ON AGRICULTURE TO CANADA "J"! 



on the problems of agricultural education, and so that it cannot fail 

 to have a far reaching and permanent influence upon the agricultural 

 and social life of Canada. 



Farmers' Institutes 



The last but not the least important of the organisations for the 

 education of the farmer is the Farmers' Institute. Those of the 

 Province of Ontario have been established for twenty-three years, 

 are very numerous and are well organised so they may be taken as 

 typical. A farmers' institute is to all intents and purposes a farmers' 

 club, financially assisted by grants from the provincial legislature, 

 and from countries and municipalities, the grants from the first 

 being in proportion to the grants from the two latter. The object 

 of each local institute is the dissemination of agricultural knowledge 

 in its neighbourhood and the development of local talent. Its 

 officers endeavour to bring the rank and file of the farmers into 

 touch with the most successful local men, so that the masses may 

 become conversant with the best and most profitable methods of 

 farming, stock raising, dairying, fruit culture, and all branches of 

 business connected with the industry of agriculture. 



The more important regulations governing the money grants are 

 these — the membership must reach a certain specified minimum and 

 each member must pay a subscription ; at least five meetings must 

 be held each year, and all monies received from whatever source 

 must be spent within the district in which the institute operates, 

 and for the following purposes : to defray any expenses of the meet- 

 ings, to remunerate suitable persons for addressing the meetings, 

 to assist in circulating agricultural literature and periodicals among 

 the members, or to establish a circulating library, or to remunerate 

 the Secretary or others for services rendered. The work 

 of all the local institutes is co-ordinated by the Superin- 

 tendent, who is an official of the provincial Department of Agri- 

 culture and responsible to the Minister of Agriculture. The 

 Superintendent directs and advises the local executives, oversees 

 the administration of the funds, and provides lecturers, who are 

 called delegates, for some of the meetings. The delegates are 

 mainly successful agriculturists who are also good lecturers, and 

 as they are selected each year from those who have been most 

 popular in previous years, along with younger blood, a steady supply 

 of capable men is obtained. All subjects of rural economy are 

 touched upon, and a glance at the Superintendent's Annual Report, 

 which contains many of the addresses, is sufficient proof of the 

 educational value of the work. One of the advantages of member- 

 ship of the institute is the right to such agricultural publications 

 as the Annual Report already mentioned, the Report of the Agri- 

 cultural College and Experiment Station, the Report of the Ex- 

 perimental Union, and the proceedings of various Live Stock, 

 Dairy, and Fruit and Poultry Associations. 



