PART I 



STATE FARMERS INSTITUTE. 



AGRICULTURAL CONVENTION.— SYNOPSIS OF THE 



STATE BOARD AND COMMITTEE MEETINGS 



FOR 1903. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE STATE 

 FARMERS' INSTITUTE HELD AT THE Y- M. C. A. AUDITO- 

 RIUM, DES MOINES, IOWA, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1903. 



The meeting was called to order by the president at g 130 

 o'clock A.M. 



The President : The first subject on our program this morn- 

 ing is entitled, ''Should the Institute Law be Changed," b}^ Prof. 

 C. F. Curtiss, of Ames. 



REMARKS BY PROFESSOR CURTISS. 



I presume, from the reading of the subject assigned me, it will be 

 inferred that I think the institute law should be changed, or that I have 

 changes to recommend. I wish to put your minds at rest on that subject, 

 by stating at the outset, that I do not think any radical changes should 

 be made in our present institute law. I believe it has some excellent 

 features and that on the whole the institute is a good one. Perhaps, 

 however, there are some respects in which the institute law, as we now 

 have it, will be improved. I believe an improvement was made a year or 

 two years ago, when the legislature provided that the institute should have 

 representation in this annual meeting of the board of agriculture; I think 

 that that step was one that will lead to good results. While this is the 

 first meeting that has been held under the new plan, with an effort made 

 to bring the institute workers together, I think, with an arrangement 

 of this kind, if carried out, this system can be worked out in such a way 

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