Bo ONTARIO 



DISTRICT AGRICULTURAL REPRESENTATIVES. 



official-. numbering thirl) li\e. exclusive of as-i-tant-. are 

 Agricultural College graduates who act in the capaciu of repre-enta 



of the Department of Agriculture. They arc distributed 

 among various fanning communities, where they give practical assis- 

 tance fnr the improvement of farm conditions in their neighbour- 

 hood; they i-ncmirage -ting and improvement in the standard 



of live stock; give orchard and other demonstrations, test commer- 

 cial ferlili/er-. and make drainage surve\ - : manage exhibit- at fall 



and get up competitions in live stock judging; develop a pro- 

 :\e county spirit, as seen in special county organizations : or 54 an 

 Clubs, Co-operative Societies and other Associations; 

 attend Farmers' Institute meetings, and co-operate with the Institute 

 branch by holding short courses in judging stock and seed ; address 

 meetings, and distribute thousands of bulletins and newspaper arti- 

 cle- : teach agriculture in high schools (with laboratory illu 

 tion i. and do much toward interesting the public schools, and - 

 At a Convention of Dairymen's Associations a District Representa- 

 tive said: " The people are alive to the educational interests of the 

 boys and girls growing up on the farm. You cannot tell me that 

 \ou cannot teach lessons in dairying or any other agricultural -ul>- 

 ject to boys and jjirls from six to ten years of age, because I have 

 done it successfully, and lots of other teachers have done it. The 

 big difficulty is that we have not been training along these lines -uf - 

 liciently. I can take a dozen tubes of milk before a class of public 

 school children, and by allowing them to help me 1 can teach them 

 the very lessons that several speakers have been trying to teach the 

 grown-up men at these rheetings I can teach them in a way that 

 they will never forget." The office of a Representative, on the 

 main street, is the local centre of organized activity, where many 

 farmers call and have skilled advice, or the benefit of reading the 

 agricultural papers, or of seeing the best kinds of tested grain. 

 grasses, forage crops, roots and seeds. In short, the District Repre- 

 sentative system of agricultural education far excels the demon 

 tion farm and many other suggested methods of help. It is the 

 gospel of the production of double returns from the ordinary farm. 

 and the specialist preaches it straight to the farmer. 



