THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 315 



agricultural schools in some sections. This teaching for many 

 years aimed to help the farmer produce more and better crops. 

 In late years a new viewpoint has been gained, and education 

 goes beyond the " making of two blades of grass grow where only 

 one grew before": much attention is given to the marketing of 

 crops; to financing and warehousing and transportation problems; 

 to home economics, including the economic, civic, sanitary, esthetic 

 mental, moral, and physical well-being of the family. The so- 

 called " extension" work has shown the most rapid expansion of 

 any form of education. It is a form of propaganda whereby experts 

 and specialists go out from educational centers and meet the people 

 that need their services. ^ 



State Department of Agriculture and the PoHeePower. State 

 aid to agriculture very early took the form of exercising the police 

 power in protecting animals from disease$*and plants from insect 

 pests. The destructive power of the foot-and-mouth disease of 

 cattle, of cholera among hogs, of glanders among horses, and of 

 other diseases among other animals taught the need of quarantine 

 regulations and of State administrative boards such as live-stock 

 sanitary commissions, State veterinary boards, and so on. Similar 

 protective and regulative measures were administered in the realms 

 of fruits, vegetables, and general farm crops. Anti-weed laws, 

 pure food laws, pure drug laws, pure paint laws, and similar 

 statutes have greatly increased in number in recent years. Pure 

 seed laws in still more recent years have appeared, as have like- 

 wise laws concerning commercial fertilizers, commercial feeding 

 stuffs, and laws on cold storage warehouses. The administration 

 of such regulations has been left, in most States, to a State Depart- 

 ment or Commissioner of Agriculture. 



Farmers' Institutes. In some cases under the State Agricul- 

 tural Department, in others under the guidance of the College of 

 Agriculture, so-called Farmers' Institutes are now held in most 

 States. These consist of a group of meetings in which speakers 

 from outside the community, as well as local talent discuss import- 

 ant agricultural topics. They are a valuable open forum for the 

 discussion of vital topics. 



Federal Government Aid. Federal aid to agriculture comes 

 mainly through two channels, namely, the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, and financial aid given to State institutions 

 for teaching, research, and extension. 



The Department of Agriculture. The history of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture may be briefly stated in connection with the 



