176 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



it will be due to the diffusion of scientific knowledge on farm topics 

 which is taught through farm institute work such as we are now do- 

 ing. The farmer of to-daj' must be intelligent, a thinker, as well as 

 a worker. Time and money spent in institute work is well spent, 

 and your work of education among us should be productive pf the 

 greatest benefit to all. We are indeed highly honored by having 

 the leading thinkers of the State on farm and kindred topics among 

 us on this occasion, and vre fully believe that the helpful and stimu- 

 lating influence of this meeting will be felt for years to come. 



In the name and on behalf of all our people, I bid you a hearty 

 welcome, and bespeak for your session both pleasure and profit. 



The CHAIR: I now call on the Secretary of Agriculture, the 

 Hon. N. B. Critchfleld, to reply to the address of welcome. 



RESPONSE TO ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 



By HON. N. B. CRITCHFIELD. Secretary of Agriculture. 



Mr. Chairman, Judge Smith, and Citizens of Clearfield County: 

 Everybody likes to feel that he is welcome wherever he goes, and 

 it is certainly very agreeable to us to have the assurance that we 

 have just received that we are welcome to this beautiful little city. 

 My greatest regret is, sir, that the Governor of our Common- 

 wealth, who is President of the State Board of Agriculture, is not 

 here to reply to the very eloquent address to v.'hich we have just 

 had the pleasure of listening. We have heard of the resources of 

 your county, and we rejoice with you in their possession, for what 

 belongs to Clearfield county, belongs to Pennsylvania; and so we 

 rejoice with you in the possession of your forests and your mines 

 and your agriculture, which we are sorry to hear you say is not 

 in a flourishing condition. We not only rejoice in our possession 

 with you of the wealth of vrhich you can boast, but we feel proud 

 to be recognized as fellow-citizens of the good people of Clearfield 

 county. We farmers have come to understand that if we are going 

 to do our best with our herds and our flocks, it is important that 

 we shall not breed too closely along the same family line; we want 

 to bring new blood into our herds if v>e are to do our best, and I 

 take it thaf what is true with regard to the lower animals, is true 

 also in relation to the human race. I believe that the best people 

 are those who are descended from many races, and if I am not mis- 

 taken with regard to your history, there courses through the veins 

 of the people of Clearfield county the blood of the very best nations 

 of the old world. When we go into some communities, we find the 

 people descended from a single race; for example, in some communi- 

 ties we find that the ancestry is entirely German; in others, Scotch, 

 in others P^nglish, in others Welsh, and in others Irish, but if I am 

 correctly informed by a gentleman with whom I have had some 

 conversation this morning, your early settlers in this county, came 

 from Germany and from Scotland and from Ireland, and England, 



