21S STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



eiit farm products. For example, in 1916 the ageuts iu the 26 couuties 

 were working through approximately 480 organizations, with an esti- 

 mated membership of 27,548. However, some of the farmers iu these 

 communities may not belong to au}- of these organizations and in some 

 communities there may be no organizations. The problem, therefore, is 

 to devise for each community the type of organization which will be best 

 adapted to its needs. The one fundamental requirement for all commun- 

 ities is to provide a working organization that will be representative of 

 every agricultural interest of the community and also representative of 

 all the farmers. As the Farm Bureau work is mainly supported by pub- 

 lic funds and represents the nation, the state, the county and the com- 

 munity, it forms the basis for the type of organization which can coor- 

 dinate and federate the activities of other agricultural organizations and 

 also include in its membership all farmers who are interested, whether 

 already members of some organizations or not. 



A further development of the work this year has been the beginning 

 of the organization of the communities by having each school district 

 represented by one of its leading farmers. The Farm Bureau program 

 is largely educational in character and should be closely related to that 

 of the public school system. Moreover, the school district constitutes a 

 definite territorial unit, small enough for personal acquaintance; by vir- 

 tue of these characteristics it forms a good basis for taking a census or 

 for making an agricultural survey in the most expeditious manner. 



A very important project iu organization begun this year is the forma- 

 tion of national farm loan associations. Although this work was not 

 started until late in the year, the agents have assisted in the formation 

 of 29 associations. One session of the annual County Agent Conference 

 was given to the discussion of this project and a special meeting of the 

 agents of the Upper Peninsula was held in May to consider the specific 

 problems that had arisen in the organization work and that were more 

 or less peculiar to that section of the state. The discussions of this con- 

 ference were led by Mr. B. F. Faast, Vice President of the St. Paul Fed- 

 eral Land Bank. One of the most significant features of the National 

 Farm Loan Association for Farm Bureau work as brought out by Mr. 

 Faast is the possibility of such associations becoming the nuclei of very 

 strong and efficient community centers. They bring men into close busi- 

 Hess relationships, lead them to assume mutual responsibilities of a 

 fundamental character, help to establish ownership in land and provide 

 for the development of the farm business, and these are essentials in the 

 welfare of all rural institutions. 



SOILS. 



Pro'blems: In all of the counties soil problems in some of their phases 

 constitute one of the major projects and considerable progress has been 

 made this year in interesting larger numbers of farmers in the work re- 

 lating to soils, particularly through demonstrations. 



Soil Siirvej/s, Analyses and Tests: The surveys begun last year in co- 

 operation with the Department of Soils have been continued. Surveys 

 have been made this year in five counties: they are Berrien, Branch, 

 Manistee, Mason and Newaygo. These survej^s of the different types of 

 soils of the counties and the analyses that are being made by the Depart- 

 ment of Soils are very valuable to the agents and are receiving much at- 

 tention on the part of the farmers. The results of the survey made in St. 



