66 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



most important crop we raise on the farm. The matter of this 

 woman's session of our institutes, I am sorry we haven't more 

 time to discuss. We have had that in the last two sessions 

 in Dickinson county. We hope to continue it. I cannot say. half 

 what I would like to; I forget when I get up to speak. But let 

 us all remember, that in the years' work to come, to give our boys 

 and girls the very best of opportunities. If we fail ro raise a fam- 

 ily which will make its mark in the world, we may conclude that 

 our lives have been a failure. 



H. C. Wallace : There is a gentleman in this audience who 

 has organized 600 boys and 500 girls. I don't think you can hear 

 from anybody with more profit, than Mr. Miller from Keokuk 

 county. 



Mr. Miller: I would like to talk to you, but I fear very 

 much, if I once get started, I will be unable to cjuit. 



I appreciate this great honor. I am deeply interested in the 

 boys and girls. I have realized for a long time that the farmers 

 do not do- as much for the boys and girls as they perhaps should. 

 When I was a boy I used to think there surely ought to be some 

 things to brighten this life, and when that old freight train used 

 to go by, I used to wonder if I would ever get a chance to ride on 

 it, and what in the world it was that made it go, whether I could 

 ever investigate that thing to see what it was made of. It has been 

 my great pleasure to get hundreds of boys and girls and to get 

 on that train, and go where they have the beautiful green grasei, 

 where they teach the boys how to farm, and where they teach girls 

 how to sew and cook, and things that they have to do. I got to 

 thinking about these things in connection with my school work. I 

 was looking through the Code one day, and I saw there a pro- 

 vision for the farmers' institute. I discovered this while I was 

 looking for some school law. I saw it would be posible for us to 

 get $75 to run a farmer's institute; so we planned one. If it 

 hasn't done any other good, it has started the boys and girls to 

 doing things along agricultural lines. If you will look in the 

 last Year Book from Washington, D. C, you will find there a 

 whole page devoted to what our boys and girls have been doing. 



A man told me today he didn't believe in agricultural train- 

 ing; he believed in nature study ; nature study as it has been taught 



