No. 6. DEPAUTMKXT OF A(iKICULTUUE. 227 



Ai)i)Rj':ss OF wp:lc()mk 



By HON. R. C. McMaster, Adamsville, Pa. 



Mr. Cliainnan, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Farmers' 

 Normal Institute: I am glad to have the pleasure of say- 

 ing a Nery lew words of welcome to you to-day. Being introduced 

 to an audience always remnids me of an old story that I heard re- 

 lated of Jo.'^h Billings. Josh IJilliTigs was a humorous lecturer of 

 some years ago and he was engaged by a club down at Plain field, 

 N. J., to deliver a lecture, and tlie club had selected a young man 

 of great ambitions to introduce Josh to the audience. When the 

 time came for the introduction, the young man a})j)eared all togged 

 up in great shape and seemed to think a great deal more about him- 

 self than he did obout Josh, and he commenced in this way, becoming 

 somewhat confused as to what he was there for, said: "I am not 

 Josh Billings, nor his wife, nor his son, nor liis daughter, nor his 

 man servant, nor his maid servant, nor his ox"— and there he stopped 

 and left old Josh to wade out. 



My friends, it is my pleasure indeed to welcome you to old Craw- 

 ford county. We feel proud of old Crawford county. It is written of 

 the cnuntv that it has been the best dairy county in the State of Penn- 

 sylvania. We welcome 3'ou here. We welcome you to Conneaut 

 Lake, the most beautiful and the largest lake in the State of Pennsyl- 

 vania. We welcome 3'ou here for what you represent, the whole 

 State of Pennsylvania, wliich is a good deal. We welcome you for 

 the i^ur])0se that you come liere. You come here for the exchange 

 of thought which elevates mankind. You come here, as I understand, 

 for the diffusion of knoAvledge along the line of fnrminir, wliich has 

 done so much in the past for the farming interests nnd will con- 

 tinue to do more in the future. 



The farming interest is tlie greatest industry in the world; it 

 has been so since Adam hid behind the apple tree, and will continue 

 to be so. It is the industry uj)on which all other iiulnstries, great 

 industries, are founded. It is the foundation of all other industries, 

 and it is the industry that feeds the world and will continue to 

 feed the world, and we trust that your meeting here will be profit- 

 able along this line, the (exchange of thought whii^h helps nl^ng, 

 which has done so much in the past. As one item orcnr.^ to me 

 recently, I can remember in these beautifnl vnlleys and hills of ours 

 here at this time of the year when your meadows were red wiih 

 soil, ruined with soil, that Avould not produce one quarter of a crop 

 and farmers that I talked with did not know what to do and had 

 no remedy to overcome it at that time, but now. through influences 

 just like you exercise, the distribution of knowledge, the ditTusion of 

 knowledge, tliat has all been overcome to a great extent and the.^se 

 same meadows now are ])roducing bountiful crops. This is only one 

 result of one item of your line and there are mnny and we are 

 pleased to have vou work along this line. We hope that your meet- 



