THIRTY-FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION. 227 



MEETING AT SIGEL, APRIL 3, 1909. 



Meeting called to order by Director A. F. Jansen ; music by 

 Sigel Orchestra. 



First speaker introduced was Rev. Father Pennartz, rector 

 of St. Michaels Church at Sigel. He spoke in a very impressive 

 way about the necessity of a more fair, systematic way of farm- 

 ing, as it has long ago been followed up in the old country where 

 land has been in cultivation for many centuries, and, at the pres- 

 ent time, is more productive than it formerly was. He called 

 special attention to what our state agricultural school at Urbana 

 is doing in the way of soil experimenting and crop producing 

 under' various treatment and conditions to develop and prove 

 the most satisfactory result. He very urgently asked the attend- 

 ing farmers to appreciate the effort of the university more by 

 getting the different bulletins published by the university on the 

 various crops and other valuable information contained in them. 



S. B. Shilling followed up Rev. Father Pennartz' talk in a 

 more definite explanatory way, telling how and which way the 

 most profitable farming could and should be carried on, under 

 prevailing circumstances and conditions in this, our home coun- 

 try. He very urgently impressed the advantage and necessity of 

 the co-operative creamery located at Sigel, and urged the farmers 

 around their little town to uphold it and make it pay a better divi- 

 dend. 



Mr. Began kept the audience listening attentively about the 

 dairy development in Southern Wisconsin ; what difficulties they 

 had to contend with there in the beginning; how dairying had 

 changed some barren, worn out land to high state of productive- 

 ness; why this part of the country had decided advantage over 

 Wisconsin, being a better corn country, more summer and less 

 winter. 



Uncle John Sliger spoke from his experiences as a farmer 

 in boyhood days and now. 



