matter of interest and great impurlaiice, its u&et'uluess lia.s been mteusitied as a 

 result of the change in economic and social conditions in the counti'y districts. 

 AA'ith the scarcity of labour and the increasing value of the products ol the farm, 

 it becomes the women of the farm, as well as the city residents, to study the food 

 values and prices of the various products at their disposal, methods of cooking, 

 labour saving devices, clotliing, care of the sick, etc., etc. 



Opportunities for systematic instruction along Domestic Science lines have 

 been provided only in a limited number of our larger centres of population, with the 

 result that a very small proportion of the girls from our rural districts have taken 

 advantage of the instruction offered. 



Directors of education in our schools and colleges are attaching more and more 

 importance to Domestic Science. The special efforts along this line, by the Y.W.C.A., 

 technical schools, hulies" colleges and private schools, have, for the most part, 

 benefited only our young women. What about the great band of women, (young, 

 middle aged and old) who cannot take advantage of the above mentioned facilities, 

 but who are desirous of learning something of that science which has made such 

 great progress during recent years and which can be made of great value even to 

 women who have had many years of experience in directing the activities of a 

 bousehold and in performing the numerous tasks associated with homemaking. 



The chief aim of those who have had to do with the work of the Women's 

 Institutes in the Province of Ontario has been to direct the women of the country, 

 town and village as to how best to utilize the forces at their command: — standard 

 works, reports, bulletins, and periodicals ; practical experience ; healthful sociability, 

 etc. — to the best advantage, and also to instruct them t(T a limited extent in domestic 

 science, home nursing, child welfare, etc. 



A survey of the Institute work in this Province will be of interest at this point. 



Some thirty years ago, systematic instruction for farmers — the giving of 

 lectures by agricultural scientists and practical farmers in the rural districts — was 

 inaugurated. From the beginning, the women living on the farm took more or 

 less interest in these lectures and read some of the articles appearing in the Depart- 

 mental publications, especially those bearing upon dairying, fruit growing, poultry 

 raising, gardening and other activities in which the w'omen on the farm were 

 specially interested. An evidence of their appreciation was shown in the request 

 for a separate organization to deal with only those features of work with which 

 women are directly concerned. As a result, what is know as the Women's Institutes 

 of Ontario had their beginning some seventeen years ago, and in 1900 there were 

 33 institutes with a membership of 1,600, while to-day we have nearly 800 separate 

 organizations with a membership of over 25,000. 



While the activities from the first embraced all that is implied in the con- 

 stitution, — " The objects of Women's Institutes shall be the dissemination of know- 

 ledge relating to domestic economy, including household architecture, with special 

 attention to home sanitation ; a better understanding of the economic and hygienic 

 value of foods, clothing and fuel, and a more scientific care and training of children 

 with a view to raising the general standard of the health and morals of our people — " 

 much has been added thereto in recent years. Food values, cooking, preserving, 

 hygiene, feeding of invalids and children, training of chihlren. literature in the 

 home, beautifying the home, etc.. wore embraced from the first, but of recent years 

 cliild welfare in its broadest sense, social questions, civic improvement, business 

 methods for women, laws governing women and children, school improvement, rest 

 rooms for women, philanthropic work, in fart all matters which have for their object 



