248 CANADA 



we made a speciality last year of " good seeds.'" Samples 

 of good and bad seeds, in small bottles, were furnished 

 the delegates, together with large charts showing the per- 

 centage of weed seeds found in commercial samples as 

 ordinarily sold by our merchants. It was appalling to 

 find that in many instances seed was being offered for 

 sale in Ontario containing millions of weed seeds of 

 twenty or more varieties. Our delegates were instructed 

 to point out the differences in good and bad seed, and 

 to impress upon the farmers of Ontario the necessity for 

 using only good seed, if they would keep their farms clean. 



The institutes fulfil, also, a social purpose, the 

 reading of papers on severely practical topics 

 being relieved by others on matters of more 

 general interest, by papers written by ladies, and 

 by music and recitations for the special purpose 

 of attracting the attendance of wives and daugh- 

 ters. In fact, an American writer, Prof. A. J. 

 Cook, says in an article on " The Ideal Farmers' 

 Institute : How to hold it in your Neighbour- 

 hood " : — " To secure the maximum good the 

 institute should be largely attended by earnest, 

 enterprising farmers, with their wives and 

 families. . . . The man who attends an institute 

 without his wife gains only a partial benefit." 



But the Canadian ladies were not willing to 

 play simply a subordinate part in the movement. 

 When, in 1897, the Farmers' Institute had be- 

 come an established success, the wives and 



