The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-07-28
mistrel shows. Director Amosse 9. /,
minstrel shows. Director Amoss i,

| A"iS'fei SHOWS. director AmOSS f. IN
minstrel shows. Director Amoss il
Maryland has sternly set down on an,
attempt to pervert the work to such
, , uses and has stopped off-hand any at.
| tempt OF any one to grind his axe iin
an institute. as l have seen done, ip
another State. where a fertilizer deal
er was allowed to take an hour and
half giving all sorts of misinforma-
ton that the State speakers hadxto
correct afterwards. N
In North Carolina the institutes
have been brought to their present
effective state through the wise III.
rection of DR.. Butler. who, like Mr..
Amoss, has kept the meetings strict.
ly to their work and has shut out
fakes and mere amusements.
But no matter how strong the or
ganization nor how effective the di.
rection and management of the in
stitutes. they will never do what they
can for the farmers till the farmers
themselves realizes that these are tbei,
institutes and take an active part IN
them. The best equipped speakers
may lecture, and may not touch once
the points that majority of the far
mers present wish to hear discussed
The fiattest failure in an institute
1 have ever attended has been where
there was a good audience who listen
ed attentively to all that was said anc
then went home as solemnly as
though they had been to church. TIL.
speakers did not know whether the,
mad helped any one or not.
The best institute 1 ever attended
was one in which l was one of tbe
speakers, and the audience pumped
every man dry before they let go O;
him. 1 was on the programme I,
speak on certain topic, but those
farmers were there to hear what the,
wanted to hear and when I got or
my feet they began to fire questions
at me till my time was used up and
had not said word on the topic
rose to speak on. That was a rea
FARMERS institute. meeting for tho
exchange Of ideas and the getting al
facts that the farmers wanted to
know.
Now. there will be Institutes thi.
summer in several Southern States
and ] would suggest to all our read.
ers that they now make notes in ad-
vance on what they want to learr
about and put the questions in shape
before the institute meets and then
make it a farmers, and not merely a
speakers institute. You will gain far
more from the institute than if yor
simply go and listen to the speeches.
l noted last summer when lecturine
at the North Carolina Institutes that
In counties where we had the best au-
diences and got the most questions
there was better farming being done
than where we had a crowd that
simply sat and listened and then went
home without any intention to do bet
ter farming, simply because they ha6
not taken an interest in the meetine
and tried to get what they needed.
And the better farming in some Of
the counties has been the direct re-
suit of the institutes, and the reflex in
fluence has been to make the insti-
tutes better, for the speakers have
had to grow and bring newiy-acuuir-
ed ideas and not a rehash Of the old
ones.
therefore. to make the institute.
5 what they should be. depends more
, on the activity and intelligence of the
FARMERS than on the men who come
to talk to them The farmers must
wake up to the needs Of their section
and then try to get from the speakers
, ideas that will help to supply thes,
! needs. l trust that all over the South
the summer Institutes will be farm
ers' institutes. If they are not so
they will not accomplish what the,
should.-Progressive Farmer.