SIXTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART I. 63 



A Member : On what day of the program do you have the 

 woman's session? 



Mrs. Hurlbut : They gave us the choice. I don't know how 

 it will be this year. By all means, we invite the wives and 

 daughters to attend. We make a special effort to reach the boys, 

 and the girls too. Our institute was more like a fair last year. 

 We had premiums offered for cake baking and sewing. 



I will have to tell you about the way we get our premiums. 

 These vice-presidents, canvass their part of the county, to see 

 what the store-keepers and bankers, or any one who was willing 

 to subscribe or donate would give us. We had dishes, a set of 

 iurs and all such things as that. I think one lady gave a pair of 

 Plymouth Rock chickens. Everything, in fact, was acceptable; 

 we had just a little money donated to us. 



Mr. Wing : At the woman's session, were they all ladies who 

 spoke ? 



Mrs. Hurlbut : Yes, sir. 



Mr. Wing: The men were allowed to come in, were they? 



Mrs. Hurlbut : If there was room, the men were allowed to 

 come in. I think I have told all I know, and perhaps more too. 



Mr. Steen : I know that you are tired; I want just a few 

 minutes in reference tO' the woman's session. I live in Muscatine 

 county. We have had farmers' institutes doing work there for 

 14 years. At a very early session of the institute in that county, 

 there was organized at that time a Floricultural Society at West 

 Liberty and the surrounding country. This society prospered 

 and has grown in wonderful proportions. They have their regu- 

 lar discussions about flowers and all those topics along the lines 

 of woman's work. Now then, as that society has grown, and the 

 farmers institute meets from year to year, the institute regards 

 that Floricultural Society as its offspring. They send us every 

 year a lady to talk to us about flowers in the home. Along that 

 same line, the farmers institute turns over to the Floricultural 

 Society one evening session. We tell them to make up their ses- 

 sion as they please, and we pay the bill. We asked Prof. McBride 

 to come down from Iowa City to talk to us about flowers and 

 home adornment. I believe, in some sort of a measure the Mus- 



