Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1912-03-15
I NEGRO DEMONSTRATION
g.. AGENTS
WORK WHICH THEY ARE DOING
EoR NEGRO FARMERS IN w.
ALABAMA. -.

article by Rev. A. F. Owens, published
in the Montgomery Advertiser. ..-.
Five counties in Alabama now have
negro demonstration agents to carry
on the work Of teaching negro farm
ers better methods Of farming by
means Of demonstration plots. There
are at present negro demonstration
agents in nearly, all the soutsern
states. with the exception of Virginia,
which has seven agents working IN
eleven counties. There Is no other
state where so much work Is being
done by negro agents for negro farm
ers as In Alabama. Inc reason so
much is being done for the negro
farmers = in Alabama is undoubtedly
due to the influence of Tuskegee In
stitute. just as the reason that so
much is being done for negro farmers
in Virginia is due to Hampton lnsti.
tute, of which the Tuskegee school Is
an offshoot.
OF the six negro demonstration
agents in Alabama, four gained their
training at Tuskegee, and the district
agent, r. NJ Campbell who has
charge of the work among the negroes
in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana
and Oklahoma, Is a graduate of the
same school. "A recent report made
by the agricultural department on the
work Of the demonstration agents In
Alabama, shows that the negro farm
ers, working under the direction OF
these agents, have made pretty good
showing. t
The, following is a summary Of re-
suits obtained by some Of the negro
county demonstration agents in farm
demonstration work during the past
c. d. ,Menefe&. Lee county. conduct
ed 50 demonstrations in corn and 60
in cotton, using 1913 acres for the for
mer and 900 acres for theslatter. The
results were an average of A bushels
of corn per acre and an average OF
1859 pounds of cotton per acre. -.
Washington A. Ttate, Macon coun-
ty, had charge of 22 demonstrations in
corn and SO in cotton, using a total OF
39h in corn and u acres in cotton.
The results were an average of 54.1
bushels of corn per acre and 1,429
pounds Of cotton on the same amount
Of land.
Harry Sims, Wilcox county, super
vised one demonstration in &C, and
% in cotton, planting one acre in corn
and IS acres in cotton. The one acre
in corn yielded ~ bushels; tine IS
acres in cotton yielded an average OF
1899 pounds per acre.
G. w. Patterson, Madison county,
had charge Of 81 demonstrations In
corn and Is in cotton. The amount
OF land cultivated in corn was 81
acres, and Sc acres we're in cotton.
This demonstration made an average
of 433 bushels Of corn per acre and
averaged $40 pounds per acre for cot.
ton 49,.
Some notion of what the demonstra.
ton agents have done for the negro
farmers may be gathered from the
fact that the average yield Of corn
per acre for negro farmers in 1909.
the year the census was taken, was
less than eight bushels per acre. The
average bushels made this year by
negro demonstration farmers in Ma
con county was 54.1 bushels per acre.
This was the best average made by
farmers under any of the negro dem
cnstration agents and was nearly
eight bushels above the average Of the
other white and negro demonstration
agents throughout the state.
The average yield of seed cotton in
Alabama in 1911 was about 900
pounds per acre. The highest aver
age yield made on the farms conduct
ed under negro agent was in Lee
county, where the average was 1857
pounds of cotton per acre. This was
424 pounds of cotton above the aver
age made on the other demonstra-
ton plots in different parts of the
state and more than 11,200 pounds
more than was made on the average
farm.