Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 October 1907 — FOR A FARMER’S INSTITUTE [ARTICLE]

FOR A FARMER’S INSTITUTE

Purdue Gathering of County Chairmen Encouraged Meeting in Each County. T. F. Dunlap, chairman of th Jasper county farmers’ institute, attended the meeting at Pardue University last week of the various county chairmen of the state, and returned home greatly elated over the meeting and impressed with the opportunities that are offered to the farmer who will givesomething of his time to the study of more enlightened agriculture, and profit by the experiments and experience of men who have made scientific farminga life’s study. This was the tenth annual conference and was well attended. Themeeting took up’Wnißtt of maintaining the institute work under the new law, which has done away with the $25 allowance hitherto available for holding institutes and which requires an organization the members of which pay 25 cents annually for the purpose of holding a county institute. The county commissioners are directed to authorize the auditor to pay for institute work as much as the aggregate of dues from the members of the association, pro* vided that no more than 1100 shall be paid. If the proper effort is pnt forth it seems that a fine organization could be effected along this line and that from SSO to S2OO should be available to conduct a rousing meeting here this fall with the very ablest talent there is in the state for the speakers. The crop growing contest by boys and girls in the district schools was discussed, and the best methods of enlisting boys and girls in the work. In Laporte county the best results srom the school children was obtained and more than SSOO was given in cash prizes in that county. Mr. Dunlap finds County Superintendent Lamson willing to encourage the work in this county, and to follow up the work begun last year by Mr. Hamilton. Considerable time was devoted to the discussion of industrial education, which was divided into three heads, viz. elementary agriculture, household economics and manual training. Prof. Fisher, of Purdue; Mrs. M. M. Romaine, of Mooresville, and Prof. Alien, of the Indianapolis School of Manual Training, spoke on these subjects, and Prof. Allen so enthused his hearers that they adopted a resolution asking the state school superintendent to embody industrial training in the court of study to be used in the rural districts. It was a good meeting and the farmer should not disregard the opportunity that contact with the leaders of the institute work affords, and all should enter heartly into the proposition to hold a fine institute in Jasper county this year. The meeting was also attended Mrs. John Randle, president of the ladies auxiliary.