6 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



to hold ODly a small proportion of the institutes for which application has 

 been made. In a considerable number of cases resolutions were adopted 

 urging the increased attention to the one-da}^ meetings and similar 

 resolutions were reported and unanimously adopted by the State Grange 

 and the State Round-up Institute, although in no case was any such 

 action encouraged by the institute management. 



The persons employed as state institute lecturers during the past 

 year have, with one exception, been residents of Michigan, and have, for 

 the most part, been engaged in the work for a number of years. Most 

 of these persons are successful, practical farmers or fruit growers and, 

 with few excc])tions. have any criticisms upon the work of the state 

 speakers been received, and to show that the criticisms are not always 

 called for, even in these few cases, it may be stated in almost every 

 instance, the speakers who were criticised were given high praise in 

 the next county they visited. The selection* of the places for holding 

 institutes, the dates on which they were to be held, the topics to be 

 presented by state speakers and the choice of the speakers themselves, 

 was so far as possible, left with the officers of the county institute 

 societies. 



As a rule, two men and one woman speaker were sent to each two- 

 day institute but, in a number of cases, special talks upon ''Good Roads," 

 "Farm Law," "Veterinary Science" and Educational topics were ar- 

 ranged for. For the most part, two speakers appeared upon the pro- 

 gram in the forenoon and three in the afternoon and evening of each 

 day. In many of the counties the topics embraced "Tillage," "Rotation 

 of Crops," "Potato Culture," "Sugar Beets," "Clover," "Corn," "Beans." 

 "Alfalfa, Grain and other Crops," "Dairying," "Feeding of Cattle, 

 Sheep and Swine/' "Silo," "Farm Machinery," "Poultry Raising," 

 "Apple, Peach and Plum Culture," "Small Fruits," "Spraying," "Good 

 Roads," "Forestry," etc. During the afternoon session of the first day, 

 the lady speaker took up, in the general session, some topics relative 

 to the household or perhaps "Poultry Raising" or "Butter Making on 

 the Farm," and the second afternoon conducted a Women's section. 

 In a large number of counties there is evidently a growing interest in 

 the subject of "Centralized Schools" and this was upon the program 

 in no less than forty counties. 



As the members of the College faculty are quite busy with -class 

 room work during the winter months, they were able to devote but 

 little time to attending farmers' institutes, but quite a number of them 

 were secured for a single week. There are a large number of others 

 who devoted one or more weeks to attending institutes without recompense 

 beyond their actual expenses, among them were Horatio S. Earle, of 

 Detroit, State Highway Commissioner; Charles W. Garfield, of Grand 

 Rapids, president of the State Forestry Commission and R. D. Graham, 

 of the State Board of Agriculture. As in previous years, a considerable 

 amount of assistance was furnished by the Superintendent of Public 

 Instruction, Prof. Delos Fall and his deputy, Prof. Walter H. French, 

 and others from the office, while Prof. George W. Loomis of the Central 

 Normal School, Mt. Pleasant, attended institutes in three counties. 



The separate women's sections appear to be growing in interest and 

 attendance. In very few counties have they been given up, while a 

 considerable number which have not held them in the past are thinking 



