8 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



seed fairs, public school competitions in growing small crops, 

 demonstrations through reviving old orchards, fertilizer experiments 

 and the carrying on of improved methods by the farmers themselves 

 on their own farms. Let me again emphasize this last point, the 

 great hope of improvement in the average farmer lies, not through 

 sending him a report or pamphlet, not through talking at him in an 

 institute meeting, not through doing something for him on an 

 experimental farm, but through helping him to do some work on his 

 own farm wherein he gets improved financial results through his 

 own efforts. This is the secret of success in the work. 



The general aim of this work is to bring the best agricultural 

 methods close to the farmer, to get his sympathy, to arouse his in- 

 terest, to stimulate him to better methods. When a man is selected 

 for a county he is told to study his people, their condition and their 

 needs, and to arrange his work accordingly. He is given a fairly free 

 hand, though, of course, he is in close touch with the Department 

 and all its branches. The first result noticed is the increased in- 

 terest manifested by the farmers. Probably for the first time they 

 realize that the complicated government organization has been 

 created for a specific purpose and that purpose is to assist the farmer 

 to a better and more prosperous living. Once that feeling is abroad, 

 the application comes easy. And now the whole agricultural 

 organization comes into use. This "man on the spot" brings into 

 his county all those resources of the government departmental 

 organization about which the farmer had some hazy knowledge 

 but whose usefulness he had questioned, and "professors" and "ex- 

 perts" become real men like themselves whose object is not to pose 

 as men of exclusive distinction and drawers of salaries, but men 

 able and willing to give real help. With the farmer, the age of talk 

 has gone by, the day of demonstration is here. We have a thorough 

 organization of the agricultural forces along many lines. Now we 

 are bringing all this to bear upon the farmer's work and the results 

 are coming through the means of direct demonstration. During 

 1910, we had over one hundred men engaged in various ways, 

 planning drainage systems, teaching how to make cheese and butter, 

 pruning and spraying trees, selecting seeds and supervising growing 

 crops of all kinds, organizing co-operative associations and helping 

 in the marketing of products. 



And what is the result? Farmers who were in- 

 different or opposed to government interference and 

 who criticized the expenditure have become enthusiastic, the 

 attendance at practical demonstrations has increased in an astonish- 

 ing degree, and there is an awakening along agricultural lines such 



