The Palatka news and advertiser., 1916-06-30
PROGRESS OF THE DEMONSTRA-
TION WORK.
Editor Palatka News:

In view of the fact that have only
been in the county five and one-half
months, and having come here q
stranger to the people; and further,
the work itself being an entirely new
project to the farmers of the county,
has placed me in rather an awkward
position to stimulate the work to any
steps of material progress;yet in spite
Of these difficulties, | have been able
to arouse quite little interest among
the farmers and have for that reason
been quite busy in what might be
termed routine work, such as visit
ing the different farmers and offer
ing them any assistance that might
be of service to them. For example,
instructing this man in the prepara--
ton of his seed bed; the manner OF
putting the seed into the ground; the
best varieties of different seeds where
and how to get the best seed, and the
value of good seed over poor seed; the
value of leguminous crops, both as
soil builder and for stock feed; the
different kind of hay crops and their
value to the farmers; the Importance
of certain crops from commercial
standpoint; the examination of in
tested field and truck crops and in
structions on combating same; in
structions on the different breeds
and types of stock, their value to the
farm, and the manner of securing and
handling same economically, and nu-
merous other questions of vital inter-
est to them that would take up too
much time and space to mention in
detail.
Hogs and Hog Diseases.
Besides this l have examined and
vaccinated about eighty-fve head of
hogs against the hog cholera, some
of which were affected with the dis
ease, and have not, to my knowledge,
| lost single one from the effect of
vaccination.
Boys Corn Club Work.
Even though l reached the county
rather late and after most of the ru-
raj schools had closed, yet l succeed
ed in getting fifteen Of the boys lined
up into the corn club work, and for
the information of the public l am
proud to state that, with the eXcep-
ton of two of the boys whose land
was of unfit nature for farming,
these boys have a splendid corn crop
on their acre of land, and unless some
misfortune unforeseen occurs, they are
going to make splendid record.
Pig Clubs.
Owing the fact that this work is
always taken up in the fall and thai
reached here in the spring, | there
fore did not attempt to start the
work the past spring. However, |
have not failed all the while to bring
this matter to the attention of the
BOYS, and as result, have over fifty
prospective members for the pig club
work ready to take it up this fall.
Furthermore, | have succeeded in
securing the cooperation of the three
banks of Palatka to furnish, each,
twenty or twenty-five pure registered
pigs to the boys of the pig club, MAX
ing total of something like sixty or
seventv-fve pigs, as the case may
needs be- These, as stated above, are
to be pure blooded registered types,
of breeds that the boys and the banks
desire and agree upon, and will cost
at market price about $500 each,
making a total expenditure by the
banks of between $1,000 and $1,000.
This work within itself will mean
much toward the development of the
stock industry and the diversification
of the agricultural conditions of the
county.
Already I have begun the work
with some of the boys in the way Of
preparation, such as the planting of
certain legume crops for their pigs
for the fall feed crops.
DEMONSTRATION Experiments.
While but little work of this par
ticular nature is in progress, still I
have some farmers with two of our
important crops, velvet beans and
sweet potatoes. And the prospects
for the development of this line Of
work another year are justly favora-
BILE.
Prospects.
The prospects of the work for the
future is at present very promising,
and as soon as its growth reaches
that stage of development whereby
/ it becomes recognized upon its face
value, then the demonstration work
will justly come into its own.
L. CANTRELL,
County Agent,