DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 141 



more or less of- tliis has been done in most of the counties, it has never 

 been followed up so persistently as has been done this year at Saginaw 

 and it has been fully justified by the results. Many secretaries claim 

 that they do not have money to advertise the institute, but, if it is looked 

 after properly, the more that is spent for advertising the greater will be 

 the balance in the treasur-y at the end of the season. ^ 



ONE-DAY INSTITUTES. 



Nothing shows better the appreciation of farmers' institutes on the 

 part of farmers than the number of requests for more meetings, or for a 

 larger number of speakers. 



In both, the number has been limited by the amount available for 

 institute work. Whether there should be one speaker, or two or more, 

 at each one-day institute has been discussed nearly every year at the 

 conferences of lecturers and institute officers at the Round-Up Institute, 

 and it has generally been agreed that it is better to have 350 institutes 

 with one state speaker than 175 institutes with two si)eakers. 



No effort whatever was made to secure more one-day institutes as it 

 was felt that without it, there would be more calls than could be filled. 



With a very few exceptions, several one-day institutes were held in 

 all of the counties, in addition to the county institute. That such meet- 

 ings would be found helpful in all of the counties is seen from the fact 

 that the counties which are holding the largest number of meetings and 

 which have the largest attendance are in the southern part of the state, 

 which is the oldest, and naturally has made more advancement along 

 agricultural lines than the more northern counties. While the average 

 number of one-day institutes has been less than five per county, quite 

 a number of the southern counties have held from 12 to 16, and more 

 could have been readily located. At a considerable number of the in 

 stitutes the seats were filled at one or more of the sessions, and at quite 

 a number of places even standing room was not available, and 100 or 

 more persons were unable to gain admission to the building. 



THE LECTURERS. 



Each year owing to the increase in the number of students, it is becom- 

 ing more difficult for the members of the college faculty to leave their 

 classes for any length of time, for the purpose of attending institutes, 

 and more and more it has become necessary to look outside for lecturers, 

 even to a greater extent than in previous years. Several of the lecturers 

 on farming topics were also unable to take part in the work during the 

 past 3'ear and these two reasons made it necessary to draft into service 

 a number of new men. After considerable investigation, the services 

 of five farmers, most of them graduates of the Michigan Agricultural 

 College, were secured and they entered at once upon their duties. All 

 of them were men who have made a success in some line of agricultural 

 work, and the results fully justified their selection. 



The Michigan institutes have again been favored by the presence of 

 speakers furnished by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Prof. C. B. 

 Smith and Prof. J. C. McDowell each spent two weeks in the state and 

 their efforts received the very highest praise at every point visited by 



