106 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



not chimerical, ideas were clamoring for public attention. Im- 

 pressed with the fact that something of a practical and per- 

 manent character was necessary to meet the grave and, indeed, 

 threatening situation, Mr. Truesdale delegated me to examine 

 into the various methods of promoting agricultural develop- 

 ment and to recommend a line of action for the company to 

 adopt. 



It was manifest that the printed bulletins of the Agricultural 

 Department fell far short of accomplishing their theoretical 

 purpose, by reason of the inability of the average man in any 

 line of business to interest himself in the printed page without 

 accompanying demonstration and personal contact. Careful 

 consideration was given to the extensive use of demonstration 

 trains of one kind and another, and while this was believed to 

 be good, it was not thought to be of a sufficiently intensive 

 character, or permanent enough in its results, to accomplish 

 the work which Mr. Truesdale felt was of such pressing necessity. 



The question of the use of one or more demonstration and 

 experimental farms was gone into with great care with the 

 valued assistance of Dean Bailey of Cornell Agricultural Col- 

 lege, who gave his time and personal attention to the inspec- 

 tion of locations and to the examination of the whole question 

 of the applicability of this means to the needs of the farmers 

 along the Lackawanna Railroad. Three farms in the vicinity 

 of Binghamton were tentatively chosen and options secured for 

 their purchase, but this plan was abandoned by reason of the 

 growing opinion, based upon experiences elsewhere, that farmers 

 could not be induced to visit demonstration farms from any 

 great distance, nor with sufficient frequency to do them lasting 

 good. Furthermore, it was found that there is a tendency 

 with the average farmer to discount the showings of demon- 

 stration farms, on the ground that the balance-sheet exhibits 

 as to the profit of various operations are not illustrative or 

 illuminative for the farmer, as the conduct of a business on a 

 large scale by a corporation of real or supposed wealth un- 

 consciously conceals many items of overhead which would 

 entirely destroy the value of the test for the small farmer. 



At this stage the advice of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture was sought, and Professor W. J. Spillman, chief 



