29 



to thoir work witli their classes: Provickd, That tlie traveling expenses of such pro- 

 fessors and lecturers shall he paid by the localities benefited by such institutes or 

 without charge to the university." 



In this early effort to conduct farmers' institutes and l)uild up an agricultural col- 

 lege the farmers and the university people mutually faileil to understand each other's 

 conditions and needs, and the effort was short-livi'd and a comparative failure. The 

 university authorities directed their enthusiasm, energy, and money to other educa- 

 tional lines to the neglect of agriculture, and the farmers' institutes, so far as the uni- 

 versity was concerned, were thrown upon their own resources. The institute idea, 

 however, siuvived, being kept alive by the annual meetings of the Illinois Horticul- 

 tural .Society, Dairymen's Association, Wool Growers' Association, Swine Breeders' 

 Association, and the Tile-makers' Association, all of them strong organizations, well 

 equipped with practical, experienced men and competent instructors in their several 

 special lines of industry. 



The decade of 1870 to 1880 was one of great activity in organizations of farmers, the 

 common purpose being redress from the extortions of railroads atul regulation of freight 

 rates. Granges and farmers' clubs and associaticms, State, county, and local, were in 

 evidence everywhere. 



About 1880 the Illinois State Board of Agriculture began, officially, to recognize the 

 value of the farmers' institutes, and took up the work where the industrial university 

 abandcmed it, by cooperating with local organizations in the arrangement of programs 

 and in the payment of the expenses of speakers. The attitude of the board of agri- 

 culture toward farmers' institutes is expressed in an address by J. R. Scott to the 

 board January 3, 1882. 



In the coiu-se of his address President Scott, in speaking of the farmers' institutes 

 and their value in improving the condition of the farmers of the State, said: "It is rec- 

 ommended that the board provide for the holding, dining the present year, at least one 

 institute meeting in each Congressional district of the State. It is further recom- 

 mended that a reasonable appropriation be madi- by the board for the holding of insti- 

 tute meetings."'' 



The board of agriculture approved the president's recommendations in regard to 

 farmers' institutes and advised the holding of at least one farmers' institute in each 

 Congressional district during the year 1882. 



Two institutes were held in 1882 under the direction of the State board of agriculture. 

 Several of the papers read at these institutes were published in Transactions, Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture of Illinois, vol. 20. 



The number of institutes held under the auspices of the board of agriculture and by 

 private enterprise in the several counties increased from year to year, but no record 

 of the number of these institutes seems to have been made till the publication of Trans- 

 actions, Department of Agriculture of Illinois, vol. 25, wherein it is stated, giving place 

 and date of meeting, that 9 Congressional district and 33 county farmers' institutes 

 were held in 1887. 



The first appropriation for farmers' institutes by the State of Illinois was made in 1889, 

 $100 for each Congressional district, to be expended under the direction of the State 

 board of agriculture. 



In 1891 an appropriation of |50 was made to each county farmers' institute and the 

 management of such institute placed entirely in charge of the county organization, 

 which reported to and drew the fund thru the State auditor. This plan and appropria- 

 tion of $50 to each county was continued till 1897; the number of counties holding 

 institutes and drawing in whole or in part the $50 ranged from 35 to 64 in number each 

 year. 



In 1895 the Illinois Farmers' Institute was created, providing for a State round-up 

 institute meeting, a director for each Congressional district, officers of the board, and 



oRpt. 111. Indus. Univ., Vol. VIII, p. 101. 



b Trans. Dept. Ag. 111., 1881, vol. 19, p. 223. Farmers' Institutes. 



