348 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



Iiuliistiial contests for boys ami *jirl.s uiuler IS have been promoted 

 and j)rizes awarded throii<rli the county superintendent of schools 

 for production of corn, wheat, potatoes, vc<retables, fruit, and in 

 sewiiip: and cookinfr. Those winninof any of the first six prizes in any 

 class in any county may conipete at the state contest. The institute 

 board employed a special man the past year to go from county to 

 county and visit the schools in order to assist the school superintend- 

 ent in starting this work. He spoke at the schools, and attended 

 teachers" and school officers' meetings, and in ten weeks held 148 

 meetings with a total attendance of 12,393, mostly boys and girls. 



MISSISSIPPI. 



Institute director. — E. R. Lloyd. iirofe><sor of afiriculture, college of agricul- 

 ture, Agricultural College. 



The institutes which are under the charge of a department of the 

 college of agriculture are cooperating with the county agricultural 

 high schools as fast as they are established, and are developing short 

 courses in agriculture and dairying. 



One hundred and sixty-six sessions of regular institutes were held 

 during the year wnth an attendance of 25,229, while 17 independent 

 institutes with 5,580 in attendance, 8 sessions «f round-up institutes 

 with 1,000 in attendance, and 6 special trains with a total attendance 

 of 12,84G were also held, making a grand total at all the special in- 

 stitutes of 10,42(3. 



The total cost of the institutes ♦vas $3,000, appropriated by the 

 State, but not including the salary of the director. 



MISSOURI. 

 Institute director. — G. B. Ellis, secretary state board of agriculture, Columbia. 



During the year there were held 705 sessions of regular institutes 

 with an attendance of 64,800, and 26 sessions of round-up institutes 

 wnth 7,250 in attendance, besides a number of other special institutes 

 of which no record was kept. 



The expense of holding these meetings w'as $5,000, all of which the 

 State appropriated, but this does not include the salary of the director 

 and his assistants. A new feature of the work was the conducting of 

 extension short courses. 



MONTANA. 



Institute director. — F. S. Cooley. superintendent of farmers' institutes, 

 College of Agriculture, Bozeman. 



An annual report of the institutes is published and is a departure 

 from the beaten track in that it treats of but one subject each year, 

 thus giving an exhaustive supply of information regarding that par- 

 ticular phase of agriculture- As a different subject is dealt with 



