FOURTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VI. 511 



Gentlemen, this, I believe, is the beginning of an age in our agricul- 

 tural development which is going to be characterized particularly by 

 the activity and usefulness of organization. If you will reflect upon 

 the development of agriculture during the period of the last one or two 

 hundred years, you will recall that there have been marked advance- 

 ments from time to time. Away back in the early years the farmers 

 thought out a system of under-drainage, and by means of that practice 

 they were able to greatly increase the yields of crops from their lands, 

 and that marked a new epoch. A little later there came the fertilizers, 

 and by means of their use the farmers were able to increase the yield 

 of their crops; and that marked another new development. And so on 

 along down the line there have been great things introduced into the 

 agricultural world from time to time, each good In its own way, and 

 continuing to the present day and being further and further developed at 

 the present time. 



One of these great epoch-makers was the widespread introduction of 

 the leguminous crops. It seems to me that if ever anybody gets some- 

 thing for nothing it is in connection with those crops. Just by putting 

 one of those crops upon the land and properly inoculating the soil, if 

 not already properly inoculated, we are able to secure the most valu- 

 able plant food there is, right out of the air, without making any pay- 

 ment or doing any work ourselves for this blessing. 



In the South many years ago they had a street car system drawn by 

 mules, and of course the mules worked hard at their job. The war 

 came, and when it was ended an enterprising northern company came 

 down into that southern country and re-organized the street car sys- 

 tem. They electrified it and put on trolly cars, and a good man who 

 lived in the town stood on his front porch one day and was awe-struck 

 to see a car coming down the street without the mules. He called to 

 his wife: "Samantha, come out and see this thing on the street. The 

 Yankees came down here and freed the negroes, and now they have 

 come down and freed the mules." 



And so it happened that when these leguminous crops came into our 

 lives we were freed of a heavy burden. And, passing on, there came 

 the age of machinery, and the great age of the development of agricul- 

 tural education. And now I believe we are at the threshold of a period 

 of great development along the line of agricultural organizations. All 

 other industries are organized, and the farmer has been one of the last 

 to see the advantages that might come to him by getting together with 

 his fellow farmers for many different purposes. We know something 

 about the organizations of Europe, but we shouldn't make the mistake 

 of thinking that those ideas may be introduced bodily and made to 

 succeed here as they succeed there. Mr. Wallace has recently studied 

 conditions in Europe and made a very comprehensive report on the 

 subject to the governor, which everyone should have read; and he 

 emphasized the point that conditions are different here, and we must 

 not expect to apply here identically the same remedies for our different 

 conditions as are being operated to advantage in those European coun- 

 tries. But we can get helpful suggestions and ideas from over there 

 which may be introduced here. 



