24 Third Annual Report 



they could not answer all those questions and more, that I should 

 feel very sorry for them. I try to impress upon the students the 

 matter of definiteness. Aj^riculture will teach us the thin^-s we 

 ought to know if we are to be farmers. How much money can 

 you make on hay; how many tons of hay to the acre can be 

 raised? If a farmer cuts three tons he is doing well; if he has 

 two tons left over after expense of harvesting is deducted, he 

 has to get that to market ; sometimes he is satisfied if he makes 

 the two tons clear per acre, to net him $15 a ton. If he has 20 

 tons of hay and he sells it for $15 a ton, there is $300. That is 

 a possibility, if you are a $300 man. If you are a $1000 man, 

 then you must do something else. How are you going to do it? 



The matter of book keeping is an important one. The keep- 

 ing of books gives a man an idea of what the possibilities are 

 in his farming, and what he can really do with his different 

 crops. 



Apple growing is one of the finest industries, and can be 

 made especially so with a little concentration and definiteness of 

 purpose. A man who owns a farm cannot make a marked suc- 

 cess of apple growing vmless he knows something of horticulture. 

 It is a step in advance from all-around agriculture, particularly if 

 he is looking for that sort of thing. 



Currant growing is also an industry in which there is a 

 good profit, and I could give you several instances that have 

 come under my personal observation, where with little capital to 

 do with, but a good market, business has been developed in the 

 growing of currants. Each of these cases has been successful 

 because of concentration and definiteness of purpose. 



The only trouble with, horticulture is, it is too broad. We 

 have the same trouble with horticulture as with agriculture. You 

 ask what we teach in horticulture. Pomology, for one thing. 

 About the orchard, apple, peach, trees, etc. ; we go into their 

 culture, which has been and is an industry in itself. Besides, 

 small fruits, — raspberries and blackberries, — the red and black 

 cap raspberries, the currant, gooseberries, strawberries, etc. I 

 think there are 15 subjects and I have to^ hustle as fast and as 

 hard as I can to just go over, so the men will know a little 

 something about them, in pomology alone. 



Then there is vegetable gardening; we give the men a 

 course in that, and also a course in the greenhouse, and in labor- 

 atory work, too. \Vc take the work among the plants, and have 

 the student take cuttings and set them and mix the soil, — and 

 at the end of the two years' course he should know something 

 about their general culture. 



I have hundreds of ideas I wish to bring out, but on ac- 

 count of limited time, it will be impossible to consider many of 



