57 



A farmers' institute was held in Nemaha County February 7, 1882. Mr. W. F. 

 Wright was elected president and Mr. Benton Aldrich secretary. Mr. Wright had 

 met Prof. S. R. Thompson at Lincoln to talk over the benefits to ho derived from such a 

 meeting, and the above-mentioned date was selected. The meeting was attended bj' 

 S. R. Thompson, professor of agriculture, and H. C. Culbertson, professor of horticul- 

 ture. The Hon. R. W. Furnas, secretary of the State board of agriculture, was present 

 at this meeting, together with a large number of men and women who have since been 

 prominent in Nemaha and Johnson county institutes. This meeting was held 20 

 miles from the nearest railroad station, and the organization formed in 1882 is still 

 active. 



In October, 1882, a second organization oi the same nature was formed at Tecumseh, 

 Johnson County, adjacent to Nemaha, with J. W. Hosic president and W. R. Harris 

 secretary. This organization performed exactly the same work as that done by the 

 farmers' institute. It continued until February, 1896, when it was merged into the 

 Johnson County Horticultural and Agricultural Society for one year, being reorganized 

 January 27, 1897, .under the name of the Johnson County Farmers' Institute, which 

 organization still continues. This organization has held annual or more frequent 

 meetings since 1882, holding in 1905 a four-day institute with an extensive corn show, a 

 good-roads day, and with several sessions of the institute in charge of the women's 

 branch of the association. 



On December 27, 1884, there was a meeting of the Lancaster Agricultural Society, 

 and the record of this meeting shows that Prof. C. E. Bessey was present and addrest 

 the society in relation to holding a county farmers' institute. Professor Bessey said 

 that heretofore these institutes had been held under the auspices of the professors of 

 the agricultural college, but he thought that it would be better for the county agricul- 

 tural society to hold them or assume the control of them. The professors would attend 

 and give lectures and do whatever they could to make such institutes a success. At 

 the close of Professor Bessey's talk a committee was appointed to consider this matter, 

 which named the first Saturday after New Year's as the date for holding the firsts 

 institute. A series of these meetings followed. They were reported in the papers 

 under the title of " Farmers' Club Meetings," and this organization finally divided into 

 the North and South Lancaster Farmers' Clubs, which have continued their organiza- 

 tions to date. 



In 1887 Professor of Agriculture H. H. Wing read a paper before the Nebraska 

 Dairymen's Association on "The Benefit of Farmers' Institutes." This paper indi- 

 cates a general interest thruout different sections of the State in the farmefs' institute 

 movement, which resulted in the formation of a number of institute organizations. 

 This paper recites the fact that at least four such institutes were held in 1887, entirely 

 by the efforts of farmers in their several localities. 



Somewhat later, perhaps in 1888, Dr. Bessey says: 



When I was acting chancellor of the university, I took the matter up with Governor 

 Furnas and we planned a series of farmers' institutes to be held in different portions of 

 the State. He volunteered to attend as many as he could; Mr. Bassett did the same. 

 Mr. Stephens of Crete, Mr. Youngers of Geneva, Mr. Dinsmore and others volunteered, 

 and we held a good many institutes beginning with the winter of 1888-89. The plan 

 was that the locality should pay the expense of those who attended. As far as possible 

 we all secured transportation and simply asked the people of the locality to see that we 

 did not have to pay ho'tel bills. Where the people failed to cover our expenses we 

 bore them ourselves. This work went on with increasing success for a number of years, 

 up to the time when Prof. F. W. Taylor was appointed to look after the matter. Prof. 

 C. L. Ingersoll was active in this work from 1891 to 1894. 



In 1889 a three-day farmers' institute was held at Brokenbow, Custer County, January 

 22, 23, and 24, reported in the annual report of the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture, 

 1888. 



