EDUCATION AND INFORMATION 1053 



ever before given by the Federal Government to any form of education. 

 This, within a few years, will amount to over $4,000,000 annually, which 

 must, according to the act, be met with an equal amount from the several 

 states. This will ultimately make possible the placing of trained agricul- 

 turists in every one of the three thousand counties in the United States. 



Extension Representatives. — In farming, knowledge is quite as import- 

 ant as experience. There are man}'- things that the farmer should know 

 which he has not learned b}^ experience, no matter how many years he 

 may have been farming. There are many valuable things that he could 

 learn from those who are not farmers. Dr. Babcock was not a farmer, but 

 he gave to the farmer the milk test which bears his name, and which has 

 done more than any one thing to improve the yield of milk and butter-fat 

 per cow all over the United States. This simple test that may be used 

 by any farmer, enables him to accurately measure the yield of each cow 

 with but little time and expense. With the knowledge thus secured, 

 the farmer is able to decide which cows are profitable and which are 

 unprofitable. 



The advantages of the extension representative, located permanently 

 in a county, lie in his being able to become acquainted with the people 

 and their problems. If he is the right man for the position, he soon secures 

 the confidence of the people with whom he works, and this is the first 

 essential in his success. He cannot be expected to solve all of the problems 

 that may be presented, but he should know where to secure expert advice 

 on those which he is unable to solve by himself. 



It has so far been a principle in the development of this type of exten- 

 sion that men would be placed only in the counties where the people were 

 ready for this kind of work and willing to aid in financing it. To attempt 

 to force this type of advice on unwilling people only invites failure. So 

 far, many counties have requested the work, and the great difficulty has 

 been to find the type of men who could successfully fill the positions. 

 There are many lines of work that such a representative can undertake. 

 Among these may be mentioned tests of varieties of the different crops 

 best adapted to local conditions, methods of testing seed corn and other 

 seeds for germination, the treatment of seeds for smut and potatoes for 

 scab. Much good can be done by showing the farmers how to compute 

 feeding rations and advising them relative to the home mixing of fertilizers 

 and the amount and form of lime that may be most economically used. 

 Cow testing associations may be formed and boys' and girls' corn clubs, 

 pig clubs, etc., organized. 



Agricultural Publications. — The earliest publications in the interest 

 of agriculture in this country consisted of reports of the early agricultural 

 societies. As early as 1792 the New York Society published a volume on 

 its transactions and five years later the trustees of the Massachusetts 

 Society began a series of pamphlets on agricultural topics which after- 

 wards developed into a journal. 



