Farmer’s Co-operative Demostration Work in 
Citrus and Trucking Counties 
A. P. Spencer, Gainesville, Fla. 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
In presenting this paper, it is not my 
intention to go into the demonstration 
work as fully as it is carried on in the ter¬ 
ritory in which I work. Several new 
fields of activity present themselves each 
year, but none seems more important than 
the application of farm demonstration 
principles to citrus and truck conditions. 
For this reason, I have prepared these few 
notes from the standpoint of those who 
might be expected to attend this Horti¬ 
cultural Convention. 
The movement has become nation-wide 
and, as the horticulturists of Florida are 
ever alive to the opportunities (offered 
them, it was at the suggestion of the pro¬ 
gram committee of the Horticultural So¬ 
ciety that this paper is offered. 
The purpose of the Farmers’ Co-opera¬ 
tive Demonstration Work, wherever es¬ 
tablished, is to diffuse useful and practi¬ 
cal information on subjects relative to 
farm life and to encourage their applica¬ 
tion. This work was first instituted in 
Florida by the Southern Education Board 
in 1907 under direction of the late Dr. S. 
A. Knapp, directed on the same plan of 
farm Demonstration Work as in the cot¬ 
ton-producing states, where the boll wee¬ 
vil had gained entrance. The boll wee¬ 
vil was the center of attack and, while 
efforts were made to control it, the most 
important thing was to encourage the 
growing of staple crops to supply the 
home and other markets, and more es¬ 
pecially for home supplies. 
In 1911, by an act of the Florida Legis¬ 
lature, $5,000 a year was appropriated for 
similar farm demonstration purposes. 
This $5,000 was applied in counties where 
cotton is not a staple crop, as the original 
appropriation by the Southern Education 
Board required that their money be used 
only in cotton-producing states. 
In the same year, the U. S. Department 
of Agriculture assumed the financing of 
the Demonstration Work, relieving the 
Southern Education Board, and continued 
it without county support until the close 
of the fiscal year of 1913, when it was re¬ 
quired that each county in Florida appro¬ 
priate a minimum of $175 annually, where 
it was desirable to retain the Demonstrat- 
tion Work in that county. 
July 1, 1914, the Smith-Lever Agricul¬ 
tural Extension Law became effective. 
This law provides for an appropriation of 
$10,000 each year, unconditionally, for 
each state. It further provides for each 
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