74 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 



ing forward and the other half pushing backward. The full meas- 

 ure of success by the Farm Bureaus can be attained only when the 

 great majority of farmers are enthusiastic members. 



STANDARDIZING FARM PRACTISES 



The Farm Bureaus are gradually standardizing farm practise in 

 various localities. Hitherto the principal accomplishment in this 

 line has been in the introduction of farm implements by dealers. The 

 result has been a more rapid agricultural advancement in the use of 

 improved machinery than in the adoption of pedigreed live stock, or 

 high yielding varieties of crops, or the extension of soil conservation 

 methods. It is up to the Farm Bureaus to convert their members to 

 the use of those improved methods which are not pushed by salesmen ; 

 and they will do it more conservatively and more satisfactorily. The 

 same crop rotations or live-stock interests which make money for one 

 farmer should also prove profitable for his neighbor under similar cir- 

 cumstances. Local demonstrations and community meetings serve to 

 convince skeptical neighbors that their methods can be improved. One 

 farmer in DeWitt county told me the other day that he never saw 

 a soybean until he went to a farm demonstration meeting two miles 

 from his home, where the crop had been raised continuously for 

 twelve years. 



Some real persuasion is necessary to deflect a man from his chosen 

 system of farming, inherited perhaps from his father. The business 

 side of the question is what convinces; and the Farm Bureau can 

 present the problem and its solution in dollars and cents under home 

 conditions. In the future we may well expect more progress to be 

 made through farm management studies based on actual farm ac- 

 counts, than by any other means. We know that under present de- 

 pressing conditions many farmers are making nothing on their in- 

 vestment and are getting nothing for their own work, while some of 

 their neighbors are making five per cent and in addition some hundreds 

 of dollars annually to pay for their own time. Such disparity has ap- 

 peared every year since farm management studies were begun. The 

 Farm Bureau is peculiarly and almost exclusively situated so as to 

 turn such figures to practical account in the community. 



As farmers become accustomed to calling at the county Farm 

 Bureau office to confer about their problems, and form the habit gen- 

 erally of attending local business and demonstration meetings, it will 

 be possible for one farm adviser to serve a larger number of members 

 than has been the case during these pioneer years. There will be less 



