48 



after discussion and a committee appointed to consider the whole su])ject and report at 

 the county meeting of the hoard in December. 



This committee subsequently sul^mitted a lengthy report, the most important 

 feature of which was the recommendation that the secretary of the board ask of the 

 State an appropriation of $1,000, to be expended under the permission of the statute 

 giving the secretary of the board of agriculture authority to employ lecturers and 

 agents to speak tojhe farmers and organize farmers' clubs. The general court of the 

 following year granted an appropriation of §1,000 for this purpose, thus placing the 

 institute work on a stable basis. From that time to the present day the work has 

 continued, increasing in importance and broadening in scope from year to year, and in 

 no year has any society been allowed to evade the requirement of the board that at 

 least three farmers' institutes shall l>e held. 



The appropriation for the work has been increased from time to time as circum- 

 stances seemed to call for it, and the legislattire was moved with the spirit of liberality 

 toward the farming interests until it is now fixt at the sum of $2,700 per annum. 

 Only a part of this appropriation is used for th(> institute work, however, it being made 

 for the "dissemination of useful information in agriculture," and a considerable por- 

 tion of it being devoted to the issuing of crop reports, special bulletins, nature leaflets, 

 etc. Generally speaking, about $1,800 is expended in institute work. . When the 

 appropriation was materially increased two years ago, it was hoped that a greater num- 

 ber of institutes might l)e held, but a new contract with the State printers increased 

 the cost of printing by about 20 per cent, which left the appropriation available for 

 institute work at about the former rate, so that while the work has not decreased in 

 importance it has not been broadened or increased to the degree that was planned for. 



The farmers' institutes of Massachusetts, as above indicated, are based on the agri- 

 cultural societies and held by them, these societies being required to pay the expenses 

 of advertising the meetings and to pay for the hall, where payment is necessary, and 

 for heating and lighting the same. The State thru the board of agriculture pays 

 for the compensation and expenses of the speaker, §10 having lieen fixt as compen- 

 sation for each lecture. Many of the societies hold all-day meetings, with two sessions 

 and two lectures, the second one sometimes from a local speaker and sometimes by 

 the speaker furnished by the State, the speaker donating his services or the society 

 giving him extra compensation, as the kindness of the sjieaker or the financial con- 

 dition of the society may allow. 



The institutes are not entirely confined to the agricultural societies, the secretary of 

 the board being empowered to give institutes to other associations of an agricultural 

 nature where the section is not properly covered by one of the incorporated agricul- 

 tural societies, of which power he avails himself to a considerable extent, so that no 

 section of the State where meetings of this character are desired need go unprovided for. 



Upward of 100 institutes are held each year, with an average attendance of about 

 100 persons at each meeting. Probably there is no State in the Union where so many 

 meetings are held in proportion to the area of the State, tho that assertion can not 

 be made absolute without a more careful investigation. The system seems the one 

 best adapted to the needs of the people of this State, as it combines home rule with 

 central supervision. A list of speakers, with their subjects, is printed each year, from 

 which the societies are expected to make their selections, no speaker not upon that 

 list being engaged for a meeting until the secretary of the board is fully satisfied as to 

 his fitness for the work. On this list are the professors at the agricultural colleges and 

 the workers at the experiment stations of this and neighboring States, together with 

 practical farmers of proven excellence as speakers and instructors. No person is 

 admitted to the list until the committee in charge of the work is satisfied as to his or 

 her fitness to address such meetings, l)oth as to subject-matter and method of delivery. 



^^^lether the future will bring a closer departmental control of the institutes is a 

 question for future consideration. There are certain obvious advantages in more rigid 



