392 ANNUAL BEPOKTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



COMMUNITY AND COUNTY FAIRS. 



A study has been made with reference to methods of increas- 

 ing the usefulness of community and county fairs as a means 

 of stimulating community pride and as educational agencies. The 

 success of community fairs directed by the office in an Alabama 

 county a year ago led to the formulation of definite plans for 40 

 similar undertakings in the same county and in other parts of 

 Alabama this year. As a result of new features inaugurated with 

 the aid of this office in connection with the work of a county fair 

 last year, desirable changes will be tried out in at least five neighbor- 

 ing county fairs this year. 



ORGANIZATION WORK AMONG FARM WOMEN. 



A preliminary, first-hand re^dew has been made of the existing 

 state of organization among farm women in various parts of the 

 country, attention being given to the objects and results of the asso- 

 ciations. Observations also were made on the local plans for the 

 development and extension of such organization and on the sentiment 

 for it in different districts and agencies. From these observations 

 it is intended to draw up a plan for the development of this work 

 during the next fiscal year. 



This project is under the direction of Mr. C. W. Thompson, with 

 Mr. J. S. Moran, Mr. L. E. Truesdell, and Miss Anne M. Evans as 

 assistants. 



INVESTIGATION AND DEMONSTRATION OF COTTON STANDARDS 



AND COTTON TESTING. 



As outlined in the general statement at the beginning of this re- 

 port, much of the cotton work now done in this office was begun 

 in the Bureau of Plant Industry. It was not separated into the 

 present existing projects until comparatively recent dates. The work 

 will be reported under these project headings, however, and will be 

 so conducted hereafter. 



INVESTIGATION AND DEMONSTRATION OF COTTON STANDARDS. 



Previous to the promulgation on December 15, 1914, of the new 

 official standards of the United States a large number of the per- 

 missive grades issued under authority of the appropriation act of 

 1909 and subsequent acts were used by county demonstration agents 

 of the Department of Agriculture at primary markets in the South 

 in demonstrating how they can be utilized by the farmer in the 

 marketing of his cotton. Additional sets representing the ncAv 

 standards have been prepared for a continuation of this demonstra- 

 tion during the coming year. The use of the official standards has 

 also been demonstrated in a practical way in the work conducted in 

 Edgecombe County, N. C, in the cooperative grading work at At- 

 kins, Ark., and in the market survey grading previously reported 

 under Cotton Handling and Marketing. 



During the autumn of 1914 the new standards were demonstrated 

 by representatives of the department in Liverpool, Bremen, Havre, 



