1556 Report of Farmers' Institutes 



In the following pages I have endeavored to show in some de- 

 tail, different lines of work of the Bureau of Farmers' Institutes, 

 by no means confined to holding meetings. Briefly stated they 

 are as follows: Your Director has personally visited forty-six 

 counties to meet the people interested and to arrange for work to 

 be done — four other counties were visited by members of the in- 

 stitute corps, and in the five smaller, less-populous counties agri- 

 culturally, the work was arranged for by correspondence; he has 

 attended and participated in the meetings of the Xew York State 

 Fruit Growers' Association, Western Xew York Horticultural So- 

 ciety, 'State Dairymen's and State Breeder's ]\Ieetings, Farmers' 

 Week at Cornell, and Farmers' Weeks at the secondary schools of 

 agriculture at Morrisville and Canton ; has conducted a four-dav 

 meeting in connection with the School at Alfred and three-day 

 round-up meetings at Sidney, Dansville, Albion and Saratoga ; at- 

 tended and taken charge of twenty-seven regular institutes, given 

 lectures before sixteen different assemblies, as w^ell as visited sev- 

 eral farms and institutions. 



In cooperation with Assistant Commissioner and Superin- 

 tendent of State Institutions' Farms, Harry B. Winters, three 

 special meetings were held at state institutions located at Bing- 

 hamton, Ftica and Industry. There was a goodly attendance of 

 the people from the surrounding country. These meetings gave 

 the people an opportunity to visit the state farms and see what is 

 being done in the way of crop growing and animal industry. 

 Special instructors addressed the meetings on the work that was 

 being done and on agricultural themes that were of particular 

 interest in the localities. So successful were these meetings that 

 we have been asked to hold others the coming season. 



One very important phase of the work is personal correspond- 

 ence in the way of agricultural advice, not alone to farmers but to 

 all sorts and conditions of men and women, not only within the 

 state but from outside its borders. This work is constantly in- 

 creasing and helps to bring the department into close touch with 

 agricultural conditions, where we can often render personal service 

 by way of cooperative effort and help to solve individual problems ; 

 also in directing seekers after farms to favorable locations, and 

 later giving personal advice and direction — thus often preventing 

 unwise investment and endeavor. 



