64 



While the old branches of agriculture are discust, attention is also given to special 

 industries in the different localities. Some general questions of great importance to 

 farmers have been made leading topics in the institutes — the question of soils, their 

 origin, constituents, requirements, adaptation to different crops, etc.; then, too, the 

 subject of forage crops for the dairy, how to produce, their feeding value, when and 

 how to harvest, etc. ; the cost of dairying as now conducted with a view to exposing 

 defects in breeding, feeding, and general management, where they may be found to 

 exist, in hope of showing a way to increase the profits. 



The seed has taken root and already fruit appears. The desire is that the work may 

 be progressive, practical, and helpful. 



NEW MEXICO. 



The first institute was held January 2-4, 1896, at the agricultural college, Mesilla 

 Park, under the auspices of the agricultural experiment station staff, with Director 

 S. P. McCrea as chairman. Morning and afternoon sessions were fully occupied with 

 papers and discussions by the station staff and other local speakers. Four of the 

 papers presented were by ladies. There was an average attendance of twenty-five at 

 each session. 



A second and similar institute was held at the college January 4-6, 1897. Director 

 C. T. Jordan presided. The average attendance at each session was about thirty. 



No more institutes were held until the spring of 1903, after the election of Luther 

 Foster as director of the station. 



During January, February, and March, 1903, three one-day institutes of two sessions 

 each were held at Las Cruces, under the auspices of a local committee. The first was 

 devoted to alfalfa and irrigation by pumping; the second to fruit growing, small 

 farming, and truck gardening; and the third to live stock. Director Foster pre- 

 sided at each of these and the papers were presented and discust by members of the 

 station staff and other local speakers. 



On March 3, 1903, an institute, with afternoon and evening sessions, was held at 

 Carlsbad. Three members of the experiment station staff were in attendance and 

 presented papers, the other speakers being local. This institute was held under the 

 auspices of a local committee. 



On March 4 and 5 the same members of the station staff attended an institute of five 

 sessions at Roswell. These meetings had been arranged for by the local horticultural 

 society. 



An institute was held at Cloudcroft, on the summit of the Sacramento Mountains, 

 on October 30 and 31, 1903. The station was represented by Director Foster and two 

 other members of the staff, and the El Paso (Tex.) Chamber of Commerce was also 

 represented by its president and two members. There were three sessions at which 

 papers were presented and discust by the members of the station staff, representa- 

 tives of the chamber of commerce, and local speakers. Among the topics discust, 

 roads and markets received especial attention. A local institute was organized. 



Three one-day institutes, of two sessions each, were held at Las Cruces during January 

 and February, 1904, under the direction of the Mesilla Valley Chamber of Commerce. 

 All members of the station staff participated and a number of other local speakers. 

 At one of these institutes the Spanish language only was used. 



There have been no special appropriations for institute work and the expenses of 

 the station men engaged in this work have been paid out of the funds of the institu- 

 tion. It is hoped that the next legislature will make a special appropriation for 

 institute work, so that it can be extended and placed on a permanent basis. 



NEW YOKK. 



The farmers' institutes in New York State as now organized grew out of the demand 

 among the old farmers' clubs, more than a dozen of which were organized over one 

 hundred years ago, for speakers who were posted on the science of agriculture. For 



