86 STATE 130AK1) (»1" ACJKK Tf/nJtK 



JiEPOKT OF TJIE SI rKKIXTEXDENT OF INSTITUTES. 



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7'(> the Shite liomd of Af/ricHlture: 



Tlu'ic liavc been licld (Ini'iiij; tlu* vcar closiiijj; June 30, 1901, two-ilay 

 ( (»unt y iiisliliilcs in (;:> toimtios, and 141 one-day institutes in 4- 

 counties. The interest in the work has not declined, nor, as far as 

 measured bv attendance, has it notably increased. In the newer 

 counties, the one-day institutes have been located in parts remote from 

 large villages and the attendance has been, as expected, smaller. In 

 one respect it has been pioneer work. A knowledge of correct methods, 

 dilTering slightly perhaps fi'om those in use, have been carried to 

 people who have not the opportunity of studying for themselves what 

 farmers elsewhere are doing. I am glad to report that the meetings 

 in these so-called outlying districts have been greatly appreciated by 

 the farmers who have attended them, and the coming of the institutes 

 will mark the beginning of a decided improvement in the character of 

 the live stock and of the care of the field crops. 



In the older and more thickly settled parts of the State a somewhat 

 radical change in methods is imperatively called for. The institute 

 idea is not new, and therefore taking to the classes to be benefited by 

 the meetings and the subjects treated have become somewhat hackneyed. 

 It is therefore going to be anything but an easy matter to arrange 

 programs in the future which shall be at once attractive and valuable 

 to these more experienced communities. I believe that the trend is to 

 be toward a rather more technical and scientific treatment of special 

 jdiases of agricultural work than toward a more discursive and general 

 exposition of general phases of the work by practical farmers. Matters 

 must be gone more into detail. Limited and special jihases of present 

 ])roblems must be treated at length. There is, therefore, to be a more 

 emphatic call for men scientificially trained, if not college bred, for this 

 work. It is therefore to be regretted that arrangements cannot be made 

 at the College whereby the members of the faculty can go to the insti- 

 tutes. 



The matter of selecting the toi^ics for the program carries with it the 

 (juestion of selection of speakers. During the past year the method has 

 been to use members of the faculty as far as possible and supplement 

 that list by farmers selected because possessed of two essential quali- 

 ties, — namely, ability to succeed on the farm in the lines of work about 

 which they speak; and, second, ability to clothe their ideas in clear, 

 terse, and accurate language, and illustrate them in a way to make 

 their address, as a whole, attractive, as well as instructive. Naturally, 

 men who succeed in their calling are seldom anxious to leave the farm 

 because their i)resence there is one essential element of their success. 

 The question of obtaining proper speakers at institutes is therefore an 

 important and difficult one. 



While the Superintendent of Institutes furnishes the State speakers 

 and supplies the large jjart of the material for the program, it is left 



