88 



year an appropriation of $500 from Ihe general revenups of the State board of agriculture 

 was made to each member of the l)oard for holding institutes in his Congressional dis- 

 trict. o 



At a joint meeting of the State board of agriculture and the board of control of the 

 Virginia Polytechnic Institute, held about a year ago, a plan of cooperation between 

 the two boards was decided on, whereby the members of the experiment station staff 

 were made available as lecturers at farmers' institutes in the State. Since that time a 

 number of members of the board have seen fit to avail themselves of the services of the 

 various members of the experiment station staff, and about thirty institutes have been 

 held in the last six months in five Congressional districts of the State at the following 

 places: Roanoke, Wytheville, Danville, Stuart, Rocky Mount, Martinsville, Tazewell, 

 Pearisburg, Abingdon, Gate City, Pulaski, Harrisonburg, New Market, Strasburg, 

 Winchester, Berryville, Luray, Eastville, Onley, Hallwood, Mathews, Gloucester, 

 Orange, Culpeper, Crewe, The Plains, Fairfax, and Leesburg. The experiment sta: 

 tion officers have assisted in organizing and conducting these meetings and are making 

 every effort in their power to promote the development of the farmers' institute move- 

 ment in the State, tho unpaid for this service. The meetings have been well attended, 

 the average not falling far short of two hundred. Considering that this is one of«the first 

 efforts made in the State to hold institutes in a systematic manner, the results are par- 

 ticularly gratifying. The farmers attending have evidenced the greatest interest in 

 the meetings, both by their presence and the variety and number of questions asked 

 th^ speakers. In every county visited there has been a request for a meeting next 

 year, and if the good work so well commenced is followed up by the individual mem- 

 bers of the board a new era in farmers' institutes in Virginia is in sight. 



The value of farmers' institutes is so clearly recognized and their merits have been 

 so fully set forth before the public that it is not necessary to further emphasize this 

 point. The discussion of important subjects in these meetings will certainly be pro- 

 ductive of much good. All that seems to be needed in Virginia in order to make the 

 farmers' institute movement a permanent and successful means of improving and 

 ameliorating agricultural conditions, disseminating useful and practical information, 

 and adding materially to the development of the State, is a definite and aggressive 

 policy with regard to the organization of the meetings in the several Congressional dis- 

 tricts. The fact that the farmers are ready and anxious to avail themselves of the 

 information to be obtained thru these meetings has been very clearly demonstrated in 

 every county where the meetings have been properly advertised. 



WASHINGTON. 



In an act approved March 28, 1890, creating a commission of technical instruction to 

 establish a college of agriculture and mechanic arts in accordance with the provisions 

 of the land-grant act of 1862 of the General Government, the general scheme of instruc- 

 tion and methods for carrying out the processes of the new institution were specifically 

 set forth. In section 3 of this act a required part of the work of the college is definitely 

 stated to be "to hold farmers' institutes at such times and places and under such regu- 

 lations as it may determine." This was reaffirmed in 1897 in an act defining the duties 

 of the State Agricultural College and School of Science. 



Immediately upon the opening of the agricultural and mechanical college the first 

 of a series of farmers' institutes was held under the auspices of the college at Colton on 

 January 30, 1892, C. W. Richardson presiding, with E. E. Alton as secretary. There 

 were 62 persons in attendance. The college was represented by President Lilly and 

 Profes.sors Scobey, Lake, and Munn. The subjects discust were the purposes and 

 aims of the Washington Agricultural College, dairy farming, the tree crop for eastern 

 Washington. 



" There are ten Congressional districts in the State. 



