108 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



the farmers in the work he is doing for them, and in cooperative demon- 

 stration work in the various localities. 



ATl'ENDANCE AND INTEREST. 



Especially diiriiii; DcceiiilnM- niul JjunKiry (ho inrloment weal her 

 greatly reduced Hie al (ciidinice at the iiisliliites. There wei'e several se- 

 vere snow and sleet storms, and on a number of days the I'oads and walks 

 were really unsafe on account of a coating of ice. 



During the same period there was 7uuch sickness and many deaths 

 which not only kept many fi-om attending the institutes, but when the 

 sickness was in Ihe families of the local managers it j)revented them 

 from conipleting the arrangements for and advertising the institutes. 



Despite these drawbacks the attendance at n large proportion of the 

 iiislitutes exceeded that of former ye.'irs so that the general average is 

 very satisfactory. 



The topics which received special attention were: Soil renovation; seed 

 selection; growing alfalfa and other leguiues; dairying; fruit culture; 

 poultry raising; stock feeding; and home economics. In many sections 

 where such special crops as potatoes, sugar beets, beans, soy beans, etc., 

 are grown, the culture of these was given a prominent place on the pro- 

 gram. Among other topics receiving attention were: Land drainage; us- 

 ing concrete on the farm; commercial fertilizers; and marketing. 



An endeavor was made to so arrange the topics that at each session 

 the subjects considered bore a close relation to each other and often- 

 times, although the program showed that a half dozen topics were dis- 

 cussed, they were so closely related that they virtually constituted one 

 general topic. 



Since the close of the institute season it has been observed in many 

 sections that quite, a number of the matters discussed at the institutes 

 have been taken up and put into actual practice by many of those in at- 

 tendance. 



For the evening sessions especial attention was given to topics relat- 

 ing to the home and home grounds ; sanitation ; community building ; 

 rural education; and an explanation of the work of the Agricultural 

 College for farmers. As compared with ten years ago a very marked 

 change is noticeable in the views of farmers throughout the State toward 

 the Agricultural College and its work, and nothing has been more in- 

 strumental in bringing this about than farmers' institutes. 



In addition to the work done by the regular lecturers and the county 

 agents, representatives of several of the College departments attended 

 from one to ten or more institutes and thus gave the farmers entirely 

 new ideas regarding the practical nature of the instruction furnished by 

 the College faculty to the students and also afforded an opportunity for 

 the College men to learn the needs of the farmers. 



As in former years, many of the county commissioners of schools 

 took much interest in the institutes, and either took a place upon the 

 program themselves or furnished a speaker upon some educational topic 

 for the evening session. 



