AMERICAN FARMERS’ INSTITUTES. Aq 

Massachusetts 125 institutes, with an attendance of about 
11,000 farmers; in West Virginia over 60 institutes with a 
total attendance of 14,000; in Minnesota, 50 institutes of 
two or three days each, with an attendance at each of from 
300 to 1,000; in Indiana, 100 institutes, with an attendance 
of over 25,000; in Kansas, 135 institutes with a total atten- 
dance of 20,000; in Michigan, there are institutes in nearly 
every county, with a total attendance reported to reach 
120,000; in Nebraska, 60 institutes with a total attendance 
of over 26,000; in Pennsylvania, about 300 institutes with a 
total attendance of over 50,000; in Ohio, 250 institutes in 88 
counties, with an aggregate attendance of about 90,000; in 
New York, over 300 institutes yearly with a total attendance 
of avout 75,000; in California, about 80 institutes annually 
with a total attendance of 16,000. _ 
Twenty of the States publish in more or less complete 
form the proceedings and papers read at the institutes, but 
in the other States the reports in the locai and agricultural 
press are the only records. In New York the annual reports 
of the State Agricultural Society contain in full the proceed- 
ings and papers presented at the institutes ; in thirteen States 
the reports of the State Boards of Agriculture have devoted 
more or less space to reports of these meetings ; Minnesota. 
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Wisconsin issue special 
publications containing institute papers. The Minnesota 
‘““—Institute Annual” is issued in an edition of from 25,000 to 
30,000, and the Wisconsin ‘“ Farmers’ Institute Bulletin” in 
an edition of 50,000 annually. 
In Canada farmers’ institutes have made most headway in 
the province of Ontario, where they are organised under the 
direction of the Department of Agriculture. The Government 
appropriation for the work of the institutes amounts to £2,000 
yearly, this sum including the salary of the superintendent of 
farmers’ institutes, who is an officer appoiited by the Depart- 
ment. The province is divided into 96 institute districts, and 
in the year ended June 30th, 1899, 677 meetings were held 
with a total attendance of 119,402 persons. _“‘ As a rule,’ the 
Superintendent reports, “the best meetings are held in 
villages or small towns. In the larger towns the audience 
