No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 277 



know, Erie county is practically a dairy county, and I am right in 

 the midst of the dairy section in the southern part, and what I may 

 have to say will refer principally to the topic of dairying. Now in 

 regard to the county chairman. The first thing he has to attend to 

 is attention, and to get attention he must get his audience to work, 

 and in order to get his audience to work, he must get his speakers 

 out in front where they can be seen and heard. I was very glad 

 to see that brought out here. I was very glad to see that these 

 chairmen were called out as they were here, and the five minutes' 

 limitation that was given us, was a good point illustrated here in 

 this meeting, because there are chairmen here and there are lecturers 

 that would take the whole time, if permitted, and there are chairmen 

 here and many of them, myself among the number, who would not 

 have got up and said anything unless we were called out. 



There is one thing that I want to mention, that I am sorry to see 

 in our meetings here. I have observed that our lecturers are the 

 ones who do the most whispering. Now it is very embarrassing to 

 the chairman of a local institute to be annoyed in that way. While 

 we are not annoyed in our local meetings in that way, we are here. 

 Of course you lecturers are not especially interested, probably, in 

 these discussions in reference to the duties of the county chairmen, 

 and you don't care to hear what we say, so you get among yourselves 

 and talk, and it does annoy our meeting. 



As I have said, get your speakers out in front; I think that is the 

 first thing to do. Many times it is hard work for the local manager 

 to get his speakers out in front of his audience so that they can be 

 heard. They will stand back, and the}- will get twisted around side- 

 ways and it creates an uneasiness and there is difficulty in hearing, 

 and the audience soon tires, even the professors and our superin- 

 tendents of schools are sometimes quite diffident about getting out in 

 front. They want to get up and speak where they are, but I say, 

 bring them out to the front. 



Another thing I think is quite important, and that is, for the chair- 

 men to surround themselves with two or three good helpers; good 

 responsible men that he knows will be there. I might, if I had time, 

 give you a little experience that I had last winter. My helpers all 

 fell off but one, but he was a man that I could depeud upon and we 

 pushed our institute right through. One-half of our speakers did 

 not appear, but still we made a success of it, so I say, surround your- 

 selves with two or three or four good responsible meu who will staud 

 right by you, and you will make it a success everytime. Let there 

 be an institute located where the people want it. If the people do 

 not ask for institutes you will have hard work to get such communi- 

 ties interested in the institute work, and to gri them to do the work 

 required to make an institute a suocess. 



