306 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



RAILROAD SPECIALS AND INDUSTRIAL WORK OF RAILROADS. 



Railroad specials equipped with lecturers, charts, specimens, books, 

 bulletins, and demonstration material have been sent out in 21 States. 

 This movement in institute work, begun in the Western States three 

 or four years ago as com specials, has extended to the East and South, 

 and they now give instruction upon a Avide range of topics adapted to 

 the agricultural conditions of the several sections. The institute 

 specialist accompanied one of these trains last spring through a por- 

 tion of Illinois. The train was furnished by the Illinois Central Rail- 

 road Company, and consisted of a locomotive, baggage car, two 

 coaches, one dining car, and a compartment sleeper. The company 

 bore all of the expenses excepting the salaries of the lecturers, wliich 

 were met by the University of Illinois. Although the country roads 

 were deep with mud, the attendance at the stations at which the 

 stops were made was all that could have have been desired, ranging 

 in number from 150 to 400. One day by actual count the attendance 

 was over 3,500. 



Reports of similar manifestations of interest have come from other 

 States in which these trains have been utilized. The novelty of the 

 method has no doubt had something to do with the attendance, but 

 there seems also to have been, as evidenced by the close attention 

 given to the lecturers and by the questions asked, a real desire for 

 information. 



Perhaps the most significant feature of this movement is the inter- 

 est that the transportation companies are taking in agricultural edu- 

 cation, or at least in the dissemination of agricultural information. 

 In every ijvstance prominent railroad officials have accompanied the 

 trains, and have assured the farmers of their interest in promoting 

 the welfare of farming people. This effort on the part of the railroads 

 to improve agriculture is undoubtedly the beginning of the organiza- 

 tion in the management of these companies of a corps of agricultural 

 experts wbo shall devote their entire attention to the development 

 of agricultiTc in its several phases, and also to assisting farmers in the 

 marketing of their crops. 



A recent investigation by the institute specialist into what the 

 railroad companies of the United States are doing in aid of agriculture 

 discloses the fact that with few exceptions they are coming as never 

 before to appreciate this source of traffic, and quite a number of 

 companies have already begun the organization of departments for 

 the aid and encouragement of this industr3^ One company has three 

 expert specialists and two assistants who devote their entire time to 

 instructing and otherwise aidmg the farmers. This company also 

 publishes a monthly magazine giving information with respect to 

 ^arm 'lei'.ds and methods of culture. Another company has been 



