242 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



to me that the production of beef might be taken up in the butter 

 district, or where milk-prodncing does not interfere. There are sec- 

 tions were the people would like to ship their milk away, but it is 

 too expensive, or it depends upon the women; in such communities 

 beef production might be an advantage, and I suppose a good stock- 

 man could be placed on the list. Two days seems like a long time 

 to devote to one subject, but when we get at it, it seems too short. 

 We have sometimes discussed taking two days at one point, and 

 then taking the other three days in another part of the same com- 

 munity and finish up. 



FIELD EXPERIENCE AND SUGGESTIONS OF FARM 



ADVISERS 



1. MR. McLAIN: Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: I want 

 to say that I am the ''rooky" of the bunch, to use the military ver- 

 nacular. I was enlisted last August, and consider myself very awk- 

 ward, indeed. During that time T have answered seventy-five calls, 

 from the last of September to the beginning of April of this year. 

 These calls have been of various kinds. The majority of them have 

 been on the drainage question. That has covered probably sixty of 

 the calls. I had also a number of calls inquiring as to the possibili- 

 ties of water supply, seeing what could be done with the various 

 cisterns on the place in the matter of getting a water supply from 

 one of them to the house. Then the water courses on the farm, what 

 could be done with them, and how to handle them. Then I have been 

 called in on the question of water power. I think that will come 

 in after while, because it will furnish the power for a dynamo and 

 a pump. This morning I heard something new — irrigation. 



In most cases I find, in my work, that the farmers are not pre- 

 pared to go ahead with the work. Tliey are calling me more to find 

 out the possibilities of drainage, and how to do it, with the expecta- 

 tion of going ahead in a very short time and doing the actual work. 

 It covers the various kinds of land — sometimes creek bottom land, 

 sometimes hillside land, sometimes right on the top of the hill. This 

 sounds ridiculous, but there are many places in Pennsylvania where 

 you find swamps right on the top of the hill. They want to find out 

 what good drainage will do, what it will cost them, what kind of 

 drain to put in. That has been the scope of my calls. 



My suggestion would be that every Institute lecturer, every County 

 Chairman, and every one connected with agriculture should talk this 

 in your neighborhood. That is the way to fi:nd out. It is a new thing, 

 and they don't know what it means. They ask me "what are your 

 duties?" and I explain to them that my duty is to look over the pos- 

 sibilities of drainage, and advise them what kind of a drain to put 

 in and to make the necessary survey for them, and then they are 

 ready to talk of their troubles. I usually advise a tile drain, be- 



