ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 47 



It has gone farther; in addition the County Institute, farmers' clubs 

 are being organized. In Illinois that movement is quite in its infancy, but 

 in some of the other states it has been followed for some time and the im- 

 provements on farms in those sections are great. 



The plan as followed by them is largely that of social gatherings. 

 Probably once a month the farmers' club has a meeting at one of the homes 

 of the neighbors. The forenoon is devoted to the farm inspection, looking 

 at the barns, stock and premises, condition of the fences, the way the ma- 

 chinery is cared for, and all + v ^at sort of thing, and they talk it over. The 

 women in the house are inspecting the housewife's work, her preserves, 

 fruit, the various! kind of housework is discussed. In the afternoon a 

 joint program of men and women is held together, and at night the young 

 people come in and have a social evening. In that way you arouse the 

 boys and girls to study farm condi tions, and the first part of the evening is 

 devoted to a written review of some of the books in the library, so that 

 it is not wholly social, but. some literary work is done as a general finish. 

 This kind of work will put the young folks to studying as well as the old 

 people. In villages under township organization, these meetings can be 

 held at the town hall say once a month. Have your club work first and 

 the social work afterwards. Get the young people to have papers on sub- 

 jects, and prepare them gradually to appear in public before others: 

 teach them parliamentary rules and work of that kind, and encourage the 

 social feature. This will interest the boys and girls, and the older people, 

 too, and show them the beauty of farm life. 



In many of the counties, the country telephone is proving a thing espec- 

 ially beneficial to the women and girls of the farm, for through the bad 

 weather they are not as independent in traveling as their brothers and 

 fathers, but with a country telephone with so many of the farmers in the 

 county on the line, the evenings can be spent, with a social chat with their 

 neighbors. In some counties this telephone scheme is working success- 

 fully, with from 20 to 500 farmers on the line, and it isj [found to be a great 

 improvement to the home life on the farm. 



In addition to the socialjside of the matter, we have to take into con- 

 sideration the size of the farm. The work on the farm is considerably les- 



