24 



that should be wholly expended in other directions. If an in- 

 stitution is worth maintaining at all it is worth placing on a 

 permanent and definite basis that admits of the operation of 

 continuous and uninterrupted plans. In several states, college 

 presidents and station directors have been criticised for fre- 

 quenting the halls of legislation, but their critics do not realize 

 how dependent upon such activities of these officials have been 

 the development and progress of agricultural education and 

 research. These public servants have done this work because 

 a system of annual or biennial appropriations have rendered it 

 necessary, and in many cases, because no one else would or 

 could do it. 



The Hatch fund became available early in 1888 and with it 

 came a new station building, an enlarged staff and broader 

 activities. From that time the station has made steady prog- 

 ress, I beHeve, in efficiency and in its helpful relation to Maine 

 agriculture. It is safe to say that all phases of agricultural 

 production in this State are handled more intelligently because 

 the station has existed. I congratulate my long-time friend, 

 its director, and his stafif, upon their achievements. I will not 

 further ask your attention to the detailed history of the station 

 and its work but will pass to the consideration of my subject 

 as announced. • 



"the conditions that limit agricultural efficiency." 



In discussing this subject I shall deal with it largely in its 

 relations to the State of Maine. What, then, can we say of 

 Maine as a field for the operation of those agencies, educational 

 or otherwise, that make for the betterment of its rural people? 

 But before we consider Maine agriculture specifically, and espe- 

 cially before we discuss the factors that for the future will de- 

 termine agricultural efficiency, we should bring to mind certain 

 great economic and social changes that have produced a marked 

 effect in the entire group of eastern states. 



New England agriculture and the farm home are profoundly 

 different from what they were a few decades ago. Up to 1850 

 and later the agriculture of the eastern states was very general 

 in its character and included a great variety of products that 

 were needed for home consumption and to satisfy the varied 

 needs of nearby markets. General farming was the order of 



i 



