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ONTARIO. 

 By O. A. Putnam, Toronto. 



The following is a brief statement of the statistics relating to farmers' and women's 

 institutes in the Province of Ontario during the year ending May ol, 1905: 



Farmers' institutes: Number of meetings held, 845; membership, 22,500; attend- 

 ance, 102,000. Amount of money spent (1904): Departmental funds, $13,700; funds 

 collected and controlled by local institutes, $12,500. Number of speakers employed, 66. 



Women's institutes: Number of meetings held, 1,406; membership, 6,968. Amount 

 of money spent (1904): Departmental funds, $3,500; funds collected and controlled 

 l)y local institutes, $1,200. Number of speakers, 21. 



I might be pardoned if in giving the report which is asked for on the programme 

 I transgress somewhat by making a brief statement regarding the women's institute 

 work as we now find it in the Province of Ontario. During the winter sea.son, when 

 our regular farmers' institute meetings are being held, it is the custom to send a lady 

 delegate to those points from which a special request has been received. At these 

 meetings it is usual for the ladies to hold a separate afternoon session and to join 

 with the farmers' institute for the evening session. The women's institutes have 

 grown beyond our expectations during the past twelve months. Organization has 

 been effected in eleven different districts, and we now have 70 more organizations 

 than at this time one year ago. The membership for the year ending June, 1905, was 

 30 per cent in advance of the previous year, and we now have a total membership in 

 the 69 ridings of 8,500. We reserve most of our efforts in order to make a decided 

 success of the series of institute meetings held during the last week of May and 

 throughout June, extending in some districts to the end of the first week in July. 

 During the past summer we sent out 21 lady delegates and visited 327 points, at 

 which meetings were held. The suljjects dealt with at these meetings are varied, 

 and all lines of work which have for their object the betterment of home conditions 

 and the uplifting of life on the farm form the basis of addresses, papers, and dis- 

 cussions. 



We have during the past year done much to enable the home makers to meet their 

 responsibilities from day to day; have done much to direct those responsible for the 

 menu to supply a proper dietary for the younger and older members of the family — 

 how best to provide the most suitable foods at a minimum of cost and labor for the 

 building and maintenance of bodily strength. The husbands and fathers have been 

 taught to properly appreciate the necessity for sanitary conditions about the home, 

 that the health of the family may be insured; the benefits of fresh air and sunlight 

 have been given prominence at all times; the advisability of the average farmer using 

 a greater proportion of vegetable and fruit diet to replace" the undue proportion of 

 meat. The boys and girls on the farm have not been forgotten; we have endeavored 

 to plan certain lines (>f work which they can undertake in connection with the insti- 

 tute, and have also instructed the parents as to the line or lines of reading which 

 would be of most interest and benefit to them. In fact, anything which tends to the 

 betterment of home conditions and the upl)uilding of a strong, vigorous, and noble 

 manhood and womanhood have been considered as legitimate field for the work of 

 women's institutes. 



The general plan of work in connection with farmers' institutes has been on much 

 the same line from year to year, and this has been explained before this association 

 fully upon more than one occasion. We have, however, introduced special features 

 during the past twelve months which are likely to prove of much value to the farmers, 

 and will also tend to ]iopularize the work of the institutes. 



Fruit institute meetings in the interest of fruit growers have been held in those 

 sections where fruit growing is the main source of revenue to the agriculturist. 



Special seed growers' meetings were held in the open field at the season when 

 alsike, red clover, and timothy were at that stage of growth when the lecturers could 

 illustrate their lesson V)y the growing crop. In this way we are endeavoring to estab- 

 lish system and uniformity among farmer.« who are making a specialty of one or more 

 of these lines. 



Judging classes have also been a feature in connection with special meetings during 

 the past summer, and we are planning to make them prominent during the coming 

 campaign. The aim of the department is to more and more use demonstration classes 

 and illustrative material in supplementing the addresses of the lecturers. 



