FARMERS' INSTITUTES 93 



tical farmers who have made such a study of, 

 and such a conspicuous success in, some branch 

 of agriculture that they may well be called 

 experts; the second class comprises farmers 

 living in the locality in which the institute is 

 held. The experts are expected to understand 

 general principles or methods, and the local 

 speakers the conditions peculiar to the neigh- 

 borhood. 



The meeting usually begins in the forenoon 

 and ends with the afternoon session of the second 

 day — five sessions being held. As a rule, not 

 over two or three separate topics are treated in 

 any one session, and in a well-planned institute 

 topics of a like character are grouped together, 

 so that there may be a fruit session, a dairy ses- 

 sion, etc. Each topic is commonly introduced 

 by a talk or paper of twenty to forty minutes' 

 length. This is followed by a general discussion 

 in which those in the audience are invited to ask 

 questions of the speaker relevant to the topic 

 under consideration, or to express opinions and 

 give experiences of their own. 



This is a rough outline of the average farmers' 

 institute, but of course there are many varia- 

 tions. There are one-day meetings and there 

 are three-day meetings, and in recent years the 



