568 AISTNUAL, REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



activities added were reading and correspondence courses, extension 

 schools, farmers' weeks, and other short courses at the college, ex- 

 hibits at fairs, competitive judging of livestock and other products, 

 and boys' and girls' clubs. 



The spread of the cotton-boll weevil in Texas led the Department 

 of Agriculture, through the Bureau of Plant Industry, to attempt 

 not only to diminish the injury to the cotton crop by this insect but 

 also to offset its attacks by improving the general practice of agri- 

 culture in the South. Through this movement there was developed, 

 under the leadership of Dr. Seaman A. Knapp, beginning in 1903, 

 the system of extension work through supervised demonstrations by 

 farmers on their own farms, county agricultural and home demon- 

 stration agents, and boys' and girls' clubs. At first this work was 

 independent on the colleges, but gradually they came into more or 

 less definite cooperation with it. The States and counties in the 

 South also made appropriations for its support. By 1914 more than 

 1,000 men and women agents were employed in 15 Southern States. 



In 1909 the office of farm management of the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry began farm-demonstration work in Ohio, and in 1911 the 

 first county agent was appointed in New York. This work spread 

 in the Northern and Western States in cooperation with the agri- 

 cultural colleges, counties, and local organizations. In 1914 over 

 200 agents were employed in this work. 



In 1905 a standing committee on extension work was appointed 

 by the Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experi- 

 ment Stations. This committee reported in 1908 in favor of a 

 Federal appropriation for extension work and in 1909 a similar 

 recommendation by the committee was adopted by the association. 

 As a result a bill for this purpose was introduced in the House of 

 Representatives December 15, 1909, by Mr. McLaughlin, of Mich- 

 igan. The same general proposition was embodied in other bills 

 in both houses. The Department of Agriculture joined in this 

 movement. After long and careful consideration Congress passed 

 the Smith-Lever Extension Act, which was approved by President 

 Wilson May 8, 1914. 



This act was broadly drawn to make possible the establishment of 

 a permanent nation-wide system of extension work in agriculture 

 and home economics which would include both the demonstration 

 and county agent system and the other useful features of extension 

 work as developed by the agricultural colleges. It provided for 

 definite cooperation between the colleges and the Department of 

 Agriculture in the planning, administration, and conduct of the 

 work. Soon after the passage of the act the department and the 

 colleges generally entered into a formal agreement, through a 

 "memorandum of understanding," regarding the organization of 

 cooperative extension work and their respective relations thereto. 



Pending authorization by Congress of a permanent organization 

 in the department to carry on the business necessitated by this act, 

 a committee consisting of the director of the Office of Experiment 

 Stations and the chiefs of the two offices in the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry which were conducting demonstration work was appointed 

 by Secretary Houston. 



On July 1, 1915, this business was taken over by the newly created 

 States Relations Service. General supervision was committed to 



