We ap- 

 preciate the honor of your meeting with us at this time; we are 

 glad to have you here to discuss those questions which should make 

 a success for the farmers of our Stnte. In all our great American 

 plans for the development of our cities, we often forget that unless 

 the farmer succeeds, our national success will go to nothing. 



It sometimes comes to me that we are not retaining as many 

 men on the farm .as we should. There are too many leaving the 

 farm and going into the cities; this is often due to lack of know- 

 ledge as to what a farm can be most profitably adapted to. There 

 is not sufficient time taken to instruct the rising generation in the 

 dignity of farm life, and the opportunity on the farm for culture 

 and refinement. It is a fact that we often find men believing that 

 little education is needed on the farm, and that farmers, like Topsy, 

 «imp]y ''grow." But this is a mistake; there is no vocation in 



