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the I'arlicr ])art of 1882. At th(> January ineoting of the Indiana Delegate and State 

 Board of Agriculture, 1882, Allen Furnas, of Hendricks County, offered (he following: 



Resolved, That it is the sense of this delegate body that the Stale l)oard should create 

 an agricultural institute, to meet once a year, to remain in session from ten days to a 

 fortnight, for the discussion of matters pertaining to agriculture and kindred sulijects. 



This resolution was referred to a committee consisting of Aaron Jones, W. B. Seward, 

 of Blooniington, and Mr. Sutherland, of Laporte. The committee reported on January 

 4 as follows: 



We ununiniously recommend: 



(1) The holding of four institutes as a trial in this State, two to be held this winter 

 and two in the month of December, this year. 



(2) That the secretary of this board l)e authorized to receive proposals fmin dilferent 

 localities in the State for such institute and have the power to make api)t)iiitni('nts. 



(;^) That the town or locality exix-cting such institute must pledge itself to defray 

 the expenses of such institute, "including the providing of a suital)l(' hall, wanned and 

 lighted: and further, that the locality furnish at least one-half the i)apers on the pro- 

 gram. , ^, . . , 



(4) That the State board of agriculture ask of the trustees of Purdue L niversity that 

 they send at least two of tin- faculty of that institution to attend each institute and 

 lecture or read {)ap<>is. 



(5) That such institute hold two days wiili four ir live sessions, as circumstances 

 may seem to dictate. j. , , ,• 



(6) That the secretary of this l)oar(l, with a local committee at the place of holding 

 such institute, l)e empowered to make up the ])r<)gram for tliat special occasion. 



(7) We further recommend that the legislature be memorialized for a special annual 

 appropriation of >;iOO for the holding of agricultural institutes for the education of the 

 farmers of our State. 



In accordance with these resolutions two meetings were held in the spring of 1882, 

 the first at Columbus, Bartholomew County, March S and 0, and the second at Craw- 

 fordsville, Montgomery County, March 22 and 23. 



The board made an effort to locate and hold the two other institutes, but failed owing 

 to the excitennnit occasioned liy the political campaign of that year. 



At the annual meeting of the State board of agriculture in January, 188:;, the presi- 

 dent of the board, in his annual address, advised the holding of farmers' institutes 

 during the year, and the board of agriculture agreed to memorialize the legislature for 

 an annual appropriation of .?1,000 for defraying the expenses of the institutes. This 

 application was not made by the committee of the board, as they '• feared that it might 

 jeopardize the appropriation for the interest on their bonds." 



The next reference to the institutes by the board is in the minutes of the meeting of 

 February, 1886. In these minutes this statement is found : ' ' The executive committee 

 in connection with the president was directed to outline a system for gathering crop 

 reports and forming farmers' institutes thruout the State." 



The next reference is found in the proceedings of the annual meeting of the State 

 board of agriculture January 4, 1887. The committee, to whom the president's 

 addr(>ss of that board had been referred, reported that they were of the opinion that 

 the legislature should appropriate a sum of money each year to be used by the State 

 board for the purpose of sending a competent person out thru the State to work up 

 what are called farmers' institutes. This was followed by a general discussion which 

 terminated by passing the following resolution: 



Resolved, That all that portion of the president's address and the report of the com- 

 mittee to whom it was referred on the subject of farmers' institutes be refen-ed to the 

 State board, with the request that they formulate a full set of rules for the organization 

 of such institutes, and that the members of the State board shall take such steps as they 

 may deem.best to secure an organization in the counties and townships of their several 

 districts. 



Messrs. Seward, Mitchell, Simonton, and Lockhart were appointed a committee to 

 formulate a system covering county institute s. This committee made its report at the 

 January meeting in 1888. They stated that they had corresponded with officers and 



