82 



III the institute the pupils never j,'r:uluate ; the lessons are few and far between ; 

 new problems confront them year after year, and the institute provides an op- 

 portunity, usually, for their solution. The institute occupies a position similar 

 to that of the care-taker of farm stock. Our stockman must select, prepare, and 

 bring to each animal the food best adapted to accomplish the jnirpose for which 

 it is allowed to exist. So the institute manager and speaker nuist find the best 

 and most appropriate information available, year by year, and carry it to the 

 workers on the farms in their several neighborhoods. They can not go to the 

 agricultural college. They can not, many of them, assemble in a far-distant con- 

 vention. Their work keeps them close at home, and their means, usually,, will 

 not allow the expenditure for long absence and trdvel. This is the province of 

 the institute, and it is peculiar to it. 



The sources of information, however, are not confined to the institute; these 

 are everywhere. The most prominent and in many respects the most valual)le is 

 that afforded by our agricultural colleges and experiment stations. The wise 

 institute worker, realizing this, will endeavor to draw into his budget of informa- 

 tion all of this that can be utilized in the teachings of the institute. He can not 

 afford to ignore it. The man of the farm who continues his fling at " book 

 farming " is fast becoming an extinct species, and may usually be ignored if he 

 can not be converted. 



To further solve the problem of the institute itself it is highly important that 

 the farmer and his family should be convinced that the institute is for them. 

 Its mission is to help them in every way possible. It is their school. How 

 best to interest the farmers in this work, so that they will consider it as their 

 organization and take an active part in making their institute the best in the 

 county, is somewhat of a problem by itself. The farmers' institute must inter- 

 est and help the farmer. When it fails to do this its mission will end. 

 Women's institutes are closely identified with tlie foregoing. What can be 

 done to introduce and popularize this branch of institute work? Its field is 

 large, its woi-k among the most important. 



Another problem, in some States at least, is where and how to secure the 

 money for meeting the expenses connected with the work. When the agricul- 

 tural population is in the majority in any State, this may not l)e so difficult a 

 problem. Votes have a mighty persuasive force in matters of legislation. This 

 word " legislation " implies that we expect the money to be provided l>y the 

 State ; but there are those in other callings who can not understand why the 

 State should thus help agriculture and not help other trades as well. I will not 

 debate that point here. 



In some States, and I believe in some of the provinces of Canada, the farmer 

 pays an annual membership fee, a small sum in addition to that provided by 

 the State, and thus he beconies a member of the institute, entitled to all its 

 benefits. This plan has its advantages. 



In some of the Eastern States of the United States the agricultural popula- 

 tion is but a small per cent of the total. To obtain State funds for the assist- 

 ance of so small a proportion of the population may not be so easy as it is where 

 the agriculturist can make and unmake legislators. But we will not hunt for 

 trouble. Each field has conditions peculiar to itself, and the workers will no 

 doubt find a way for the perpetuity of an, institution that has so many possi- 

 bilities of usefulness before it. 



Another problem for institute workers in the East is to popularize the busi- 

 ness and the work of agriculture. Both these have within (piite recent years 

 become so unpopular that farmers' sons are seeking other callings, and labor- 

 ing men will not take up the work of the farm except as a last resort, and 



