37 



be ;it liberty to select bulletins in whir-h they are specially interested and receive 

 them by addressing their requests to the farmers' institute specialist. 



Blank forms containing queries addressed to the State directors were prepared 

 and sent out. The information thus obtained was collated and published in the 

 Animal Report of the Oflice of Experiment Stations for the year ended .Tune 30. 

 IIML'J. The statistics show that 3,1 T'J institutes were lu'ld during that year and 

 that there was a total attendance of 904,054 persons at the institute meetings. 

 The appropriations for the year aggregated .$187,220. The total number of days 

 «!f institutes held during the year amounted to 4,880, and the entire number of 

 sessions was 0,570. The cost per session ranged from .$:> to $82, the average 

 being $16.85. The institutes cost at the rate of $39 per day. 



The reports of the State directors for the year ended June 30, 1904, have been 

 received, with the exception of three States. Those thus far received show an 

 attendance of 798,228, and that there were held 3,080 institutes, made up of 

 9,940 sessions. The appropriations for institute purposes for the year amounted 

 to $197,711. The number of one-day institutes reported was 1,564 ; of two days, 

 1,448, and of three or more days, 74. The number of lecturers reported on the 

 State force was 953. Of "this number 345 were officially connected with the 

 agricultural colleges or the experiment stations. 



A number of State directors did not reply fully to the qtiestions asked, and 

 consequently it is impossible to make comparisons that will embrace all of the 

 States. Taking, however, those who have answered the questions, we find that 

 while there has been a considerable increase in the amount of money appro- 

 l)rlated for institute purposes, the attendance has fallen off about 57.0()0. Some 

 of the facts, in a comparative way, giving data for the year ended June 30, 1904, 

 as compared with the reports from the same States for the year which ended 

 June 30, 1903, may interest you. The total attendance for 1903, in the States 

 referred to. was 8.50.032 ; that for the year 1904. 793,028. The number of insti- 

 tutes held in 1903 was 2,904 ; the number held in 1904, 3,086. The number of 

 days of institutes held in 1903 were 4,.545 ; the number of days held in 1904, 

 4,319. The number of sessions held in 1903 was 9,056; in 1904. 9,673. The 

 appropriations made in the States whose reports are compnraI)le amounted in 

 1903 to $176,726; in 1904 to $197,711. Notwithstanding the falling off in attend- 

 ance, the number of sessions held, which is the proper unit in comjiuting the 

 amount of institute work, was 617 more than in the previous year, and the 

 amount of money contrilnited for institute purposes in the States compared was 

 $20,985 more in 1904 than in 1903. 



Your attention is called to the fact that there has been a falling off in a num- 

 ber of older institute States, both in the number of sessions held and in the 

 total attendance at the institutes. Delaware. Florida, Indiana. Kansas, Ken- 

 tucky. Louisiana. Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Penn- 

 sylvania, West Virginia, and Wisconsin show a decreased number of sessions in 

 1904, amovniting to 778, and a diminished attendance amounting to 175,818. It 

 maj' be well for the institute workers connected with this association to seri- 

 ously consider whether there is not now needed some new form of institute 

 organization in order to prevent the apparent falling off in interest which the 

 reports from the States mentioned seem to indicate. 



In the discussion following this paper it was suggested that the falling off in 

 attendance reported might lie due to the se\ere winter weather of the past year 

 in the more northern States and provinces, and also to the fact that actual 

 counts of attendance have taken the place of estimates. It was also shown that 

 the decrease in the number of sessions of farmers' ins^titutes was due in part 

 to the bad weather and the inaccessibility of some of the places chosen for 

 meetings. 



