240 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



good many boys to the city, and away from hom6 influences, 

 can be summed up in the simple statement, that their parents 

 have not been just to them, have not treated the boys right. 

 Now that is a serious charge. I do not make it because I am 

 down here. I would make it if I was in my own county. I 

 say that the fathers and mothers of a great many of these 

 boys that have gone away have made a serious mistake. 

 There is no more precious spot on earth than the home, and 

 I believe in doing all possible to keep the boys there until it 

 is time for them to establish homes of their own. The trouble 

 has been, or one trouble anyway, that when father has given 

 the boy a colt, or a calf, or has set apart a field for him to 

 work, and the time has come when father wanted that colt to 

 sell, or wanted to sell the calf, he has done so without consult- 

 ing the boy, and put the money in his pocket. Now perhaps 

 some of you think that sort of thing is right, and that because 

 the boy was yours you could do what you liked with property 

 that the boy regarded as his. But, my friends, do not make 

 that mistake any more. You cannot treat a boy that way 

 without his resenting it, and if there is any good manly blood 

 in him, he is bound to break away from that kind of treat- 

 ment. Let the boy have that colt. Let him have it for his 

 own. Let him take care of it and bring it to maturity. Let 

 him have the enjoyment which springs from the sense of prop- 

 erty. It will help to make a better man of him. And you 

 will find if he has a colt of his own, and if he is allowed to 

 have proper time to play with it, that boy will take a larger 

 interest in other afifairs of the farm and will be far more 

 Hkely to stay with you than if you adopt the other course. 



Secretary Brown. There is nothing further upon the pro- 

 gram at this morning's session, and the convention will stand 

 adjourned until two o'clock. 



THIRD DAY — AFTERNOON SESSION. 



Convention called to order at 2 p. m., Vice-President Seeley 

 in the chair. 



Music. 



The President. I take pleasure in introducing Mr. 

 Frank D. Ward, President of the New York State Sheep 



