OCR Text |
Show LEVER AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION BILL . AND WHAT ITJS SUPPOSED TO 00 This Act, Which Provides for Carrying to the Actual Farmer Upon the Farm the Latest and Best Methods of Agriculture, Passed Congress by an Almost Unanimous Vote Senate Increased Appropriation Passed by House. sumed to work out and what those who framed it had in mind. Suppose we take a state of 100 counties. coun-ties. The state college authorities the first year can find only a few men in the whole state, say, ten, who are capable of doing field work as adviser. bo they must make a start with these. The next year a few more can be found and trained and fitted for the work. It will probably be eight or ten years before be-fore the state will be fully equipped and every county supplied with an efficient ef-ficient man, and the plan contemplated by the act be fully organized and in operation. The counties will undoubtedly undoubt-edly be clamoring for men long before they can get them, so the danger lies in going too fast and letting incompetent incompe-tent men slip into the service. No greater mistake could bo made. The By HOWARD H. GROSS, President National Soil Fertility League. Washington. A review of the efforts ef-forts that have been made for better agriculture, why this last act was passed and what it is supposed- to do, will be interesting. Over fifty years ago by the Morrill act, congress established the agricultural agricul-tural colleges by land grant. They were designed to disseminate the agricultural agri-cultural knowledge to the farmers of the country, upon the theory that agriculture agri-culture is the most important industry and that the success of all our efforts for advancing civilization is based upon it It soon became apparent that the body of definite scientific knowledge knowl-edge was very limited, so 25 years later, under the Hatch act, congress established the United States experiment experi-ment stations for the purpose of developing de-veloping an effective system of agriculture. agri-culture. This was followed by the Adams act, providing for scientific research; re-search; then the Nelson amendments were passed increasing the appropriations. appropria-tions. Resulting from the above legislation the agricultural colleges and experiment experi-ment stations, as well as the federal i. hi asW ti Vf s s V x lfj( l, 0 ! J kr- ' t . ' v J f ' - " ture under various conditions so we may get the best results for the effort and money expended. We are too often out of harmony with nature's plan. If we observe and interpret correctly cor-rectly conditions and then do the right thing at the right time and in the right way, the reward will be abundant. abun-dant. The steel industry was completely com-pletely revolutionized by science and the cost of production of this article was greatly reduced, and the profits at the same time immensely increased. Agriculture will as surely be revolutionized revolu-tionized by science within a score of years. We have on hand, and we might say in cold storage, the scientific knowledge necessary to do this. The problem is to get it out to the man on the farm and have him make use of it. The Lever agricultural extension act, just passed by congress, will furnish fur-nish a practical, sensible, efficient and sufficient plan for doing this. By its terms, by co-operation with the states, it endows the agricultural colleges with sufficient funds to enable the colleges col-leges to train and place ultimately and permanently in every agricultural county a trained man to help the farmers farm-ers understand and apply the new methods in farm operations, and keep these methods up to date. If the plan is to succeed, it is of the highest importance that the fanner shall do his part and co-operate with the farm adviser fully and in a friendly friend-ly way. The danger that surrounds the plan is the sending out of incapable incapa-ble or indiscreet men as farm advisers. It will be a difficult position for a man to hold; he 6hould be well versed in all phases of farming and have both a thorough, scientific training and considerable con-siderable practical farm experience. He must know how to meet people in an acceptable manner. It will be the duty of these advisers to assist such farmers as desire it, to understand and apply the newer methods in their farm operations. These men will be the medium by which the college will reach the farmer and the farmer will reach the college a sort of pipe line through which the pent-up knowledge will reach the farms. The attitude of these farm advisers is designed to be that of a co-operator rather than an instructor, in-structor, for it will doubtless be true that they will learn as much from the farmers as the farmers will learn from them. The one is presumed to be equipped with the theory and the science of the art, and the other the practical experience of It. The best results should be had by bringing these together. The Lever act contemplates contem-plates this. It may be interesting to illustrate the manner in which the act is pre- Agricultural Extension Work. ten available men to begin with should; be located at central points where they will be most accessible as farm advisers. ad-visers. They should have two or three assistants, young men taking the agricultural agri-cultural college course, and use them to do the preliminary work under the direction and supervision of the dia-trict dia-trict farm adviser. They will visit th farmers, tell them of the plan and ascertain as-certain from them whatever serious problems they may have relating to that locality and how they have been dealing with them. These young men should consult frequently, if not daily,: with the farm adviser. jit .sLc&ti&ax Howard H. Gross. department of agriculture have been at work developing, collecting, classifying classi-fying and reducing to practice a vast fund of thoroughly tested out, scientific knowledge relating to agriculture, which, if it were in the hands of the actual farmers and generally applied by them, would revolutionize the art of farming and bring untold benefit to the whole people and to the farmers in particular. The re-direction of agriculture agricul-ture on scientific lines is one of the biggest and most important subjects that has ever been brought before the people. For the last 15 years or more various vari-ous efforts have been made to get this stored up knowledge out into the hands of the actual farmers for whom it was gathered, and who helped to pay the enormous cost of getting it. They undoubtedly have the right not only to ask but demand that it should be furnished to them in such a manner that they can make use of it. Among the plans tried was the sending send-ing broadcast to the farmers and others oth-ers interested ten of millions of bulletins bulle-tins from the department at Washington Washing-ton and many more from the experiment experi-ment stations and colleges. Compara-, tively few of these bulletins, however were written in plain non-technical language, hence the average person could not understand them. Another method was by "talk-fests" at farmers' meetings, also the operation opera-tion of lecture trains in co-operation with the railways. None or all of these methods, however, how-ever, have proven sufficient for the purpose, in fiict they have hardly made a dent iipon the main proposition. proposi-tion. Experience showed that a better way must be found. Well, one was found years a-.o, and that was in making ma-king actual field demonstrations, showing show-ing the improved results that were secured se-cured by newer methods. Thla was convincing and just what was needed. It was not or. ly theory, but theory ap plied in practice. Few people not engaged in the industry in-dustry realize that farming is a very difficult business owing to the ever changing conditions that the farmer must meet One Eeasou it is too wet, the next too dry, the third is too wet. say, in the spring and too dry later in the year when the crop is matured; one year It is too cold, then the next it is hot winds; pests innumerable are to be contended with always, both above and below ground; weeds are everywhere in evidence. There are few lines of business that are more I complex or where., there is greater j need for sound judgment, experience, I quick decision, prompt action and thai j opens a larger field for the application j of science than that of farming. We are too apt to think science a mysterious mys-terious and intangible . something, when Indeed it is very simple; when reduced to its last analysis it is the ascertaining of how to work with na- |