THE DEMONSTRATION WORK 



possible way for him to grow is by achievement — doing something 

 of which he is proud. He is a common farmer. What line of 

 achievement is open to him but doing better work and securing 

 greater results on his own farm? As soon as the man begins to grow 

 he will work for every rural betterment." 



The observations made by the man in charge of the work 

 showed that success was relative and progressive. Not all 

 agents and not all demonstrators succeeded promptly and 

 fully. He was able to see the difficulties and estimate rates of 

 progress before the work had been going five years. 



In 1908 in a publication of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture, he said: 



"It generally requires from two to three years to thoroughly 

 impress the farmer that this lesson of making a greater yield per 

 acre is a practical method of farming applicable to his entire farm. 

 The first year he rarely carries out the entire plan. He has not 

 quite faith enough, or possibly the season is adverse, but he gener- 

 ally succeeds so much better than he expected that the second year's 

 trial is more thorough, with a correspondingly increased gain. 



The farmer is a natural doubter. When he has harvested the 

 larger crop the second year, he is frequently inclined to attribute 

 it to one thing, generally the seed, because this is most in evidence, 

 instead of distributing the credit between the better seed bed, and 

 the intensive cultivation. Frequently his neighbors, full of the 

 one-idea merit, offer $5 a bushel for the seed, thinking that the seed 

 alone will make the crop. The third year the demonstration farmer 

 is generally more of a convert and enlarges his trial area, frequently 

 including his entire farm. In the meantime his neighbors have been 

 observing and have commenced to inquire and follow his example. 



It requires from three to five years to have the increased yield 

 show a considerable average gain in the local markets. This depends 

 however, somewhat upon the number of demonstrations established 

 in a county. Where one can be placed in each neighborhood the pro- 

 gress is rapid, because the interest soon becomes intense. If only 

 one or two demonstration farms are established in a county, the 

 work does not create interest enough to arouse public sentiment 

 and produce at once a strong opinion in its favor. 



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