FABMERS' INSTITUTES AND EXTENSION WORK. 363 



tions and accurate in determining the proper grade for each reply. 

 Certain clerks should be required to read up all of the references and 

 perform all of the practice exercises which the queries that they deal 

 with involve until they become thoroughly familiar with every 

 feature of the study. They thus become experts in these pomts and 

 are competent to inspect and grade most of the answer returned. 

 Where, however, questions arise in the examination papers requiring 

 wider acquaintance with agricultural science and practice than these 

 clerks possess or are able to answer, they can be referred to the head 

 of the extension department and by him to some expert officer either 

 of his own department or of the agricultural college or experiment 

 station for attention. In this way the expense attendant upon the gi'ad- 

 ing of a large number of examination papers can be greatly reduced. 

 The syste7n self-suyporting . — The system also would be self-support- 

 ing so far as the actual cost of teaching and the maintenance of 

 equipment are concerned. The expense to the institution would be 

 limited to the salaries and expenses of the director and his office force, 

 together with the initial cost of the libraries of reference and the 

 outfit of apparatus and material needed for practice work. The 

 damage and incidental fees should maintain this equipment unim- 

 paired. 



THE WORK OF THE FAEMEES' INSTITUTE DIVISION. 



The act creating the office of farmers' institute specialist in the 

 Office of Experiment Stations prescribes quite definitely the duties to 

 be undertaken as well as the amount of money that shall be available 

 for carrying on the work. Under this act it is made the duty of the 

 farmers' institute specialist to "investigate and report upon the 

 organization and progi'ess of farmers' institutes in the several States 

 and Territories and upon similar organizations in foreign countries 

 with special suggestions of plans and methods for making such 

 organizations more eftective for the dissemination of the results of the 

 work of the Department of Agriculture and the experiment stations, 

 and of improved methods of agricultural practice." 



In carrying out these provisions the institute ofiice has collected 

 and published annually information respecting the work of the 

 farmei-s' institutes m the several States and Territories and the laws 

 under which they are organized. It has also collected and published 

 lists of the lecturers employed by the State directoi-s engaged in 

 farmers' institute work, and has secured and placed on file in the 

 office the personal liistory of these lecturers together \vith the topics 

 that they each discuss. These topics are indexed by subjects for 

 convenience of reference when applications are made by State 

 directors for lecturei's to supply then- programs. 



