but it may not be able to apply them in other parts of the 

 State because it has no specifications of conditions in these 

 parts. Neither has the farmer himself any adequate concept 

 of the conditions, because no one has given him the knowledge 

 and no one has it to give. We have now passed the stage of 

 exploitation in the agriculture of New York. We are rapidly 

 coming to a time when special skill must develop on our farms. 

 This skill is, of course, conditioned on local knowledge. The 

 greatest fundamental need in the country life of this State is a 

 thorough-going survey in detail of our agricultural resources 

 and conditions, as a basis on which to build a scientifically and 

 economically sound country life. Something is being done in 

 this direction at the State College of Agriculture, but it is 

 pitiably small when compared with the needs. Such a sur- 

 vey, working out a well considered plan and continuing 

 uninterruptedly until the entire State is covered, might 

 properly be a part of an educational extension work. It will, 

 of course, be expensive, but relatively no more expensive than 

 an inventory that a merchant or a company makes of its busi- 

 ness. 



I have now enumerated the leading agencies in the State 

 that are definitely engaged in rural work, and have indicated 

 extensions of various lines of effort. We now need consciously 

 to look on all these agencies as phases of one broad and general 

 movement for the upbuilding of the rural life of the State. All 

 of them should be federated so that they will work together 

 toward one end. The responsible heads of all these agencies 

 and movements should constitute a kind of consulting board to 

 stimulate and direct the country life work of the State. The 



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