328 ANNUAL EEPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



part of their regular extension work. In those States where the 

 farmers' institutes are not under the management of the agricultural 

 college there is a marked tendency to fit them into the extension 

 movement by close cooperative arrangement with the college. The 

 State farmers' institute activity, which formerly included institutes 

 for young people, women's institutes, and movable schools, has now 

 been largely restricted to the holding of the regular farmers' insti- 

 tutCj the other activities having been provided for in the extension 

 division of the agricultural colleges through their boys' and girls' 

 club work, home economics work for the women, and various types 

 of movable or extension schools. 



Notwithstanding the recent rapid growth of demonstrations and 

 other extension features, the attendance at farmers' institutes still 

 maintains its maximum numbers. The reported attendance at farm- 

 ers' institutes in 1916 was 2,947,679, with four States not heard from. 

 There were 32,244 sessions, lasting 10,786 days, and the sum of 

 $370,420 was spent in the movement. 



Farmers' institute directors and lecturers as well as county agri- 

 cultural agents and other extension workers were all aided as here- 

 tofore, and information regarding farmers' institute work through- 

 out the country was collected, tabulated, and published. 



The various syllabi of lectures on agricultural topics^ each accom- 

 panied by about 50 lantern slides, were in great demand. Several 

 of the syllabi were revised or their accompanying sets of slides 

 improved during the 3^ear. New syllabi were added as follows: 

 Leguminous Forage Crops for the South ; Leguminous Forage Crops 

 for the North ; Sweet Potatoes : Culture and Storage ; The Farm 

 Vegetable Garden; Practical Improvement of Farm Grounds; Pub- 

 lic Road Improvement; and Cow Testing and Dairy Eecords. These 

 lectures were used especially by farmers' institute workers, county 

 agents, and other extension workers, as well as by teachers of agri- 

 culture in rural schools. 



OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



E. W. Allen, Chief. 



The primary functions of the office consist in (1) the maintenance 

 of the department's relations with the State agricultural experiment 

 stations, including the supervision of the fimds and the work under 

 the Federal appropriations; (2) the preparation of the abstract 

 journal Experiment Station Record, now in its twenty-eighth year, 

 and of the card index of experiment station literature, both of which 

 are designed to aid teachers and investigators in agriculture by 

 furnishing a systematic record of the progress of agricultural investi- 

 gation; and (3) the management of the Federal experiment stations 

 in Alaska, Hawaii, Porto Rico, and Guam, 



In addition to these main lines, the office has maintained an agri- 

 cultural science register as a means of registering those desiring 

 to enter station work and of assisting the experiment stations in 

 recruiting their forces ; and is keeping up its record of the organiza- 

 tion and progress of experiment stations throughout the world. It is 

 frequently called upon to look up the literature on special subjects 

 for the experiment stations, and otherwise has served as a central 

 agency for the advancement of agricultural investigation. 



