324 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



It is expected that two corps of lecturers will be organized for the 

 coming year. The basis for the lecture force has been the agricul- 

 tural college and the experiment station men. Gradually some excel- 

 lent workers are being developed among the farmers of the State. 

 In order to encourage the attendance and assist in the advertising, 

 the director expects for the coming year to require a petition signed 

 by some 50 to 200 names requesting the institute and agreeing to 

 attend the sessions. These petitions will be circulated in advance 

 among the farmers for signature. 



One hundred and twenty-three sessions of institutes were held last 

 year, w^ith an attendance of 16,675, at a total cost of $3,300. In 

 addition to these, 5 independent institutes were held, with an esti- 

 mated attendance of 3,000. There were 26 sessions of women's insti- 

 tutes held in connection with the regular meetings. The college and 

 station men contributed two hundred and ninety-five days of time 

 to the work. An account of the proceedings of the institutes will be 

 prepared, and an edition of 10,000 published and distributed. 



CONNECTICUT. 



Institute directors. — James F. Brown, secretary State board of agriculture, 

 North Stonington; J. G. Schwink, jr., secretary Connecticut Dairymen's Association, 

 Meriden; H. C. C. Miles, secretary Connecticut Pomological Society, Milford. 



The division of the institute work in Connecticut between three 

 distinct organizations is unique in farmers' institute management in 

 this country. The State board of agriculture, the State Dairymen's 

 Association, and the State Pomological Society, through their respec- 

 tive secretaries, have each held institutes devoted largely to the 

 special lines of work which each organization represents. No report 

 has been received of what has been accomplished b}^ the State board 

 of agriculture during the year. The other two societies, however, 

 have been active in institute work. The dair3mien's association held 

 39 sessions of regular institutes in addition to its annual convention, 

 consisting of 5 sessions. The regular institutes w^ere attended by 

 3,345 and the annual institute by 3,300. Forty-two speakers were 

 present at the institutes of this society and delivered 96 addresses. 

 Fifteen hundred dollars was expended in carrying on the work. 



The Connecticut Dairymen's Association was organized about 

 twenty-five years ago to develop and improve the dairy interests of 

 the State. Its present membership is about 460. For the past 

 twenty years the association has received an annual appropriation 

 from the State to aid in carrying on its work, but owing to the po]Mi- 

 lar demand for more institutes the sum was found to be insuilicient, 

 and $500 additional was granted by the last legislature. The inlki- 

 ences that have gone out from these meetings are now seen in all 

 parts of the State. New barns and stables have been erected after 



