342 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



There was available for institute purposes $6,379.07, of which 

 $5,577.16 was used. The appropriation by the State for the commg 

 year is $6,000. The agricultural college furnished four men from its 

 facultj^ for institute service, who gave tliirty-five days to the work. 

 There was one independent institute held with an estimated attend- 

 ance of 6,430, a general convention of the farmers of the State. Each 

 year, 10,000 copies of an annual institute report are Dublished and 



distributed. 



NORTH CAROLINA. 



Institute directors. — S. L. Patterson, commissioner of agriculture, Raleigh; Tait 

 Butler, professor of veterinary science in North Carolina College of Agi-iculture and 

 Mechanic Arts; field agent, Raleigh. 



A determined effort was made through the farmers' institutes of 

 North Carolina this year in the direction of the improvement of the 

 homes of the country people. This took the form of women's insti- 

 tutes, 21 of which were held in a single month with an average attend- 

 ance of 83. In starting this work many discouraging circumstances 

 were encountered, chief among which was the spirit of conservatism 

 that led the communities to look upon the women's institute as too 

 great an innovation. Others were the indifference of the women 

 themselves and the difficulty in getting suitable lecturers to address 

 the audiences. At a number of the women's meetings the attendance 

 was extremely small, but taken altogether the experiment was fairly 

 successful and gave encouragement to conduct a similar experiment 

 next year. 



The general institutes were well attended, the attendance being 

 25,950 at 195 sessions, or 133 to each session. About S5,500 was 

 expended in conducthig the institutes. This included the salary of 

 the State director and a portion of those members of the agricultural 

 department who aided in the work. The agricultural college and the 

 experiment station contributed twelve men, who gave one hundred 

 and nine days of their time to lecture service. Three independent 

 institutes were held, with a total attendance of 1,000. A, round-up 

 farmers' convention, held at Raleigh, continued through eight sessions 

 with an attendance of 400. Thirty thousand c()i)ios of institute pro- 

 ceedings are pul)lished and distributed to regular mailmg lists of the 

 State department of agriculture each year. 



OHIO. 



Institute director. — T. L. Calvert, secretary State board of agriculture, Columbus. 



There was a modification of the institute law in Ohio last j^ear, by 

 which lh(> iii)portionment of tlic money raised for institute purposes 

 iiiuhM- the millage tax is iii)pro})riated more simply and directly. Th(> 

 old law l)ased the apportioiunent on th(> number of inhabitants of 

 each conntv, as shown by the last census, directhig that a sum equal 



