352 EEPOET OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



for the workmen. The furniture for the proper display of the exhibit 

 is so constructed as to be readily erected and "taken down and packed 

 for transportation. 



AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTION TRAINS. 



A special investigation by the farmers' institute office into the 

 extent of the operation of agricultural instruction trains in the United 

 States ^ revealed the fact that 52 of the leading railroad companies had 

 engaged in this form of disseminating agricultural information during 

 the year ended June 30, 1910. The number of cars employed aggre- 

 gated 239, an average of 4.6 cars per train. The 52 trains traversed 

 altogether during the year 40',771 miles of track and occupied in 

 doing so the equivalent of 589 days for a single train. One thousand 

 seven hundred and ninety-three stops ranging from 40 minutes to 2 

 days each were made, during which lectures upon agriculture and 

 domestic science topics were delivered, demonstrations made, and 

 exhibits of animals, charts, and agricultural products. Keports re- 

 ceived from 26 of the trains that were run showed an attendance 

 of 189,645. 



A subsequent investigation for the year ended June 30, 1911, shows 

 that 71 agricultural instruction trains were run that year, in connec- 

 tion %\dth the farmers' institutes, by 28 States, covering 40,305 miles 

 of track, making 2,106 stops and accompanied by 767 skilled lecturers, 

 meeting 995,220 persons. 



The method pursued m operating these trains has been for each 

 railroad company to provide at its own expense a locomotive, baggage 

 car, one or two coaches fitted up for lecture purposes, and a Pullman 

 car provided with dining room and sleeping accommodations for the 

 lecture force. The lecturers are usually furnished by the farmers' 

 institute, the agricultural college, or the agricultural experiment 

 station of the State in which the train is run. Not infrequently this 

 corps of teachers is supplemented by specialists from the national 

 and State departments of agriculture. 



Each train is supplied ^\^th a quantity of illustrative material. 

 If the instruction to be given is along dairy lines, then dairy cattle 

 frequently form a part of the equipment, together with apparatus 

 used in dairy processes. If poultry, swine, field crops, or fruit is 

 the principal feature, then the illustrative material is along these 

 specific lines. 



The train is advertised in advance by means of posters and news- 

 paper notices giving the points where it mil stop, the hour at which 

 it will arrive at a given station, the length of time it will remain, 

 the names of the lecturers giving instruction, and the topics that 



1 U. S. Dept. Agr., Office Expt. Stas. Circ. 112, Transportation Companies as Factors in Agricultural 

 Extension. 



