21 tS Farm Bureau Circitlar No. 6 



good feeling' in the work. I'lie chief inslitutiuns with which it has dealt 

 are: the grange; the pubHc school system; the farmers' institutes, including 

 the cow-testing dix'ision and the bureau of cooperation, in the State 

 De|)artment of Agritailture ; various de])artments in the State College of 

 Agriculturo»; the State Agricultural Experiment Station; and commercial 

 organizations. 



The grange, State, county, and local, has been the chief moral support 

 of the farm bureau movement in New York State from its inception, 

 and without this support the bureaus could not have been organized so 

 rapidly or so efhciently as they have been. At various times and places, 

 however, slight misunderstandings have arisen regarding the function of 

 the farm bureaus, and it has been necessary to take steps to correct this 

 misunderstanding and bring about closer cooperation. Some of this 

 feeling still exists, but it is gradually growing less as the work is better 

 understood. In the majority of instances the farm bureaus and the 

 granges are working in the closest cooperation. 



Through the district superintendents of schools, school teachers, the 

 Department of Rural Education in the State College of Agriculture, 

 and the State Education Department, a plan has been worked out, which 

 is apparently satisfactory to all concerned, for close cooperation between 

 the farm bureaus and the superintendents of schools in boys' and girls' 

 club and contest work. This plan, in brief, proposes that the organization 

 and the administration of the work will rest with the school superintend- 

 ents, and that agricultural instruction and assistance will be rendered by 

 the farm bureau managers. 



The closest cooperation now^ exists between the farm bureaus and the 

 Bureau of Farmers' Institutes in the State Department of Agriculture. 

 The farm bureau managers have rendered much assistance in arranging 

 for these institutes and in many instances have taken part in the pro- 

 grams. In return the farmers' institute workers have rendered the 

 farm bureaus great service in introducing them to communities and 

 individuals, thereby establishing them more surely in the confidence of 

 the community. The bureau managers also do considerable follow^-up 

 work as the result of contact with individuals at the institutes. 



The work of cow-testing associations has developed very rapidly in 

 the State during the past year. The responsibility for the organization 

 and the continuance of these associations rests largely on the local farm 

 bureau managers. In this they have the assistance of expert organizers 

 from the State Department of Agriculture, with which the best of co- 

 operative relationships exists. Cow-testing associations have their own 

 officers, who are locally responsible for the work, but the farm bureau 

 manager renders great assistance in organizing the associations in the 

 first place and in securing testers and looking after the continuance of 

 the work. 



In a number of instances there has been cooperation between the farm 

 bureaus and the Bureau of Cooperation in the State Department of 

 Agriculture in the organization of local cooperative societies, and later 

 in using these societies as channels for cheaper purchase of supplies or 

 for marketing products. This relationship has not been altogether 

 satisfactory, because much of the cooperative organizing that has been 



