158 BACKGROUND AND MEANS OF SERVICE 



* 



IN THE NORTH AND WEST 



In the states outside the cotton belt the county agent 

 movement had a later and somewhat different origin, al- 

 though the general idea of practical field demonstrations 

 directly on the farms, adapted from the South, was the 

 same. 



In the majority of the states in the North and West the 

 nature, status and comparative wealth of the agricultural 

 population had created different problems which necessi- 

 tated a somewhat different method of attack. Particu- 

 larly in the Middle Western states and in parts of the 

 Eastern and the far Western states, farming was generally 

 more advanced and better diversified and developed. The 

 type of farming was more permanent, a greater proportion 

 of the farmers owning and living on their farms. The 

 complication of negro tenantry was absent. The problems 

 were special ones, among which the economic aspects, par- 

 ticularly efficiency in production to lower costs and mar- 

 keting and distribution, were most urgently in need of 

 solution. Livestock and fertility problems loomed large. 

 There was as much or more to be done, but it required a 

 different organization and a different approach to accom- 

 plish results. A larger amount of self-help was essential 

 and the resources of farmers had to be organized to bear 

 upon these problems. 



EARLY ATTEMPTS NOT SUCCESSFUL 



It was under the direction of Professor W. J. Spillman, 

 then chief of the Office of Farm Management, that the so- 

 called "farm management field studies and demonstra- 

 tions" were carried on in the first decade of the new cen- 

 tury. A few men with large districts, usually comprising 



