21 



a national standpoint and without realizing more than ever before what a debt of prati-' 

 tude the whnU' country owes to the American farmer for niaintainiufj oin- trade bal- 

 ance.-i whicii are so essential to American i)rosi)erity and independence. One of the 

 purposes of the farmers' institute is to increase the production of the country by 

 inducing; the farmers to put in practice that which has been worked out l)y the experi- 

 ment stations and proven worthy of beiu}; incorj)orated in the industrial life of a 

 peciple. 



1 iuive never believed in "art forart's sake" and "knowledjie forthesakeof mere 

 knowledge." 1 believe that every art w'as intended to Ix' applied either for the pleas- 

 ure or the profit of the human family. It is a good thing to know the truth, pro- 

 vided you use the knowledge contained in the truth. The architect's conceptions 

 contained in the plans and speeilications- of great and beautiful buildings, such as we 

 have here in the ca])ital of the nation, are valuable only after master builders have 

 given them form and substance. The thought in the mind of Justin S. Morrill that 

 was destined to revolutionize the educational conception and practice of the country 

 could accomplish nothing until embodied in that memorable act of l.S()2 which called 

 into being the land-grant colleges in every State and Territory of the Union. There 

 is no one in all the land who appreciates the work of the experiment stations more 

 than I. As president of the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College, I give 

 the director of our station and his corps of workers all of the cooperation and encour- 

 agement that lies within my power in their search afti'r the hi<lden and unknown laws 

 that (jod intended should be applied by the farmer of my State in working out for 

 our Conunonwealth a safe, sane, anil sound system of agriculture. Then, realizing 

 as director of fanners' institutes that the laws thus discovered and the forces thus 

 brought into light are worthless without t)eing applied, I send these same men, 

 together with others with equal power and ability, to induce the people of my State 

 to put into practice that which has been worked out by our investigators. The men 

 who are doing all within their power to induce the farmers to apply the laws that 

 have been discovered by the investigators are doing a work of ecpial imjiortance to 

 that of those making the investigations and a work that is even more pressing, for 

 practice is many years behind knowledge. Who can realize what it would mean to 

 the country if every farmer in the land could be induced to apply the knowedge 

 that the experiment stations have worke<l out and published during the past fifteen 

 years at a cost of more than twenty millions (;f dollars? 



Mr. John Hamilton, our Farmers' Institute Specialist, who has done so much for 

 this association and for the cause it represents, in an address before the farmers' 

 institute workers of Pennsylvania last year, gave some figures that I am going to 

 take the liberty to quote, for they illustrate the force of the above observation and 

 of the value of the work we are doing. He said: 



"If a sutlicient force of teachers of agri(;ulture were at work constantly in each 

 State instructing farmers and demonstrating the value of new crops and new 

 methods, the producti<ni of the country would speedily be greatly increased. Five 

 dollars added to the value of each dairy cow would increase the wealth of the 

 farmers of the United States over SW, 000,000. Two dollars added to the value of each 

 of all other cattle would increase it by over i?100,000,000 more. Ten dollars to each 

 horse would increase their income by over §21o,000,000. Thirty eggs added to the 

 annual production of a hen, whose average yearly outi)ut is now but 68, when it 

 might l)e 200, woul 1 add over SH4,000,000. One pound to each chicken at 10 cents 

 a poun<l would, amount to over S2."^, 000, 000. One-fourth increase to the present 

 product of fruit would amount to over S19, 000,000. One-third added to the present 

 product of potatoes and grain would be more than S.^24,0( 10.000. One-tliird ailded 

 to the staple products wouM amount to over §30ti,000,000, and with like additions to 

 other crops and animals not enumerated, would reach a total of $1,442,419,469, all 

 added to the ]iresent product and ail going into the farmers' bank account." 



And he might have added, to the bank account of the nation itself. 



Upon such a showing as this, surely we are justified in behalf of the isolated farm- 

 ers, who stand so greatly in need of such help, as was so forcefully pointed out by 

 Mr. Hamilton, but whose forces are too scattered and weak to be heard at the 

 national capital. 1 say surely upon such a showing as this we are justified and more 

 than justified in asking of our lawmakers, who hold the purse strings of the nation's 

 v.ealth, thus so greatly angmented by the application of scientific and intelligent 

 methods, that they place the farmers' institute work of the country or the work of 

 application upon the same footing as they have placed agricultural education and 

 agricultural investigation, by making a liberal approi^riation for its support in every 

 State and Territory of the nation. 



The agricultural jjrosperity of a State or nation depends upon three great forces — 

 agricultural education, agricultural investigation, and agricultural application, which 



