farmers' institutes. 259 



THE FARMER'S LIBRARY. 

 (By William D. McKee, Polo, :\Io.) 



There are three general sources by which we gain knowledge, 

 viz.: bv conversation, by listening to lectures and by reading. The 

 student of the Agricultural College has the opportunity of availing 

 himself of all of these, but with the average farmer it is different. 

 He must rely largely upon reading. Sir Francis Bacon said that 

 "reading maketh a full man," and it has been said by a distinguished 

 educator that there are two kinds of educated persons, the one who 

 knows much and the one who knows where to find much. I am not 

 one who would claim or argue that the farmer to be successful should 

 be a classical scholar or one deeply versed in scientific knowledge, 

 yet I do maintain that he should have a well selected library made 

 up of the works of practical men who have written well upon the 

 topics which are of vital interest to the farmer. I do not enter upon 

 the task of writing these observations upon the importance of every 

 farmer providing himself with an abundance of wholesome literature 

 relating to his life work, ignorant of the prejudice which exists among 

 a large number of farmers against what they call "book farmers" or 

 "book farming." 



This prejudice, I am glad to say, is fast fading out, however just 

 may have been the cause for it in the past. There was a time when 

 books on farming of a very impractical character found their way into 

 the farmers' homes, and possibly a few books and agricultural papers 

 of this class are being issued and published today. But that is no 

 reason for denouncing them all. The American farmers of today 

 are a reading and a thinking class of men, more so than those of any 

 other country. They are also able to discern what to read as well as 

 to be able to intelligently apply the principles set out in what they 

 read. 



Those who have critically examined the recent works upon 

 farming will, I think, agree with me in pronouncing them to be in- 

 tensely practical and compiled by men noted for their broad knowl- 

 edge of the subjects upon which they have written. These works 

 and publications are usually full of such information as the farmer 

 is greatly in need of and at times absolutely necessary in order that 

 he may successfully prosecute the operations of farming. There are 

 various sources from which the farmer may obtain literature, such 

 as the publications of the agricultural press, books, and the publica- 



