61 



and they conse(|uently lose faith, just as you do, in the accuracy of any man who ]>re- 

 sumes to cover the wlioie tield of ay;riculture. 



The institute lecturer should be old enough to make it plain that he may have had an 

 opportunity to do the thin<;s about which he talks. He should most assuredly have 

 done the things about whicli he talks — had actual experience and observation, but, as 

 l)efo re stated, I would not have him contine himself to tliis as a source of informa- 

 tion; he woidd be too narrow. While it is true that any man can do good to those 

 working in the same line, by telling them just how he made a success of any particu- 

 lar pha.>^e of farming, this is not enough. We must go farther than this; the institute 

 lecturer must be a teacher in the broadest sense if he is to establish the farmers' 

 institute as a permanent eilucational institution. 



Now, in conclusion, how are we to obtain such institute lecturers in sufficient num- 

 bers? They are not born, but will have to lie made. A few good ones may educate 

 them.selves, but enough will not. A plan must be devised whereby the suitable raw 

 material can be converted into trained teachers. 



In time the graduates of our agricultural colleges may partially supply the demand, 

 l)ut in many States tlie numlierof educated young men returning from the colleges to 

 the farms is not sutiicient to supply the demand for institute lecturers even ten or 

 fifteen years hence, for not one in fifty, even of such men, will ever make suitable 

 institute lecturers. 



Is a special school connected with our experiment-station farms the only solution 

 of the problem? I can see no other, but this solution is not an easy one. Can the 

 institute, with our present resources, be made of sufficient value to command the 

 money ne<'es.«ary to secure the services of the class of men able to develop the possi- 

 bilities of this educational work? ]\Iore money must be had. Even .?L'(),000 annually 

 spent by New York is but. a portion of what is necessary to i>roperly carry on the 

 work in a State like North Canjiina. We have been too modest in our demands. 

 We must awaken to an appreciation of the full value and possibilities of this work 

 and demand the money to prosecute it on a scale commensurate with its importance. 



Of one thing I am most thoroughly convinced, and that is that the solution of this 

 question of securing a sutiicient number of suitable institute lecturers is the one 

 great problem before this association and the friends of the farmers' institute work 

 in America — the {)roblem beside which all others are utterly insignifieant. 



If such normal schools, or, as I prefer to call them, training farms, are to be 

 established, great care nmst be exercised in laying the i)lans on which they are to be 

 conducted on correct lines, and, in my opinion, in order to meet the requirements of 

 varying local conditions these schools will have to be more numerous than suggested 

 by Mr. Hauulton in his able address on this subject. On one point especially should 

 caution be great — the teachers on these farms or in these schools nmst be good insti- 

 tute lecturers as well as learned st'ientists. Let us not put the blind to leading the 

 blind, as has been too frequently done in the selection of institute lecturers. 



Finally, let me again say, with all the emphasis of which I am capable, that we 

 must take a more comprehensive view of the importance of this institute work and 

 make our demands for money commensurate therewith; and the chief reason for 

 this is the necessity for supplying a sufficient number of efficient institute lecturers. 



The following paper on the same subject bj- L. A. Clinton, (jf Connecticut, was 

 read by title: 



A successful farmers' institute depends not upon the number of people who are 

 present, but upon the interest and attention given to the subjects under discussion. 

 No matter how important the subjects are or what vital intere./^ they may have to 

 the audience, unless presented in an acceptable manner the meeting falls fiat. The 

 influence of some lecturers upon a farmers' institute is very similar to that of a wet 

 blanket upon a fire. Just why this is so it is difficult to state, but a few general 

 reasons can be given. 



The lecturer who must confine himself to his paper does not meet with a full 

 measure of success. While we believe that it is t^ good plan to have the lecture writ- 

 ten out, yet we do not believe it a wise practice to be confined to the paper in pre- 

 senting the subject. The audience prefers to have the speaker talk rather than to 

 have him look at his paper and read what he has written. 



The first element of success in an institute speaker is that he have something to 

 say, and the second element of success is that he know how to say it. The first 

 quality mentioned can not be acquired by studying station bulletins or literature 

 upon the subject, but it must be acquired by actually having performed the opera- 

 tions discussed. The one who depends upon a prepared lecture upon stock feeding 



