SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VI 373 



He has had the opportunity of better methods outlined for him in part 

 by the experiment station and the extension service backed by the state 

 and the nation. Agricultural papers and dairy and the local press, have 

 been instrumental in putting the material in hand in such a form as to 

 make it interesting and instructive. Your institution at Ames has been 

 a factor in training community leaders. These four-year men return- 

 ing to the farm, though in many cases remaining silent workers, have 

 been mighty good examples for those who did not have the opportunity of 

 an agricultural education. 



During the past year at the close of an address delivered to about 

 three hundred farmers, a number of men remarked: "A few years 

 ago these men would not have accepted the speaker's remarks, be- 

 cause they were not in sympathy with the new ideas, but today it is 

 entirely different. They are at all times ready for the better things 

 in agriculture that will assist them in their work." The farmers in- 

 stead of discussing market quotations alone will devote the greater por- 

 tion of a conversation to those problems that influence the cost of pro- 

 duction, be it corn or butterfat. Only in recent years have farmers had 

 the slightest idea of weeding out the unproductive members of the 

 herd and locating where the losses occurred. 



Last May a patron of a Wisconsin creamery that had not had the 

 advantage of a regularly organized cow-testing association remarked: 

 "The average production of my herd for last year in butterfat sold to 

 the creamery alone, was $140. One cow produced over 600 pounds of 

 butterfat." These and other illustrations could be given to prove that 

 the farmers as a class have advanced by making a study of their prob- 

 lems. Not only do they study the cows, but they are beginning to know 

 the soil, its management and productive value.. 



They are becoming familiar with modern methods of managing the 

 co-operative creameries. These changes have taken place witnin the 

 past few years, and form a basis for future plans. In many sections 

 the farmers are not satisfied with the creamery building that formerly 

 answered the purpose. They do not hesitate to erect the best structure 

 that can be put up in order that efficiency may not be hampered. They 

 have even said: "A few years ago a man in charge of the creamery who 

 had the capacity of earning $75 to $85 per month answered our needs; 

 not so today. $150 per month may not mark the limit." This is a plaiu 

 warning to the buttermaker or creamery manager that they must be 

 better trained. 



The creamery of the near future should be one of the places for 

 which the four-year college man should be trained. This will not mean 

 that the efficient man now engaged in the creamery shall be pushed 

 aside, not at all, but it will eliminate the person who has the idea 

 that to make the butter is the extent of his work. The agricultural 

 college each year makes it more difficult for the young man to meet 

 the entrance requirement, because the four-year man is called upon after 

 graduation to handle larger problems. Even the short course in agri- 

 culture calls for a better student. The question might be asked: "Is 



