Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1914-07-07
AMONG THE FARMERS.
"sPEED THE PLOw."

Correspondence on practical Agricultural topic
10 solicited. Address All communicanons u
HAMMOND. Agricultural Editor Oxford Den
ocrat. Paris. Ne.
Report Of Farm Demonstrations.
A report on farm denomination worl
has beeen issued as one of the MONTH!
bulletins of the extension department o.
the College of Agriculture of the Uni
versity of Maine. From 1t some OF tn
general matter relative to the work, ant
the particular matter relative to OxforC
County are given below:
THE BEGINNING
The Cooperative Farm Demonstration
Work had its beginning in the State o
Texas, primarily because OF the depre
dations of the cotton boil weevil. Thi
insect was doing extensive damage ant
the only way to prevent it seemed to o.
to induce the farmers to make use o
improved methods ON their farms. II
| i'm press the value of better methods OF
the farms it was necessary to establish
object lessons or demonstrations on
few farms in each community. Int
me- hods demonstrated not only tendet
to check the boil weevil but showet
much better yield and quality of prod
uct. So successful was the plan 0
work that it seemed best to try it in 9th
or states. Under the supervision OF ths
United States Department OF Agrlcui
ture the work spread until in 19l2,twelvt
Southern states had demonstration work
The portion of the work done outside
the boil weevil states has been hnanced
by the several states, individuals and the
General Education Board, comparatively
The magnitude and success OF the
Southern work cannot even be outlined
in this publication. Suffice to say that
in 1912, over 102, 900 farmers and S0,0Ot
boys and girls cooperated in the WORK
and q million people visited the demon
strations made by the cooperators.
FARM DEMONSTRATION WORK IN
MAINE
Farm Demonstration Work in Maine
began in the fall of 1912 under the super,
vision of the Extension Department OF
the College of Agriculture with the Dl'
rector of the Extension Service in charge
To carry the plan into effect a represent
ative of the Extension Service OF the
University was located in each OF the
demonstration counties, in charge OF the
work.
The demonstration work Of the pas
year was made possible by a contribu
kal 10 fh0ncQnn dol.
lars, $50, ,OOO), by the General Education
Board as an expression of their faith IN
the Agriculture of the State OF Maine.
COUNTIES SELECTED
S'x counties have been specially SO
lected for this work, together with some
general work in the state at large. These
counties are as follows, the work begin
ming at different dates, from the late au-
tumn of 1912 to the spring of 1914:
Cumberland. market gardening.
Oxford, orchardinS.
kenneJec, general farming.
Washington, potato ana grain growing
Penobscot, general farming.
Hancock, market gardening, fruit, poultry
etc, and boys and gir's' clubs.
The state, boys and girls agricultural clubs
OXFORD COUNTY WORK
For the orchard demonstration work
in Oxford County, as is we'll known
George A. Yeaton of Augusta was select
ed as director. His headquarters are a.
Norway, and the towns, the kind of dem
onstration, and the demonstrators, Sc
lected, are as follows:
Buckneld, young trees and small fruits, Harry
L. Conant. -,
Buck1eld, general orcharding. n. Z. Morrill,.
Buckfeld. general orchardipg, A. l.. Dunn.
BuckHeld, orchard and sweet corn, A. 5. Hall
Hartford, general orcharding, Geo. b. Brown
Hartford, general orchardlng, Chas. IL. Berry
Hartford, general orcharding, VIM: l., Libby.
Norway, general orcharding, j. Merton Wy
Norway, general orcharding, Chas. Cannon
Norway, general orcharding, Scott Merrill.
Norway, growing young orchards, A. l.. +
Pike.
Paris, general orcharding, VIM. Judkins.
Paris, general orchsrding. ]. NJ Millett,
Paris, general orcharding, U. II. Heald.
Paris. general orchsrding, Z. l.. case:
Paris, general orcharding. r. II. Gates.
Paris, general orcharding, Alfred g. Perham
Sumner, general orchardiDg, /. Oscar Swift.
Sumner, general orchar ling, Sydney +. Brown
Sumner, general orcharting, A. d. McPhei
/ son.
Sumner, general orcharding, Henry Bonney:
Sumner, general orcharding, Lewis II. Bis
Waterford, orchard and small fruits, Hai 5e
Parker. -, ,. T..
| johnson.
waterford, growing young orchards, Harol
s. Pike.
waterford, general orcharding, NJ. W. De
Witt.
A total of 30 demonstrations in bear
ing orchards are reported, with an aver
age total cost Of S54 IS, an average o
8 8 days man labor, and labor income
of SS4 IS per acre, or S9.02 per ten-hou
day. The comment on this feature o
the demonstration work is this:
The total yield of the 20 demonstra
tions with bearing orchards was lis
barrels. This gives an average yield
40 bbls. per acre, approximately d
trees, or bushels per tree.
| One fact of general interest is tha
one of the demonstrators in orcharding
pruned, sprayed, cultivated, and fertil
lied the orchard and won nine f1rs
prizes on fruit exhibited at the Ne'
England Fruit Show and the Main
Fruit Show.
A more striking example of the chang
cd attitude of the people is found in ont
county where many men have not Onl,
used some of the methods advised bu
where some have copied bodily the pla
of work. 1t is definitely known tha
one hundred and ten other farmers l.
the six demonstration towns have pruu
cd and sprayed their orchards sine
these demonstrations were begun. Il
addition, many have cultivated and fer
tilized them.
From the nature of the work 1t is ez
pected that demonstration orchard mett
DDS will spread more rapidly than thos
applied to other crops. However, thi
spread 10 q single year Is rather unusual
Moving the Lawn.
Grass should be cut "long," so ths
the roots will be protected after the cut