Milford chronicle., 1911-02-17
WOULD HELP STATE FARMS.

The bill of which notice was re-
Gently given in the State Legisla-
ture, providing for a Department
Of Agriculture Extension in Della
ware, is believed by its friends to
be one of vast potentiality in the
development of Delaware agricul-
ture. Similar laws, carrying ap-
propriations aggregating 1901, ,78o
fOr the year 1909, have been enacted
in IS States and Territories. In
some of these States, notably the
agricultural States, the work has
been so successful in solving agri-
cultural problems that the appro-
priations for this special work of
agricultural extension will be
trebled this year.
One well-known authority has
answered the question, what is
agricultural extension ?" with the
statement that 1t "is any and all
forms of educational activities car
ried on away from the college, but
under its direction and supervi
sion " 1t may be classified under
three heads
First. The giving Conformation
TO the farmer Of a specific nature
that he may apply to his own par
ticular problems.
Second. The giving Of demon
strations to show how to apply the
information that has been furnished.
Farmers are not different from any
other class in that they want to be
shown. Seeing is believing, and
although they may have the infor-
nation necessary at hand they want
10 see it applied
ThirtS The establishing ofideals
OF the giving of inspiration.
The manner Of carrying out the
provisions of the bill now pending
is a local problem. and one that
would have to be worked out by
the extension worker after he had
familiarized himself with the con
ditions and needs of the State. In
all probability. if the bill passes,
the work will be started by laying
out a number of cooperative exper-
iment plots on farms in different
sections of the State. The purpose
Oftheexperiments will be to demon
strate the advantages or disadvan-
tages of certain kinds Of fertilizers,
the adaptability Of particular crops |
TO different types of SOIL and t. /
value of various methods Of tillage. /
The extensionworkerwil take not
on the work during the season az I !
at harvest time make the 6nalweigh-
ing of the crop, perhaps at a farrl
ers gathering, and show on tie I
ground what the experiment has
taught.
a most helpful feature of agricul-
.tural extension, a friend of the bill
says is that the worker is constantly
meeting farmers at their work and
is in a position to help them solve
some of the problems in tillage,
fertility, farm management, etc,
that are always coming up. The
extension man is a travelling expert
whose services are given to the
farmers by the State as one Of the
means BY which the agriculture of
the State may be developed
The bill should appeal with
special force to land owners (many
of whom are women) who do not
live on the laud. but whose farms
are intrusted to tenants. There
are about 5000 such farms in this
State. 1t is argued that these are
not so productive nor so profitable
as farms titled by their owners
The friends of the measure say that
if an extension worker, by tactful |
could make che average {
tenant farmer increase his net rev. /
snue two dollars, he would add
enough wealth to the State to pay i
Of the cost Of the extension depart S
ne1t several times over b