382 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



was appropriated (liirincf tho past yoar for institiito purposes. Seven- 

 teen institutes were held, coin posed of 73 sessions, and attended by 

 3,350 persons. The nuinber of lecturers upon the list is 15, of whom 

 3 are from the a^n-icultural eolle<re and the State experiment station. 

 The proceed in<rs are edited by the State director and printed in sup- 

 plemental foiiii and circulated by the leadin<i^ a<]:ricultural papers of 

 the State. The county i)apers also inclose these supplements, dis- 

 tributiiie- them amon*? their subscribers. About 10.000 copies of the 

 proceed iufjs of each institute were printed and circulated in this 

 manner durin<j: the past year. 



The arranging for institutes in the several counties is in the hands 

 of the superintendent, who cooperates with local farm clubs in ar- 

 ranging the dates, places, and programmes, the State furnishing such 

 lecturers in addition to the local teachers as may be necessary. The 

 places and dates as well as speakers are announced as soon as the 

 progrannnes have been prepared through the State agricultural 

 papers, as well as by means of local publications. The institute 

 director is the commissioner of agriculture, labor, and statistics for 

 the State. Three thousand dollars has been appropriated for the 

 institute work next year. 



The State director has employed this year a man at a regular salary, 

 who is known as the State lecturer and organizer of farmers' insti- 

 tutes, and whose duty it is to organize farmers' clubs in the various 

 counties, and make preliminary arrangements for institutes and to 

 deliver lectures throughout the State. It is noAv planned to organize 

 a farmers' club in a district preliminar}^ to the holding of an institute, 

 as it has been found that more successful meetings can be secured 

 where there is an organization in a community of agricultural people 

 who are interested. After such a club has been organized it is the 

 duty of its secretary to make a report to the commissioner of agri- 

 culture, giving the names and post-oiRce addresses of each officer and 

 member thereof, and he is also required to report at least four times 

 a year the number of members admitted at subsequent meetings. 

 Under the rules no club is organized by the bureau of agriculture 

 with less than twenty members. 



LOUISIANA. 



The farmers' institute work in the State of Louisiana is conducted 

 under a provision of the constitution of 1898, which provides that 

 " the Louisiana State board of agriculture and immigration shall have 

 the control and direction of all State agricultural organizations and 

 State farmers' institutes." In accordance with this provision the 

 State board of agriculture organized a farmers' institute committee, 

 composed of the president of the Louisiana State University, the 



