CHAPTER V 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE FARM DEMONSTRATION 



AGENCY 



EXTENSION work in the United States begins with the 

 Demonstration Agent and he begins with the farmer on 

 his farm. Of course the histories will connect Extension Work 

 with Experiment Stations and Experiment Station Work 

 with the establishment of Agricultural Colleges under the 

 Morrill Act of 1862. This is the evolution as it is outlined 

 by legislative enactment and governmental provision. 



It wa^ just a quarter of a century after the enactment of 

 the Morrill Law before the Hatch Act was passed making 

 appropriations for experiment and research, and another 

 twenty-five years rolled around before Congressman Lever 

 had his Extension Bill ready to be enacted into law. Thus 

 these developments are written into the statutes of the nation, 

 but they do not tell the whole story. Casual readers may as- 

 sume that one followed the other in easy and ready sequence, 

 but such was not the case. Much thought and discussion in- 

 tervened. The Agricultural Colleges groped for many years 

 before they found their mission and began to fulfill it to 

 any considerable degree. With but few students really tak- 

 ing agriculture, and still fewer becoming farmers, the facul- 

 ties were not prepared to go out and instruct adult farmers. 

 Teaching adolescents is quite a different thing from giving 

 timely and appropriate knowledge and guidance to men who 



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