THE DEMONSTRATION WORK 



It was in the autumn of 1903 that Secretary Wilson, of 

 the United States Department of Agriculture, and Dr. B. T. 

 Galloway, Chief of the Bureau of Plant Industry, visited the 

 scenes of the boll weevil fight in Texas and also made a per- 

 sonal visit to Dr. Knapp and the work he was doing. They 

 turned over to Dr. Knapp $40,000 of the Congressional ap- 

 propriations which had been made to fight the boll weevil. 

 This money together with the contributions of bankers, mer- 

 chants, railroad presidents and business men generally, was 

 used in the promotion of the work in different parts of Texas. 

 Each agent worked a large scope of country, especially along 

 lines of railroad. The following men were appointed as agents 

 before the beginning of the next year : Messrs. Jas. A. Evans, 

 W. F. Proctor, W. D. Bentley, J. L. Quicksall and W. M. 

 Bamberge. They not only worked their sections of the state 

 by getting some excellent farm demonstrations established, but 

 they hunted other men to work other districts. Before the 

 year closed more than twenty agents had been employed in 

 Texas, and a beginning had been made in Louisiana and 

 Arkansas by the appointment of one man for each state. 

 The beginning of the following year, 1905, marked the spread 

 of the work to Oklahoma and Mississippi. The following year 

 is most significant, also because the county agency was begun. 

 The general supervisors took more territory, but Dr. Knapp 

 soon realized that the best local results would be secured with 

 the county as the unit. The first five men appointed had a large 

 share in the development and history of the work. Mr. Evans 

 afterward became the head of the work in the South having 

 succeeded Mr. Bradford Knapp, son of the founder, on Jan- 

 uary 25th, 1920. 



The first county agent in the United States was Mr. W. C. 

 Stallings, of Smith County, Texas. He was appointed No- 



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