RELATION OF EXTENSION AGENCIES TO FARM PRACTICE. 19 



variation, ranging from G9 per cent in the case of the North Atlantic 

 States to 76.9 per cent in the West-Central States. In comparing 

 the different States it was found that between the States of a section 

 there was little difference in percentages, except in the North Atlantic 

 States. In this section Pennsylvania had only 59 per cent, while the 

 percentages for the other States ranked with those of the central 

 groups at approximately 75.5 per cent. 



Compared with bulletins and reports it is seen that the number who 

 received farm papers in the survey was 51 per cent greater than the 

 number who received bulletins, and 119 per cent greater than the 

 number who attended the farmers' institutes. The farmer's estimate 

 of the value of farm papers as compared with bulletins, institutes, 

 etc., will be presented under the general discussion of that subject. 



INFLUENCE OF DEMONSTRATION AGENTS. 



Only 109 farmers out of the 3,698 interviewed admitted that they 

 had received personal instruction from agents of the agricultural 

 colleges or from the United States Department of Agriculture, and 

 of this number 92 were in the States of Alabama and Georgia. In 

 Alabama every county passed through is employing a county agri- 

 cultural demonstration agent, while in Georgia 8 out of the 17 coun- 

 ties visited have demonstration agents. In the Northern and Western 

 States only 2 counties visited were employing county agents. In 

 one of these counties, where the agent had been at work only five 

 months, none of the farmers interviewed admitted having been 

 visited by the demonstration agent. In the other county, where the 

 work had been under way two years, 3 farmers were found on the 

 route of the survey who acknowledged having received personal 

 instruction from the county agricultural agent. In Alabama and 

 Georgia the county agricultural agents are employed generally for 

 only about three-fourths of each year, and the number of farmers 

 whom they personally instruct each year is limited in each county to 

 about 40. In addition there are usually about 100 farmers who 

 receive the same instructions, but are not visited regularly by the 

 county agents. 



In Alabama, out of 348 farmers visited in 8 counties, 51, or practi- 

 cally 15 per cent, had received personal instruction from demonstra- 

 tion agents. This gave an average in each county of about such 

 farmers encountered on the route of the investigating agents. Of 

 the 51 farmers met, 48, or 94 per cent, put into practice the sugges- 

 tions made by the demonstration agent. This is far higher than the 

 corresponding percentages for either the bulletins or institutes, and 

 would indicate an efficiency practically double that of the bulletin 

 (48 per cent) and nearly 80 per cent greater than that of the farmers' 



[Cir. 117] 



