The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1901-12-16
|. CONDUCTING FARMERS
X INSTITUTES ~


middle West farmers Institutes are
now conducted during the wln1eg
months On the proper management
q these institutes must depend their
success. We make the following sug-
/ gestions. watch are the fruit OF years
Of observation OF institute work
Preliminary Work.-In every conn
y where a farmers institute IS to be
held the preliminary work must be
done by a very few persons. generally
by the officers Of the county organiza-
ton. This work should Be begun in
time, certainly some months before
the meetings are 70 be held. The first
thing 70 do Is to call together a few
raen and women most interested and
organize them into a coamittee to do
the preliminary work. Among them
must be divided the task Of securing a
hall. selecting subjects for the pro
gram, securing speakers to handle the
subjects ana advertising the institute.
One Of the most important things to
be considered at this time Is the loca-
tion Of the institute ia relation to the
towns IN the county. The county seat
seems 70 be largely in favor. This
has some advantages and some disad-
Yantages. In the county seat the
courthouse can usually Be secured for
such meetings. aud thus the question
OF good accommodations Is settled. On
the other hand the county seat some
times proves a place to which farmers
VIII not come. It sometimes also hap
pens that the people at the county
seat viii 40 nothing 10 help the snsti-
tnte. In many instances it Is adyisa-
bic to take the meeting away from the
county seat and place II IN some other
part OF the county. especially when it
has been previously poorly attended at
the county seat
Selecting Topics.-This task talls to
the program committee and Is a difl-
cult one The topics selected should
be those OF most value TO the agri-
cultural interests OF the county. If
the topics and their discussion do not
result IN some changes OF methods
among the farmers Il may be- taken
for granted that the work for that
year at least has been a failure. The
program Of one year should not be
duplicated the next. nor shonld the
same persons be retained without
change from year TO year. Topics
should not be collected with the sole 4
idea Of entertaining (amusing) the
people This IS a fault plainly appar-
ent on some programs II should be
remembered that the work IS To be I
mainly one Of instruction. Do not I
put on the program topics that have
a political cast or that VIII drift the
discussions away from the main line
DO not write to the men that are de-
sired for speakers and ask them to
choose their own subjects. That has
been tried over and over again and
generally found to be q failure Let
the committee make up the list Of
subjects It believes should be used.
In making this selection there must
be taken into consideration not only
the things in the county that need
discussion. but also the things that
have been discussed Ia previous instl-
tutes The work should be in the
main progressive.
Arranging the Program.--In the
first institutes everything was nit
or miss" Experience has shown that
that method is not a good one Pro-
grams are now so arranged that the
topics on one general class Of sub
1ects come In one session. Thus. one
session may be devoted to agldcul-
tural subjects, such as corn growing,
fall plowing, land drainage. Another
may be devoted to stock, includ-
ing topics on the various branches
Of live stock husbandIy. II several pa
pers are to be read on say sheep they
should be grouped together This
gives continuity Of thought. and the
men that are able to attend but part
Of the time can arrange to be present
At the time topics most interesting to
them are being discussed. Care
should be taken not to put too many
subjects into one session. Some Of our I
best and most experienced institute q
workers believe that two subjects are
.nough for one session. The time
aiken by addresses Of welcome and
response is largely wasted, aEa the
iustom is happily falling into disuse.
Z any time IS to be given to them at
III let 1t be only few minutes. One
chairman that We know Of has cut
lown the time Of the address Of well
ome to three minutes and the re-
ponse to ~ minutes. Let the pro
ram provide for a question-bo box, the !.
ontents OF which may be considered :
ghen any opportunity offers. Have a u
lace on the program for miscellan-
Gus business and have It pushed
through in a few minutes. The writer
as seen a whole session practically
'asted while members wrangled over y /,
matters Of business. y
Cross-Bre steers. a,