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Show COUNTY AGENT AX ASSET The county agent movement in Utah has aroused such interest that a statement regarding the meaning of the work cannot help but prove interesting. Dr. R. J. Evans, of the Extension Division of the Utah Agricultural Agri-cultural College. State Leader of County Agents has just issued the following suggestions on the use of the County Agent: "The County Agricultural Agent is what his name implies, a general agent of the agricultural college, the United States Department of Agriculture Ag-riculture and the county in all agricultural ag-ricultural work in the county. These institutions look to him as a medium through which they carry on all activities in the county. The agent has at his service all the specialists of the college and of the U. S. Department, and has access to all literature published by them for distribution or for use of such agent. An Ag'ent for the Farmer 'On the other hand, he is the agent for the farmer. They should look to him for direct assistance from the college and the federal department on all branches of agricultural work. The agent is not an expert in all lines, but he can assist definitely so far as the work falls within the range of his experience with the thousands of farmers he meets on the farm. If the problem reaches beyond this, he can call on men who are specialists in these lines. State Forces Back the Agent "The-U. S. Department of Agriculture Agri-culture alone has more than 1000 men engaged in various lines of agricultural ag-ricultural research and are all available avail-able to the county agent to either write or call on special work if available avail-able to his territory. Our college' also has a large number of men to render service. "The amount of service rendered by this army of men will depend on the farmers' demand for such aid. Works Through the Bureau "The county agent should work through his farm bureau, as in this way the greatest service is rendered to the greatest number of persons. He works with the bureau on defin- 1 ite lines of work called projects to i get specific pieces of work done and the results tabulated. The bureau should in turn work through the county agent. Diversity of Problems "The agent can render service along the following lines: construction construc-tion of silos, dairy barns, hog pens, poultry houses and other farm buildings, build-ings, and supply plans and data on the cost of construction, installation of drains, irrigation weirs, pumping plants and cost data connected with them; livestock feeding, including cost and relative value of different kinds of feed for different classes of animals; live stock breeding and sources of good sires and dums; supplying sup-plying information of market conditions; con-ditions; supply and demand of stock and good seed for sale or exchange; soil problems, including alkali, water wa-ter and other troubles; crop improvement, improve-ment, standardization, diseases and insect pests, planning crop rotations and weed control; organizing the farm business for greater profit, keeping farm accounts; cow testing; controlling livestock diseases, and assisting the bureau in investigating proposed special lines of work and in I heir organization where advisable. He will get specialists to assist In the work he is unable to handle him-seir. him-seir. How to Got .Agent's Service "Usually the request for the county coun-ty agent's assistance should be sent in to the secretary of the local branch of the bureau, fir to the president presi-dent if the secretary has no telephone. tele-phone. Those requests should be kept by the secretary or president until the agent calls, or sent in to the agent's office. In case of emergency emer-gency calls, they should be made to the county agent." |