BULLETIN OF THE 



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No. 83 



Contribution from the Office of Experiment Stations, A. C. True, Director. 

 April 22, 1914. 



FARMERS' INSTITUTE AND AGRICULTURAL EXTEN- 

 SION WORK IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1913. 



By John Hamilton, Farmers' Institute Specialist. 



Reports on farmers' institute work for the year ended June 30, 

 1913, were received from all the States except Virginia and 

 Washington, the Territory of Hawaii, and the island of Porto Rico. 

 Institutes were held in all the States and Territories except Louisi- 

 ana, Nevada, Alaska, and Porto Rico. In Louisiana, although a 

 small appropriation is made to the department of agriculture for 

 institute purposes, yet no institutes were held because of the insuffi- 

 ciency of the funds available. Meetings, however, of institute char- 

 acter were conducted by the agricultural college and experiment 

 station. Detailed data regarding institutes are given in the table 

 at the end of this report (pp. 26-33) . The more important facts are 

 summarized below. 



PROGRESS OF FARMERS' INSTITUTES IN 1913. 



The total number of regular institutes held in 41 States during 

 the year was 7,926, of which 6,747 were general, 1,098 women's, 

 and 81 young people's institutes. The total time devoted to insti- 

 tutes was 10,578 days, an increase of 387 days over that reported 

 lor the previous year. There was a total attendance at these insti- 

 tutes of 2,897,391, an increase of 7.6 per cent over that of the pre- 

 vious year. Young people's institutes were held in four States 

 and covered 89 days, with an attendance of 22,100. Women's 

 institutes were held in 12 States covering 1,323 days, with an attend- 

 ance of 84,039 — a marked advance over the previous year. 



In addition to the regular institutes, there were various activities 

 classed as special institutes, which included 187 movable schools, 

 held in 13 States, occupying 949 days, with an attendance of 85,637; 

 25 educational trains in 15 States, covering 24,725 miles, carrying 

 422 lecturers, making 993 stops for meetings and reaching 501,523 

 persons; 768 so-called independent institutes in 10 States, attended 



Note. — This publication is of interest to farmers' institute workers in the United States and Canada. 

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