18 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



plan, or at least it is not the wisest plan to have them dominate^ at all 

 events, the institute. In our State they do not dominate the institutes 

 at all. The institutes are entirely in the hands of the local manage- 

 ment; unless such local management works up the institute, there is 

 none. These outsiders, if you please, are merely there by invitation. 

 I want to say it is tremendously advantageous and it ought to be help- 

 ful to a community of farmers, each one of whom has been occupied 

 early and late with his own affairs, to have some man like Professor 

 Curtiss, Professor Kennedy or Professor Holden come there and speak 

 upon some subject of which he has made a life-long study. 



I may suggest, too, that in our State we do not send out any lee 

 turer who does not have more than one lecture or more than one sub- 

 ject, and when he goes to a certain part of the State where conditions 

 are of a certain sort, or whoever goes, is presumed to have an address 

 or lecture that will be adapted to the occasion and circumstances; that 

 is to say, we aim, at least, to have the punishment fit the crime in each 

 instance. 



Speaking for myself, I regard these addresses by these specialists 

 of incalculable value to the institute. For example, at the meeting of 

 the Sate Board of Agriculture two years ago, we had a young man (by 

 the way, a pupil of Professor Holden) there to talk to us about corn. 

 He was a young fellow, a boy in appearance. When he came forward 

 there was a general expression of wonder upon the countenances of the 

 members, if not expressed by words, as to what that kid could tell us 

 old farmers about corn. Some one asked me in a sort of a rebuking 

 tone why on earth we brought a fellow like that all the way from 

 Illinois to talk to men two or three times his age. about corn. I remem- 

 ber distinctly my reply was, "If he does not tell you more about corn in 

 thirty minutes than you have learned in fifty years, I will come and 

 apologize to you." This young fellow got up and cut loose. I presume 

 that if any of you gentleman had heard him you would say that you 

 probably never in your life heard such a torrent of corn talk and corn 

 information as he gave out there. I think I am entirely modest in my 

 statement when I say that his address, published as it was, far and 

 wide in our State, was cheap at one million dollars; dirt cheap; cheap 

 as corn at ten cents a bushel. That is one example. 



Along that line I might say that we have here in the room a Kansas 

 boy, one of my boys, if you please,' who is on the program here this 

 afternoon to talk about alfalfa. If he does not tell you more about 

 alfalfa in thirty minutes than you ever heard of or dreamed of in your 

 life, I will apologize to you from this platform. He is a modest fel- 

 low; he does not pretend to know much; but he will do you good with 

 alfalfa. 



I speak of these two gentlemen as illustrations of the possibilities 

 of having this outside or imported talent at these meetings, and if I 

 were to attempt to infiuence you at all, it would be in the direction of 

 not overlooking that sort of assistance in your work. It does not put 

 a man down by any means, to say that he is a professor, or to say that 

 he is a school teacher. He may be all of this and yet know infinitely 



