TEACHING AND INFORMATION GIVING 55 



come to the county agent's office, as well as a convincing 

 knowledge of where to go for what he wants. The farm 

 visit may or may not mean a real need and initiative on 

 the farmer's part. Again the office call is a cheaper means 

 of teaching, since it consumes less of the county agent's 

 time and travel. It often happens that several thousand 

 farmers call at a county agent's office in the course of a 

 year when it is so located in the county as to permit this, 

 and the average number of calls is about one thousand. 

 The county agent may also have at hand in his books, bul- 

 letins and records more ready means for the answering of 

 many questions. 



TEACHING THROUGH THE WRITTEN WORD 



The third possible method of teaching through the use of 

 the written or printed word, though capable of the widest 

 application because it employs the easiest method and the 

 cheapest means, is perhaps the least effective. It has been 

 said that we remember seven-eighths of what we do, three- 

 eighths of what we see and only one-eighth of what we hear 

 or read. Whether or not this is true, it is certain that 

 the printed word alone does not always produce the desired 

 reaction in men. It is, therefore, best used in connection 

 with and as a supplement to the other methods. 



In considering the usefulness of this means of teaching, 

 it should be remembered that farmers are busy folks who 

 work long hours at hard physical labor, and that they are 

 not given to extensive reading unless it be at certain times 

 of the year. Yet like other folks they will read what is 

 interesting and what they consider is of vital concern to 

 them; but it must not be too long nor impracticable. In 

 addition to what any good citizen would naturally read, 

 farmers usually want to get by reading useful facts and 



