474 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



special training. A few of the colleges in the South have already 

 put on ov are preparing to put on special courses designed to fit the 

 students for this held of Avork. The educational requirements of 

 the county agents and county home-demonstration agents are higher 

 than ever before and only thorough technical training will meet the 

 need. While this is true, it has been the experience of the extension 

 divisions that practical experience is equally as important a qualifica- 

 tion for county-agent work. It is becoming increasingly difficult to 

 retain in extension employment the men and women who have 

 demonstrated their fitness for this work because of the competition 

 from business and farming interests paying much higher salaries 

 than are paid in extension work. County appropriations in the 

 South, in a great many instances, have been greatly increased this 

 year in the effort to secure and retain the right kind of men and 

 women, but the need for more monej^ both to extend the work and 

 to give better compensation in the way of salarj^ and expenses to. 

 the workers, is urgent. 



OUTLOOK. 



Extension work in the South is on a solid basis of popular ap- 

 proval, as conclusively shown b}^ the largely increased local appro- 

 priations for the support of the work and the cooperation and sup 

 port of farmers, bankers, and other business men in the club work and 

 other extension activities. Organized community effort in coopera- 

 tion with the extension divisions of the colleges and the department 

 is becoming more general everywhere and is more readily secured 

 than ever before. Indeed, one of the outstanding results of exten- 

 sion work has been the education of farmers in cooperation. 



To meet the demand for advice and assistance in cooperative mar- 

 keting of farm products and cooperative purchasing of staple farm 

 supplies the extension divisions will be compelled to give more atten- 

 tion than ever before to this phase of the work. 



The boys' and girls' club activities have grown in importance and 

 influence and command the hearty cooperation of bankers, business 

 men, and citizens generally. 



■ The work with the rural women in home improvement and home 

 economics is growing rapidly and is assuming equal importance with 

 the other major lines of extension activities. 



Extension work has now its greatest opportunity for service, and 

 the assured outlook is that with adequate support it will continue to. 

 grow in power, influence, and usefulness. 



OFFICE OF EXTENSION WORK IN THE NORTH AND WEST. 



C. B. Smith, Chief. 



GENERAL REVIEW. 



This office has charge of the extension work in the 33 Northern and 

 Western States. During the year attention was given especially to 

 the strengthening of work already in progress rather than to the 

 starting of new lines of work. 



The county-af/ent ^oork^ which was so rapidly expanded during- 

 the war, obtained such a firm foothold in the good will of the farmers 



