80 



all things, have been successful. The superintendent of the institute must 

 make sure he is honest and straightforward in his methods and then get him 

 to go and tell about what he has done. 



The other man is the agricult.ural college graduate, who is generally gotten 

 by going to the president of the college and securing lists of promising men and 

 visiting those men on their farms to see what kind of men they are. We select 

 those who prove good and develop them. 



In the training of institute workers sonieliody must be at work at it in every 

 State and province t\Aelve months of the year. The time has come when 

 enough should be apiiroi)riated to enable the institute director to devote his 

 whole time to the work. Thvee thousand dollars caii certainly be appropriated 

 to pay the salary of a first-r-hiss man to work twelve months. I lielieve our 

 good results in Ontario have been due to the fact that we have worked steadily 

 at the job all the year round. 



As I have said, the fivst step is to catch your man; the second is to stay with 

 liini during the rest of! the year and prepare him for the work. In fitting him 

 tor the work there are two things we do innnediately. First, we insist on his 

 ^oing to vi.sit the agi-icultural college and experiment station, even if we have 

 to pay ibe «xpenses, and staying with the professor of agriculture and the 

 director of the experiment station and studying their work until be is filled 

 with the idea that these institutions are for the jieople. A great many have not 

 Ifot that ideji. It is important to overcome any prejudice against the college 

 which may exist. The institute man is reipiired to visit the institution once a 

 Vear or to go there during the time of the winter fair in December and to look 

 over the work. The second thing we do is to get all the workers together and 

 bave a short period of special training, particularly in animal husbandry. 



We reconunend the pick of these men to the State board of agiMculture and 

 have them api>ointed exiiert jndges for the fall fairs in the Province of Ontario. 

 !rhey thus get information, so that when they are called upon suddenly as 

 demonstrators at farmers' institutes they know what they are talking about, 

 whether it relates to cattle or what not. 



This year Mr. Putnam has arranged a line of instruction for his institute 

 \vorkers at the fall fairs. He gives the men work for a longer time, and in this 

 \vay gets better men. 



It is a mistake to send out men not well experienced, especially yoimg men. 

 I find that they come back in one of two ihoods : Either they have made up 

 Jheir minds that they are the best institute workers that bave ever been out, or, 

 having run up against some pretty strong opposition and not getting as good a 

 Welcome as they expected, they are discouraged and do not want to go out 

 again. 



It is not necessary to tell you managers that, but I have found it is well to 

 pick out a good, strong, experienced man and put a young fellow with him, 

 following that up by sending the best literatun' yon can. When I find some- 

 Ihing new I send innnediately and get a copy for our worlcers. I do not wait 

 until the edition has run out. I write a personal letter to each worker, calling 

 l)articular attention to certain features of the publication applicable to his case. 

 1 find it accomplislies a great deal more to write a personal letter in this way, 

 calling attention to certain paragraphs, than simply to ha^e literature sent. I 

 also send every one of my men, and pay for it out of the State grant, at least 

 one good agricultural newspaper every weelv. I select some paj)er that uses a 

 {;ood deal of farmers' institute informaticm. Then e\very week or every two 

 weeks the superintendent can put in the jiaper a colunm or two or three, or a 

 r-age, not necessarily over his signature, of good institute stuff, which, wjth the 

 understanding of the editor, he will publish.. 



