380 . ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



Farmers' Institute a means for educating agricultural people, pos- 

 sessed of greater possibilities than any other educational movement 

 of modern times. It furnishes a channel of communication between 

 science and practice through which agricultural knowledge, that has 

 hitherto been stored up in metaphorical reservoirs of learning, can- 

 be distributed freely among the thousands who need the aid of 

 science. The plan is to place scientific truth in the hands of capable 

 men, and send them out to present it to every needy citizen. The 

 office for conducting this work has just been established. The oflBce 

 itself has no name, but the officer in charge is officially known as 

 Farmers' Institute Specialist. 



This is the beginning, or foundation, of what is destined to be the 

 greatest school of agriculture that has ever been established. A 

 Universitv for American farmers, into whose facultv of teachers 

 is to be brought the best talent that the country contains. The 

 farmer must be elevated in his calling. To secure this, he must be 

 educated. Books and pamphlets do not reach those who most need 

 the information which they contain. The working farmer is too old 

 and too occupied to go away from home to school, and has lost the 

 habit of study and disposition to gather information from the 

 printed page. 



The Department recognizes these conditions and limitations, and 

 is going to send out teachers to meet these workers face to face, 

 men who have made a study of the needs of agriculture, and are 

 able to give information as to how these needs may best be met. 



The first thing that we w'ant to do through the Institute Special- 

 ist, is to assist the State Directors. This can be done by collecting 

 and publishing the laws relating to institutes in the several states, 

 and by placing them in the hands of Directors, so that they can com- 

 pare their systems with those in other states, and adopt such items 

 as seem best adapted to their conditions. We can also assist by 

 collecting the names of all of our Institute Lecturers in the United 

 States, by entering into direct communication with every instructor 

 in the country, and by endeavoring to place these instructors in 

 touch with each other and with the Agricultural College and Exper- 

 iment Station workers in their own and other states. We can 

 bring these lecturers in contact with latest and best literature upon 

 agricultural subjects and with the leading specialists in their lines 

 of work throughout the country. We hope, in short, to unify the 

 work, and become a reliable bureau of information for the assistance 

 and' development of the institute workers of the United States, to 

 assist in placing our agricultural people where, by reason of the im- 

 portance of this industry, they ought to be, at the head in National 

 affairs, in State affairs, in educational affairs, in all of our affairs. 



