No. 4.] BOARDS OF AGRICULTURE. 37 



is struggling, a young man who has a home to enrich in the 

 years to come, and who desires to grow in every essential ; 

 and how are we to help him unless we go out and meet with 

 him and his neighbors, not in the towns and cities? You 

 cannot call the farmers into towns and cities for these in- 

 stitutes, for naturally they feel that they are there over- 

 shadowed. We have had and shall have the best results as 

 we attempt to reach out to those who need the inspiration 

 most, — and these men are on the farms. This is oneway 

 in which this Board of Agriculture and other boards of 

 agriculture can be of more service to the farmers in the 

 future than perhaps they have been in the past. 



Brother Bachelder impressed the importance of dealing 

 with facts as well as theories. An old lady went to a 

 doctor and said, "I want you to tell me, if you can, why it 

 is that some people are born dumb. Can you tell me?" 

 "Certainly," he said. "Why is it?" The doctor said, 

 "Some people are born dumb because they haven't the 

 faculty of speech." The lady replied, "What a blessed 

 thing it is to have a medical education. I have asked my 

 husband that question a hundred times, and he simply said, 

 ' Because they are.'" Some things are, and we cannot change 

 them ; but we want to know why they are, if possible. It 

 is not enough to know that harvest follows seed-time, that 

 cultivation produces better germination ; we want to know 

 why. I sometimes am overwhelmed as I think of this 

 question, and realize how the man who is out on the farm 

 is dealing all the while with the very mysteries of God. 

 Results follow certain acts, this much we know; but the 

 why and how belong largely to the realm of theory. With 

 results we are not to be content, but seek for something 

 greater and better ; and the institutes come in to serve as 

 a stimulant and strengthener for better knowledge and 

 sharper practices. More of fact, more of experience, more 

 of assistance, as well as more complete harmony between 

 theory and practice, is the cry going up from the earnesl 

 workers who crave the benefits of the institutes. The les- 

 sons of the hour are pregnant with significance to every 

 man who thinks and probes. More of product, better 

 quality, reduced cost of production, — these are the need 



