EFFECTIVENESS OF EXTENSION IN REACHING RURAL PEOPLE 
15 
Home departments of the extension association exist in two of the 
States involved, Xew York and California. From Table 15 it will 
be noted that 81 per cent of the members of the home bureau, or 
home department, adopted home-economics practices as compared 
with 68 per cent of the former members and 14 per cent of the non- 
members. 
The average number of practices adopted by members was twice 
the number adopted by nonmembers in the case of both the farm 
bureau and the home bureau. A much smaller proportion of the 
nonmembers of the home bureau were reached with home practices 
than nonmembers of the farm bureau with agricultural practices. 
Table 15.— Membership in the home bureau, or home department, as related to 
number of homes changing practices 1 
Group 
Percentage of farms changing 
„ practices 
s^fe 
farms Agricul . Home Any 
tural economics practice 
Average 
number 
of 
practices 
changed 
Members of home bureau, or home de- 
partment 
Former members - - 
"Nonmembers . . ... ... 
436 16 84 81 
233 9 81 68 
1,971 75 62 14 
97 
90 
64 
5.5 
4.4 
2.6 
1 Data in this table are for New York and California only. 
The relationship between changed practices and membership in the 
extension association is brought out in Table 16. Forty- two per 
cent of the operators of farms on which practices were changed 
were farm-bureau members, as compared with 12 per cent of 
the operators of farms on which no practices were changed. Of 
the farm homes. 22 per cent of those where practices were changed 
were members of the home bureau as contrasted to 2 per cent of 
those where no practices were reported changed. Where the farm 
and home bureau is functioning as a county extension association, 
continued membership is very dependent upon effective extension 
work. That extension effort is not limited to members of the co- 
operating farmers' organizations, is evidenced by the fact that more 
than half of the nonmembers reported had been reached by the 
extension service. 
Table 16. — Relationship of number of farms changing practices to membership in 
extension association l 
Group 
Number 
of farms 
Percent- 
age of all 
farms 
Percentage member 
of— 
Farm Home 
bureau bureau 2 
Practices changed 
No practices changed . 
2,339 
850 
73 
27 
42 
12 2 
; Most of the data in this table are for three States only, Colorado not being included. 
2 Data in this column are for New York and California onlv. 
PARTICIPATION IN EXTENSION ACTIVITIES 
Of the 3.954 farms included in this study. 5S6 or 15 per cent had 
participated in extension activities through demonstrations, held 
meetings, home meetings, and similar events held on their own 
