84 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Honorable Charles W. Garfield of the State Forestry Commission were 

 upon the programs at several places. 



The success of the one-day institutes in Barry county at which the 

 county commissioner of schools co-operated by furnishing a speaker for 

 the afternoon and evening sessions during the institute season of 1905- 

 1906 led to the adoption of the same plan in a large number of other 

 counties. In some cases the speakers were from other counties, or 

 even from outside the state as was the case in Wayne county, where 

 commissioner O. J. Kern of Rockford, Illinois was secured for the 

 entire series and also for the county institute. In other counties assist- 

 ance was secured from the various normal schools, or the commissioner 

 of schools from some of the neighboring counties was secured to attend 

 the meetings. Where this was not done, the local county commissioner 

 of schools was upon the program at many of the institutes and, with very 

 few exceptions, they gave their hearty co-operation and aided the sec- 

 retary of the county institute society in advertising the meeting and 

 in making the local arrangements. 



The result secured in previous years from having at least one speaker 

 from some of the adjoining states was so satisfactory that arrangements 

 were made this year to obtain Mr. Jasper P. Davis of Sheridan, Indi- 

 ana for two weeks during the month of January. Mr. Davis had for 

 several years formed one of the corps of institute lecturers in Indiana 

 and came with high recommendations from Supt. W. C. Latta of that 

 state. During his stay in Michigan he spoke in nine counties, in all of 

 which he gave the best of satisfaction. For the most part his topics 

 related to the improvement and cultivation of corn but he also spoke 

 upon stock farming vs. grain farming and upon the farm home as even- 

 ing talks. 



During the year eighteen members of the college faculty have assisted 

 at the institutes. For the most part they have devoted but one or two 

 days each to the work but several have attended from five to eight 

 meetings. The total number of days devoted by members of the faculty 

 to attending the regular institutes has been fifty-seven and a total of 

 fortj^-three days was given to the railroad institutes and eighteen to the 

 round-up institute. The assistance rendered by the members of the col- 

 lege faculty and the staff of the experiment station has been consider- 

 ably less than in previous years owing to the increase^in the number 

 of students, particularly in the short courses which are given at the 

 time the institutes are held. 



The annual Round-up Institute was held at Ionia upon the invitation 

 of the Ionia County Farmers' Institute Society at the close of the regular 

 series. The Aveather during the week was very favorable and there was 

 a large attendance, not only from Ionia county, but from all parts of 

 the State. The number present at several of the sessions ranged from 

 1,400 to 2,000 persons and the opinion was generally expressed that it 

 was the most successful meeting of its kind ever held in the State. 



During the week several conferences of delegates from the county in- 

 stitute societies and the institute lecturers were held, at which the work 

 of the past year was discussed and plans made for carrying on the work 

 during the coming year. 



There was a general desire for an increase in the number of institutes 

 and for a larger equipment in the way of charts and models for the use 



