82 Missouri Agricullural Report. 



an honest man as those of childhood 's days, if tliey were spent on a farm. 

 You have come from the four comers of the State and from every center 

 of this agricultural universe, but all of you have come with a single 

 object in view — the acquisition of knowledge. We welcome you to this 

 great educational center where men and women are being fitted for the 

 higher sj^heres of life, and we hope and believe that you will take with 

 you, when you return to your homes, some added knowledge, some stimu- 

 lating incentive for good. May we not hope that each of you will have 

 a helpful message for your friend and neiglibor who is not here. 



Lack of time forbids more than a very brief mention of the work of 

 the Board of Agriculture under whose auspices, the College of Agricul- 

 ture co-operating, the Farmers' Week exercises are held. 



This Board, organized in 1865, and composed of 16 practical farm- 

 ers and three ex officio members — the Governor, Dean of the Agricultural 

 College and State Superintendent of Schools-^is an institution of, for 

 and by Missouri farmers. Its aim is to aid in the development and up- 

 building of all lines of crop growing and live stock husbandry. So many 

 and varied are its diverging lines of activity that it is impossible to 

 enumerate them all. The office of the Secretary of the State Board of 

 Agriculture is not a ''wisdom factory," but rather a "clearing house" 

 for agricultural ideas. More time is spent in gathering information than 

 in giving it out. Were this not true, we would soon tell all we know as 

 well as all that we know the other fellow knows. Bulletins from the 

 National Department of Agriculture are read and "boiled down" for 

 further use. But the most valuable, practical and highly prized informa- 

 tion received by the Board comes from those whom it seeks to serve — 

 from the Missouri farmers themselves. Each month the Board issues 

 a bulletin on some timely topic. Almost without exception the bulletins 

 most in demand are those prepared in largest part by the people. 



It is literally true that our Board is called upon to answer 10,000 

 questions within a year. These questions deal with almost every phase 

 of farm life. Most of them we are able to answer. Some of a strictly 

 technical nature are referred to the proper department in the Agricul- 

 tural College. 



Each year the Board issues an Annual Report, which is really an 

 Agricultural Year Book of some 500 pages. The 10,000 copies are en- 

 tirely inadequate to meet the demand, which has already exceeded 20,000 

 for the last publication. Four advertising l)ooklets calling attention to 

 the matchless resources of Missouri have also ])een issued. These book- 

 lets, we believe, have helped make the Missouri farmer who has been 

 looking longingly to other lands direct his visions to sections nearer 

 home. 



