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held each year since the work first began, it was not until 1903 that any serious effort was 

 made toward forming permanent local organizations. In that year an advance agent 

 was sent out to secure at each point the names of the leading farmers of the section, and 

 then to these personal invitations were sent urging them to come to the meeting. In 

 this way a much larger attendance was secured last summer than in any previous year, 

 and at each institute thus held a local organization was effected consisting of a secretary 

 and a chairman and an institute committee composed of a member from each township 

 of the county. It is the purpose to hereafter hold an institute each year in every 

 county where a local organization has been formed to work it up beforehand. 



"\^1iile institutes have been held in North Carolina every year for the past fifteen 

 yeai's, little has been done as compared with States having a large annual appropriation 

 enabling them to employ outside aid. It is believed, however, that as much has been 

 accomplished in Xorth Carolina with the amount of money spent as any other State 

 has been able to effect with a similar sum. 



Institutes specially designed to aid the negro farmers of the State have been organ- 

 ized. Four of these were held last summer, were well attended, and at all of them the 

 closest attention was given. Some negro farmers are present at all of the institutes, and 

 they are always welcome. 



It is the purpose in future to divide the institute lecture force into two sections in 

 order to cover a larger number of counties than has been possible with a single corps of 

 men. In this way many more institutes can be held, and it is believed that increased 

 interest in the work can be thus secured. 



What the institute needs in North Carolina is thoro organization, a liberal appropria- 

 tion from the legislature for meeting its expenses, and a director who can devote his 

 entire time to the work. In no other way can the institutes be made as effective as they 

 should be. The commissioner of agriculture and the director of the station have 

 duties that fully occupy their time and require their attendance at their offices. The 

 supervision of institutes interferes with their regular work. Thoro organization, some 

 money, and a director who has this work and no other in hand will make the institutes 

 a powerful educational force in agriculture. They have already accomplished much 

 good, and have led the farmers to depend more and more on the help that the experi- 

 ment station and the department of agriculture can give them, and have greatly 

 increased the correspondence of the station with the farmers of the State who are now 

 seeking the aid of the station more than is done in most other States. 



The amount expended for institute work in this State in 1904 was $850. The travel- 

 ing and hotel expenses of the lecturers is all that the board provides. Other States, 

 with large appropriations from their legislatures, have been able to call in and pay for 

 the best help from outside of State lines. North Carolina, on the other hand, has 

 depended solely on her own citizens for her institute teaching force, men willing to 

 contribute their time and strength, often at great personal inconvenience and not 

 infrequently involving actual loss. 



There were 33 institutes held in 1904, with an attendance of over 6,000 persons. The 

 farmers of the State are taking greater interest in the work each year, and the day is not 

 far distant when the legislature will be willing to recognize the institutes, not only by a 

 law organizing them but by appropriating money sufficient to make them what they 

 should be. 



NORTH DAKOTA. 



So far as anj'- authentic record can be found the first farmers' institute in North 

 Dakota was held at Casselton on March 25 and 26, 1894. This was followed by one at 

 the agricultural college, Fargo, on June 21, both of these institutes being under the 

 auspices of the Society of United Farmers of Cass County. It is quite probable that 

 d uring the time in which the Grange was active in North Dakota that meetings approach- 

 ing the nature of farmers' institutes were held by the lodges of this society at different 



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