328 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



ILLINOIS. 



Institute director. — F. H. Hall, superintendent of farmers' institutes, Aurora. 



The institute system of Illinois is altogether different fi'om that 

 of any other State. It is knoA\ai as the Illinois Farmers' Institute, 

 and is managed by a board of directors, consisting of the State super- 

 intendent of public instruction, the professor of agriculture of the 

 University of Illinois, the president of the State board of agriculture, 

 the president of the State Horticultural Society, the president of 

 the State Dairymen's Association, and one member from each Con- 

 gressional district of the State, selected by delegates from the dis- 

 trict present at the annual meeting. This board of directors elects 

 a secretary and superintendent of farmers' institutes. In the present 

 instance these offices are combined in one individual. 



The county institutes are the units in the State S3^stem, and are 

 regularly organized under a State law, and are each entitled to an 

 appropriation of $75 per. jesir contingent upon their holding one 

 or more institutes of not less than two days' duration, and of which 

 proper public notice has been previously given. 



The employment of speakers is altogether in the hands of the local 

 institutes as well as the duty of making arrangements for holding 

 the institute, such as selecting the location, the preparation of the 

 programme, and securing entertainment for institute speakers. 



Last year 108 institutes, composed of 667 sessions, were held with 

 an attendance of 79,428 persons. The State University contributed 

 30 men for giving instruction who devoted in the aggregate two 

 hundred and thirty-nine days to this work. There were six inde- 

 pendent institutes held, wdth an attendance of 1,440 persons, and 

 there was also the round-up or annual meeting of 8 sessions with 

 an attendance of 6,000. 



All of the trunk lines of the railroads provided special trains fi'ee 

 of charge, which were run over their several lines. These trains 

 were equipped b}^ the State University, so far as lecture force and 

 illustrative material were concerned. The train furnished by the 

 Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was out eight days, and 

 reached by actual count 16,630 people. The Illinois Central was 

 out eleven days, and reached 20,817 persons. The Wabash fur- 

 nished a train for three days, during which time about 1,000 people 

 were met. The interest aroused by these trains was much greater 

 than had been anticipated, and was manifested not merely by the 

 attendance, but by applications that were afterwards received by 

 the university and the agricultural experiment station for literature. 

 Reference was made b}'^ the applicants to statements made by the 

 lecturers from these railroad trains. 



