Show STUDENT LIFE tutes was to be arranged so as to present to those in attendance the results of the most recent investigations in theoretical and practical agriculture In addition it was to be the duty of those conducting institutes in any county of the State to encourage and assist in the organization of local agricultural societies Attheclose of each season’s work a report was to be published for free distribution to the farmers of the State This was to give the leading papers and addresses given at meetings and the discussions thereon Fifteen hundred dollars was granted each year for the carrying on of this work many advanced agricultural educators throughout the country it was felt that though the agricultural colleges and experiment stations were doing valuable woik yet under the most favorable circumstances the colleges could reach but a very small percentage of those who were eligible as students while through lack of being educated to appreciate their value the agricultural population at large were getting very little from the published bulletins of the stations Through careful work of skilled experimenters the Stations had a great deal of valuable data and in every department of agricultural work had investigated principles and methods which if applied in field orchard and ranch throughout the land would increase the farmer’s capital and augment the nation’s resources by millions llut while scientific investigators had found out advanced methods the great mass of farmers were everywhere following methods that had been in use by their forefathers nearly a century ago The pioneers had started in with a virgin soil whose latent fertility gave abundant returns for culture however crude But as generations passed by with this crude treatment the soil yielded diminishing returns till the farmer’s lot became a hard one and his life a round of more or less unrequited toil Finally it was decided that the only practical way was for the professors of the Agricultural Colleges to go out on missions through their respective states and carry the gospel of agriculture to the people Such a crusade was not accomplished without ly 47 considerable prejudice and that on the part of those it was intended to help The farmers said “What can these college professors who work in laboratories tell us about We have worked on farms for farming? years” Many of those who first attended the meetings came out of curiosity others who smelled a political rat even out of animosity But the speakers were earnest men who braving prejudice and sarcasm soon showed that they had something of value to impart Honest endeavor is always successful In this case as a result requests came from all over the country for meetings and speakers which the colleges could not begin to supply This was the beginning of Farmers’ Institutes a case of college extension movement by which those who Could not or would not come to college had to be reached In a very few years the fruits of this systematic sowing were being reaped It was not hard to notice that where institutes were being held agricultural methods were improving Farmers were finding by the application of the scientific principles worked out in the laboratories and experimental plats of the stations that the fertility of the soil could be kept up and even improved On all hands the Institute w as recognized as an educator and the call came for definite specific information in all lines instead of the general work given in the beginning This necessitated increased organization and an administrative head The child was now becoming too large to be fostered under the care of the Agricultural Colleges and many states gave their institute systems to the control of a director who devoted his whole time to advancing the work In order to get in closer touch with the needs of the farms local organizations were formed T1 lese had the privilege of informing the director of the special needs of their district and of selecting speakers who were specialists in the branch of agriculture in which they w’ere most interested This opened up the way for the use of practical men who had made a success of any branch of agricultural work Catalogues of speakers were made in the de- v |