^lO BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



The convention was attended by Farmers' Institute workers 

 representing every section of the country. The most marked 

 feature of the convention was the reports upon the way Insti- 

 tutes are organized in some of the States. In the reports from 

 Minnesota, Illinois, and Michigan, and some of the other States 

 as well, and especially Canada, we find that they are thoroughly 

 organized, and that in each county they have their standing 

 Farmers' Institute committee. This committee has charge of 

 securing the hall for the Institute, of advertising the Institute, 

 and in, seeing that all the local arrangements are made. This 

 local committee is a permanent one and holds over from year 

 to year, and care is taken that this committee is selected from 

 the most prosperous farmers in the county ; men whose word 

 carries weight, and whose connection with the Institute would 

 impress the other farmers of the county of the quality of- the 

 work which would probably be done by the Institute. It was 

 made evident that in order to carry out a campaign of Farmers' 

 Institute work as it should be carried out there should be one 

 man who should make it a special duty to arrange for the Insti- 

 tutes, to arrange for .the speakers, who can, even during the 

 summer, be on the lookout for men who are making a success 

 of their work on the farm and get these men to come to the 

 Institute the next winter and tell other farmers how they do it. 

 The most successful Farmers' Institute worker is, probably, the 

 one who has made a success on his own farm, and a man in 

 whom the farmers of his county have confidence. 



One feature of the Farmers' Institute work which I find has 

 been developed in many of the States, and one which has been 

 almost entirely neglected in Connecticut, is the special educa- 

 tional work for the women of the farm. In Ontario and Illi- 

 nois as well as in Minnesota this side of the work has been thor- 

 oughly developed. The women have their special lecturers, or 

 one session of the Institute is given over to work which has to 

 do with the household, such as improvements in cooking, the 

 proper ration to feed children, etc. It is found that not only 

 the farmers' wives and daughters eagerly embrace the oppor- 

 tunity afforded for this instruction, but the women of the city 

 are coming to attend these Institutes, and both realize that they 

 can get great good from the meetings. Thus there is being a 

 bond established between the women of the city and the women 

 of the country, and an opportunity is given to them to exchange 

 ideas, and both are improved thereby. 



