CHINCH-BUGS 119 



say that the speakers at those meetings were book- 

 worms and did not know how to guide a plow. Mr. 

 Sprague would then tell them that most of the men 

 that came as speakers from the Agricultural College 

 had been reared on farms and had learned to plow 

 and to do every other kind of work necessary on the 

 farm. It takes a different man to run the farm. 

 "They have no business to plow now/' he would say. 

 " If plowing were their business, they would not 

 know any more about bugs than I. I believe that I 

 am a fairly intelligent man, and what I want is facts ; 

 when I have them I can put them into practice as 

 well as anybody, and those fellows who spend their 

 lives studying bugs know the bug facts even if they 

 do not know how to guide a plow. If they spent 

 their time plowing, they could not know so much 

 about their special subjects. They are experts; do 

 you get me? " 



In most cases they did get his idea, and nearly 

 every farmer of that neighborhood was at the 

 farmers' meeting. The day was lovely, and the boys 

 enjoyed their ride in the big touring car. 



Sure enough, among the speakers was a bugman, 

 and this tickled the boys. When the program had 

 been finished the chairman said that the. meeting 

 was open for any questions that any one wished to 

 ask. It was surprising how many questions were 

 asked about bugs, and especially chinch-bugs. The 



