The Mena weekly star., 1911-10-19
MILLIONS LOST
 BY POOR ARMING
Comparison of Results Shows Ar- kansans Lose Heavily Through Failure to Adopt Scien-
 tific Methods.

Little Rock, Oct. 12.-That Arkan- sas lost the sum of $67, ,369, 12S by poor farming last year, based on comparative results obtained under demonstration farming and the old way of farming, is the conclusion reached by C. W. Watson, state agent in charge of the farm demon- stration work in Arkansas.
 MT. Watson is just forwarding his annual report to the agricultural authorities at Washington, showing the status of demonstration work in the state, for this period of the year, the number of demonstrators en- gagged, etc, together with some fig ures showing the contrast between crops under the new and old con- ditiOns for the year 1910. A few months later he will make another report showing the actual crop re- suits, number of bales of cotton, raised in 1911, bushels of corn har- vested, and other data of interest.
 According to this report there are now three district agents in Arkan- sas, each assigned to a particular section of the state as supervisors of the county demonstrators. In addition, there are 46 special or county agents, many of them having two counties to look after. In this way there are very few counties that have no demonstrators regu- larly engaged.
 2,760 Demonstrators at Work. Working under these special and district agents, all of whom are under State Agent Watson, are g. 760 farm demonstrators, cultivating 3i, ,7S6 acres according to the latest and most scientific methods of ag- riculture. This gives an average of fifteen acres to the demonstrator. Ill addition to all the above there are 9,788 farmers in the state who are working along the lines laid down by the demonstrators and known as co-operators. The num- Der of acres worked by co-operators reaches 37i,944, or an average of 38 acres to the co-operator, giving a fair idea of the extent the farm demonstration principle is being ap- piled in Arkansas.
 Mir. Watson's report also contains figures showing that there are now i35 boys corn clubs in the state, with total membership of 5,840, and that there are nine girls tomato clubs now organized and ia opera tion.
 Figures That Tell the Story.
 Tn arriving at the interesting hSs- lures showing what the state lost lin poor farming in 1910, MT. Watson estimates that if every acre of cot ton in Arkansas had made the same yield as was shown on the demon stration plats, the total yield of cot ton would have been 625,fS9 Ibales greater than it was, and at $50 per bale this would have pro- lduced S50,Oi5,i2S. In addition to this. if the corn yield for every acre had been as great as that shown on lthe demonstration plats per acre, lthe state would have raised i03,924,- | 900 bushels of corn, or 3470S,0OO Imore than it did raise. This would have heen worth Si7,354,000, or a total of S67,369,i28.
 These figures are not merely the
 result of guesses. They are based on the actual results. It was found that for 1910 the corn on the dem-
 onstration plats for the entire state
 made 36 bushels per acre, on an
 average. while the average yield Tor Icorn cultivated the old way was
 only 2l bushels per acre.
 And similarly with cotton. The yield per acre for seed cotton as cultivated on the farm demonstra- ltion plats was 9i4 pounds as against
 525 pounds as the average yield un-
 der the old style of farming. IT other words, the cotton yield under farm demonstration methods wa' . nearly twice that under the old way The present report also shows great gains in the work of demon strators, there being now nearl. ltwice as many persons engaged II Ithe various lines Of the work a Twas the case year ago.