374 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



the Stato hoard of aorricnltiiro may appoint a director of farmers' 

 institutes for the State to cooperate with the farmers' institutes of tho 

 several counties." The sum of $(500 is annually appropriated for 

 institute pur])oses and is apportioned equally among the three coun- 

 ties. The salary of the superintendent is provided for outside of 

 this amount. The law provides that the failure of any county to hold 

 an institute in any year shall forfeit its appropriation. The objects 

 of the institutes, as declared by the law, shall be " the discussion, 

 orally or ])\ written essays or papers, of agricultural and kindred 

 questions, and for the dissemination of agricultural knowledge 

 among the farmers of the State." 



Twenty institutes were held during the past season, made up of 23 

 sessions, and attended by 4,199 persons. Nine lecturers were on the 

 State force. Two of these were furnished by the agricultural college 

 and the experiment station, contributing ten days of time to the 

 institute work. The total expense amounted to $750. The director of 

 institutes is also secretary of the State board of agriculture. 



Local institute organizations are provided for by an act of the leg- 

 islature, which requires that there shall be a president, vice-president, 

 secretary, treasurer, and an executive committee for each county 

 organization, and that these officers shall receive no compensation and 

 are to hold their office for one year. Five thousand copies of the 

 report of the State board of agriculture are printed. This report 

 includes the proceedings of the farmers' institutes. 



FLORIDA. 



Authority to hold farmers' institutes is committed by the State to 

 the board of trustees of the Florida Agricultural College and the 

 agi'icultural experiment station. The superintendent is appointed 

 by the board of trustees of the college and station, to whom, in con- 

 nection with the joresident of the college, has been delegated the power 

 to make rules for the holding of institute meetings and to ex^iend 

 the money appropriated for institute purposes. 



The local organizations consist of a chairman in each county ap- 

 pointed by the superintendent of institutes, with authority to make all 

 necessarj^ local arrangements for institute meetings. The superin- 

 tendent, in addition to his duties as director of farmers' institutes, is 

 also professor of agriculture in the agricultural college of Florida. 

 The dates and places for all institutes are arranged by the superin- 

 tendent, and notices of meetings are published from three to four 

 weeks in advance. 



The legislature of 1904 failed to make an appropriation for insti- 

 tute support, consequently no institutes have been held this year. The 

 following announcement by the University of Florida shows the 



