16 



CIKCULAR NO. 117, BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 



Table I. — Number and percentages of farmers receiving and reading agricul- 

 tural bulletins and putting into practice suggestions contained therein. 



The foregoing table shows that 43 per cent of the farmers visited 

 received State or department bulletins, or both, either regularly or 

 occasionally. Of this number 84 per cent read the bulletins, 56 per 

 cent saved them, and 48 per cent practiced some ideas obtained from 

 them. In all, practically 21 per cent, or about 1 farmer in every 5 of 

 3,698 fanners visited, were being benefited directly by the agricultural 

 bulletins. 



These data would seem to refute the assertion that the bulletins 

 are not read by farmers. They are read by them. Eight farmers out 

 of every 10 in this survey who got them read them and 6 out of every 

 10 who read them put some of their teachings into practice and could 

 give concrete examples of such practice. This influence of the bul- 

 letins, it must be remembered, is only the direct influence. The in- 

 direct influence — their use as a basis for articles in the agricultural 

 press and as material for books and for lectures at farmers' institutes, 

 and other farmers' gatherings, thus securing wide publicity — is un- 

 doubtedly equally large or larger than the direct influence. This 

 phase of the subject will be again referred to under the discussion 

 of the influence of agricultural papers. It is desired to emphasize 

 here, however^ that the agricultural bulletin in itself is a very potent 

 influence in the betterment of agriculture. 



Relative to the distribution of State and Government bulletins, re- 

 spectively, the data obtained are probably too meager to oifer more 

 than a suggestion. In the North Atlantic States twice as many farm- 

 ers received State bulletins as received those from the United States 

 Department of Agriculture. In both sections of the Central States 

 the numbers were nearly equal, while in the South more bulletins 

 were received from the Government than from the State institutions. 



Every farmer stating that he had been benefited by bulletins was 

 asked to state specifically some definite thing that had been done as 

 a result of such reading. It was desired to obtain definite ideas that 

 had to some extent been put into practice in the regular farm work. 

 In nearly every case farmers were able to give this information. The 



[Cir. 117] 



