Report of Geo. A. Smith. 



Hon. Fred. C. Schraub, Commissioner of Agriculture: 



Dear Sir. — I have the honor to submit the following report of 

 the number of farmers' institutes held and the cost of the same 

 for the year ending October 1, 1S95. 



As you will see from the list I have held more meet- 

 ings than I did the previous year. I was enabled to do this by 

 carefully planning the routes in such a way as to make as little 

 expense in getting from one meeting to another as possible. The 

 meetings, as a rule, have been well attended and a good interest 

 manifested. Quite a good many of these meetings were held in 

 places back from the main thoroughfares and the reports that 

 come from them were almost universally the same thing: "We 

 had no idea that the meetings were like this; did not suppose you 

 would make it so practical. Now, we want more of the same 

 kind since we see what the plan is." I have made an extra effort 

 to meet this demand, but in doing so I have met the difficulty 

 of getting speakers that are competent to do the work and are 

 acceptable to the farmers. The professors at Cornell University 

 and at Geneva station can only give a limited amount of time to 

 this work, as they have their own duties to perform. When it 

 comes to the farmers, there are many successful ones in the 

 State, but many of them can not leave their business for any 

 length of time, and very few have had any training as pub- 

 lic speakers and have not sufficient confidence in their own 

 ability to get up before an audience and tell what they do know. 

 This is one of the difficulties in extending the work, as the 

 meetings must be largely held during the winter months. This 

 is one of the problems that must be met and solved in the near 

 future, as the success of the farmers' institute, if I may be allowed 



