No. 7. DEPARTMEiNT OF AGRICULTURE. 275 



six months. Now just imagine the effect upon thai man. We call 

 your attention to these things. It don't make any difference whether 

 he is at a farm house, a hotel or a boarding-house, he should be suit- 

 ably taken care of, and the State is willing to pay for it, and we be- 

 lieve it pays you in any way you consider it, because we want to keep 

 these lecturers in the very best physical condition, possible, to get the 

 best work from them. I could name one of our lecturers, one of 

 the finest on the force, who had to sleep one night in a room that 

 was down below zero. I call your attention to this seriously and 

 earnestly. 



Now, my friends, if there are any questions which you want to 

 ask in regard to other conditions about this institute work, we will 

 gladly talk along that line, because you know, this meeting was set 

 apart for the exchange of expressions and experiences and the ob- 

 ject is to open up all these questions that arise in the course of our 

 institute work, and the desire is to have a free interchange of ex- 

 periences and expressions as to the best things to be devised for 

 the management and the carrying on of this great work of farmers' 

 institutes, and unless you have some questions to ask regarding this 

 matter, I will take my seat and the meeting will be opened up for 

 your free discussion. 



I see my old friend Agee in the room, and before you get properly 

 upon this work, I would like to hear from him. 



MR. AGtEE: Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen of this Nor- 

 mal Institute: I want to thank you for the greeting given me, and 

 I want to say that I look forward every year with pleasure to your 

 spring meeting. I know j^ou men, the most of you, personally, and 

 I know your worth to the State, and I say this without any desire to 

 pay you an empty compliment. You are the President, you are the 

 Board of Trustees, you are the Faculty of the popular Farmers' 

 College. That is true in every state. These institutes are the 

 popular farmers' colleges in the land and the work you are doing 

 is an educational work of the greatest value in the building up of a 

 more intelligent and scientific agriculture. You give up your time 

 to it, and as I meet you here each year and think that you have in 

 Pennsylvania a great body of men who are willing to do all they 

 can for agriculture, it is one of the pleasant sights and the meet- 

 ing is one of the i>leasant meetings that it is my privilege to at- 

 tend. I look forward to these meetings on account of the profit I 

 expect to get from them. 



These Normal Institutes are of great benefit to the State, and an 

 important part of the educational work of the Slate, and they fur- 

 nish the means of making better lecturers, and that is the demand 

 all over this country. We are now only at the beginning of a new 

 educational scheme the institutes are developing along various lines 

 in our various states. You Pennsylvanians are improving the in- 

 stitutes of your State and are working along good, practical lines. 

 In another state you will find that the development is a little differ- 

 ent, but you have a common purpose. The efficiency of your work 

 depends upon you, and the Normal Institutes are designed to make 

 better workers of us all. '' 



Now yesterday, when I had the privilege of listening to a number 

 of lecturers, that especially of Professor Massey, it seemed to me 

 worth a great deal, that we could be brought together to study the 



