330 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



j^pecial-subject institutes was 17,li(')8. Independent institutes were 

 held in 10 States, the total number of meetin*?s being; 106 with an 

 attendance of 381,41i2. Thirteen States report loG round-up institutes 

 with 30,199 in attendance. Railroad specials were run in 15 States; 

 in 8 of these 504 stops were made, and in the other 7 the number of 

 stops was not reported, but the total attendance as given for the 15 

 States was 1()7,3S7. While in several States women's institutes were 

 hehl in connection with the ref;ular institutes for men, in 4 States 

 separate and in<lependent women's institutes were conducted with a 

 total of 145 sessions. In 25 sessions the attendance was 4,300, while 

 no report was given of the number in attendance at the other 120 

 sessions. These separate women's institutes oiler a fertile field for 

 future development in the United States where they can scarcely be 

 said to have begun, and yet in Ontario they have already over- 

 shadowed the regular men's institutes. AVhile it is known that 

 some 16 States have been conducting boys' and girls' meetings of 

 various kinds, although not usually classed as institutes, neverthe- 

 less only one State reported having held regular boys' and girls' 

 institutes during 1000, and the attendance was not given. Here 

 again is another field for fruitful work lying within the scope of 

 the farmers' institutes, and yet one that has not been developed to 

 any considerable extent, although its importance warrants attention. 

 Three States held 8 normal institutes with an attendance of 1,000 

 in 2 of the States, the other one not reporting the attendance. One 

 farmers' picnic was held in each of 2 States with a total attendance 

 of 2,350. Demonstration meetings were reported from only 1 State 

 which held 2 with an aggregate attendance of 400. Farmers' insti- 

 tute schools were held in 2 States, one holding 3 with 530 in attend- 

 ance, and the other holding 12 schools but not reporting the number 

 in attendance. One State held an annual convention consisting of 5 

 sessions and a total attendance of 2,500. One State held movable 

 schools at 13 places lasting six days at which there w^ere 1,415 in 

 attendance. 



The total attendance at all of the above 12 forms of special institute 

 activity Avas 617,054, which added to 2,240,025, the attendance at 

 the regular institutes reported, makes a grand total of 2,858,870 in 

 attendance at all forms of farmers' institutes during 1000. In 

 addition no record has been given of the attendance upon the follow- 

 ing forms of institutes: Women's institutes, 117 sessions; boys' and 

 girls' institutes in one State with 14 meetings; and 12 farmers' insti- 

 tute schools. And to all this should also be added the attendance 

 at the regular farmers' institutes in two of the three organizations 

 holding farmers' institutes in Connecticut for which no reports 

 have been received. 



