76 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



attendance at the one-day institutes was relatively larger than last year 

 and evefi with the smaller numl)er of meetings, the total number in attend- 

 ance would have been greater had it ]iot been kept down by severe storms 

 which made it impossible for the jieople from a distance to reach the halls 

 where the meetings were held. 



Owing to the fact that the time of the members of the faculty of the 

 Agricultural College and the staff of the Experiment Station is very fully 

 occupied and that they are only able to devote at most, one or two weeks 

 to attendance uj)on farmers' institutes, it has, as in previous years, been 

 found necessary to secure a large number of outside speakers. Of these 

 a very large proportion had been upon the force of institute workers for 

 several years. Two speakers were secured from other states, namely, W. 

 W. Farnsworth, of Watcrville, Ohio, President of the Ohio State Horti- 

 cultural Society, and D. Ward King, Maitland, Missouri, the Good Roads 

 expert of the Missouri State Board of Agriculture and well-known as the 

 inventor and advocate of the King road drag. As a partial recompense 

 for the time devoted to the making of arrangements for the county insti- 

 tutes, quite a number of the secretaries of county institute societies were 

 utilized as speakers at the meetings in other counties. 



The appropriation for the holding of farmers' institutes would have been 

 far from sufficient to defray the expense had it not been for the active and 

 elHcient cooperation of a large number of persons who in several cases de- 

 voted three or four weeks of their time without pay to attending the meet- 

 ings. Especial credit is due as follows: From the Department of Public 

 Instruction, Hon. P. H. Kelley. Superintendent. Professor W. H. French, 

 Deputy Superintendent and Professor A. Hamlin Smith, Chief Clerk; from 

 the Central Normal School, Principal C. T. Grawn, Professors F. L. Keeler 

 and Larzelere; from the Western Normal School, Principal D. B. Waldo 

 and Profess(3r Ernest Burnham; from the State Forestry Commission, 

 President Chas. W. Garfield and Professor Filibert Roth, State Forester; 

 from the State Highway Commission, Hon. H. S. Earle, State Highway 

 Commissioner and Frank F. Rogers, Deputy Commissioner; from the State 

 Dair}^ and Food Commission, Colon C. Lillie, Deputy Commissioner; Pro- 

 fessor R. D. Bailey of Gaylord; Professor H. C. Lott, of Elk Rapids; Pro- 

 fessor Clarence E. Holmes, of the State School for the Blind; Hon. D. E. 

 McClure, Lansing; and Professor Delos Fall, of Albion College. 



Much of the interest and value of the two-day institutes and to some 

 extent of the one-day was due to the many valuable papers presented by 

 local speakers and to the discussions that followed. 



THK UOUXD-UP INSTITUTE. 



The Annual Round-u}) Institute was held at Battle Creek upon the invi- 

 tation of the Calhoun County Farmers' Institute Society and the Battle 

 Creek Business Men's Association. The attendance Avas good from all 

 parts of the state and especially from the neighboring counties, while the 

 local attendance was the largest for some years. A conference of the insti- 

 tute lecturers and county secretaries was held on ■Monday evening, Feb- 

 ruary 27 and on Tuesday morning and afternoon. Reports were received 

 from the work of the past year and plans for the future were discussed. 

 Several of the lecturers and secretaries who have had a number of years' 

 experience in institute work, gave short talk upon such topics as adver- 



