2IO GARDENS AND THEIR MEANING 



Washington, by the experiment stations, and by the agri- 

 cultural colleges all over the country. Instruction has been 

 persistently given by means of bulletins and leaflets prepared 

 by experts. The results, however, have been somewhat disap- 

 pointing, for there are regions where only about one per cent 

 of the farmers have made any connection with these centers. 

 New plans, therefore, are on foot. The experts have learned to 

 depend no longer upon reaching farmers by means of printed 

 bulletins. They are opening correspondence courses with in- 

 dividuals and clubs. They are sending members of their staff 

 into certain neighborhoods as social engineers. These men 

 and women bear no official title, but their mission is to carry 

 on model farms, to win the confidence of their neighbors, and 

 to lay the foundation for closer connection with the colleges. 

 With the assistance of the railroads they are sending out 

 " Better- Farming Specials," as they are called, — trains in- 

 geniously equipped for agricultural teaching, which stop, as 

 advertised, at certain central points, for demonstration to the 

 farmers, who gather from miles around. Moreover, they are 

 helping the farmers themselves to organize in associations for 

 better produce and for scientific breeding, after the methods 

 of the Danes. Some of the conspicuous cooperative organ- 

 izations already doing effective work among us are those of 

 the fruit growers in the West, of the cranberry raisers in 

 New England, and the cooperative dairies. At present, or- 

 ganizations of this sort are all too few in America. 



There is no doubt that the most hopeful sign of all is the 

 way in which the children are being won over to the interests 

 of country life before they begin to feel the pull of the city. 

 The corn and potato clubs started for children by the govern- 

 ment, offering definite honors to the winners of certificates, 

 might alone be said to mark a new era in rural neighbor- 

 hoods, for the reason that they recognize the influence that 



