Smyrna times., 1939-05-11

vantages of the new Act, and on
July /, 1914, Harry Hayward, then
Dean of the School of agriculture
at Delaware College, now the Uni
versity of Delaware, was named
the first State Director of Exten-
sion. That the idea was not
new one, is revealed by a short
dip into history which shows that
extension work was actually being
carried on in Delaware as early as
1911. In that year, the Delaware
Legislature appropriated funds to
make it possible to send workers
fro mthe College over the State to
give public lectures. In addition,
the same appropriation provided
for the distribution of improved
varieties of seeds. The Smith
Lever Act made available to Della
ware a direct grant of $4,000 an
nually and provided for annual in
creases in the grant, the amount
to be based on rural population
and to be matched by State Funds
before becoming available. The
First County Extension Agent in
Delaware was Lee H. Cooch, who
was named County Agricultural
Agent for New Castle County, in
August, 1914. Later that same
year, M. o. Pence was appointed
County Agricultural Agent in
Kent County and w. G. Pelton was
named County Agricultural Agent
for Sussex County. Work with
the rural youth of Delaware also
started officially in Delaware in
1914 with the appointment Of Mrs.
Nellie f. Snyder as cooperative
agent of the U. S. Department of
Agriculture. Mrs. Snyder worked
with the three County Agricultur-
al Agents and enrolled a number
of boys and girls in corn and can
ming clubs.
Home Demonstration work with
rural women was started the next
year when, on Auguest Is, Miss
Elizabeth jefferson, now Mrs. Les
ter w. Tarr of Newark, was ap-
pointed State LYeader of Home
Demonstration Work. Thus, in
1915, all three of the permanent
phases of Agricultural Extension
Work were in operation. Much of
the early Extension work was di-
rected toward increasing crop
yields. Fertilizer demonstrations
on corn, wheat and hay; orchard
pruning, and top dressing with nj
trate of soda about covered the
field Of Extension activity, but
the agents were active in hog col
era vaccination work, helped select
few dairy animals and culled a
few poultry hocks. The remand
er of their time was spent in MAX
ing personal calls on farmers in
order to discuss individual prob
lens.
The work of All Club members
was confined to corn and canning
clubs while the first Home Dem
onstration work included canning
and clothing work. A comparison
of the work of the early agents
with that of the agents now in the
counties provides measure of the
growth of Extension Work in Del
aware. For instance, as shown by
the reports of the County Agricul-
tural Agents. there were 1,795
farm visits made in 1915; 430 of
fee calls; 179 meetings were held
with total attendance Of 8,414,
and there were eleven All Clubs
with a total membership of 1872.
In 1888, the County Agricultur-
al Agents made 3,116 farm visits;
there were 27,272 Office calls; 355
meetings were held with a total
attendance of 20,440 and there
were 81 organized All Clubs with
a total membership of 1,466.
Since the early days of Exten-
sion Work, the Delaware Agricul-
tural Extension Service has grown
steadily, both in manpower and re-
sponsibility. In 1888, the combin-
ed efforts of the various Extension
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