194 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



institutes under the control of the State board of agriculture, which 

 has charge of the agricultural college. The director of the experi- 

 ment station is superintendent of institutes. The meetings are held 

 under the auspices of county institute societies, the officials of which 

 indicate their choice of State speakers from a list sent them by the 

 superintendent, and then, after the superintendent's assignments are 

 made, arrange for local speakers and provide accommodations. There 

 are held annually about 70 two day county institutes, 100 one-day 

 meetings, and the three-day State round-up institute. The total 

 attendance at all sessions is upward of 100,000 annually. For the 

 last biennial period, 1898-1900, the legislature appropriated $11,000 

 for institutes, but hereafter the State board of agriculture will set 

 aside whatever is needed for this work from an appropriation of 

 $100,000 placed under their control for the support of the agricultural 

 college, the experiment stations, and college extension work. Several 

 members of the college and station staff devote a portion of their time 

 to institute work. 



New York and Pennsylvania have State control of farmers' insti- 

 tutes. In the former State the work is under the auspices of the 

 commissioner of agriculture, who appoints a director of institutes. 

 About 300 meetings are held each year, and the total attendance is 

 75,000, or more, annually. The appropriation for 1898-99 was $20,000 

 per annum. In Pennsylvania the institutes are held under the direc- 

 tion of the deputy secretary of agriculture, who is director of insti- 

 tutes. The meetings are distributed according to the number of farms 

 in each county — two-day institutes to every county having not over 

 1,000 farms, three-day institutes to each county having more than 

 1,000 but not over 1,500, afterwards one day for each 1,500 farms or 

 fraction thereof additional. About 300 institutes are held each year, 

 and the total attendance is over 50,000. The annual appropriation 

 for institutes is $12,500. Three or four members of the college staff 

 and two members of the board of trustees give their whole time to 

 institutes for a period of abouf three months. 



In some European countries itinerant instruction for farmers is 

 very thoroughly organized. In Belgium the department of agricul- 

 ture sends out lecturers who give 15 lectures between October and 

 March in each of about 230 communes, provided there is an attendance 

 of not less than 15. The state pays the expenses of these lectures 

 and grants reduced railway fares to persons traveling to attend; the 

 commune supplies the room for the lectures and advertises the date 

 and place for them. Prizes of books are given as an encouragement 

 to attend. This system of lectures does not interfere with the system 

 of occasional lectures given by State agriculturists and numerous 

 specialists on different subjects connected with agriculture. In France 

 there are over 100 departmental professors of agriculture who, besides 

 giving courses in agriculture in public normal schools, where teachers 

 for rural primary schools are trained, also hold at least 26 institutes 

 each year. The lectures given are for the purpose of enlightening the 

 cultivators regarding seeds and varieties, fertilizers, new implements, 

 selection and feeding of animals, treatment of old and new vineyards, 

 insect ravages, drainage, etc. In both countries the lecturers super- 

 intend numerous demonstration fields on private estates where ocular 

 demonstrations of the advantages of modern methods in agriculture 

 are given. 



The farmers' institute movement in the United States is an impor- 

 tant one, and is yearly becoming more important. Attendance at the 



