142 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



stratioiis in cotton culture to a coni])rehensive system of instruction 

 in general agriculture, including the organization of boys' corn clubs 

 and girls' canning clubs. 



The extensive growth of this work from its small beginning may 

 be appreciated from tlie fact that at the end of the fiscal year 1912 

 the force of agents conducting demonstration work in the field was 

 858; something like 35,000 farmers were enrolled as demonstrators 

 and about 67,000 additional farmers were listed as cooperators in the 

 department's methods. Enrolled in tlie boys' corn clubs were ap- 

 proximately 08,000 boys, and in the girls' canning clubs 20,000 girls. 

 From its inception the work has been on a cooperative basis. Mer- 

 chants and business men supplied seed and fertilizer for the cotton- 

 culture farms, even during the earliest years of the work, and farmers 

 did the work. With the growth of the plan of supplying local or 

 county agents, business men and commercial bodies, in order to secure 

 the services of such local or county agents in their counties, began to 

 assist in paying their salaries. Cooperative relationships have been 

 established with agricultural colleges, boards of agriculture, and 

 county organizations. 



The department is now spending something like $600,000 annually 

 in the work throughout the Southern States, about half of which 

 is appropriated by the Government, while the other half is con- 

 tributed by State and private agencies. It is believed that the per- 

 manency of the demonstration work on the southern farms is assured, 

 as its efficiency has been thoroughly tested under various conditions; 

 it is attracting wide attention, and the plan is being rapidly adopted 

 by agricultural colleges, business organizations, railroads, and other 

 agencies doing propaganda work. Within recent years representa- 

 tives from many foreign countries have been sent into the South to 

 study the practical workings and efficiency of the system. 



FARM-MANAGEMENT INVESTIGATIONS. 



Early in the development of the work of the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry it was seen that some coordinating agency was necessary 

 to bring together and apply to the individual farm the results of 

 many special lines of investigation under way. Growing out of 

 this need was developed the Office of Farm Management, which was 

 established eight or nine years ago. The work of this office began with 

 a detailed study of the methods and practices actually in use on 

 various farms of the country. Special attention was given to the 

 study of those farms that were most successful for the purpose of 

 comparing them with those less successful, the object being to learn 

 the reason of success in one case and of failure in the other under 

 similar circumstances. 



