6 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The following year they decided to hold' another institute, au'l when 

 they succeeded in getting one lady to attend they felt they had made 

 rapid strides in the work. This lady was the late Mrs. Higley, so well 

 known to Iowa horticulturists. Thus they struggled on for four years, 

 when they learned that some plan of action must be taken — they must 

 have a system. They realized that it was a day of organization, and 

 thought it best to perfect their organization, and when some member 

 of the committee stated that a portion of the officers should be women 

 of action, they had yet to learn women's wonderful ability to p^ish. 

 However, a part of the new officers were women. Strong, capable women, 

 and this is the way they succeeded. Women have wonderful reasoning 

 faculties, you no doubt know. 



What should a farmers' institute be, and what are its benefits: First, 

 it should not simply be a short gathering, talk at random, and close with 

 "who shall and when shall" we draw our State money. The farmers' 

 institutes are sources from which knowledge can be drawn. A stimulant 

 to the pride and respect for farming. They bring farmers together in 

 close social relations. They make public the latest discoveries in agricul- 

 ture. They give the farmers of the State an opportunity to meet men who 

 have made their business a science, as well as an art. " They are the banks 

 for the deposit of experience, that they may become the common property of 

 all." They are the organized friends of good crops and good prices. 

 They teach the duties of home citizenship. They tend to keep a fair 

 portion of the good boys upon the farms. "They energize and fertilize 

 local thought, and arouse attention." They cost less, my friends, than 

 a single cigar to each farmer of the State of Iowa. 



Success in any avocation means doing it well. Doing it well is all 

 that is necessary to make the humblest occupation honorable. Whether 

 we are planning to raise corn or calves, peg shoes, write sermons, or 

 do farmers' institute work, doing it well is the true ambition for evei-y 

 worker. Thus we made our plans and we have tried to follow them as 

 closely as possible, although ever ready to grasp the new as it comes 

 our way. 



Clay county workers felt that they had scored their first success 

 when they decided to place the opposite sex side by side with them, not 

 only on the program committee, but also their names were to be found 

 among the list of officers. The first meeting with the revised list was 

 held in a small hall, and the first day it was well filled with the Clay 

 county farmer and his wife, and in some instances with their families. 

 T,he second day we were obliged to adjourn to one of the largest churches 

 in Spencer. Thus, we have pushed beyond the border of every available 

 building in Spencer, even to our grand new opera house. Last winter 

 at our meeting the manager of the opera house was obliged to lock the 

 doors before the evening program commenced, with people clamoring 

 outside to get in. We, of course, in all these years, have had many dear 

 experiences, and have profited by them. 



One of the essential points we make at our institutes is that we 

 meet all on common ground, trying to make each tired housewife feel 

 she is welcome, then trying to make each overburdened farmer fe^l that 



