11 



tural Instruction for Adults in the Uritish Empire; bulletin on Agricultural Instruc- 

 tion for Adults in Continental Countries; Proceedings of the Ninth and Tenth Annual 

 Meetings of the American Association of Farmers' Institute Workers; annual reports 

 and statistics of the farmers' institute work in the United States for the years 190:5, 

 1904, and 1905. The Institute Specialist has had prepared syllabi of six illustrated 

 lectures— No. 1 on the Care of Milk; No. 2. Potato Diseases and their Treatment; No. 

 3, Acid Soils; No. 4, Profitaljle Cattle Feeding; No. 5, Silage and Silo Construction, 

 and No. 6, Essentials of Field Experimentation. There has also been prepared and 

 published a course of study consisting of fourteen lectures on cheese-making adapted to 

 movable schools of agriculture, and arrangements have been made for the preparation 

 of five other courses of similar character. There is also in course of preparation a set 

 of charts on the selection of cattle for feeding. 



Arrangements have been made with the directors of the agricultural experiment sta- 

 tions for supplying station bulletins to the State institute lecturers and with the Divi- 

 sitm of Publications of the Department of Agriculture for sending its publications to 

 institute workers upon application made to the Institute Specialist. A card list of the 

 names and addresses of over 4,000 institute workers has been formed in the institute 

 office, correspondence conduc-ted with these persons, and literature and information 

 supplied. 



The Institute Specialist has during this period visited most of the States east of 1 lie 

 Rocky Mountains and has conferred with institute directors and lecturers and deliv- 

 ered lectures in all of the States visited. 



The ofhce of the specialist has been in addition to its investigation charac-ter a clear- 

 ing house for the farmers' institute workers of the country. 



THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF FARMERS' INSTITUTE 



WORKERS. 



The organization of the American Association of Farmers' Institute Workers took 

 place at Watertown, Wis., March 13, 1896. George McKerrow, oi Madison, Wis., super- 

 intendent of farmers' institutes for that State, issued a call in the winter of 1896 for a 

 meeting of the farmers' institute workers of the United States and Canada to l^e held 

 at Watertown, Wis., March 13, 1896. 



The attendance at this first meeting was quite small, only a few of the States being 

 represented, and those were for the most part the nearby States. 0. C. Gregg, farmers' 

 institute superintendent for Minnesota, was elected temporary chairman, and F. W. 

 Taylor, institute superintendent for Nebraska, was made temporary secretary. 



Mr. McKerrow, in explaining the purpose of the meeting, stated that "there was felt 

 to be a need for a meeting of the farmers' institute workers of the several States to 

 exchange views and compare experiences. No two States have the same plan under 

 which institute work is carried on, but all have some good points about which we all 

 ought to be informed. There seemed to be a feeling that we should come together 

 and acknowledge our mistakes and tell of our successes in order that others need not 

 experience the same failures." 



After discussion it was agreed to form a permanent organization, and the temporary 

 officers, on motion of Kenyon L. Butterfield, of ^Michigan, were made permanent, and 

 a committee consisting of C. W. Garfield, of Michigan; George McKerrow, of Wiscon- 

 sin, and F. W. Taylor, of Nebraska, was appointed by the chair to prepare and report 

 a constitution. The committee before adjournment reported a draft of a proposed 

 constitution, which after discussion and amendment was adopted, the understanding 

 being that its final ratification would take place at the next meeting of the association. 

 The following resolution, introduced by Mr. Garfield and adopted by the asso- 

 ciation, is worthy of special notice because of its pronounced declaration upon the 



