694 MISCELLANEOUS FARM SUBJECTS 



Fair Associations. A recent investigation by the institute spe- 

 cialist into the condition of the county fair associations shows that 

 there are over 1,200 of these societies in the United States with a 

 registered membership of approximately 250,000. Their gross re- 

 ceipts for the year 1909 amounted to about $6,500,000 and their 

 expenditures for premiums to about $2,500,000. These societies 

 are incorporated under the laws of their respective States and so 

 have continuous existence and in many cases have an assured in- 

 come for their support. That they have not been utilized by agri- 

 cultural educators in the past as they should is quite evident to 

 those who have studied their capabilities. 



A strong, local organization is needed in every county to form 

 a center to which rural people in the country can look for informa- 

 tion and assistance in carrying on their work. The agricultural 

 colleges also, now that they are undertaking extension work in agri- 

 culture, need an organized body of men in each county to act as 

 their agents in disseminating information and for attending to local 

 matters that require the presence of some one on the ground familiar 

 with local conditions. The State departments of agriculture, like- 

 wise, are interested in having a representative in each county as a 

 correspondent to gather information and to report periodically the 

 condition of the crops, the state of the markets, the presence of con- 

 tagious diseases among animals, of injurious insect pests, or fungus 

 diseases among plants. In these and many other directions a fair 

 association can be useful to the community in which it is located 

 and to the country at large. The agricultural colleges are already 

 using these societies for making known their work and for dissemi- 

 nating information useful to farming people. (A. R. Ex. Sta. 

 1910J 



The opportunities presented and the advantages offered by the 

 county fairs are manifold. They afford opportunity to meet the 

 farmers personally and explain the work of the institution ; to secure 

 co-operators in demonstration work; and to initiate new movements 

 for the improvement of agriculture. In addition, they permit the 

 colleges to conduct agricultural schools and short courses and dem- 

 onstrations while the exhibition is in progress ; they educate the fair 

 managers in the conduct of agricultural exhibitions; they provide 

 a place for the exhibition of the results of contest work by the 

 school children and country youth ; and they enable the college and 

 station to secure names and addresses of representative farmers and 

 of young people with whom to correspond in disseminating agricul- 

 tural information, and in securing co-operation in projects for rural 

 development. (Ex. Sta. Cir. 109.) 



Agricultural Libraries. To furnish the right book to the right 

 man at the right time is a problem that faces every student of agri- 

 cultural affairs who would help men to better ways of farming. The 

 need of offering the book at the right time presents a new oppor- 

 tunity for the agricultural library. 



The production of fit books for the advancement of agriculture 

 has long engaged the attention of promoters of scientific farming, 



