STATES RELATIONS SERVICE. 353 



pointed in some counties was large enough to reach every farm in the 

 county. 



Community organizations have been on the increase the last few 

 years, as shown by the following statement : 



Community organizations, 1915-1917. 



1915. 1916. 1917. 



Membership 44, 548 78, GGO 113, 316 



Farmers' or coramimity organizations- 1, 712 2, 508 3, 507 



Without the war-time increase in organization it is estimated that 

 there were between 5,000 and 6,000 community organizations with a 

 membership of somewhere between 300,000 and 500,000. 



Besides the organization mentioned, in some counties the county 

 agent has the organized and most helpful assistance of farmers' 

 unions and churcli and civic organizations of various characters. 



Plax of work. — In the work in the South the county agent is rec- 

 ognized as the leader in all of the agricultural extension activities in 

 his county. In many of the States a written plan of work for the 

 year is prepared by the county agent, subject to the approval of the 

 cooperative extension authorit^ies. This includes a program of dem- 

 onstrations, both personal and community; special campaigns; field 

 m.eetings; organization work; organization of boys' club work; and 

 special demonstrations conducted in cooperation with the specialists 

 in the extension division. Boys' club work is an important feature 

 of each county agent's activity. 



There were employed in the 15 Southern States during the year 

 1,156 county agents, of which 723 were employed from emergency 

 funds. Each State has a director of extension and a State agent or 

 assistant director in charge of the work of county agents. There 

 were employed 72 district agents to supervise the work of the county 

 agents and 88 boys' club supervising agents to supervise the boys' 

 club work. 



Results. — During the season of 1917-18 almost the entire effort 

 of the county agents was directed toward increased production of 

 food and feed and the general support of agriculture under war con- 

 ditions. The situation was a difficult one, especially in all the great 

 cotton territory of the South. The highest price for cotton recorded 

 in the last 50 years prevailed during the entire planting season. Un- 

 der the general direction of the Office of Extension Work in the 

 South, a campaign for war-time production and "safe farming" was 

 conducted in every Southern State. The program was, briefly, as 

 follows: A home garden for every family, with plenty of potatoes 

 and sorghum or sugar cane for sirup ; increase of the great feed and 

 food crop, corn; increased production of small grains; production 

 of enough hay to supply the live stock of the South ; peanuts in suffi- 

 cient quantity to feed the increased hog production; velvet beans, 

 soy beans, cowpeas for hogs and cattle, as well as to add fertility to 

 the soil; production of enough meat, milk, and eggs to supply the 

 needs of the South; in other words, the production of the food of 

 the South on the farms of the South with the cotton as a surplus cash 

 crop. The results in planted acreage show the effectiveness of the 

 campaign. 



