EXPERIMENT STATION REPORTS. 219 



Hillsdale County Cooperative Cow Testing Association. 



Antrim County Cooperative Cow Testing Association. 



Kalamazoo County Cooperative Cow Testing Association. 



There were in these eleven associations, July 1, 1921, 235 members owning 

 2,785 cows. 



The cow testing association work was affected quite materially by the 

 serious decline in prices of dairj^ products during late winter and early spring. 

 Eight of the associations operating last year have discontinued work. Five new 

 associations have been organized and four of the old associations have main- 

 tained their organization and are planning to start again when conditions are 

 better adjusted and the farmers feel more encouraged. Part of these will 

 probably start this fall. The need for this work is greater now than during 

 the past two years when almost any cow would pay. Standards of produc- 

 tion must necessarily be raised under present conditions and dairymen are 

 beginning to realize it, as is indicated by requests for information and help 

 from communities desiring to organize. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



Extension work in sheep husbandry has been carried on during the 

 past year cooperatively between the Bureau of Animal Industry of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture and the Michigan Agricultural 

 College. 



The purpose and aim of this work has been to assist sheep men of the 

 State in securing and disposing of suitable breeding stock, to teach interested 

 parties the best methods of breeding, feeding, general management and care 

 of the flock; to call to the attention of flock owners the value of pure bred 

 rams ; to collect data as to the cost of production ; and to advise growers of the 

 necessity of producing clean wool of good length and staple instead of so much 

 discount wool of short staple. 



The Extension Specialist has cooperated vnih the Wool Department of 

 the Michigan State Farm Bureau in their efforts to secure for the sheep 

 men of the State a satisfactory market for their wool. A number of the 

 grading stations have been visited and the educational work in connection 

 with the pooling and grading of wool has been kept at the front at all 

 times. 



The educational work has been taught through lectures and demonstra- 

 tions, at various county meetings, extention schools, and farm visits, most of 

 which were cooperative with the county agents. 



Very little work has been done in connection with the Boys' and Girls' 

 Sheep Clubs, but it is the hope of the department that considerable work 

 can be done along these lines the coming year. 



Flock owners are keeping record books for yearly sheep management and 

 demonstration, and considerable valuable information will be obtained at the 

 completion of this work. The object of this work is to draw a comparison 

 between the methods commonly used in the community, with those which 

 have been used successfully at colleges, experiment stations or elsewhere. 



HORTICULTURE. 



This project was without a leader during the first half of the fiscal year. 

 During the winter meetings held in fruit sections it was made clear that one 

 of the important questions on which gruit growers needed help was fertiliza- 



