The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1905-12-21
SUCCESSIVE MELTING
Farmers Institute and Teachers
Meeting at Garden Grove was a
Big SuCCesS--ldrge Crowd.

County Ftrm"rs' Institute and Decatur
County Teachers meeting. held at Gar
den Grove on Thursday, Friday and Sat-
urtlay of last week, while in the nature
of an experiment, proved to be a salts
Factory one, and it was the best attend
ed and most successful one ever held in
this county. 1t was good idea to com
bine the two meetings, forit strength
ened the interest in both of them.
Thursday was corn day, and there was
a splendid exhibit of corn, and it was
evident that the seed corn special which
visited this county last spring did much
to interest the farmers in better corn.
The corn was judged by w. A. Hook, of
the Iowa State College at Amas, who
made an address on corn which was
highly appreciated. Thursday evening
the feature was the decamatory con-
test participated in by the pupils of the
Garden Grove High School the winner
to represent the Garden Grove school
at the state High School contest to be
held at Guthrie Center next March.
There were fifteen contestants, and the
judges, Eli Hutchinson, and Misses
Harriet Meter and Kate Ogden, of
Leon, had a hard time of it deciding the
the winner, as a number Of the contest
ants were marked very closely. The
first place was finally given to Hazel
Lineburger, her subject being European
Guides Nay Waters was given second
place, her subject being ''The Rising"
and Harry Buffum was third, his subject
being TON Sawyer's Love Affair."" Miss
Mabel Horner, the we'll known elocu-
zionist of Lamont, had been drilling the
contestants for some time prior to the
contest, and they all showed evidence
of her skill in this line. The Leon
Juvenile orchestra furnished the music
for the evening and received many com
plements on their playing.
On Friday there was splendid pro-
gram all day, Rev. Joe Goodsell, of Gar
den Grove, having an excellent ii..per
on ''Good Roods,' which was discussed
. considerably by c. G. Dye, Of Wood
land and others, and it is evidl MT that
, the farmers Of this county are becoming
greatly interested in the subject Of
better roads. G. ID. Mallette, the we'll
known dairyman Of Garden Grove read
practical paper on the subject of
dairying which was Of much help to
those who are engaged in this growing
industry. He was followed by ex-State
Superintendent r. G. Barrett with an
address on "The School, Home and
Farm" and it was one of the best fea-
, lures of the meeting. JAS. T. Eveland
read a paper on "Tile Drainage" which
is something that the farmers of this
county will have to come to If they
want to utilize all the high priced land
At the evening session Prof. z. G.
Thornburg. county superintendent OF
Polk county delivered fine address
his subject being "A Square Deal for
the Farmer Boy" and Hon. V. r. Nc
Ginnis OF Leon spoke on IA Healthy
School Sentiment" his address being
full Of good thoughts on this subject
which went home to his hearers. Mr
McGinnis has the happy faculty of be
' ing able to make himself interesting tc
his hearers no matter on what subject
he speaks, and on this occasion he wal
at his best.
Saturday morning Joe S. Trigg, the
famous farm writer and editor of the
Des Moines Weekly Register spoke or
"Farm Philosophy" and his farm phil
osophy is printed all over the United
States. He is a practical farmer a.
we'll as writer and his address was sc
interesting that he was called upo1
again in the afternoon and talked fo
nearly an hour more. Prof. Henry B
Summers, Of the Iowa State College
gave an address on "Plant Breeding
which was full of information. He wa.
followed by county superintendent Ell
Hutchinson with an interesting address
on "tilimpses OF Child Nature which
was Cne of the best things of the ell
tire meeting.
The success Of this Joint meeting of
the farmers and teachers which was
held as an experiment, will result in a
continuation of the joint meetings and
next years institute will probably be
held at Lamont, as they are anxious fol
it.
The election OF officers resulted in
the reelection of Fred Woolley az
president and w. l.. Edmonson was
elected secretary and treasurer. The
board of directors are VIM. Critchton
Leon; c. ID. MalIett, Garden Grove
Ralph Baker, Center; w. A. Machlan
Franklin. A special department or
good roads was also created and placed
in charge OF W. H. Snyder and RALPH
Baker.
Much of the success OF this meeting
is due to Mr. Fred Woolley, the presi
dent, who worked INCREASINGLY to make
it a success, and the large attendance
shows the outcome of his efforts. The
institute did wise thing in re-elect
ing Mr.. Woolley as president. He wa.
, ably assisted by county Superintendent
| Hutchinson ron acantinr taa ohar