Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-01-11
AGRICULTURAL
EXTENSION WORK.
Report of Director McCuc OF Della
wac College Experiment Sta
ton for the Past Year.


Special Correspondence to Every Evenine,
Newark. Jan. il,-Whilc agricultural
extension work III this State has progressed
during the past few years, II VIII take NOR,
financial support TO advance thefwofh
in the future. This point Is made clear ns
Director Charles A. McCue OF the 1'ela'
ware College Experiment station, IN the
ecnort of the Agricultural Extension Dlvi'
sion Of the College for the year ending
December l. which he has just submitted
to Governor Townsend. The report IN
part follows;
"During the fiscal year July |, 1919,
Ia lu-c 50. 1920. home demonstration
work in two of the counties was carried
an "A co operative basis between the home
lemons, ration project and the boys and
r,rls project. The agents IN these two
counties dividing their time between club
onrk and home demonstration work.
This arrangement was not satisfactory for
either line OF work and on July l, 1920.
the agents were placed ON full time rs
county club agents.
Theodore T Martin state club leader,
has had supervision OF the club work. CO.
operating with the county agents the
Smith-Huphr, schools and the farm bu-
reaus Of tho several counties. NJ q.
pcprc courtv agcrt leader, has directed
the activitic. Of the county agricultural
agents ard taken the leadership II the
farm crop and farm management exten-
Sion projects Specialists have bee u station
with the subject matter departments OF
the college but have been directly reSponsl-
ble 10 the director III everything except
subject matter
"'Thrrr has been no change N relation
ship w:th the state Board Of Agriculture.
hut n spirit of mutual help'ulness between
the ENtorsiuu Division and the state
board has been developed that promises
much fnr the future During the month
of august the State Board loaned rs
roiltrvmcn 70 the extension division Tor
the purpose nt staging poultry ,culling
demonstrations Too much can not he saul
of the kindly attitudes 81 tho state Board
of Agriculture dutiug the year.
"Contart hctwecn tho Extension Divl-
SION and the State Department ot fduea-
tio1 comes largely through the smith
Hughes agriculture high schools ln az
en,lcavor to reach an understanding he
twrcu tho Extension Division and the
Smith-Hughes club work and county
aurnt work. memoranda oi agrecment
were drawn uuand signed hv the Director
of Extension and the Director Of Noca
tinnal Education This uEre ment oi III
has hecn IN fore les rly wear
and has not worked nut as we'll rs was
The ent the mlth-iiughcS
teachers of agricu5,ur, as local club leaders
has rot IN g., oral been satisfactory 80 the
.xtcrsjoa service There are = few locaii-
tics wherc the plan works we'll and We are
in hopes that better results viii ohtain
IN tho future
The report sets out tho work that has
bcpn done on the various projects. which
include county agents. boys aud girls
clubs home demonstration, Horticultural
plant diseases. truck crops and farm
The county agents during the year car
red on projects in crop Improvement.
which included the following Soy beans;
permanent pasture; Certified seed pota-
toes. Demonstrations in treating sweet
potatoes Better tomato plants; Alfalfa
Corn shows: Orchard
Farm records Labor
saving machinery, and Farm loan asso-
ciations Projects were also carried ont
IN soil improvement and live stock I'M
proycment and also assisted ~ giving
demonstrations in disease control lA
orchards and truck crops
Dean NcC nc in concluding his report
saws. "Whilc the work has made
steady progress during the wear and has
Decn constructive the extension office Is
verv much worried over the future Of the
work Our chief cause OF worry IS that OF
finances. At the present time we are not
able to find finance specialists, and with
out the aid of specialists we feel that IN
time extension work may develop INTO /
nediocritv ard routire and be without
great inspiration. So ar there has been 30
county support outside of office aid by tho
'arm bureau. There is great peed Uf
,o,lrtv vappropriatiors forthe work. espc-
-iallv IN financing county agents. At the /
present time county commissioners arc /
vi hout power to grant such support
T'ndoubtedlv farm bureaus viii prepare /
md present a bin to tho Legislature that |
viii grant the county commissioners the /
power to make appropriations If they deem i
{ wis6 I
'If bv any chaece the Federal supple !
nentarv funds should be Withdrawn eX- |
ension work will be greatly crippled. As |
without supplem tarv funds, Federal and /
state We would be unable TO mairtain our /
present force In the field There Is a /
,ryirg reed for . poultry specialist as the |
,orllrv interests Of the Stale are large /
We arc struggling under the handicap Of |
,eirg q small State with limited income.
'et havIr all the agricultural problems Of |
much larger and more wealthy States /
Practically every farming interest except |
otton. beef cattle and sheep arc res,le- |
erted in Delaware The rural popula- |
ioa Is fnore and more approaching the /
ffo~. III tho Ixfouciora Division affd fro,e1 /
hat standpoint the outlook is most hope |
III Rural leadership Is being slowly but /
urely developed and hitherto undiscovered |
alents Of leadership. are beirg uncovered. |
There are many rural communities that !
re as vet untouched. and the field for |
development and growth is large tits our |
,olicy TO build slowly but with through |
ess and such wisdom as IS granted US.