442 MISSOURI "AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



compensation, but to bear his own expenses of travel, of advertising the 

 meetings, etc., yet so earnest was the man in his desire to carry to the 

 people the gospel of improved agriculture that he was willing, out of his 

 very limited resources, to give all of this. 



Later, when the farmers' institute service was organized under the 

 auspices of the State Board of Agriculture, and the secretary was look- 

 ing around for men who combined scientific knowledge with a familiarity 

 of the practical phases of the subject, and with a disposition and tempera- 

 ment such as would arouse interest and attract favorable attention, he was 

 selected among the first, and had continued actively in the work until a 

 week before his death. 



During the twenty years' service in this capacity he visited every 

 county, and almost every community in Missouri. It is impossible to 

 find any neighborhood that does not contain some man who knew him 

 personally. ^^ 



As an agricultural writer, he was best known through his contribu- 

 tions to the Rural World, extending over a period of more than thirty 

 years. His articles were always strong, incisive, plain and practical. 



As a promoter of the State's welfare, he was always active in con- 

 nection with the expositions, having contributed practically all of the ma- 

 terial that made up Missouri's agricultural exhibit at the Chicago Expo- 

 sition, having been a commissioner for the Omaha Exposition, and hav- 

 ing collected the bulk of material that was exhibited there, and having 

 been assistant superintendent of the agricultural department for Missouri 

 at the St. Louis Exposition. No man compared with him in his know- 

 ledge of the technique of growing and preparing material of this sort for 

 exhibit, all of which he had mastered in the stern school of experience. 



It may be truthfully said that he was the father of the good road.;' 

 movement in Missouri. He was the author of several road laws that 

 were enacted by the Legislature, and first the promoter of the use of the 

 drag for the improvement of dirt roads in the State. 



It may likewise be said that he was at the beginning of the move- 

 ment for the improvement of corn, and has contributed more to the suc- 

 cess of this great undertaking than any other man in the State. 



While he had lived his three score years and ten, he died at the 

 high tide of his usefulness, in the harness, and still young at heart. It 

 could never be said of Colonel Waters that he had grown old. He 

 drew his inspiration from the future rather than from the past, and kept 

 pace with modern progress. 



His widow and seven children survive him, namely: Mrs. Lavinia 

 J. Waters, his widow, at Hope, Arkansas ; William S. Waters, merchant, 

 Vandalia, Missouri ; Henry J. Waters, Dean of the College of Agri- 



