No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 21 



Tlie Adviser ou Co-operation iu Fanning, Mr. K. B. Dor.sett, visited 

 45 counties in the State, many of them .several times, spending; much 

 of his time iu perfecting farm organizations, sucli as the (jrange, 

 Farmers' Clubs, Farmers' Unions and other farm organizations. 

 The nature of hi.s work makes it imperative to work with some or- 

 ganization, and in most sections of the State he found the best 

 medium to extend his work and bring him in contact with the farm- 

 ers at the least expense was the Grange. In other sections he found 

 that the Farmers' Clubs, Farmers' Unions and the American Society 

 of Equity were valuable agencies through wliich to work out his 

 co-operative plans. All of these organizations gave valuable assist- 

 ance and in return received many benefits. 161 public and 50 pri- 

 vate meetings were addressed during the season. The average at- 

 tendance at these meetings -.vas 150, making a total of 30,000 farm- 

 ers addressed. Through the medium of his work many sales were 

 made in agricultural machinery, and implements bought and sold. 



If space would permit we could name more than 500 organizations 

 that bought and sold through his co-ojierative efforts. He supplied 

 approximately 3,000 tons of fertilizer and fertilizer chemicals at an 

 average saving to the farmer of |5.00 per ton, 40 tons of binder twine 

 at a saving of 2^ cents per pound, 2,000 tons of feed at a saving of 

 ^4.00 per ton. These are only a few of the many transactions in 

 which the farmers were able to save money. Fully 50,000 farmers 

 were benefited directly or indirectly by these transactions. In addi- 

 tion to buying and selling, he gave assistance in marketing pioducts. 

 About 100 carloads of potatoes were sold which yielded the farmer 

 fi'oni ten to fifteen cents per bushel more than he could have got at 

 bis local market, 100 cars of hay and straw during the jear bringing 

 the farmer a net return of from |2.00 to $4.00 per ton more than 

 he could have realized hj selling to the local dealer as well as many 

 other crops which space will not allow us to itemize. 



Charles G. McLain, Farm Adviser on Drainage and Water Supply, 

 has visited almost every county in the State, laying out systems for 

 over 269 farms with the following result : In some cases the drainage 

 was ver}^ great and all cases where his recommendations have been 

 carried out the benefit has been of such a character that the produc- 

 tion has increased considerably, proving that tile drainage, when 

 properly put in, is a paying investment. The different kinds of soil 

 in Pennsylvania require different methods of drainage. In many 

 cases a thorough drainage system is necessary and in other cases a 

 random system is enough to accomplish all that is necessary. H« 

 has assisted in laying out systems for drainage of orchards and has 

 been called into consultation as to planting an orchard in such a way 

 as to fit it for future drainage. In some cases laying out drainage 

 on hilltops which would seem quite unnecessary, but these hills 

 were overlaid with a hard pan or some impervious substance, and. 

 of course, the water had to be gotten rid of in some other w^ay tlum 

 evaporation, and the only way to carry off this water was a system 

 of drainage. 



He has been called upon quite often by the farmers living in river 

 bottom land where drainage is very necessary as the land along the 

 banks of the river is higher than back next to the hills, thus holding 

 the water and preventing early working of the soil. This is a con- 

 dition that exists along all the rivers of Pennsylvania to a large 



