The Marshall republican., 1913-02-28
COUNTYFARM
ADVISER

can render a county, as follows:
$. NJ. Jordan, who for a number OF
years has been a farm institute lee
turer for the state board OF agrlcul-
ture. is now employed by Pettis
county, Missouri, as It's farm adviser.
When Mr.. Jordan first undertook
his work he experienced a good deal
OF opposition from that class OF farm
ers who are not yet In sympathy with
scientific farming methods and not a
few OF them criticised the county
court severely for agreeing to contri-
butte half his salary out of the
county To this end, one Of
the first things he did was to organ
lie the "Pettis County Agricultural
Bureau" in order that as many farm
ers as possible might be brought into
active touch and sympothy with the
work. "Unless I can get a majority
of the farmers OF the county to co.
Operate with me and help me. I can
NOT succeed" Mr.. Jordan told the
FARMERS at their county meeting and
bs a result an agriculture bureau.
| reaching into every school district OF
| the county was organized and an adj
visory counciil OF two from each OF
the IL townships was appointed. In
addition TO this, three committeeman
were appointed from each school dis
trict and before long a powerful.
closely knitted together organization
had been perfected. A family mem
tership of 81 per year was charged
and committees on finance, highway
and crop Improvement we're appoint
ed and in time others on such sub
jects as corn breeding. pure bred
sires. etc. will be named. No man Is
drafted for committee work. II he
In 4 breeder OF improved corn he II
entitled TO membership on the corn
breeding committee while n farmer
who isn't breeding pure bred sires
would not be put on a pure bred slres
committee. In other words. this as-
ricultural bureau IL built from the
ground up. II IL not an lndiscrlmin-
ate h~odge-podee organization where
nobody knows where he Is going ex-
,cept that "he IL on his way"
About the first thing Mr.. Jordan
did In the spring of 1912 vas to take
UP the question OF seed selection. ex-
horting the farmers TO test every
grain OF corr before planting and
showing them through bulletins and
the newspapers how to do Il. Among
other things. he called on the local
seed men and asked 10 inspect their
seed aud the test showed that much
OF II contained n big percentage NOT
only OF weed seeds but OF dodder-
the greatest parasitic pest known to
plant life aud one which Il II almost
impossible 10 eradicate. once II gets
a hold on n piece of land. Mr.. Jor-
dan said to the seed men. "unless YOU
sell clean seed | am going TO tell the
farmers OF Psttis county Just what
you are doing. II You viii get seed
that In clean aud sound I'll be glad
10 recommend you"-and they took
his hint In q hurry and as a result
when a farmer goes to these men to-
day he knows that he ls going 10 get
pure seed. Just n little thing aud yet
an important one-showing that II
paws the farmers OF a county to em-
ploy somebody whose business II Is
TO look after things like that for
them.
MANY farmers had tried 10 grow
alfalfa but without success. until the
general conclusion that Pettls county
land would not grow this crop was
arrived at; Jordan began making
soil tests and found that about nine
fields out of ten revealed acid condi-
ltions which would make successful
alfalfa growing impossible-and yet
left to themselves, the farmers had
never thought of approaching the
\ rroblem from this angle. To give
you an idea of how far-reaching Mr..
'ordan's work has been In this res
rect up-to-date he has tested the soil
/. - over three hundred farms. Car
: loads OF ground lime stone have been
scattered over them In the meantime
and every patch OF alfalfa which was
s"wn Inst summer gives promise o'
fine success and as n result the time
is not far off when Pettis county will
he growing scores OF fields of this
rost profitable OF all forage crops
NJ, or,v lid he test the soil for them
ard tell them how to get IL In tit con
d'iion but he showed them how to
rrepare their seed bed, how to sow II
and how to cultivate It after a stand
"~N'"'red--sor this Is a very essen
Aial phase OF alfalfa growing.
"In speaking to me OF his work Mr.