72 



A large number of numerously signed petitions were presented at the next legis- 

 lative assembly, and the members thereof responding to the demands of the farmers 

 increased the appropriation to $4,000 per annum. The first year under the new appro- 

 priation will close June 30, 1904, by which time there will have been held 46 institutes, 

 in which one of the best institute corps in the entire country took part. At the same 

 time it was necessary to refuse 25 applications for meetings where all the requirements 

 of the institute board were complied with, and in some cases the local committee even 

 offered to pay all the expenses of the institute. 



It is believed that an excellent idea was hit upon for creating a governing board for 

 the farmers' institutes. This board is composed of the president of the board of 

 trustees of the agricultural college, the commissioner of agriculture and labor, director 

 of the experiment station, the professor of agriculture, and the professor of dairying of 

 the agricultural college. Here is a board that is vitally interested in the agriculture 

 of the State, that is thoroly in touch with the methods of education along agricul- 

 tural lines, and one that in nearly all cases will contain a majority of members who 

 have had experience in institute work, so that a permanent and experienced manage- 

 ment is practically guaranteed to the farmers' institutes. Just as soon as the appro- 

 priation is made sufficient to warrant, a superintendent of institutes will be engaged, 

 who will have entire charge of the institute corps, of the correspondence relating to 

 institutes, and the publication of the Institute Annual. At the present time the work 

 of correspondence, advertising, and the publication of the Institute Annual is in the 

 hands of the writer, who is secretary of the institute board. An institute conductor is 

 secured for the season, who has entire charge of the corps while in the field. 



Fully believing that the institute work was not completed or well rounded out 

 without a complete report of each year, there has been prepared an Institute Annual, 

 the first number of which was issued in 1900. The publication of this annual has been 

 continued, an edition of 10,000 copies being sent out each year. That this work is 

 well received is evidenced by the large demand for back numbers. The report for 

 1904, being the fifth of the series, is now under preparation and will be ready for dis- 

 tribution by the opening of the next institute season. 



Since the first institutes were held there has been considerable change in the subjects 

 presented and demanded by the farmers of the State. North Dakota being a wheat- 

 growing State, the most interesting subjects at first were those pertaining to wheat 

 growing, and fully 75 per cent of the questions asked at the institutes were along the 

 line of this crop. The subjects have gradually changed, until now dairy husbandry, 

 the live-stock industry, corn growing, poultry raising, horticulture, etc., receive fully 

 as much attention from the institute corps, as well as the farmers, as that of wheat 

 growing. 



As an experiment last year (1904) a lady speaker was attached to the institute corps 

 for a part of the season, and it was found to be an important addition to the institute 

 work. 



But ten years have elapsed since the holding of the first institute in the State, and 

 for only five years of that time has the State provided any funds for systematic work. 

 That the work is appreciated and demanded by the farmers is shown in the increased 

 appropriations and the increased number of applications for institutes. 



OHIO. 



In the development of farmers' institutes in Ohio there were three distinct stages, 

 namely, the period of suggestion, the period of experiment, and the period of successful 

 operation. 



The first suggestion relative to lectures for the benefit of farmers seems to have come 

 from Dr. N. S. Townshend, who later became dean of the college of agriculture, Ohio 

 State University. Under date of February 15, 1845, he wrote as follows: 



Had we a State agricultural society, with a good board of managers, or should the 

 legislature constitute a State board of agricultvu-e. then either of these might select a 



