Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1896-09-10
Farmers Institutes in Pennsylvania.

In view of the fact that two Farmers
Institutes are to be held il this county
next winter, the following from the Phila-
delphia Times will prove interesting, snd
we hope to see the meetings arranged ftr
this county largely attended By farmers.
for whose benefit they are held. They VIII
be addressed by the most Intelligent farm,
ers in the State and by 9 number OF local
speakers.
The popularity OF farmers Institutes in
Pennsylvsnis is sttested by the announce
ment by the Deputy Secretary OF Agricul-
ture at Harrisburg giving the dates and
places at which lS6 institutes Will ne held
during The coming year. an average oil
nearly three IN stitutes to county. one
hundred and sixteen Of these Will be IL
session two days, aud the other lu VIII
each occupy but one day, making 3O4 days
altogether. In other words, nearly every
working day in the year will witness
gathering OF farmers for discussion apG in
struction in tie varions branches OF their
calling.
at is not necessary to commend the
| farmers institutes. They have commend
| ed themselves by their practical results IN
| making Pennsylvania the best cultivated
| and most prolific agricultural State in the
Union. The farmers institutes haye sery-
| ed to make all the farmers OF Pennsyl-
| vanis familiar with the progressive methods
| of the best farmers of the State. and those
| v he travelled across the country from the
| Atlantic TO the Rocky Mountains durlne
| the recent harvest season, and were thus
enabled to see the results Of farming else
| where. can testify that Pennsylvania did
not suffer by the comparison. Acre for
acre, its fields were the beet titled and the
most fruitful Of those of any other State,
and it is no; stretch of the Imagination
| to claim in this good showing that farmers
institutes have borne an important part.
"The farmers institutes bring to the at
tention of all The farmers who are progress
| sive enough TO attend them, not orly the
latest scientific knowledge regarding soils,
fertilizers, the most profitable crops to be
| raised from any given soil, but the result
| of practical experiments made by those
who are in the front rank. What one
farmer has succeeded in doing other farm
ers are willing TO try, and the net result
has been an advance all along the line
In Pennsylvania as elsewhere the farmers
have suffered in pocket from the competi,
ti0n of the virgin wheat and corn fields OF
the west, but this competition has served
to stimulate to better methods of farming
with gratifying results.
"WitL so many institutes to be held thi'
year, the State Department OF Agriculture
should be able through its lectures to give
the cause of better roads a big boom. Coco
roads are scarcely less important to TN
farmers of the State than good crops, To-
the crops must be hauled over the roads t.
| market, and there is no item Of the pro
cess by which the farmer secures the re
ward of his industry more costly than tha
of transportation and greater Proht to Tn
farmer. As an agricultural investmen
good roads will certainly prove profitable
TO say nothing of the added comfort ant
convenience they will bring to the who'll
community.