174 ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



speaking to you in my own native town to-day; glad that my last 

 official connection with the State Board of Agriculture is in the town 

 of Clearfield. I hope you will enjoy your stay here, and that you 

 will find it both pleasant and profitable. 



The county of Clearfield has taken a front rank in the institute 

 work, and during the last year we held twenty-four days of con- 

 tinous institute work in the county. I don't know what we will 

 be able to do in the future, for the good Book says, "Let not him 

 that putteth on his harness, boast like him that taketh it off." I 

 Avant to apologize for the slimness of the attendance at this after- 

 noon's session, which is due to the fact that there is a couA^ention 

 in session at the other side of the river, and the room is full over 

 there, and that has necessarily kept a great many of our farmers 

 away this afternoon. 



I now have great pleasure in introducing to you the orator of the 

 day, Judge Allison O. Smith, who will deliver the address of wel- 

 come to the visiting members of the Department of Agriculture 

 and members of this organization. 



ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 



By JUDGE ALLISON O. SMITH, Clearfield, Pa. 



Mr. Chairman: To me your officers have assigned the pleasure of 

 welcoming your body to our midst, and I sincerely hope you will 

 not measure the scope of your welcome hj the shortcomings of the 

 address. 



Clearfield county, as you all doubtless know, is not primarily an 

 agricultural county, lumbering having been the chief business of 

 past years. Mining and manufacturing, particularly of clay pro- 

 ducts, and railroading, furnish employment to the great majority 

 of our people to-day. Scientific and intelligent agriculture is, there- 

 fore, in a measure in its infancy. Certainly then the educational 

 influence of this institute with its varied program of instruction 

 by learned professors, deserves from everybody in Clearfield, a 

 hearty welcome. 



It don't hurt to tell the truth, even about ourselves upon proper 

 occasions, so that I want to say now to you who are strangers in the 

 county, that the truth is that farming is not at the very highest stage 

 of development in this county. This condition, I may say further, 

 is not a criticism upon nor the fault of the very active and intelli- 

 gent body of farmers of the count}' whom you will meet and whom it 

 is my pleasure to greet at this institute. They are all right and 

 are securing good results, but my complaint is that there are not 

 enough of them. Our shortcomings, as an agricultural county, 

 came about from natural conditions not hard to fathom. 



Not to mention some possible disadvantages of soil and climate, 

 the farmer of this county in the past only made farming an inci- 

 dent and not the real business of his life. So long as there remained 

 a raft of timber on his farm, or in his neighborhood to cut and de- 



