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In tbo first plaro. I proparpd a blank form of appliration for a farmers' insti- 

 tute meetiug. This was to be a formal application lor an institute, and wben 

 signed by the local committee, tbey bad agreed to furnish a hall, properly 

 heated and lighted, and to assist in advertising the meeting. I usually selected 

 one of the committee who had signed the ai»plication with whom to carry on 

 the correspondence relative to that institute. If possible, it was some one with 

 whom I was pensonally acquainted. I also urged that in the selection of a local 

 couunittee the business men and farmers should both be represented, and by 

 all means the committee should be one in whom the farmers had confidence 

 and wild bad been successful as farmers and business men. 



The only advertising matter furnished I)y the State is a large poster calling 

 attention to the institute and the subjects to be treated during the meeting. 

 These are sent out four weeks before the date of the meeting, and in nearly 

 every instance I have fcmnd the committee did their work fairly well in 

 distrii)Uting these posters. I also urged tlie raising of some funds for the 

 payment of hall rent and for lighting and heating, in addition to getting 

 out some advertising matter iocally. An excellent plan has been for the 

 local connnittee to have a postal card printed and sent to each farmer invit- 

 ing him to be [iresent at the institute, giving the time and place of the meet- 

 ing, and urging him to come juepared to ask questions and give his expe- 

 rience if called ujion. Some jilaces, in addition to the postal-card invitation, 

 have had distributed a weelc before the institute a small poster announcing the 

 speakers and the subjects that were to be taken up by them. At one of the 

 best institutes held in our State the past year the business men arranged to 

 furnish luncheon for all the farmers and their families who would attend the 

 institute. This was at a small town in the northwestern part of the State, 

 where the farmhouses are few and far between, but, nevertheless, there were 

 over 2.")0 peoi)le attending the institute. I also endeavor to enli.st the local 

 newspaper in the institute, either through the committee or by writing the editor 

 a personal letter, if not already accjuainted with him. All but a very few are 

 willing to give their space freely for advertising the institute, but in many 

 instances, not having bad any experience with such meetings, they don't know 

 exactly what is the best thing to do. To many of them, if you send a list of the 

 speakers and the subjects each is to discuss, they will jiublish the list without 

 any comment whatever. To get around this difficulty last year I took it upon 

 myself to write notices of the institutes and send them to the editors ready to 

 be put into print. This is usually more .satisfactory to them, but entails con- 

 siderable labor upon the superintendent, for I can assure you it is no light task 

 to write editorials on the farmers' institutes for a half dozen papers in the 

 same territory and not say the same thing aliout each speaker. Nevertheless, 

 I carried out the idea for the 4(J institutes held last year. If it was possible to 

 visit the different i)laces where institutes have been scheduled, it would be 

 advisable to have printed on the large poster the name of the hall in which 

 the meeting would be held. Then about a week before the institute I think it 

 W(.uld be a good plan to send to each of the country school-teachers within a 

 radius of 10 or 12 miles a quantity of printed handbills stating where and when 

 the institute would be held, the object of the meeting, the names of the speak- 

 ers, and the subjects to be discussed. These handbills can be i»rinted in large 

 (juantities very cheaply. A list of the teachers can be secured from the county 

 superintendent of the schools, and every boy or girl in the country would thus 

 be advertising the farmers' institute meeting by carrying home one of these 

 handbills. At one of our especially well attended institutes the local com- 

 mittee, the chairman of which, by the way, was editor of the local paper, had 

 printed in large quantities a small handbill or " dodger," as it is called. This 



