FARMERS ' INSTITUTE WORK IN 1914. 9 
The work of the train has been so satisfactory that it has been decided to 
make it a permanent institution for the following purposes : 
Holding public conferences on agriculture in rural centers; answering in- 
quiries, verbal or written, on subjects of interest to farmers; distributing 
agricultural literature ; making demonstrations of agricultural machinery ; visit- 
ing agricultural expositions; cooperating in the improvement of animal in- 
dustry ; cooperating in the diffusion and knowledge of laws relating to hygiene 
and labor for farmers, as well as diseases of plants and animals; furthering 
the establishment of societies and cooperative associations for agricultural im- 
provement ; and inspection of public and private agricultural estates. 
Austria. — A regular agricultural school education is available only for a 
limited number of prospective farmers in Austria, therefore, other methods of 
disseminating agricultural instruction are necessary, such as traveling lecture- 
ships and special courses. Lectures are given by the teachers in the regular 
agricultural schools and by traveling lecturers appointed especially for this pur- 
pose. They keep in close touch with the rural population and are expected to 
give personal attention and advice to individual farmers in their territory. They 
also hold courses which last for several days in order to instruct farmers in 
certain branches of agriculture, such as dairying, live stock, poultry keeping, 
fruit growing, etc. Teachers in the agricultural schools also hold such courses 
during vacation either at the school or elsewhere. Lectures in cooking and 
domestic economy are also given for the women and girls. 
In Upper Austria three itinerant teachers in cooking and housekeeping are 
employed, and they have conducted 47 movable schools in housekeeping for 564 
girls. The length of the course is six weeks. The number in a course is limited 
to 12 girls, who must be over 14 years of age. 
The courses are under the direction of the Royal Agricultural Society, in 
cooperation with a local society or board, which must furnish the meeting place 
and guarantee an enrollment of 12 girls and their tuition fee. 
In these courses are taught buying of food materials ; the preparing of foods ; 
the preserving of provisions ; setting and waiting on the table ; washing dishes 
and linen and house cleaning ; making recipes ; and estimating the cost of food. 
The management of the house and the care of clothing are also taught. Instruc- 
tion is likewise given in the care of the health, feeding children, care of the sick, 
mending, patching, and darning. There is also instruction in feeding domestic 
animals, the care of the dairy, the raising of poultry, and in the culture of fruit, 
vegetables, and flowers. 
Two women are chosen to supervise each cooking course and hold themselves 
in readiness to assist the teacher, keeping her informed as to the proper markets 
for provisions, and discussing with her the arrangement of the daily work, the 
regulation of the house and of the kitchen, and to give necessary help to the 
pupils. 
Prussia. — In 1912 there were in Prussia 1 250 rural traveling housekeeping 
schools in full working order, divided among 243 districts (Landkreise). 
A total of 817 courses were held, as against 564 in the previous year. The 
number of the eight weeks' courses has risen from 407 to 638, the number longer 
than eight weeks from 67 to 103, while the courses of less than eight weeks' 
duration have fallen from 90 to 76. The 817 courses were attended by 13,581 
girls and young women who had left school, an average of 21.3 per course. 
Of the 250 schools 168 were supported by the District Communal Association, 
5 of them being under the supervision of women's unions, 65 were entirely man- 
1 Ztschr. Landl. Fortbild. Sehulw. Preussen, 5 (1913), No. 2, pp. 47-61. 
96281°— Bull. 269—15 2 
