330 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



tended. It is planned to hold the Short Courses at a season of 

 the year when it shall be most convenient for fajrmers to at- 

 tend, — hence, they are held annually during the months of 

 January and February. 



Extension Service. 



Extension service at the University of Maine is not a new 

 movement. As early as 1902, several lines of exitension work 

 were established, to which others have since been added. Lack 

 oif funds, not the demand for such work on the part of the 

 farmers of the state, has resulted in a comparatively slow de- 

 velopiment of the service. 



function. 



The fimction of the College Extension Service is something 

 more 'than the promotion of agriculture ; it is the organization 

 arid development of the industry. It aims not only to spread' 

 agricultural truths, but to set agricultural truths at work, it 

 ■believes in the "business" of farming and therefore deals with 

 agricul'tiLire from the economic standpoint. Its slogan is, — 

 "Greater profits in farming." 



organization. 



For the first seven years the extension service was carried 

 on cooperatively by the various departments in the College. In 

 1909, a separate department, known as the Extension Depart- 

 ment, was established with a director in charge. All extension 

 service continued to be done, however, almost exclusively, by 

 the regular teaching faculty until the latter part of 1912, when 

 the cooperation of the General Education Board made possi- 

 ble the establishment of "Farm Demonstrations," a line of work 

 the College had long desired to undertake. By means of this 

 arrangement, four men were employed as county agents and 

 set at work with the beginning of 1913. Later in the year, a 

 fifth county agent was employed and also a state leader, in 

 charge of the organization of boys' and girls' agricultural clubs. 

 Beginning with the fiscal year, July ist, 1913. the* University 

 authorized the employment of a state-wide extension worker 

 and Prof. Ralph W. Redman was engaged to fill this position, 



