434 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Mr. Daniel Ptrnnjjo siijrjiosted the advisabilitv of having a bust iu 

 l)i'(»ii/.e of IM't'sidcnt T. C Abbot. 



Siiort rcniaiks wori' also made l).v M. D. (MiaHoi-lon, Jolin E, Taylor, 

 John 1. IJrock and J. 1). Towar. 



On motion the meetinj,' adjourned. 



O. C. HOWE, Rr?cretary. 



ALUMNI LITKKARY EXERCISES. 



At the close of the fu'st business nieetinp:, the alumni assembled in 

 the (•hai)el for the literary ex(>rcisps. The ])ro<>i'am included addresses 

 b.v the pi-esident and historian, the oration and the necroloj^y, and 

 flosed with the presentation of a bust of President Willits by Prof. P. 

 M. Chamberlain, '88, in behalf of the members of the Delta Tau Delta 

 Fraternity. 1 he session was enlivened with son<>s bv the Mozart quar- 

 tette— F. W. Cowley, with 'U3, Gage Christopher, with '93, C. S. Joslyn 

 and L. B. Tompkins. 



PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 

 THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF FARMERS' CHILDREN. 



CHARLES L. BEMIS, '74. 



This is the last meeting of this association for this century. ^Ve, like 

 the c(uitury, are passing away; but these meetings will continue as long 

 as this institution exists, and I can see no reason why it should not 

 exist, and under greater fortune than now, for centuries to come. 



^^'e were all boi-n in this century and received our education in its 

 last half. Our Alma Mater was born in this century and stands today 

 the oldest agricultural college in the United States. Not only is she 

 the oldest, but from the establishment of similar institutions in this 

 count ly she has stood at the head and is the one after w^hlch all the 

 othei-s have patterned. 



At the beginning of this century there were no specific efforts made 

 to educate farmers. It came in as a subordinate study in other schools 

 much as l)0()kkee])ing or a commercial course now does. It was thought 

 that anyone could be a farmer, that it required no culture and no ability 

 to think beyond the merest routine of planting seeds and gathering 

 the harvest. 



"Why should farmers be educated? This question I have often asked 

 myself and have as often been asked it of others. It is urged that 

 farnuM'S are only tillers of the soil and as such«require no education. 

 For one to make such a statement argues ignorance of facts on his part, 

 or carelessness or wilfulness in not giving th» subject sufficient 

 thought to come to a reasonable conclusion. 



