Commissioner of Agriculture 321 



the highest the standards of citizenship as well as of agriculture, 

 appreciating that without the former the latter can never he ob- 

 tained. The accomplishment of this can be brought about only by 

 an appreciation and adherence to the principle laid down by 

 Disraeli — " The secret of success is constancy to purpose." 



REGULAR INSTITUTE WORK 



With an appreciation of the fact that the holding of institutes 

 is the chief function of the Farmers' Institute Bureau, every effort 

 was made to keep this part of the work up to the standard of pre- 

 vious years, even though other lines of work had to be curtailed 

 owing to lack of funds. In most of the counties the demand for 

 meetings was much greater than the days allotted. In an en- 

 deavor to meet this call, twenty-one more meetings, aggregating 

 thirty-six sessions, were held than during the previous year. That 

 these meetings were appreciated is evidenced by the fact that the 

 attendance shows an increase of 3,529 over the previous year. 

 The average per session was also slightly higher. 



Thirty places were visited where no meetings of the kind had 

 been held before. Strange as it may sem, after a quarter of a 

 century of institutes, at these meetings were a goodly number of 

 those who had never attended a farmers' institute, a large portion 

 of whom were brought for the first time in touch with what may 

 be termed advanced agricultural thought and practice, or scientific 

 agriculture. 



An increased emphasis was put on the subject of farm manage- 

 ment, a proper understanding of which is necessary to real agri- 

 cultural success no matter what the line of farming. 



women's work 



Except in a very few places, a woman worker made one of the 

 corps. Two hundred and eighty-eight special women's sessions 

 were held. So popular have such sessions become that one will be 

 held the coming season in connection with each institute. Two 

 hundred and ninety-one lectures on topics relating to the home 

 were given by the women workers at the regular sessions. 



Each woman worker sent in a report from each place visited, 

 on a blank prepared for the purpose, showing the topics discussed, 

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