29 



the iR'i.^Iiliorliood wlicrc t'Mch institute is to be held, also to the local coni- 

 luittee. if siu-li there he. to distribute among the farmers by mail or otherwise. 

 In some cases they are mailed from the State board ofHce direct to the farmers. 



The third advertisement of a meeting is Ijy large posters. These are sent to 

 the local connnittee about eight or ten days liefore the date of the meeting, to 

 be i)ut up in various i)ui)lic places. We are of the opinion that plenty of 

 judicious advertising secures a larger attendance than is lilcely to prevail 

 where but little notice of the meeting has been given. 



The farmers' institute work in New Jersey is steadily improving. 



In reply to questions that have been asked, I would say that the State prints 

 our reports. The institute is under the management of the State department 

 of agriculture. We pay our own postage and expressage. We obtain a list of 

 farmers from the granges and from other sources, and usually have some 

 prominent farmer in the grange or other locality to whom we can express a lot 

 of reports and have them distributed by him. A number of years ago, just 

 before I came into the position of secretary, the reports were sent out by mail, 

 and it made an inroad on the funds of over $700, which we could not stand. 



The subject of good roads we do not take up. We take up, however, the sub- 

 ject of better roads. 



NEW YORK. 

 By F. E. Dawley, Fayetteville. 



The winter of 1903-4 marked one of the most successful seasons that New 

 York has ever experienced. AVe began our meetings with a Normal institute 

 at the State experiment station, at Geneva, lasting three days, which was fol- 

 lowed by one at the agricultural college at Cornell University for the same 

 length of time. Immediately following these, our men began the regular insti- 

 tute work, and were in the very best condition for a strong winter's campaign. 

 Our first meetii'.g was held November 4 and we closed on March 19, holding 

 267 meetings ; of these, 100 were one-day meetings, 163 two-day meetings, and 4 

 were three days or more. One thousand one hundred and fifty-four sessions 

 were held, and the total attendance was 64.347. This shows a slight dropping 

 off from the year before ; still, when we take into consideration the fact that 

 the winter of 1903-4 was the most inclement one that New Y'ork has experi- 

 enced in years and that at many of our meetings the roads were in an 

 impassable condition, so that the attendance dropped down to almost nothing, 

 some sessions having been lost entirely, I believe that we can report progress. 

 We held institutes in every county in the State, except Richmond and Kings. 

 One of the most successful that was held was a special horticultural meeting 

 held on Forty-fifth street, in New York City. Our appropriation is the .same that 

 it has been for a number of years. $20,000. with no receipts from outside sources. 

 .\side from these regular institutes, quite a few summer meetings and inde- 

 pendent institutes were held, with an attendance of something over 35.000, 

 giving us practically 100,000 for our attendance for the year. 



We still adhere to our system of central management, sending from two to six 

 speakers to each meeting and taking up the greater portion of the time with 

 tlie State speal^ers, our loc.-tl people being far Itetter pleased with this than 

 with any other system. Our special boys' and girls' sessions were very success- 

 ful, and we find that we are interesting a large number of young people in tak- 

 ing a higher agricultural education. We discourage the idea of exhibits of 

 implements and products at our meetings, but do wish to have a small display 

 to be used in decorations. 



The period devoted to the question box is one of the features of New York's 

 institutes, and an examination of the questions which were all sent to the 



