THE DEMONSTRATION WORK 



and to inspect and compare home conditions, cannot fail to place local 

 public opinion upon a higher level and that is the principal opinion 

 to be considered in influencing the farmers." 



"The result is that the money which formerly went for current 

 debts now goes into home improvements, better clothing, better stock, 

 and more schooling. The earlier maturing cotton introduced and 

 made common by our agents allows six weeks more schooling annually 

 for the children. Rural improvement requires considerable expendi- 

 ture of money, which must be provided by the farmers through an 

 increase in the products of the farm with a decrease in their cost." 



"The teaching by object lessons is more effective where it is 

 simple, direct, and limited to a few common field crops, such as 

 cotton, com, cowpeas and oats in the South, so that the comparisons 

 may be evident and accepted at a glance. If general success can be 

 secured with these standard crops, further diversification follows as a 

 natural result." 



"In the cotton producing states the first instruction includes 

 cotton as the main cash crop, corn as the standard food for work 

 animals and the basis for more stock on the farm, cowpeas for food 

 and for renovation of the soil, the growing of oats, wheat, rye, or 

 clover and vetch as a winter cover crop, and the meadow and the 

 pasture as the most economical source of food for farm stock. When 

 the farmer has mastered these crops he is ready for diversification in 

 any desired direction." 



"The thrifty farmer should always have something to sell — a 

 few colts and steers, or a milch cow, or some hogs. Everytime he 

 goes to town the wagon should carry some fruit or vegetables, or 

 butter, or eggs, or poultry, and on its return it should not be loaded 

 with canned vegetables, preserves, meats or tinned milk. The wagon 

 that goes to town empty and returns loaded with foods the farmer 

 should produce at home is owned by a man who has but one suspender 

 and wears a crownless hat. Enough of the odds and ends should be 

 sold to pay the running expenses of the farm and the cotton crop 

 should be a clear bankable gain. Cotton is the greatest cash crop in 

 the world." 



"In the betterment of rural conditions the first step is to teach 

 the individual farmer how to increase his earning capacity." 



"No further argument is necessary after the demonstrations have 



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