644 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



No member shall be allowed to participate in the election of the board 

 of directors who shall not have paid his annual dues in advance. 



Article VI. Amendments — These by-laws may be amended*or added 

 to by a majority vote of all the members present at the annual meeting 

 or at a special meeting called for the purpose. 



VALUE OF THE FARMERS' INSTITUTE. 



READ BEFORE POWESHIEK FARMERS' INSTITUTE MRS. LAURA MC KEE. DEEP 



RIVER, IOWA. 



If the farmer cannot go to school, the next best thing to do is to take 

 the school to the farmer, and that is what the extension department of 

 our State Agricultural College, as well as the colleges of other states, 

 are doing today, in the great work they are doing in extending and 

 broadening the scope of the work of the colleges, and extending invalu- 

 able aid to the farmer and his sons in better preparing themselves to 

 meet and successfully solve the problems that are being forced to the 

 front by the changed and constantly changing conditions that are de- 

 manding new methods. Farming as conducted a few years ago will not 

 answer today, and present day conditions are what the agricultural col- 

 leges are helping the farmer to solve, and these farmers' institutes, held 

 in different counties in the state, afford a splendid medium through which 

 the farmer and his family can be put in touch with the latest thought 

 and the last word, up to date, on subjects that should be, and are, of 

 vital importance. 



The colleges are holding meetings, and sending out their best men — 

 men who have made a special study of the branch of farm work they 

 handle — to carry the great lesson to the man or boy who has not the 

 means, or time, to avail himself of the advantages of personal attendance 

 at the college, and instead of the few in attendance at this meeting the 

 house should be crowded to the last seat. 



These missionaries who come out from our state college have a mes- 

 sage of practical farming, and they deliver it in such an interesting 

 way that it has a literary as well as a practical value, and if they are 

 intelligently and thoughtfully listened to, they will impart more real 

 knowledge than a thousand bulletins, which, too often, are only casu- 

 ally glanced over and thrown aside. 



This work is growing more popular each year, not only in Iowa, but 

 in the other great agricultural states of the Mississippi Valley region. The 

 value of the farmers' institute held here each fall, and its auxiliary 

 spring meeting, is of great value to those who avail themselves of the 

 opportunity to attend and participate in its various departments. It has 

 stimulated interest in better grains, better seed, better stock, better poultry 

 and better farm methods, all of which are apparent at each succeeding 

 fall meeting. All who are identified with farm work, either as hired 

 hands or owners, should make an extra effort to attend all these meet- 

 ings and should get, in touch with the State College and avail themselves 



