No. 8. . DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



DIVISION OF FARMERS' INSTITUTES, 



Farmers' Institutes in tiiis country, in the sense of their consisting 

 of assemblages of farmers, met for the discussion of agricultural 

 topics, extend as far back as the organization of the Philadelphia 

 Society for the Promotion of Agriculture in 1785. Later, in other 

 States similar agricultural societies and farm clubs took up, in some 

 degree, the same methods for the improvement of their members. 



It was not, however, until quite recently that any well organized 

 or carefully planned system of farmers' institutes has existed. In 

 Pennsylvania, the first modern institute was held in 1877, under the 

 direction of the State liuard of Agriculture, and it was not until 

 1885, when the State made an appropriation for their maintenance, 

 that the work assumed anything like its present form. 



The following States now have a system of Farmers' Institute 

 work organized, and are under the control of a 'State Director, the 

 State Board of Agriculture, or an Agricultural College or Experi- 

 ment Station ollicer: Alabama, California, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, 

 Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mis- 

 sissippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, 

 North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South 

 Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin. 



The Farmers' Institute is the result of the demand of modern agri- 

 culture for accurate information in regard to the underlying princi- 

 ples which control in the production of agricultural products. This 

 demand for definite and exact knowledge in agriculture, did not be- 

 come pressing so long as the lands were new and original fertility 

 was abundant and available for the production of crops. It was 

 not until the soil of the Eastern and Southern States had begun to be 

 exhausted and crops to fail, that thoughtful citizens began to cast 

 about for some means by which these lands could be restored, and 

 their subsequent deterioration be prevented, and continuous and 

 profitable crops be raised without permanent injury to the land. 



In the effort to meet this question, which had become serious, the 

 Congress of the United States in 1861, provided for the establish- 

 ment of Colleges, whose leading object should be "to teach such 

 branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic 

 arts." Upon the establishment of these Colleges, it was some 



2 



