2146 Farm Bureau Circular No. 6 



meetings were held at East Aurora and at Hamburg, and as a result 

 eight boys and two girls have won a trip to Farmers' Week at Cornell 

 University. 



There have been about 270 business calls at the office by persons seeking 

 infonnation. Ten thousand nine hundred and seventy-three letters have 

 been written and mailed from the office. 



One farmers' club was organized with a membership of about 75. 



We are glad to report a paid membership of 348 in the bureau. 



In conclusion we feel that the greatest achievement this year has been 

 the addition of a department of home economics to the bureau. This 

 department commenced active operations on August 8 and has accom- 

 plished the following since that time: It has held 12 three-days schools 

 in home economics, with an average attendance of 48 persons at each 

 session; speeches have been made at many meetings; work has been done 

 in connection with rural schools, bread-making contests have been con- 

 ducted, and 12 home economics clubs have been organized, with a total 

 of 383 paid members. These clubs are planning to do effective work 

 in the future. 



W. L. Markham, 

 Farm Bureau Manager oj Erie County. 



FRANKLIN COUNTY 



During 19 14, the farm bureau in Franklin County made progress in 

 laying a solid foundation for continued effort. Since the work was started 

 before there were defined State policies or organized methods of control, 

 the manager was given a free hand, but without collective support. 

 In March, 1914, a fami bureau association was organized, but did not 

 become active until November. Since November the membership has 

 been increased from 35 to 150, with prospects of being doubled within 

 a month. The county and State funds will be turned over to the associa- 

 tion, which will control the work from now on. 



The studies and observations of the work, during the nine months 

 prior to January, 19 14, convinced the manager that the potato was one of 

 the most important crops raised in the county, especially that portion 

 bordering on and extending into the Adirondack Mountains. During 

 the year, effort has been made to increase the profits from this crop by 

 securing better quality and larger yields. As a means of accomplishing 

 this, it was decided that the heredity of the tubers used for seed offered 

 by far the greatest chance for improvement. 



While many of the growers used carefully selected seed, the majority 

 still used the planter size, or small potatoes taken from the bin. These 

 small potatoes have practically no market value, save labor in prepara- 

 tion, and give as good or better stands under careless planting; therefore 

 the cost of planting is somewhat lessened by using small seed. Most of 

 these small potatoes come from the poorest hills, because the best hills 

 have few, if any, small tubers. Low yielding, weak and diseased hills 

 furnished most of the parent stock when small seed was selected from the 

 bin, resulting in poorer \nelds, increased amoimt of culls, spread of dis- 

 ease, and quick " running' out of the seed." This was followed by buying 

 from agents or through catalogues high-priced seed, which has been shown 



