THE farmers' institutes IN THE UNITED STATES. 40 X 



ARKANSAS. 



Institute director. — George A. Cole, superintendent of farmers' institutes, 

 Fayetteville. 



Over one-half the biennial appropriation of $8,000 for institutes 



was expended during the year. This $4,500, however, included the 



salary and expenses of the director, who has divided the State into 



four parts and endeavors to expend one-fourth the appropriation in 



each part. The experiment station furnished 6 lecturers and the 



agricultural college 5 more, the total of 11 speakers contributing 400 



days' services to the institute work. The number of sessions of 



regular institutes held was 90 and the attendance 32,000, while in 



addition there were 10 independent institutes held at fairs and 



picnics, with 15,000 in attendance, and a pure-seed train, which 



attracted 1,000 more. 



CALIFORNIA. 



Institute director. — W. T. Clarke, professor of horticulture, Berkeley. 



Institutes were held during the year in 32 out of the 58 counties in 

 the State and consisted of 297 sessions, with an attendance of 29,108. 

 In addition, a round-up institute, consisting of six sessions, had an 

 attendance of 3,600, and a special basket picnic institute held at the 

 university farm at Davis had an attendance of 2,400, and an agri- 

 cultural and horticultural demonstration train, furnished by the 

 Southern Pacific Co., consisting of 9 cars, was run for 68 days, cover- 

 ing 5,674 miles, during which it made 223 stops and attracted 73,663 

 visitors. That this demonstration train has accomplished good re- 

 sults is already apparent by the increased interest in scientific work 

 along agricultural lines and by the increase in the number of inquiries 

 received. The young people of the State are being interested in the 

 planting and care of trees and shrubs through definite assistance and 

 work with the schools, and nature study and school-gardening work 

 is also receiving increased attention. The institute director reports : 



We have placed in the season past strong emphasis on the special-purpose 

 Institutes and we find that these special-purpose institutes are of very con- 

 siderable value, inasmuch as they permit a complete thrashing out of the subject 

 that happens to be under discussion. Our people have got now so that they 

 object to the hit-or-miss institutes and demand the institute that confines itself 

 to one, or, at the most, two topics. 



There was expended for all forms of the above work the entire 

 State appropriation of $10,000 for the year. Ten lecturers from the 

 agricultural college and experiment station devoted a total of 134 

 days' service to this work. Fifteen State lecturers were also em- 

 ployed, and 183 local speakers made addresses. 

 91866°— 11 26 



