DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 99 



Samples of corn were distributed and those in attendance were* given 

 practical exercises in corn judging. 



For the one-day institutes but a single state speaker was furnished, 

 the remainder of -the time being assigned to the local part of the pro- 

 gram. At the county institutes there were always two state lecturers 

 present at each session and in most cases there was a third speaker for 

 the afternoon and evening sessions upon topics relating to good roads, 

 forestry, education, or the home. In fully two-thirds of the counties a 

 separate section for women was asked for upon at least one afternoon. 

 At several points the women's section occupied an entire day or perhaps 

 two afternoons. There were also a number of counties in which, although 

 no distinct section was held, one of the evening sessions was in charge 

 of the ladies and the program was carried out by them. Nearly every 

 county in which separate women's sections have been held in the past 

 has asked to have them continued. 



The holding of women's sections has in many places furnished an 

 overflow meeting and has thus made it possible to accommodate the large 

 number which wish to attend. Bv having them in the afternoon when the 

 topics at the general session are not of especial interest to the women, it 

 enables the latter to get more out of the meeting. 



At the conferences held in connection with the Eouud-up Institute 

 it seemed to be the general impression that it was desirable to have a 

 woman speaker present at each county institute for the entire two days 

 instead of for one or two sessions as has been the case in the past. It 

 was also thought if there could be one man to speak upon general farm- 

 ing topics and one woman speaker who could conduct the women's sec- 

 tion and, in addition to addresses relating to the home, could give one or 

 tw*o talks that would be of interest to the men as well as to the women 

 from the farm, it would be possible to fill in the remainder of the time 

 with local speakers except that in some places lecturers upon education 

 and good roads were asked for. This would reduce the expense of hold- 

 ing the county institute and make it possible to hold at least one more, 

 one-day institute than is now held. 



FARMERS^ INSTITUTE SPECIAL. 



The success of the special institute train in the three previous years 

 made it an easy matter to secure a similar favor from the railroads in 

 1909, and, upon request, the Pere Marquette, Detroit and Mackinac, and 

 Michigan Central roads agreed to run a special train over their lines. 

 The train left Lansing over the Pere Marquette road on Monday morning, 

 March 29th and spent the week upon that road in the eastern part of the 

 state. The same territory v%'as covered in 1907 but, as the trip lasted 

 only four days as compared with six in 1909, only about one-half of 

 the places where stops were made in the latter year were reached in 

 1907. Leaving Bay City, Tuesday, April 6th, the train was run over the 

 Detroit and Mackinac road to Cheboygan and three days were spent re- 

 turning from there to Lansing over the Michigan Central. Except for 

 the stops made on the final run from Saginaw to Lansing, none of the 

 points had been previously visited. 



During the eleven days sixty-five stops of sixty to ninety minutes 

 each were made. The train consisted of three baggage cars and two or 



