ORGANIZATION AND LEADERSHIP 83 



is advised that the time is right to spray. These orchards 

 afford both checks and experience in conducting the serv- 

 ice. As soon as it is determined to spray ''criterion or- 

 chards" in a given section, the information is telephoned 

 to three selected farmers in each neighborhood. By ar- 

 rangement, these men call up three other farmers, and then 

 in turn these three call up three more, and so on until all 

 the fruit growers who want the service, and who have paid 

 the fee which covers practically all the cost except the 

 state specialist's supervision, have been informed. While 

 this is a loose form of organization, it involves a good deal 

 of skill and time to operate it, and represents a type which 

 may be made very effective by the county agent. Similar 

 examples of the use of this type of organization may be 

 found in the control of rabbits and gophers in certain 

 sections of the country. 



Another type of production organization, aimed to 

 render service to increase efficiency, is seed certification. 

 Colleges and experiment stations are constantly develop- 

 ing new strains and approved new varieties of corn, small 

 grains, timothy, alfalfa and other seeds. These are dis- 

 seminated by placing them in the hands of individuals, 

 but this is a slow and not always an effective measure. It 

 has been found that organizing state, regional, or even 

 county associations of growers interested in the use of such 

 good seed, may be made a very effective means of increas- 

 ing the use of it. Usually, such organizations work out a 

 plan of certifying the original source of the seed, inspect- 

 ing it for the presence of certain diseases, roguing out 

 plants untrue to type, and then certifying the resulting 

 product. The inspection is usually performed by experts 

 from the college of agriculture who merely certify 

 to certain conditions as they find them in the field or bin. 

 The associations, on the basis of these findings, actually 



