96 EXPERIMENT STATION KECOED. 



to be about thirty-flve cents. Consequently the increased cost of living is not 

 due to the high prices paid the farmer, but the remedy is to bring the producer 

 and the consumer more closely together. As a means to this end, organization 

 and cooperation were emphasized. 



In the reports of the standing committees, which are rapidly coming to be 

 an important feature of the association, some of the remedies suggested for 

 existing defects in institute work were securing more generally the organiza- 

 tion of local institute societies to take charge of the institutes in the several 

 counties, the more careful selection of institute lecturers, the equipping and 

 sending out of movable schools of agriculture, and establishing and conducting 

 institutes for women and for young people. 



A paper by Hon. C. C. James, Deputy Minister of Agriculture for Ontario, 

 upon The Problem of the Indifferent Farmer, was one of the most suggestive 

 offered. The indifferent farmer, by I'eason of his number and possibilities, was 

 characterized as one of the greatest potential assets of the country, and it was 

 stated that no work that this country can engage in promises larger returns 

 than stimulating and helping him to better ways and better living. There must 

 first be increased agricultural production, but with this should come financial 

 prosperity, and, as a result, better schools, better roads, the beautifying of 

 homes, increased social advantages, quickened intelligence, and the genei'al 

 moral uplift of the community. The way to reach and influence the indifferent 

 farmer, in his opinion, is through the agricultural missionary, a combination of 

 agricultural teacher and representative of the state or provincial department of 

 agriculture, who is an expert local adviser in rural affairs, living in the com- 

 munity and devoting himself to aiding indifferent farmers in their practice. 



The value of this method of aiding rural people was also emphasized by Dr. 

 G. C. Creelman, president of the Ontario Agricultural College, in a paper upon 

 The Engaging of Experts to Organize Farmers' Clubs and to Establish and 

 Oversee Demonstrations in Agriculture. Dr. Creelman gave the outlines of 

 the plan previously described by him (E. S. R., 19, p. 899) of providing govern- 

 ment experts for instruction in local schools with demonstration work among 

 the community, and which is now in operation in 14 counties in Ontario. The 

 plan has now been under trial three years and a half and the demand upon 

 the government from other counties for such expert representatives is becoming 

 very persistent. In the speaker's opinion it seems the best way yet devised 

 for getting into immediate touch with the men on the land. 



The association devoted one entire session to the discussion of institutes for 

 young people and another to institutes for women. The topics considered in 

 the young people's session were as to whether the time has arrived when 

 institutes, as distinguished from boys' and girls' clubs, should be organized 

 specially and separately for young people between the ages of 14 and 18, the 

 plan to be adopted in such institutes, the objects desirable to attain, the kind 

 of exercises and methods best suited for the purpose, and the desirable quali- 

 fications in the teachers. These topics were discussed by J. M. Stedman, of 

 this Office. A. D. Wilson, of the University of Minnesota, Mrs. F. L. Stevens, 

 of North Carolina, and F. H, Rankin, of Illinois. 



Corresponding topics were discussed at the women's session, the speakers 

 including Miss Jennie Buell, of Michigan, Miss Jennie C. Barlow, of Illinois, 

 Mrs. H. J. Patterson, College Park, Md., Mrs. Henrietta Calvin, Lafayette, Ind., 

 Mrs. Helen Wells, New York, and Miss Martha Van Rensselaer, of Cornell 

 University. The fact was developed that institutes of this character are being 

 successfully organized and held in a number of the States. The Province of 

 Ontario remains, however, the most notable example presented of the general 

 organization of women throughout a considerable area, the report of that 



