396 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



vantages in cheaper and better living which will result from a 

 higher agricultural development in Pennsylvania, and if he is once 

 convinced of the correctness of this idea' he will support agricul- 

 tural appropriation bills. And he slioukl be shown, of course, that 

 the State's attention to other industrial education has not been 

 wanting — that agriculture is seeking no favors not granted to other 

 occupations now and heretofore. It seems to me that a literary 

 bureau to attend to the education of the consumer on this and other 

 subjects, notably, the selection, care and use of agricultural pro 

 ducts, would be a great boon to him, and ultimately to the pro- 

 ducer also. 



But, of course, the efforts to bring the people and agricultural 

 education together must be devoted principally to those who are 

 or will be actively engaged in some branch of agriculture. It has 

 been found in other states that if these people can be made to 

 realize the benefits of agricultural education they will provide the 

 means, and it may be so in Pennsylvania. I present a few sugges- 

 tions which I think may assist the people to see and support meas- 

 ures necessary in this State: 



CO-OPERATIVE EXPERIMENTS. 



have been found in some states, and notably in Ontario, Canada, 

 a powerful means of advancing agriculture and interesting the 

 people in agricultural education. Ontario has had over a thousand 

 men and boys engaged in experiments under the direction of the 

 Agricultural College at one time. The benefits are beyond com- 

 putation to the boys and a greatly increased attendance at the 

 college. It seems to me that Pennsylvania agriculture especially 

 needs such a system. No state has a greater variety of soils, con- 

 ditions of altitude and climate, and even of races of men, than 

 Pennsylvania has; and now^here could co-operative work be more 

 useful to the people or the agricultural college. 



EXTENSION LECTURES. 



We have at the Pennsylvania Experiment Station (and State 

 College) probably the oldest plots in this country on which experi- 

 ments have been conducted continuously'. The results of these 

 years of treatment of land with different rations of plant food are 

 known but not utilized. The figures may appear in bulletins, but 

 they are almost a sealed book to the farmers of Pennsylvania so 

 far as their practical value is concerned. Their lessons have not 

 been interpreted. And if they were interpreted they could not be 

 placed before the people of Pennsvh'ania in such a way that they 

 would be of the highest value without a staff of men whose duty 

 should be to present these and other lessons. There is need in the 

 educational staff of Pennsylvania for men who might be called 

 extension lecturers, to place before the farmers of the State the 

 lessons which are taught by these and other investigations. Mod- 

 ern photography and the ability to reproduce photographs before 

 audiences afford ample means of bringing these truths vividly be- 

 fore the people who need them. The farmers' institute furnish 

 the audiences. Let the Department of Agriculture supply the 



