8 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



ig but little aroused. , This means that in advertising the meeting it is not 

 sufficient to put notices in the local newspapers, and paste up conspicu- 

 ous posters, there must be added the visits to the homes of the people who 

 need the instruction most, and a pressure upon them to attend and take 

 part. This work requires ability, push and tact. The almost phenomenal 

 fr:uccess of the one-day institutes in many counties is the best evidence of 

 the ability and application of these officers. It must be remembered, too, 

 that in most cases no compensation is provided for them, and their success- 

 ful activity springs from their love of their fellow men and of the work. 



I am glad to record the hearty support of the local press. In more cases 

 than one the county and local papers have opened their columns free to 

 statements and paragraphs about the institutes, and after the meetings 

 have closed, these papers have published full accounts of the essential 

 parts of the program. 



The one-day meetings have been located, for the most part, in villages 

 remote from«»the county seat, and other centers of population. The good 

 which they do cannot be measured by the size of the audience. In one 

 county, for instance, at no session was there in attendance over sixty, 

 yet in the four one-day meetings there was over a hundred and fifty peo- 

 ple who had never attended institutes before, and whose intellectual 

 horizon was broadened and whose enthusiasm was aroused by the pro- 

 gram. The amount of good accomplished was immeasurable, yet no ade- 

 quate idea is given by the figures set opposite that county in the record 

 of attendanceof the one-day institutes in this report. The number of 

 one-day institutes have greatly increased. The call for these meetings 

 next year indicates that the work is to develop along that line. The 

 limitation of the work is the number of competent speakers that can be 

 obtained. In the older parts of the State where the people have the 

 benefit of strong farmers' organizations and are habituated to reading 

 and study, the task of satisfactorily instructing them in the one-day insti- 

 tutes is far from easy, I have found it extremely difficult to secure com- 

 petent speakers who can be induced to leave their business and are willing 

 to undertake the task. 



Allegan county has taken the lead in the one-day institutes, having 

 held during the past campaign 49 separate institutes, 147 sessions and 

 reaching nearly every township in the county. The reports of the pro- 

 ceedings of the institutes are published in a bulletin issued by the officers 

 of the County Institute Society. 



Other counties are following the lead of Allegan county and are holding 

 from ten to twenty institutes each season, bringing the farmers of the 

 several neighborhoods together and paving the way for farmers' clubs 

 and the grange. 



In the early winter a letter was received from the secretary of the 

 Michigan Political Science Association asking for a joint meeting of the 

 farmers' institutes and that association. This application was granted 

 and a joint meeting was held at the college February 25, 26, 27 and 28, 

 1902. The railroads, with their far-sighted generosity, granted us the 

 usual half fare rates. The college opened wide its doors to receive the 

 farmers, their friends and the members of the Political Science Associa- 

 tion. The program of the joint meeting differed in no essential particular 

 from the usual program of the round-up institute except that the topics 

 relating to education, forestry, organization, and the relation of the peo- 



