The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1888-02-04

he felt on some matters, and what he
thought on others; how he planted hi
corn, or sowed his wheat, or how he fec
and watered his stock; and 20 state from
actual knowledge and experience, which
breed of sheep, cattle and horses he liked
the best, and other similar questions, IL mo-
too threadbare, that would naturally come
up In farmers meeting.
| say came TO town feeling happy and
with good intentions, ! made diligen
inquiry of every one l net where the
institute was TO be held, at what hour and
In what room. No one seemed 10 know
no one seemed 20 care Not u farmer, MOI
butcher, not a stock raiser had ever heard
of the meeting, nor seen the notice In the
paper. | was AT a loss. At last | met Il
FREE TRADER man, the we'll known and
ubiquitous Mr.. Beemus thought surely
he would know, but he knew nothing at all
about ii, either, and thought tina, | must
have read the notice wrong; that 1t was
posted for some other town than Ottawa
and | thought so, toe, as my life, for the
most part, had been made up of blunders.
gave up the search. But 10 my sad dis
appointment and utter disgust, read dur
ing the following week an article In the
RepuJlican TO the effect that the bottom of
the Farmers Institute had fallen out,
because the distinguished speakers that
were expected did not put In an appearance.
II was played out and adjourned TO meet at
Morris and Joliet, all for the lack of dis
tlnguished speakers. Indeed, why should
distinguished speakers be necessary Why
could not delegation from the State Board
of Agriculture have organized the Institute
and set II In motion, given II "A constitution
and by. laws, without the aid of any speech
es than those necessary 70 effect an organi-
zation? Speech.making seems TO be the
bane of all our American institutions. II
is generally thought necessary that all our
public meetings, whether for business or
pleasure, or for mutual improvement,
should be opened with speech and a
flourish, whether the speaker knows what
he is talking about or not. II must have
been rare treat TO the intelligent and
scientific members of the Forestry Associ.
alton, that met at Springfield last year, to
have had their time taken up In listening
to the opening speech of Gov. Oglesby, in
which the good natured and honest old
Governor was free 10 confess that he never
planted a tree in his life, scarcely knew
one tree from another, and in his boyhood,
had never climbed honey-locust tree in
search of birds nest. And | have no
doubt that it was equally as interesting 10
the Tile Makers Association, that met last
week, when he told them that he never
dug a ditch In his life, never laid foot of
tile, knew nothing Of their manufacture,
that tile making and tile drainage was not
one of the tricks of his youth; and that he
was too old now to enter upon new expert
ments
Farmers Institutes are highly recon.
mended as schools of learning, the teachers
in which are experts in the several depart
ments of agriculture; and an equal to a
high school, or any other college" to any
young man who may wish to take his A.
NJ master of agriculture in farming,
IL has been my choice, Mr.. Editor, to
live for the past thirty years of my life
upon farm, away from the maddening
crowd" of city life; and | have enjoyed
II. My associations have been with plain,
practical, and common sense farmers, men
of intellg ence who are well informed on
all subjects of general interest. None Of
them claim to be great statesmen, or SOL
diers, or scholars | do not know of a
single general, or colonel, or major, or cap
tain 10 our town; nor a doctor, either Of
law, physics or theology; nor professor,
(that is a farmer, nor superintendent OF
schools, nor president of college, nor
luuSt VI u tVull, anu out VIC
and he is a venerable old farmer, and a
few politicians.
have read the programs of the Farm.
ers' Institutes, and find that the speakers
are men somewhat distinguished In the
higher walks of life; and for this reason
would like to see Farmers Instsitute
organized In our county in order that we
might occasionally have the pleasure of
hearing speeches upon agricultural sub
jects by men who are presumed to know
more than the average farmer,-who have
raised themselves above the common place
| have read the proceedings of many OF
our associations, alliances and Institutes
and the wonder TO me has been where al
these generals, colonels, captains, honora
bles, judges, professors, and other civil ant
military characters come from, for we hav,
none in the town In which | live, and tn,
same may probably be said of many of tn,
other towns In our county. have hear,
distinguished temperance lecturers, politl
clans statpsm an and nraachars and lactura