Miscellaneous. 



202 



[September, 1908 



tion to planting pure seed or keeping it 

 pure when planted, and still fewer have 

 tried to improve their seed by selec- 

 tion. Not one farm in one hundred in the 

 South has proper storage for good 

 seed. Through field agents prominent 

 farmers in every county have been 

 induced to establish seed farms, where 

 the cultivation of the crop and the 

 selection and storing of the seed are 

 supervised by agents of this co-operative 

 demonstration work under an agree- 

 ment that the seed produced shall be 

 distributed to the farmers at a moderate 

 price. The best seeds for a given sec- 

 tion are observed, and a general interest 

 is aroused among the farmers to plant a 

 separate seed patch on every farm and 

 carefully select for improvement. 



Practical Results Accomplished. 



The field operations in connection with 

 the Farmers' Co-operative Demonstra- 

 tion Work extend over such a vast 

 territory that it is difficult to state 

 results in a concrete way. The follow- 

 ing statements give the more important 

 items in condensed form : — 



Amount available from Con- 

 gressional appropriations for 



year 1907-8 ... ... §77,739-80 



General Education Board 



Contribution* ... ... 69,000 00 



Slater fund* ... ... 1,000-00 



Voluntary local contributions 



(estimated)t ... ... 20,000-00 



167,739-80 



Agent in charge ... ... 1 



General assistant agents ... 2 



Field agents ... ... 143 



States partially or Avholly worked 10 

 Public meetings held annually ... 2,750 

 Circulars distributed annually ... 200,000 



Number of demonstration farms, 

 1907-8, of which exact records 

 are kept in central office ... 12,000 



Number of co-operating farms, 

 1907-8 ... ... 20,000 



Number of farmers visiting the 

 demonstration farms annually 

 (conservatively estimated) ... 300,000 



Great interest is everywhere manifest- 

 ed in better preparation of the soil, in 



* The responsibility for handling these funds re- 

 mains in thafhands of the contributors, acting 

 under the advice of the agent in charge. 



f Many counties ask for more demonstration 

 farms and^more improved seed than the Depart- 

 ment [of Agriculture can furnish on account of 

 lack of funds. Some of these pledge the money 

 necessay to thus supplement the work. 



planting selected seed, and in general 

 betterment. 



Thousands of prize contests have been 

 started in cotton and corn production 

 among farmers and also among boys on 

 the farm. 



Thousands of letters bearing testimony 

 to the value of the work have been re- 

 ceived, but it is impossible to present any 

 extended digest of these within the limits 

 of a Farmers' Bulletin. 



The following extracts from letters 

 received show the people's estimate of 

 the value of this demonstration work : — 



Marshall, Tex., October 10, 1907. 



We, the undersigned committee for 

 Harrison County, Tex., make the follow- 

 ing prelimanry report on the Farmers' 

 Co-operative Demonstration Work done in 

 the past season in this county :— 



On account of the ravages of the bol- 

 weevil, Harrison County, Tex., was 

 threatened with a disaster in the 

 loss of the cotton crop that would affect 

 every material interest in the county. 

 The loss of money was not the sole con- 

 sideration. Our tenants and farm 

 labourers would to a large extent leave 

 the county, and it would thus per- 

 manently injure our Commonwealth. 

 In this emergency we appealed to the 

 United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture through you for advice and aid. 

 You came to our county and organized 

 the woik in February, 1907, under an 

 arrangement by which the Department 

 of Agriculture would furnish superin- 

 tendence and the people of this county 

 would raise enough funds to buy im- 

 proved seed for the demonstration 

 farms. The citizens of the county 

 promptly raised and deposited in bank 

 $1,000, and later contributed $700 more, 

 making a total of $1,700 invested in 

 better seed. All agreements between 

 the Department of Agriculture and the 

 people were promptly and satisfactorily 

 carried out. Almost without expection 

 this was the worst season this section 

 has ever known for producing cotton, 

 but without reservation we wish to make 

 the following statements : — 



(1) The results of the demonstration 

 work have been in the highest degree 

 satisfactory to our people, and they re- 

 gard this movement as one of the 

 greatest ever made for the upbuilding of 

 our section. 



(2) Our people are unanimous in asking 

 for its continuance and would regard the 

 discontinuance of the work as an untold 

 disaster. 



