338 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



no discussion of the work or statement of ])rojects for its develop- 

 ment. A\'hile these are all vahiahle in their place, their value would 

 he <rreatly increaseil if the items referred to were accompanied by a 

 th()u<j:htful discussion of their principal features by the director, 

 followed by a general summary of the progress of the institute work 

 as a whole. 



The state director, if interested in his work, is constantly studying 

 to improve his methods. A complete statement, therefore, each year 

 of his views as they are enhn-fred or luodihed by his study and ex- 

 perience, accompanied with the reasons for his present attitude, would 

 often be of great service to directors in charge of institutes in other 

 States, as well as to lecturers and local managers generally through- 

 out the country. 



MONTHLY MEETINGS. 



A feature of the institute work most open to criticism is the short 

 period that is given to instruction in a locality in any single year. 

 One or two days is the usual allotment, and in this period a topic may 

 be presented bj^^ only a single speaker, to be frequently passed without 

 further discussion. It is manifest that by this method the institute 

 Avill be many years in educating the farmers in a community in the 

 principles of agricultural science and practice. Under the present 

 method of institute management the individual in a State is apt to 

 be lost sight of in the general mass or volume of work accomplished. 

 Institute directors and lecturers are liable to be misled into thinking 

 that they are doing a great deal for the individual man when they are 

 busy for several months teaching in institute meetings. The Avork in 

 the aggregate is ver}^ considerable, and is of good quality, but it 

 ordinarily touches a single individual for only a day or two at most 

 and comparatively few are reached at all. 



The institute lecturer after three or five months' campaign may 

 profitabl}' in(iuire what he has done in this time in educating any 

 single individual. The state director also at the close of the institute 

 season might inquire to what extent any one individual has been 

 benefited by the expenditure of ten, twenty, or thirty thousand dollars 

 appropriated by the State. Instruction has been furnished for him 

 for two days, possibly for only one. How long will it take by this 

 method to reach, even with a day's instruction, all of the agricultural 

 people of the State? These queries will necessarily develop the fact 

 that the institute can never as at present organized accomplish that 

 which manifestly is its chief purpose, namely, reaching every indi- 

 vidual farmer with information sufficient to render him proficient in 

 his business. This requires that the individual must be instructed 

 through a longer period each year than the institute provides, and 



