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Women's Institutes. 



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of food. These important activities are being continued, 

 but work is steadily extending in other directions in order 

 to meet local requirements. An Institute helps each woman 

 to realise her individual duty to the commmiity, and encourages 

 every member to give of her best. Thus, the successful 

 jam-maker discloses her secret recipe ; the best bread-maker 

 demonstrates the reason for the lightness of her loaves ; the 

 expert bee-keeper gives a practical talk on the wonders of 

 the hive ; and the student reveals the treasures of local history. 

 It is, indeed, difficult to exhaust the hst of aU the Institute's 

 activities. It promotes a higher cultivation of field and garden ; 

 it encourages pig and goat keeping, cheese making, fruit 

 bottling, toy, hat and basket making, chair caning and co- 

 operative marketing ; it organises egg- collecting and com- 

 munal kitchens. Institute members have also achieved 

 excellent results in fur craft. Several Itistitutes have cross-bred 

 their own rabbits to obtain skins of the desired colour. The 

 workers cure the skins, from which they manufacture fur 

 gloves and fur-lined slippers of high-grade quality. Weaving, 

 spinning, knitting and needlecraft are also practised. These 

 are only a few of the efforts engaging attention. Home 

 handicraft, which was taken up spontaneously, has become 

 such an important part of the Institute's activities that it 

 now calls for some measure of control in order to achieve 

 the best results. For this reason, an Industries Sub-Com- 

 mittee has been estabhshed at Headquarters to promote and 

 co-ordinate this side of the Federation's work. Various 

 considerations prove the necessity of such supervision. 

 Institute workers, in their eagerness to produce, have not 

 invariably taken pains to secure excellence. This defect 

 was accentuated by the abnormal conditions of the war market, 

 which readily absorbed all goods, including those that were 

 not of the best quahty. It is now realised, however, that 

 a high standard of workmanship is required. The task 

 facing the National Federation of Women's Institutes is 

 to secure an adequate supply of teachers. The plan adopted 

 is by means of (Guilds of Learners in Handicraft, ( ruild Schools 

 will be established for training teachers in various branches 

 of home industries, and the provision of qualified instructors 

 will be the first step towards raising the standard of work. 



In order that each Institute might be fully acquainted 

 with the progress of the movement and with the activities 

 of every other Institute, the I" edoration Headquarters pubhshes 

 a monthly magazine, " Home and Country," and in this way 



