Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/516

* FARMERS' INSTITUTE. 464 FARNABY. urged to ask questions on points suggested in the address, and to present related facts gained from personal experience. A "question box' is fre- quently made use of. answers being given by the conductor of the institute, or by some one spe- cially fitted to supply the information asked for. For the evening sessions the usual plan is to have a popular lecture upon some subject of genera] agricultural interest. This address is made somewhat more elaborate and complete than those of the day sessions, and less oppor- tunity is given for discussion. While the character of the institutes is such as to make it impossible to assign any definite date as the time of their differentiation from other farmers' assemblies, yet the period following the organization of the agricultural colleges under the Morrill Act of 1862 seems to have been the time when the farmers' institutes took a distinct form, and under that name began to receive the patronage of the States. Thus, in 1802 the Mas- sachusetts State Board of Agriculture held a public meeting of four days' duration, and in 1866 the Connecticut State Board of Agriculture held its first farmers' convention for lectures and discussion. In 1870 the newly organized State Board of Agriculture of New Hampshire began a series of farmers' meetings, and in the following year Vermont followed this example. Daring the same year the Massachusetts board requested the 29 agricultural societies of the State to organize annual meetings, to be denominated the "Farm- ers' Institutes of Massachusetts," and several so- cieties began at once to hold such meetings. About the same time institutes were inaugurated in Iowa, Kansas, and Michigan by the agricul- tural colleges of those States. Other States soon joined the movement, and legislatures began to make appropriations to maintain the institutes. In 18S5. when the board df regents of the Uni- versity of Wisconsin organized a course of in- stitutes, a special officer, called the Superintend- ent of Farmers' Institutes, was appointed to plan and manage them, and this arrangement was afterwards confirmed by the State. Farmers' institutes an' now regularly held in almost all the States and Territories. In about half the Stales they are under the control of the agricultural bureaus connected with the State governments, and in 11 tin r half they are held under the auspices of the agricultural colleges. It is estimated that at leasl 2000 institutes are now annually held in the I tilled Slates, with an aggregate attendance of over 700,000 farmers. The importance of the institutes a- factors in the general education of farmers in some of the States where they have been mosl successful may he indicated by the following brief statistics. In Wisconsin there are now annually held 120 Institutes, with an average annual attendance of nearly 50,000 persons. The annual institute bul- letin, a book of 300 pages containing the besl ad dresses "f the season, is published, and 60,000 copies distributed. copy of thi- I k i- put int.. every Bchool library in the State. For this work the Slate appropriates $12,000 annually. In Minnesota 70 farmers' intitules me held, with an attendance of 22,000. The State makes an annual appropriation of $13,500 for the insti- tutes, an.l 25,000 copies <if their annual report are di tributed. In Massachusetts 125 institutes are held, with an attendai f about I 1,000; in West Virginia 60 institutes, with an attendance of 4000; in Indiana 100 institutes, with an at- tendance of 25,000; in Kansas 155 institutes, with an attendance of 64.000; in Nebraska 60 in- stitutes, with an attendance of 30,000 ; in Penn- sylvania 320 institutes, with an attendance of nearly 150,000; in Ohio 275 institutes, with an attendance of 95,000 ; in < alifornia about 80 insti- tutes, with an attendance of 20,000; in New York over 300 institutes, with an attendance of 75.000; in Michigan 200 institutes, with an at- tendance of 85,000. The general interests of the institutes are promoted by the American As- sociation of Farmers' Institute Workers, and by the Office of Experiment Stations of the United States Department of Agriculture. Washington, D. C. The department publishes the proceedings of the association, and in its Year Book gives a list of officials in charge of farmers' institutes in the different States. FARMER'S LETTERS. A series of twelve letters, ostensibly by a farmer, which appeared in 1767. Their author was soon discovered in John Dickinson, a prominent Pennsylvanian. They were political tracts, denouncing the taxa- tion of the Colonies by Parliament without their consent, and had great inlluence in shaping pub- lic opinion. FARMING. See Agriculture. FAR'MINGTON. A town and county-seat of Franklin County. Maine, 83 miles north of Port- land; on the Maine Central, and the Sandy River railroads (Map: Maine. CO). It has the Farm- ington State Normal School, and the Abbott Family School for boys, and a public library. Among the industrial establishments are machine- shops, lumber and grist mills, wood-turning shops, carriage-works, and canning factories. Population, in 1890. 3207; in 1900, 3288 (Farm- ington village in 1900, 1251). FARMINGTON. A city and the county-seat of Saint F'rancois Count} -. Mo., 90 miles south by west of Saint Louis, and two miles from De Lassus. its railroad station on the Saint Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad (Map: Missouri, F 4). The Farmington Baptist College, Carleton Institute, and Elmwood Seminary for Girls are located here. It is the centre of a pro- ductive lead-mining region, and has carriage and wagon works, flour-mills, lumber-mills, machine- shops, etc. Population, in 1890, 1394;in 1900. 1778. FARM'VILLE. A town and the county-seat of Prince Edward County. Va.. 70 miles south- west of Richmond: on the Appomattox River, and on the Norfolk and Western Railroad I Map: Virgina, F 4). The State Female Normal Seliool, established in 1884. is located here. I'armville is in a fell ile agricultural region, and is an important tobacco-manufacturing centre. It has several lithia springs, which are noted for their medicinal properties. Population, in 1890, 2404; in 1900. 2471. FAR'NABY, or FARNABIE, THOMAS (c.1575-1647). An English schoolmaster and classicist, horn in London and educated at IK ford, lie was converted to Catholicism, and re- ceived a further classical training at a Jesuit college in Spain. He was the companion of Sir Francis Drake and John Hawkins on their last voyage, was engaged in military service in tin 1 Low Countries, and finally became established at Mario, k. Somersetshire, where he opened a school which subsequently was removed to London, and