The Port Gibson reveille. [volume] (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1890-current, 1910-01-20
The Farmers Cooperative DEM
onstration Work, U. $. De-
partment of Agriculture.

This work was first organized in
1904 in the State of Texas, with {
view to mitigating as much as pos
sible the serious panic and demor
alization resulting from the inva
sion of the Mexican boil weevil
This generalization has become
widespread and severe, and was
affecting all lines of industry. Al
first only a few agents were EN-.
ployed and only a few hundred
demonstrations were made; but as
the work increased in success and
popularity and as the boil weevil
came eastward the demand and ne
cessity for it greatly increased, SO
that to-day nearly 900 demonstra-
ton agents are employed in nearly
all parts of the south.
The basic principle underlying
the Farmers Cooperative Demon
stration work is that SEEING IS BE-
LIEvING. People get stacks OF
bulletins and listen to lectures by
the hour without being greatly in
Auenced; but when you demon-
strate on a mans own or his neigh
boris farm the value of some new
methods, he is quick to appropri-
ate it to his own uses. 1t is a case
where little example is superior
to a world of precept.
Now just a word as to what we
are attempting to teach. Let it be
understood in the beginning that
in no sense is this work expert
mental. Everything we advocate
and put into practice on our dem
onstrations has been worked out
and tried for years by our state
experiment stations and the inves-
ltigative bureaus of the National
department of Agriculture. These
things have been proven scores of
times by the best agricultural au-
thorities in the country. and have
been found to pay. To secure the
general adoption of these paying
methods among all classes of farm
ers in the South is the function of
our work. The adoption of these
means more bushels per acre and
moe bales per acre, and these
mean greater prosperity to every
commercial and industrial interest
in the State.
The bol weevil has now almost
covered South Mississippi, and the
necessity for better methods of
farming is rapidly becoming more
apparent. But even il the weevil
had never been heard of, the meth
DDS advocated by the Department
would have been of untold value.
These methods simply mean better
farming, and let it be understood
at once that all the approved
methods of fighting the boil weevil
mean only this. Diversihcation-
some sotton, more corn, more oats,
more cowpeas, and more hogs and
cattIe-here is the cornerstone up
on which all future agricultural
success must rest.
Mr.. G. H. Afford of Pike coun-
| ty has been employed by the De-
partment as demonstration agent
for the river counties south of
Vicksburg. 1t will be his duty to
establish and direct, by agreement
with the owners, 80 or 40 demon
stration farms in this section.
Among the things demonstrated
will be the necessity for the proper
circling of rows to prevent wash
ing; the value of thorough prepa-
ration of the land; winter cover
crops and pastures; the value of
good seed in both cern and cotton;
proper methods of cultivation; the
right use of commercial fertilizers;
value of barnyard manure; and the
necessity for crop rotations, with
plenty of cowpeas grown for soil
improvement.
Mr.. Afford was selected to car
ry out this work because he, is a
practical successful farmer, and
has been putting into operation on
his own place at least part of the
methods we advocate. He can
speak from experience. But even
Iif this were not true, remember
that when the agent tells you a
thing about farming he is not
merely giving you his experience