CHAPTER II 

 TEACHING AND INFORMATION GIVING 



THE county agent of to-day is expected to do many things 

 that were not originally included in the program that was 

 laid out for him by Congress and the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture. 



In Chapter IX it is pointed out how many and how 

 varied were the conceptions of what he should do, and yet 

 how different the emphasis has become from most of these. 

 The county agent is now compelled by force of the cir- 

 cumstances in which he works to devote a large share of 

 his energies to agricultural leadership and to the organi- 

 zation of farmers, because these are demanded of him 

 alike by farmers and by the public institutions which 

 stand as sponsor for him. But the early conception of his 

 function as that of a teacher of better farming practice and 

 better marketing methods still remains a fundamental one, 

 and teaching is and should continue to be his major function. 



That teaching, especially by the demonstration method, 

 was considered the principal function of the county agent 

 from the earliest period of the work in the South by Dr. 

 Seaman A. Knapp, its founder, is clear from the most 

 casual reading of his speeches about the work. 1 In these 

 the words " teaching" and "demonstration" are very fre- 

 quently used. Doctor Knapp was first of all a believer 

 in teaching by demonstration. He has summed up his 

 own point of view in a few words : 



i "The Demonstration Work" by O. B. Martin, The Stratford Co., 

 Boston. 



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