farmers' institutes in the united states. 395 



cee(lin<; ; the various farming communities; and may collect the 



is i^rir jid addresses made at these institutes and publish the same 



Ther ,i^hlet form annually for distril)ution among the farmers of 



,F\ otate. He may secure such assistants as may be necessary or 



beneficial in holding such institutes." 



Sixty-one institutes were held last year, composed of 22G sessions, 

 and the total attendance was 11,1G8. Fifty-eight were one-day and 

 three were two-day institutes. Eighteen instructors were upon the 

 State lecture force, six of whom were members of the agricultural 

 college faculties and the experiment station staffs. The total expense 

 for the year was $1,971, which sum was contributed by the State 

 board of agriculture from revenues derived from the tax on connner- 

 cial fertilizers in the State. The director of institutes is also com- 

 missioner of agriculture and is elected by the people for a term of 

 years. One thousand seven hundred dollars has been appro- 

 p.-i^ted by the board for institute jjurposes for the connng season. 

 Twenty-five thousand copies of an annual report of the proceedings 

 of the institutes are printed and distributed to the regular nuiiling 

 list of the department of agriculture. The local organization for the 

 counties consists of a chairman, secretary, and committee on pro- 

 gi-ammes. The director holds institutes upon request of the various 

 localities. The local expenses are provided for by the community in 

 which the institute is held. Announcement of the dates, places, and 

 speakers is made by publication in the newspapers and through the 

 distribution of posters. A round-up institute or State farmers' con- 

 vention was held at the agricultural college, continuing during nine 

 sessions, and was attended by about 500 persons. 



north DAKOTA. 



The farmers' institute board is provided for by an act of assembly 

 ap]i roved ISIarch 19, 1903. The board is composed of the president 

 of the board of trustees of the North Dakota Agricultural College, the 

 commissioner of agriculture and labor, the director of the experiment 

 station, the professor of agriculture, and the professor of dairying 

 of the North Dakota Agricultural College. It is made the duty of 

 the board to — 



employ a director (tf farinors' institutes and such otiior institute lecturers as 

 may be deemed necessary ; to authorize the hoidiu;;: of not less than 40 insti- 

 tutes each year, the same to be of such a nature as to instruct the farmers of 

 the State in niaintainiiiK the fertility of tlie soil, the iin|)roveinent of cereal 

 croi»s grown in tlie Stale, i)rinci|»!es of breeding as a|ti»lied to domestic animals, 

 the making and handling of dairy iiroducts, the destruction of noxious weeds 

 and injurious insects, forestry lyid growing of fruits, feeding and management 

 of live stock, and in general such instruction as will tend to promote the pros- 

 perity, home life, and comfort of the farming iiopulatiou. 



H. Doc. 924, 59-1 26 



