The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-02-09
PRAISE FOR FARM WORK IN ALABAMA Best Organized State in the
 Entire South FINE COOPERATION Secretary Wilson Gets Report on the Agricultural Experiment Work
 in All of the Sixty-seven
 Alabama Counties

Washington. February S.-(Special) Secretary Wilson has received the fol- lowing report on department demon stration work in Alabama.
 "There are 67 counties in the state
 of Alabama, and during the hscai yea
 of 1912 every one of these counties Will have a farm demonstration agent. we
 believe in Alabama that this work Is more thoroughly organized and system atic than in any other state In the south. Our co-operation, both financial l and moral, has been most satisfactory. | "The legislature of 1911 was most progressive one and was very generous | in it's attitude toward all plans looking | to the betterment of agricultural con ditions of the state. This leglslalule e appropriated the sum or Szo'ooo .o pc expended under the direction Of the state board of agriculture in farm dem onstration work, In cooperation with the United States department or agrl- culture. In addition law was passed lauthorizing each county board or com missioners, where they saw Tt, 10 make an appropriatio for the same purpose A number of counties have aVaileo themselves of the provisions of this law and as a result of this cooperation, na- tional. state and county, we have been able to place man in every county or
 the state, many of them working on a
 full time basis.
 "The personnel of this board evil
 dences the cooperative spirit or US ere
 ation. The Commissioner of agriculture
 is a member of the board and eX-oifici3 chairman; also the director of experl-
 ment stations and the professor of az
 ricultural extension work at Auburn are members. The representation of these two agencies, the state depart ment of agriculture and the agricultur- al college insures the cooperation of these two forces that are working for e better system of agriculture.
 "The exact figures for the farms worked under demonstration methods in Alabama this season are not yet available but for the year 1910, on 93i demonstrations in cotton there was
 made an average yield of 1220.2 pounds of seed cotton per acre; on 3O39 acres of demonstration corn, an average yield of 41.4 bushels per acre was made against an average yield for the state of only IS bushels per acre. Prelimi- nary figures received to date make it certain that not only will the acreage worked according to demonstration methods be practically doubled for the year 1911 but the yield of all crops per acre will be materially increased. It appears now that the average yield of cotton per acre will be something like ] 450 pounds, against an average for the state of about 600 pounds, and an aver a ge yield of the state of about IS bush els. A further evidence of progress made Is in the fact that in 1910 Alabama increased its corn crop over any previ- ous year by more than 20,000,000 bush els apd the record was broken again in 1911, when the state made approxi mately 66,000.000 bushels, against 63, 000. GOO for 1910. Not only has this been done, but the acreage and production of other diversified crops has been largely increased.
 "So on the whole we feel in Alabama that with the financial and moral CO., operation that is everywhere evident, and the spirit of progressiveness along agricultural lines that is pervading the entire state, that in the near future Alabama will take her rightful place among the leading agricultural states of the country"