CENTRAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 1^7 



reports of the farmers' institutes. Col. Stevens says they are 

 not as well gotten up as the Wisconsin reports. They are got- 

 ten up well enough so that all farmers want them. I think if 

 they had Col. Stevens' picture in, everybody would want one. 

 (Laughter.) I hope Mr. Wedge will improve bis opportunities. 



Mr. Harris: We have thousands and thousands of people in 

 the state who are anxious to get hold of good literature. 



Mr. Somerville: I think the farmers' institute is the best 

 way to get that literature before the people. I was not speak- 

 ing of that class of people who attend the institutes, I vv^as 

 speaking of that class who stay at home. 



Mrs. Kennedy: I stopped down here on the street yesterday 

 within three blocks of the courthouse, and I asked a man I 

 met where the new court-house was, and he said he didn't 

 know there was a new court-house in the city. (Laughter and 

 applause). 



Mr. Wedge: Mrs. Kennedy has said it for me. That is just 

 the case in the country. No matter how attractive a publica- 

 tion is made, they would not read it. I am confident that this 

 literature sent out by the farmers' institute, this "Annual," is 

 read with as much avidity as we could possibly desire by the 

 people who attend the institutes, and there are a large number 

 of people who do it. I do not think any other cover would be 

 more attractive, and they show it in every way that a man can 

 show his interest in anything. Now, I want to say just a little 

 about what work I am able to do with the institute corps in 

 horticulture. I want to say in the first place that I realize my- 

 self at least some of my shortcomings as an institute worker. 

 I am not as versatile in incident and anecdote as my friend Mr. 

 Somerville has been, and also a good share of my other friends. 

 There is a great want of appreciation at those gatherings; it 

 goes in at one ear and out at the other; they do not believe 

 there is any good in trying the business up here, and you can 

 hardly wake them up. There is a share of them that are ap- 

 preciative and seem to take a great interest. For instance, at 

 Portsmouth. Minn., we had a wonderfully interesting meeting; 

 they seemed to be as eager and interested in horticulture as is 

 this audience before me to day; they seemed to be intelligent 

 on the subject, and quite generally through the southern part 

 of the state, and even in the northern part of the state in some 

 places where small fruits were interesting the people, near 

 Aitkin and other sections. It is not altogether confined to 

 sections. We had an institute in the southwestern part of the 



