The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1913-01-01
MANY PRESENT AT FARMERS
INSTITUTE
Interesting Sessions Saturday at
Court House = Many Farmers
Present--Topics of Vital Inn
portance Discussed.

The Wayne County Farmers In
stitute was held in the court house
here Saturday morning, afternoon
and evening under the auspices of the
Department of Agriculture of Penn
sylvania. There were about a hun
dred of Wayne county's foremost
farmers and dairymen at each of the
meetings. There was a scattering of
women among the audience AL
though the number present was small
comparatively, it was composed of
representative men and the meetings
were declared to have been very en-
couraging and many interesting facts
were obtained.
The meeting was opened by Mr.. w.
e. Perham, chairman, of Pleasant
Mount.
Burgess c. A. McCarty gave a
brief opening address to the farmers
present in which he extended, in the
name of the people of the borough of
Honesdale, a cordial welco me. He
expressed a desire to see two blades
of grass grow where one had grown
before and he said this could only be
done by applying scientific methods
to farming.
D. H. Watts, of Kerrmoor, Pa, oc-
cupied a short time with a few re-
marks on the Importance of farmers
Institutes, until the speakers listed
for the morning program arrived.
He said that 1t was very encouraging
to see so many present at these meet
ings as they were very important to
everyone. He spoke of the concerted
action which is necessary to the sue
cess of the meetings. That a firm
erS' institute was not legisla lure
or a place for political argum emit.
Everybody came for business. He
spoke of the state being divided into
five sections and how groups of three
or four men had charge of the meet
stitutes being conducted at the same
time. Mr.. Watts introduced the 9th
er two speakers. DR.. ]. d. DIETRICH of
Chatham, N. v, a renowned dairy
man who came here under the direc-
tion of TIE Borden company. How
ard Mitman, of Hellertown, was the
first speaker on the morning pro-
gram. His subject was water, The
Greatest Thing on the Farm" Mr.
Mitman gave a highly interesting ad-
dress on the origin, forms and uses
of water on farm. The farm we'll
watered simplifies farming problems.
South of the Lehigh river there is
plenty of water; just north of it and
stretching to the Blue mountains are
the so-called dry lands. There water
is conspicuous by it's absence. The
people there have, to drive their
cattle many miles to give them wa
ter. The land is rolling and COM
paratively level. People adopt them
selves to conditions. He went on to
explain that water freezes at % de-
grees Fahrenheit and that 32 degs.
is the melting point of ice and the
point where water expands. In a
heavy fall of snow there is consider
able nitrogen brought down and de-
posted in the soil if the snow does
not melt away two rapidly. ..
Frost is impossible without water.
The deep freezing of last winter for
the first time in five years has made
the farm lands more fertile this year.
Farms are always more fertile after
a hard winter. In speaking of the
amount of water used by plant life
he said that a field of alfalfa pumps
up from the soil in the course of its
growth about $50 tons of water. 1t
requires that amount OF water to
produce field of dry hay. He ex-
planned the drying up process of
plant life. The talk was very in
structive and interesting.
DR.. ]. D. DIETRICH, of Chatham, N.
Y, was the next speaker of the morn
| ing. He was sent here under the di-
| rection of the Borden Milk Company
and is engaged in doing field work.
He said that two years ago he was
| here and talked about dairying. He
is now engaged in dairying and has
under his charge one hundred dairy
| farms. He advised farmers to put
] their farms in shape, clear away all
! trash and make the lands fertile.
He said that there was not much in
the idea of rotation of crops, and that
| instead of better, farms were getting
| poorer and poorer every year. What
| they need is the right, kind of atten-
| ton and then they will grow crop.
There is nothing in seasons for
! growing crops" he said 1t makes
no difference whether it is wet or
! dry season If the land is in condition
We do not build our houses to stand
only in the summer time but expect
them to shelter us in the rains and
storms of winter.
1t is good idea to make two
| blades or grass grow where one grew
before but / want each farmer to
make it four instead of two. Stol
pasturing the soil. Keep the COWS
in the barn. They tramp down the
soil and make it hard so that no all
can reach the roots of the grain. II
the crop can get air and food there
will be no trouble. / do not believe
any man can afford to pasture a COW
In planting peas with oats put the
peas in deep and sprinkle oats on toI
with only shallow covering. The
trouble wish most farmers, DR.. De
trich said, was that they insisted
their farms would not yield a croI
instead of going at it the right way
to get crop.
Give the very best of everything t.
the COW. 1t needs the best to give
the best milk. Do not pillow the fielC
in the fall. The field needs blanke
| Il, Wy