Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-24

farmers discovered, through their boys, that
institute instruction IS Indispensable to up
to-date farming.
Growth of Farmers Institute.
When the Farmers Institute OF that
county was called to order six years afo
the only persons In attendance were the
president. the secretary and the chaplain.
This. despite the fact that the event had
been widely advertised in thirteen county
newspapers. The next year about two
dozen farmers out of 500 invited put in an
appearance. and all the officers except the
secretary resigned in disgust.
AS an erdpty reward for his persever-
ance, the secretary was elected president.
| But 10 and behold, when he called the in
| stitute TO order the following year 500
| farmers We're present; and the year follow
ing, l,oOo farmers. Now practically every
farmer in the county makes a point of
heing present at every session of the insti
| tute.
This is the way that the change was
! brought about:
The first thing that the new president did
was 10 secure samples of ffrst-class seed
| corn and have committee of farmers Sc
| lect the variety best adapted TO the coun-
tys soil He bought several. bushels of
this corn and solicited $40 and a plow as
premiums. Then he announced through
the newspapers corn-growing contest for
farmer boys. and offered to send to any
DOy undef eighteen VINO would apply all
the seed corn that could be mailed under a
one-cent postage stamp.
Five hundred boys began COntestin@ for
the forty 81 prizes and the t-o-horse plow
which were to be awarded at the ensuing
institute. The farmers themselves were not
| invited to the institute: indeed, they were
politely told they could stay away from the
institute If they preferred But all the
same when the doors were thrown open for
the initial meeting the president was con-
frUHtcd by 500 intensely interested IA rmers
| in addition TO the eager contestants. He
had solved the problem of arousing the
! farmers interest IN the institute and what
the institute did for these 500 farmers
caused them and a thousand more to be
present the following year. when about as
many boys took part in the contrasting
and improving contest.
This scheme to get those farmers who feel
that they have forgotten more than the in
stitute speakers can ever find out interested
in institute work Is now being successfully
employed In various states. It IS worthy
of note that once a farmer has sat through
an institute meeting he awakens Instantly
to the Importance of continuing to go to
, the school as long as II lasts. For like all
other schools for grown-upS, these farmers
| Institutes deal only with the highly practf-
cal. and that Is the sort of supplementary
education that the average grown-up feels
| the need of most of all
Correspondence Schools.
The correspondence schools whose num-
Der now must be close to legion. cater al
most wholly to grown-ups. Indeed, the
pioneer correspondence school was organ
! lied primarily to meet the needs Of a GER
| tain class Of adult workers
That occurred fifteen years ago, when
the Pennsylvania legislature passed q law
making It obligatory for miner to have
| a technical knowledge of mining. In order
| to help the miner gain this knowledge the
| editor of a mining paper In the anthracite
coal region established a department in his
| publication wherein any question relating To
mining could be asked, with certainty Of
| being correctly answered. This feature
| proved TO be such a success that the editor
soon conceived the idea of a eorrespondence
course In mining engineering which would
deal especially with coal mining This
venture In turn proved to be even more
successful than the newspaper question box
| and so new course after course was added
until today this school is now Offering over
| two hundred different courses to prospective
students.
Since the establishment of the school the
| total enrolment has been upward of 9O0.-
COO Up 20 two years ago "a coo of this
number had completed or made considerable
progress in the courses elected by them.
The students are scattered ali over the
world. Courses are given in a dozen differ
ent languages. The force of the home office
! numbers 1000. and for printing its exam
ination questions, books. pamphlets and
advertising literature the school has estab-
Iished one OF the largest private printing
plants IN the world. Upward of FIVE hum
bred examination papers gone over
OF mail are handled in the same period OF
| time, and the schools yearly bill for post
are alone amounts to nearly $lJ00oo
Bear in mind that this is just one of
the many correspondence schools whose
advertisements you see in every news
paper, periodical and magazine that
you pick up for few minutes restful
reading.
Just as the majority of the students IN