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or potato jrrowinjr, <>r any f)ther suliject, will fall far short of the full measure of suc- 

 cess as an institute lecturer. In order to (lualify as a lecturer on stock feeding, one 

 must have ac^tually had years of experience in handlin>f and feeding stock. The 

 most important part of a lecture is usually brought out in the discussion which fol- 

 lows the presentation of the subject. In this discussion the lecturer is at a wonder- 

 ful disadvantage who lias not been through the subject and learned his matter at first 

 hand. Without doubt the ])amphlets which have been printed by the Farmers' 

 Institute Sj)ecialist of the ( )flice of Experiment Stations will prove wonderfully help- 

 ful in institute work, yet the lecturer who depends upon them alone for his informa- 

 tion will not prove a great success. These l)ulletins should be regarded as helps, and 

 while the suggestions contained therein may prove of value, yet the subject must be 

 presented in one's t)wn way and the mati'rial must have been secured in a large part 

 from other sources than books and bulletins. 



In the matter of presentation it should ])e remeinl)ered by the lecturer that the 

 first (juality of a good speaker is to make the audience hear every word spoken. 

 The speaker nuist believe first of all in the truth of what he is saying if he is to 

 impress this truth upon his hearers. 



Another quality which is of leading importance in the institute speaker is brevity. 

 The speaker who attempts to cover the whole subject and to say the last word which 

 is to be said upon the suljject is a weariness to the flesh. From twenty minutes to 

 one-half hour for ojjening the discussion is enough for almost any subject. If the 

 audience is interested, the discussion will be continued through the asking of ques- 

 tions, and the audience will have an opportunity to take part in the discussion. If 

 the audience is not interested, the quicker the subject is dropped the better. Many 

 institute lecturers who otherwise would l^e rated as successful have a weakness for 

 talking too much. 



One type of lecturer which the institute manager should pray to be delivered from 

 is the funny man. We do not object to an occasional story to lighten up an address, 

 but where a studied effort is made to tell funny stories and the audience is kept in 

 a roar from the beginning to the end of the lecture, the success of the institute as a 

 school of instruction in agriculture is greatly impaired. If the funny man must 

 appear on the programme, keep him imtil the last number of the evening session. 

 We do not(iuestion the popularity of this man with the audience. He will be called 

 for repeatedly. He will receive the most hearty ctieers, and he wall be given the 

 credit of being the greatest man on the programme, but yet the farmers' institute 

 should be for real solid business and should not be turned into a school of farce. 



The energies of the farmers' institute manager in the future will l)e taxed to secure 

 men with the recpiisite training and experience to qualify them as farmers' institute 

 lecturers. A few of the men who graduate from our agricultural colleges maj^ even- 

 tually be available for this work. There are few, however, who are qualified at the 

 time they leave college. Several years must be spent in actually meeting and over- 

 coming the difficulties in the various lines of farm work before they will be qualified 

 to discuss intelligently the various subjects relating to agriculture. 



The institute manager must be a judge of men. He must select his man not sim- 

 ply becau.se of what he hears with reference to him. He should visit him at hie 

 home and should observe how his fields and flocks are cared for, and whether or not 

 he is putting into practice the best principles. The institute lecturer who recom- 

 mends one thing from the platform and who does not put into practice on his own 

 farm what he recommends to others is an injury to the cause. Farmers are no longer 

 taking for granted all that an institute lecturer tells them, but every year more 

 investigations are being carried out, and the farmers are looking up the class of 

 teachers employed in institute work. The institute lecturer must be grounded not 

 only in the art of performing the various operations, but he must thoroughly under- 

 stand the principles which underlie the art. A mere statement of how things should 

 be done without a discussion of why one method is preferable to another is no longer 

 acceptable. Practical agriculture and scientific agriculture now go hand in hand. 

 There is no separating the two, for practical agriculture in order to be practica.1 must 

 be based upon scientific principles. 



The man who has made a success in some special line of work can often be used to 

 advantage as an instit!ite lecturer. He may require a little polishing. It may be 

 necessary for him to do a little reading and studying to learn what others have done 

 in the same line and to familiarize himself with the principles which underlie his 

 work. Then, if he possesses that quality which enables him to stand on his feet and 

 tell in a straightforward manner what he has done, the word of such a man carries 

 conviction. 



The farmers' institute must become more and more a school of instruction, and the 

 institute lecturer should be looked upon as one whose first duty is not to furnish 



