Indiana Farmers' Institutes 



REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDE^^T. 



The sixteenth year (1904-5) of the Farmers' Institute work has not 

 differed materially from previous years. More meetings have been held, 

 the Institutes have been more equitably distributed, the work has been 

 better systematized, the co-operation of the local officers has, as a rule, 

 been more effective, and an earnest effort has been made to have the 

 instruction more definitely practical and helpful. 



The untimely death, in October, lt>04, of Mr. H. F. McMahan, one of 

 the most effective and deservedly popular Institute speakers, was a 

 severe blow to the work. 



In the early part of the Institute season the subject of "Good Roads" 

 was presented in many southern counties. Increased attention was given to 

 "Rural School Improvement," and there was a more general and more in- 

 telligent effort to make the Institute work interesting and helpful to the 

 young people of the farm. There has been no definite campaign, however, 

 in either of the above lines. The aim has been, rather, to co-operate 

 actively with the local officers along such lines as seemed to them to be 

 most important. There has been but one really new feature of the Avork 

 for the current year — the holding of a series of summer Institutes for 

 the special benefit of farmers' wives and children. 



The work of the year may be summarized as follows: 



(1) The preparation of a resume of the Institute work, fioui its 

 inception in 1882, under the auspices of the State Board of Agriculture, 

 to 1904. and its publication in the biennial report early in 190^: 



(2l The an-angement and publication of the schedule of Institutes 

 for 1904-5; 



(3) The holding of the seventh annual State Conference of Institute 

 Workers in October. 1904: 



(4) The holding of 226 Winter Institutes. 109 being one-day meetings 

 and 117 two-day meetings: 



(5) The holding of 31 one-day Summer Institutes in June and early 

 July, 1905. 



The important features of the work of the year will l>e referred to 

 under appropriate lioadings. below: 



(781) 



