Miscellaneous. 



538 



[December, 1900. 



Farmers' Institute Trains, 

 More recently the large railroad com- 

 panies have co-operated with the De- 

 partment of Agriculture of the United 

 States of the bureaus of agriculture in 

 the different States and equipped cars, 

 while the National or one of the State 

 departments of agriculture furnishes 

 speakers and lecturers. These cars are 

 sent through the sections which are 

 specially devoted to some staple crop, 

 such as corn, wheat, cotton, etc., and 

 lectures are given at each station on 

 the best methods of growing corn, 

 wheat, or cotton — the subject being the 

 staple crop of the section of country 

 which each car visits. 



In accordance with this plan each ear 

 proceeds on a well-advertised schedule, 

 drawn by the trains of the railroad 

 company, to the stations where it has 

 been advertised and the people have 

 already congregated. The .people enter 

 the car, are seated, and a lecture is given 

 on the particular crop in which they are 

 most interested ; after the lecture is 

 over the car is drawn by the railroad 

 company to the next station, where the 

 people are in waiting, and another lec- 

 ture is given on the same subject. This 

 is continued from station to station 

 throughout the sections in which a 

 particular crop is raised, and in this 

 manner much valuable information is 

 disseminated and a great deal of interest 

 and enthusiasm for more intelligent 

 agricultural work is aroused. 



This plan is usually carried out on the 

 initiative of the great railroad com- 

 panies for the increased profit that will 

 come to them from the larger crops 

 raised by the farmers along their lines 

 and delivered to them for transportation. 

 Usually the Government of the State or 

 the United States furnishes the liter- 

 ature and the necessary equipment or 

 apparatus for the lectures and demon- 

 strations, and the railroad company 

 furnishes the car or cars and carries 

 out the scheme according to their 

 own convenience for the development 

 of the country. 



In the same number of the Rural 

 Californian above mentioned we find 

 the following notice of the Southern 

 Pacific Farmers' Institute train : — 



In a communication to the Californian 

 Cultivator, Prof. Warren T. Clark says 

 in discussing the trips of the demon- 

 stration train now being run over the 

 State: "The next trip, which will be- 

 gin in the latter part of February, will 

 cover a part of the southern portion of 

 the State. The route taken wijl pro- 

 bably be as follows : Bakersfield, Lan- 



caster, Newhall,Los Angelos,San Gabriel, 

 Monte, Covina, San Dimas, Lordsburg, 

 Pomona, Lemon, Chino, Ontario, Bloom- 

 ington, Colton, San Bernardino, Red- 

 lands, Crafton, Highgrove, Riverside, 

 Redlands Junction, Beaumont, Banning, 

 Indio, Coachella, Thermal, Mecca, Brow- 

 ley, Imperial, El Cantro, Heber, Oalexico. 



" During all or a part of the time that 

 the train is in southern California the 

 following University representatives 

 will accompany it : President Benj. Ide 

 Wheeler ; Prof. W. T. Clark, superinten- 

 dent of university extension in agri- 

 culture; Mr. J. B. Neff of Anaheim, con- 

 ductor of farmers' institutes for southern 

 California; Prof. F. T. Boiletti, viti- 

 culture ; Mr. R. E. Mansell, cover crops 

 and truck gardening ; Prof, C. M, Major, 

 animal industry, and Prof. Ralph E. 

 Smith, plant pathology. Other experts 

 will be called on as the occasion may 

 demand. 



This plan has seemed so novel to 

 Europeans that the London Illustrated 

 Neivs for February 6, 1909, devoted a 

 full-page illustration to the subject, 

 entitling it " A school-house on wheels, 

 or learning farming aboard a train." 

 The following comment was made : 

 "America's encouragement of agri- 

 culture : a lecture on scientific farm- 

 ing in a railroad carriage. With- 

 out some scientific knowledge the 

 farmer of to-day cannot expect to 

 succeed. America, realising this, is 

 teaching those engaged in agricultural 

 pursuits how they should follow their 

 business. The first of several trains that 

 are to be used as moving schoolhouses is 

 now on the road. Lectures on farmine 

 are given and stoppages are made 

 wherever it is thought necessary. Each 

 talk lasts forty-five minutes, and it is a 

 fact worthy of notice that many women 

 attend the courses." 



National Organizations. 

 The National Department of Agri- 

 culture. — Beside the above means of 

 popular agricultural instruction in the 

 United States there are many ways more 

 common to the people at large in which 

 agricultural knowledge is disseminated. 

 Perhaps the most prominent of these 

 different means of disseminating agri- 

 cultural knowledge is through the work 

 of the National Department of Agri- 

 culture, which includes the Weather 

 Bureau, Bureaus of Animal Industry, 

 Plant Industry, Chemistry, Soils, Ento- 

 mology, Biological Survey, Statistics, 

 the Forest Service Division of Publi- 

 cations, the Office of Experiment Sta- 

 tions, and the Office of Public Roads, 

 and has through its various officials and 

 employees, such as the directors of 



