146 BACKGROUND AND MEANS OF SERVICE 



make practical use of these facts. Many failures in farm- 

 ing can be traced to unscientific principles and methods. 

 Much that science has found out awaits application by the 

 farmer to make it useful. The farmer cannot afford not 

 to use to the utmost the facts science has revealed. The 

 colleges cannot afford to be without an organized touch 

 with practical men and affairs. The farm and home bu- 

 reaus are the joint or partnership agencies which, support- 

 ing the county agent, are harnessing science and practice 

 in an efficient team. 



CHANGES IN AMERICAN AGRICULTURE 



No attempt to describe the functions, work and oppor- 

 tunities of county agents and county farm bureaus would 

 be complete unless it were fitted into the background of the 

 situation in which the modern farmer lives and works. 

 Therefore, in the beginning of this section, we need first 

 to remind ourselves of the principal changes which have 

 taken place in American agriculture in the last fifty years 

 or more, the effect of these changes on the business of farm- 

 ing and on country life, and their relation to the work and 

 opportunities of county agents. 



Agriculture with all its natural stability and conserv- 

 ativeness has been no exception to the rule of rapid develop- 

 ment and change which has taken place in America since 

 the Civil War. Probably in no section of American life 

 and industry have these changes been more profound in 

 their influence or more disturbing in their effects. Orig- 

 inally a purely agricultural country with a dominant farm- 

 ing population, the United States has become a country 

 of trading and manufacture as well as of farming. In 

 spite of the fact that the business of farming has grown 

 enormously, it necessarily has come to hold a smaller if 



