Report of Missouri Farmers' Week. 85 



for the purpose of training men for agriculture as a vocation. The 

 responsibility that you have imposed upon us is therefore great. 



I want to say just a few words about the plan, of our work 

 during the week, which you will find outlined to some extent in the 

 program. Study these carefully, decide what you want to hear 

 most, be there promptly, and get all you possibly can out of the 

 lectures and demonstrations. If we can be of assistance to you in 

 any way, do not hesitate to call on us. That is what we are here 

 for. 



The purpose of the short course offered during Farmers' Week 

 is to bring to your attention some new discoveries and modern 

 ideas in agriculture. We are trying to give as much practical in- 

 struction as it is possible for us to crowd into the four days, and 

 you will have an opportunity while you are here to become person- 

 ally acquainted with the many teachers in agriculture. The short 

 course has another purpose, and that purpose is to demonstrate to 

 you, as far as we are able, the work that we are doing. We have 

 thrown open for this week all of the laboratories, the classrooms, 

 the lecture rooms, the libraries, for your use, and we have invited 

 you to ocupy the seats that are occupied by the eight hundred 

 agricultural students who are now enrolled in our institution, and 

 to secure as much information as possible, and at the same time to 

 get into the spirit of the new agriculture. 



We also have another purpose in. mind in this farmers* short 

 course, and that is to bring to your attention by personal lectures 

 and conferences the results of the investigations carried on at the 

 Agricultural Experiment Station. It is possible to conduct investi- 

 gations of great value and fundamental significance, to publish 

 them in our bulletins and send them out to the farmers of Mis- 

 souri, but we are beginning to find out that the publication of an 

 important fact is not alone sufficient. We have come to believe 

 that demonstration and the carrying on of the results of our in- 

 vestigation by word of mouth and by personal demonstration to 

 be the most important method of bringing about a change in agri- 

 cultural practice. 



In closing, I want to express to you our very great pleasure in 

 your presence here, your interest in our work, and back of it all and 

 more important than all, the deep-seated purpose evident in all 

 who come to Farmers' Week to bring about a better agriculture 

 for Missouri. 



