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senirod llic tcicliiui; of olonioiit.iry iij^ricnltiire in the public schools of the State. 

 It is now also the cooperative worlc of the two departments of education and 

 airricultiire to establish school sardens in connection with the rural public 

 schools, thereby giving practical instruction to the young mind whose calling in 

 after life is to be that of an agriculturist. 



Those composing the institute corps for the year clo.slng were as follows : 

 Fourteen expcrinient station and agricultural college men, who are regular 

 lecturers; 4 from other States; 2 from the U. S. Department of Agriculture, 

 and 10 from the practical and successful farmers of the State. Thus it will 

 be seen that our institute corps is made up largely of specialists from our agricul- 

 tural college. ex])eriment stations, lecturers from other States, and our own 

 practical and most successful farmers, and it will be my constant aim and 

 policy to elaborate and make this important work more and more effective. 

 I should here mention that .$2,000 is annually set aside from the appropriation 

 made by our legislative body for this institute work, but it is inadequate to 

 carry out tlie full scope of the work that I have mapped out to its legitimate 

 effectiveness, and hence this department is handicapped in developing and 

 broadening the field of its work as rajiidly as is desirable to cover thoroughly 

 and effectively all the r>9 parishes of the State. But to those who have learned 

 •' to labor and to wait " these results are bound to come, for everywhere there 

 is an awakening interest among the farmers, and their representatives see and 

 know the necessity for a more liberal appropriation, which will doubtless be 

 made in the future. 



As regards the department's' work along the lines of encouraging immigra- 

 tion to our inviting and fertile fields, I would state that a vast amount of 

 literatiire — Louisiana's Invitation, hand maps, showing alluvial and hill lands, 

 nature of soil, etc. — is distributed to all parts of the United States and foreign 

 countries direct from the department and through the efforts of the railroads, 

 the Illinois Central, Missouri Pacific, Southern Pacific, and Red River Valley 

 being most active in cooperating and are using every legitimate means to 

 attract worthy immigrants and settlers to the splendid advantages offered in 

 Louisiana to come and settle here while lands are comi)aratively cheap. 



Louisiana was quick to recognize the importance of this great work and 

 was the first southern State to inaugurate a permanent farmers' institute sys- 

 tem, and ours A\-as the first southern State legislature to recognize their value 

 and to appropriate funds for their conduct, which ai)propriation has been made 

 annually since the work was first started. 



Thus, Mr. President, you will see that we are abreast of the times and keep- 

 ing pace with the new ideas, thoughts, and progressiveness of other States. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 

 By J. L. Ellsworth, Boston. 



I regret that T have not a written report, but I shall try to give you a brief 

 statement of the work in Massachusetts. 



The jumiber of institutes held was about 100. The cost of the institutes was 

 somewhere about .$1,000, making the average, I believe, a little over $10 at each 

 institute. Now, I can tell you the reason why this is so low. Massachusetts 

 is one of the small States of the Union, as you are aware, and its agricultural 

 interests are of minor consequence, it being a great manufacturing State. 

 Travel from place to place is necessarily very light, and we use many of the 

 professors of the agricultural college. The price paid for each speaker is $10 

 and his expenses, and when the secretary of the board is called out he goes 

 free, as both liis salary and the expense are paid by the State. 



