The Monitor-register., 1897-11-26
Farmers Institute

ORRD
TION FOR FARMERS-TILLING THE
SOIL MORE AND MORE BECOMING A
sCIENCE-THE WIDEST INFORMATION
AND MOST CAREFUL APPLICATION TC
GET THE BEST RESULTS.
The annual Farmers Institute, held
under the direction of the State Board ol
Agriculture, co operating with the Salem
Country Board, was held in the Opera
House on Tuesday and Wednesday, and
a deep interest was manifested in all the
proceedings by the large number Of
farmers and farmers wives present.
The platform was tastefully decorated
with the National colors and a large
number of beautiful chrysanthemums,
to which was added a fine display oil
fruits and cereals. The sessions were
opened with singing by a choir from the
members of the Woodstown Grange.
State Secretary Franklin Dye presided
over the sessions. Richman Coles,
President of the County Board of Agri
culture, extended a hearty welcome to
the visisors, and concluded by saying:
Notwithstanding we again and again
have had lessons of agricultural
wisdom given US, still WI TAXI little
heed. We have been told of many items
of expense that could we'll be saved, YET
we in a great measur continue on in oul
old ways. We have learned from Others
thai to grow fine fruit, requires constant
watchfulness and care with a liberal use
of the spray pump, yet comparatively
few of us put that knowledge into
practice. Economy is the farmers
stronghold, and without it he fails to
obtain satisfactory results. Economy
does not mean to be parsimonious, but
it means thrift, management and a careful
disposition of things"
Secretary Dye responded in a fitting
manner
Elmer Fl. Smith, of Salem, a well-known
Granger, made a plain address on "What
Constitutes q Practical Farmer" Said he:
A0ae great feature about farming is the
number of people who don't know a
goose from a hoe harrow, but who can
tell you just.what to do to turn your
farm into a Klondike. They are the
people who divide the farmers. into the
good, bad and Indifferent classes.
Everybody who rides along the road
feels free and in duty bound to criticise
farming operations and point out the
mistakes that have been costly, and yet
the same system that was a mistake this
year might next year, under different
weather conditions, bring the best
results. 1t is an old saying that ex-
~perience is a great teacher, but in farm
ing experience often plays fantastic
tricks. There are many standards for a
good farmer. One mans idea of a good
farmer is one who is always ahead with
his work; another, who doesn't allow any
weeds to grow in his field; and there are
people who decide whether a man is a
good farmer or not by the brand of
whisky he drinks and the frequency with
which he sets 'em up to his friends.
Did you ever think how little any one
is superior in all respects to his
We find men who are waist
high above others in some special line,
but if you know them and.try them they
will be woefully low in some other
branch. The farmer must be an all
man, because his business is ordi-
narily not large enough to allow him to
himself to any one branch. Some
of you say let the farmer be a specialist,
but the man whose bread and butter
depends on the Immediate fruits of his
labor don't wantto bank too heavily on
specialties. The good farmer of the
will be the intensive farmer. He will
get the maximum Of profits at a minimum
of risk and expense. We all agree on
one point-that the farmer who makes
something more than a living each year
is a successful and may be safely called a
practical farmer, and, since | come to
think of it, l guess anybody is a good
who can make a living"
OVERLOOKED ITEMS.
John Fl. Darymple of Mercer county,
me subject, Overlooked Items of
and Loss in Farm Practice made
a forcible and interesting address, He
said in the course of his REMARKS:
Economy is one of the most important
questions in agriculture, and should
strictly studied and observed. The
depression of times has not been con-
duciye to prosperity with the farmer.
sit is impossible for people to do their
best in any line of work unless they are
BY enthusiasm and buoyed up
with hope, and have good reasons for
believing that they will receive fitting
for their labor. The general wei.
of all classes is dependent upon the
thrift of the farming class, for after all
is said and done, the pillow stands at the
very foundation of national prosperity.
What is needed is better brain work on
the farm; more systematic and economic
planning, and more intelligence to bring
about the result of well-laid plans. To
attempt to farm successfully we must
have q system of management founded
upon business Notwithstanding what
crops or snimals make profit forlus; when
to buy and sell, and without this
knowledge, and lack of energy, a farmer
has met financial disaster. We must
farm better to enjoy success.
Energy is the cornerstone of success
full farming. The farmers own strength
Is a part of his capital. 1t is better to
have common sense without educationthan
educ alton without common sense. You can
divide mankind into twoclasses, the laborer
and the idler; the supporters and the
supported; the honest and the dishonest.
All laborers should be brothers, and
every farmer should consider every man
who labors with either hand or brain as
his brother. Before genius and labor
a partnership there was no such
thing as prosperity among farmers.
is a quiet independence about the
life of a farmer that no other business
can give. He goes, as it were, in partner
ship with nature.
"As an element of success in making
the farm pay, good, sound, common sense
will do more than any other n thing to
put money in the farmers purse. To
start With, there must be a fixed aim and
q determination to follow some we'll
lzG-ol ~lan Of 5ation until tho rocult
is accomplished.
There is a want of decision among
farmers. A great deal of labor is lost
to the world for want of a little courage.
day sends to the grave a number
of obscure men who have remained in
obscurity only because their timidity has
prevented them from making a first
effort, and who, if they only had been
induced to begin, would in all probability
have gone great lengths in the career of
s'The farmer of the future will be a
spirited citizen. He will represent
the highest type of American manhood,
ever ready to defend and resist encroach
ments upon his rights, and out from the
farm houses will go the boys and
girls who will reform and rule the
world"
This closed the morning session. In
the afternoon Mr.. F. E. Dawley,. of
Fayetteville, N. Y, gave an instructive
upon the selection and breeding of
dairy cows. By the aid of four large
charts he explained the difference
between COWS that have been bred for
milk or butter production, and told why
one animal was worth more than another
to fatten for beef. He urged the farmers
to keep close track of what their diaries
were and discard Improbable COWS, keep
ing aud breeding from those which were
able to transform the greatest possible
amount of food over into required pro-
duct. To know the best COWS he recon-
mended regular weekly weighing and
of the milk.
TIE average yield a year per COW
:, Q00n no,ndc of nnilH and 1917 nouu6S 0f