The Republican journal., 1917-11-22
Outline of Future Work by
County Agent N. S. Donahue

AS the season is growing late for much
actual field work other than day demon
STATIONS it becomes necessary to lay plans
for the coming spring season.
! There are two general types of demon
STATIONS that will be carried through this
and the following year The first is the
comparative demonstration. This is
demonstration in which one particular
thing is emphasized. AS an example:
The farmer agrees to carry on demon
stration. he is asked to send and get
some good seed, say several bushels of
seed oats, the best that can be secured.
So far as is known the so-called Maine
Number $40 has proven the most salts
factory throughout the entire State.
He then sows this under identically the
same conditions that he sows his other
oats and on the same piece of ground.
At the end of the growing season he is
asked to harvest and thresh the two sep
arately. By so doing he is able to COM
pare the two results very easily. If ne
finds that the Maine $40 yields more
bushels per acre than the other the thing
for him to do is to save this seed for flu
ture years. Good seed is always in good
demand and hence he can always have
market for it. By conducting several
demonstrations of this nature in each
town of the county it is hoped to dis
tribute widely and evenly the very best
of seed throughout the county.
Due to war measures there will be
large number of demonstrations of this
nature the coming season.
The second kind of demonstration is
the So called economic demonstration.
In this demonstration the farmer is asked
thing that is done in connection with the
demonstration throughout the year. By
summing up the total debts and credits
at the end of the year he is able to tell
Just what his net profit or loss would be
on that particular demonstration. How
ever, as there is a greater demand for the
comparative demonstrations there will
be fewer economic demonstrations carried
on this coming season.
Among the comparative and economic
demonstrations are the following: Poul-
try, potatoes, oats, silage, sweet corn,
mangles, orchards, asparagus, clover,
turnips, yellow corn and dairying.
These demonstrations run for the en-
tire year and as rule prove very profit
able
The day demonstrations are conducted
on somewhat different plan. They only
cover period of one day. These have
proven very interesting as well as profit
able. They are as follows: Pruning,
spraying, building self hog feeders, build
ing silos, remodeling poultry houses, build
ing poultry houses, termination test for
seed corn, killing poultry, treating oats
for smut, treating seed potatoes with
formalin milk testing and mixing of
sprays.
During the months of January and Feb
ruary there will be held in this county
four extension schools. These schools
are conducted by the University of Maine
and are held for the benefit of the far
mers. In order to secure. a school of this
nature it is necessary for some local COM
munity to interest themselves to the ex-
tent of securing a petition. At least
twenty-five signatures of farmers who
agree to support the school during the
time in which it is held is necessary. The
cost of conducting such a school is very
small. 1t rarely exceeds fifty cents per
man for the entire three days The fol-
lowing schools will be held the coming
season: Farm crops, poultry husbandry,
orchard management, soil fertility and
dairy feeding.
Sometimes the economic department of
the University of Maine conducts in con-
nection with these, Food and Household
schools.
Separate petitions are necessary in or
der to secure school of this nature.
All petitions should be sent direct to
the county agent. No petition will be
accepted after Dec. Is, 1917.
Any further questions in regard to this
matter will be gladly answered by the
county agent.
Miss Ruby l. Barker a graduate of
Mason Institute and now acting as
emergency food demonstration, will be To-
Gated in this county during the months of
November and December. Any arrange
ments you care to make with Miss Bar
ker in this repect will be appreciated by
her. Her headquarters are Pittsfield,
Maine She will give lectures of various
kinds and practical demonstrations in
war breads N. S. DoNAHUE,
County Agent.