No. 5. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 241 



THE MOVABLE SCHOOL: WHAT TOPICS, AND HOW SAME 

 CAN BE BEST DIVIDED TO MEET LOCAL CONDITIONS 



DR. M. E. CONARD, Westgrove, Pa. 



Ladies and Gentlemen: I didn't know I was to be called on to 

 speak on this subject, and I hardly know just how to present it, al- 

 though Mr. Weld and I have talked it over a great many times. I 

 know that he had a better report formulated for presentation here, 

 on such changes as might suggest themselves as being desirable, than 

 I can give you. These schools have been in service for a numljer of 

 years, and I think I am correct in saying that there is an increased 

 demand for them. Am I right? 



DIRECTOR MARTIN: Nearly double. 



DR. CONARD: It seems to me that it is a better procedure to 

 discuss special topics a little more thoroughly than can be done in 

 the Institute. At a regular two day session of the Institute there 

 are certain things that the community wants discussed — corn-grow- 

 ing, stock breeding, or some particular thing, and it seems impossible 

 to completely cover the subject in the time allotted to it. If, how- 

 ever, a man from the Department of Horticulture could go on in 

 advance and talk to them for two days, and then the dairyman fol- 

 low for another two, these subjects, or any others that the com- 

 munity might want, in the same manner, could be discussed in de- 

 tail. We sometimes find ourselves cast on dry land, where we can- 

 not do much good, because the community is not interested in our 

 particular subject. Is that so, Wittman? 



MR. WITTMAN: No; I can't say that I find it so. 



DR. CONARD: Well, perhaps that is not so in poultry, but it 

 is so in dairying, and it seems almost impossible to create an in- 

 terest in dairying where it is not a logical thing to discuss. We 

 have felt, at times, that it might be advisable for the school crops 

 to be divided, so that the dairy end of it could go into the dairy 

 district, and another end of it into some other district in the same 

 manner; or at least have the two follow each other up, so that there 

 might be time to discuss the subject in detail, but we feel that it 

 might be better to send each interest where they are called for. The 

 subjects to be discussed would have to be regulated somewhat by 

 the community. The dairy people might discuss butter-making or 

 milk shipping, as to locality. If they were away from a railroad 

 where they have no facilities for shipping their milk, it would be a 

 mere matter of turning it into stock raising; where they have good 

 shipping facilities, it would be more logical to discuss it from the 

 milk shippers' standpoint. Each department could be conducted 

 along the same end. I don't know; I think I would suggest, per- 

 haps — Mr. Martin only spoke to me about two minutes ago, and I 

 have not had time to get this thing in my mind yet — but it seems 



16—5—1914 



