SUPERVISION, INSTRUCTION AND SUPPORT 



production, with an elaborate discussion of all of the differ- 

 ent varieties. It advocated the selection of the corn in the 

 field. It gave a picture of a good typical stalk and some 

 short discussion with regard to the ears, cobs and grains. It 

 impressed the importance of vigor, vitality and ancestry. 

 An agent carried a handful of these circulars with him — 

 went into the fields and actually helped in the selection and 

 marking of the stalks. He did this for the demonstrators 

 and especially for those who expected to continue as such. 

 The boys took much interest in this phase of the work from 

 the beginning and they used these simple circulars quite as 

 much as the men did. Many corn judging days were held 

 in the fields, at the fairs and at the schools. 



When the time for fall plowing came the agent carried 

 a supply of the leaflet which had been prepared on that sub- 

 ject. It contained facts and observations upon the effect of 

 deep plowing in different soils and under varying conditions. 

 It emphasized the importance of increasing the depth gradu- 

 ally. All of those engaged in the work discussed these points 

 and did this kind of thing at the same time. Similar pro- 

 cedure was carried on at the season of the year when further 

 preparation of the seed bed was necessary, and also in the 

 application of commercial fertilizers and barnyard manures. 

 There were special circulars on all of these subjects. 



The printed literature on live stock was very similar to 

 those on crop production. For instance, the circular on "Hog 

 Raising'^ plunged immediately into methods of management 

 for profit. It proceeded to show that the hog is a grazing 

 animal, — then a cropping plan with a diagram, showing the 

 crops that should be raised at different times of the year, 

 was given. There was no long discussion about different 

 breeds of hogs or the history of the swine industry. Neces- 



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