No. 4.] KEPOKT OF SECRETARY. ' xiii 



iiient Station, Prof. John Craig of Ithaca, X. Y., and pos- 

 sibly H. W. Colliinvood, editor of the " Rural New Yorlvcr," 

 as speakers. They are all men well known to our farmers, 

 either })ersonally or by rei)utation, and several successful 

 series of meetings are anticipated. They will not be engaged 

 for sinofle meetino^s at other times durino- the institute season. 



In attendance and interest the institutes of the year have 

 been by far the most successful ever held. No lecture has 

 been delivered during the year of a general rather than an 

 agricultural nature, exce})t in one instance, where the expense 

 was borne by the societ}'. One hundred and twenty-five 

 meetings have been held during the year, under the direction 

 and control of this Board, with 153 sessions. All the socie- 

 ties ro})resented on the Board have held 3 or more institutes, 

 except the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture, 

 which is represented on the Board by special act, and holds 

 no institutes, while 8 societies have held 4 or more. Sixteen 

 other meetings have been held in localities not entirely 

 covered by societies represented on the Board, and where 

 there is a demand for such meetings. The average attend- 

 ance for the year has been the largest since records of 

 attendance have been kept, being 125 per session, as against 

 109 per meeting last year, 102 for 1903, 104 for 1902, 107 

 for 1901, 91 for 1900 and 94 for 1899. This increase is 

 the more remarkable, as the attendance is computed on the 

 new system adopted by the National Association of Farmers' 

 Institute Workers, — that is on the session basis, instead of 

 by the old method of taking the largest attendance at a two- 

 session meeting, and adding half the attendance at the other 

 session thereto. The total attendance at the lo3 sessions 

 was 19,172, also the largest on record. At 8 of these 

 sessions the attendance was 300 or more ; at 18, from 200 

 to 299 ; at 53, from 100 to 199 ; at 49, from 50 to 99 ; and 

 at 25 it was less than 50. 



In spite of the satisfactory condition of the work and the 

 improvement shown, I believe that we shall not live up to 

 the measure of our opportunities and responsibilities until 

 the work is placed on a similar basis to that of the Dairy 

 Bureau, with a largely increased appropriation. Then we 



