DEVELOPMENT OF THE FARM DEMONSTRATION AGENCY 



sidered a consulting adviser in many farm questions which 

 constantly arise. 



In talking to some of his assistants in his office in the 

 early days, Dr. Knapp said that in order to do this work suc- 

 cessfully, ''You must know agriculture, you must know 

 education and you must know people." He left a strong 

 inference, also, that if they did not know people that their 

 knowledge of the other two subjects could not amount to 

 much. Herein lies the distinction between the Demonstra- 

 tion Work and other methods of agricultural extension in this 

 and foreign countries. It is in the method of approach and 

 the encouragement to self-help for the sake of others. These 

 principles are simple, so simple that the wonder is they have 

 not been used in this field before. The same thing is true, 

 however, in all great discoveries and inventions. Somehow, 

 their very simplicity seems to cause them to be overlooked. 

 Students from many countries have said that this demonstra- 

 tion phase of extension service is the great contribution which 

 Dr. Knapp made to education and civilization. 



The duties of the agricultural consulants or counselors 

 of Denmark, Belgium, Norway, Sweden and other European 

 countries are more similar to those of the Demonstration 

 Agents in the United States than any other class of workers. 

 Counselor is a better word than adviser. The first syllable 

 of counselor means together. That is the derivation. This 

 offiicial and the farmer are supposed to reason together. Each 

 contributes to the performance. The wanderlehers of Germany 

 had a little more mandatory or semi-military authority. They 

 were a part of the system. The traveling professors of France 

 and Italy work more through the schools, although they are 

 counselors also. In fact, that is true, to a large degree, in 

 extension work as it had been developed in all European 

 countries. 



["5] 



