A decade of negro extension work, 1914-1924
Date: 2023-05-11T00:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Agriculture; African American agricultural extension workers; Home ownership; Land tenure; Agricultural extension work; African Americans -- Agriculture

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Title: A decade of negro extension work, 1914-1924

Author: O. B. Martin

Release date: May 11, 2023 [eBook #70741]

Language: English

Original publication: United States: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1926

Credits: Bob Taylor, Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DECADE OF NEGRO EXTENSION WORK, 1914-1924 ***

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF
AGRICULTURE

MISCELLANEOUS CIRCULAR NO. 72

Washington, D. C.

October, 1926

A DECADE OF
NEGRO EXTENSION WORK
1914-1924

Land ownership and home improvement
are vital in developing negro farm life
in the South.

CONTENTS

| Page
Agricultural status of the negro | 1
Development of negro extension work | 3
Early history | 3
Order of development | 6
Value of cooperative association | 8
Evolution of plan | 10
Growth of personnel and finances | 12
Cooperation with other agencies | 13
Club work by negro boys and girls | 14
The movable school | 15
Stories of achievement | 16
Demonstration results | 21
Farm demonstration work | 21
Home demonstration work | 24
Agents’ activities | 26
Outlook | 27
Statistics | 28

A DECADE OF NEGRO EXTENSION WORK, 1914-1924

By O. B. MARTIN, in Charge, Southern States, Office of Cooperative Extension Work

AGRICULTURAL STATUS OF THE NEGRO

Home ownership is the largest factor in the solution of the so-called negro problem. Cooperative extension work, especially since the comprehensive organization of negro extension agents, has been one of the greatest influences in encouraging and helping negroes to become landowners and to succeed with land investments. Energetic negroes soon learn thrift and have the ability to become good demonstrators.

Fig. 1.—Negro home remodeled and beautified according to plans and suggestions furnished by the negro extension agent. Home ownership and improved living conditions are important factors in obtaining a permanent upbuilding of the negro farm community in the South. That negro agents are building well is indicated by their success in influencing the construction of 569 new houses, the remodeling of 1,002 old houses, and the beautification of 1,336 home grounds during 1924.

In most parts of the Cotton Belt it has been possible during the last few years for farmers to make a good living and to make a profit besides. The migration to the North has perceptibly slackened, and thousands of negroes who have been getting good wages as carpenters, bricklayers, mechanics, and other artisans in near-by and distant cities are saving money to buy land. Many of them left their families at home and are sending them money for their support and for building savings accounts to be used in buying a farm home. (Fig. 1.) Of course, a large percentage will remain in the industrial centers of the North, but the negro’s love for his folks and for the soil will influence many to begin payments on farms at a time when wages are high and when such crops as cotton, tobacco, and peanuts are bringing good prices. Negroes, as a rule, know how to grow the cash crops, and it has been found in many sections that negroes succeed with poultry, truck, dairying, and other diversified interests when they own their own small farms.

Fig. 2.—Field demonstration in cultivating cotton. The negro is naturally a farmer and takes a keen interest in putting to use the better practices learned at demonstration meetings.

Because of the inevitable economic changes resulting from the World War, many large plantations have been cut up and sold at low prices. In some sections of the South, chambers of commerce and other business organizations have been promoting campaigns to encourage negroes to become landowners. In 1920 about 217,500 negroes in the Southern States owned their farms and about 703,500 were tenants. In some States negroes have been buying farms faster than white people, and the rapid increase of ownership during the last five years is most noticeable. It is not surprising that it has taken a backward race a long time to acquire property and develop farms. It takes white agricultural college graduates quite a while to do that. The next 25 years unquestionably will witness a marked contrast to the first quarter of the century in this regard. It is well that the development is taking place along the lines of the negro’s training and disposition. All of this confirms the judgment of Booker T. Washington, the negro educator, who said:

The negro is, in my opinion, naturally a farmer, and he is at his very best when he is in close contact with the soil. (Fig. 2.) There is something in the atmosphere of the farm that develops and strengthens the negro’s natural common sense. As a rule, the negro farmer has a rare gift of getting at the sense of things and of stating in picturesque language what he has learned. The explanation of it is, it seems to me, that the negro farmer studies nature. In his own way he studies the soil, the development of plants and animals, the streams, the birds and the changes of the seasons. He has a chance of getting at first-hand the kind of knowledge that is valuable to him.

During the last few years many persons from different parts of Africa have visited this country to study our methods of industrial and agricultural education. Some of them have been Government officials, some teachers in schools and colleges, and some missionaries. They represented many different nationalities, all of which are interested in the welfare of dark-skinned people. Such visitors are always interested in Hampton and Tuskegee Institutes and usually have a scholastic point of view when they arrive. On their return, however, they are always enthusiastic about the men and women extension agents whose primary responsibility is to reach the farm and home. They see greater significance in demonstrations which proceed from the farm and home to the school than they do in those which go from the school to the farm. They seem to realize that the home is the fundamental unit of civilization and that the agents are the apostles of a better farm and home life, and therefore return to their work with an optimistic determination to encourage demonstration work in their countries.

DEVELOPMENT OF NEGRO EXTENSION WORK

EARLY HISTORY

Farmers’ cooperative demonstration work was begun in 1903. At first, all demonstration agents were white men and women. They enrolled negro demonstrators who followed instructions so faithfully and carefully that they were often more successful than white farmers and home makers. Many instances were reported of negro farmers who got started along the pathway of success because of the stimulation of such demonstrations. County agricultural agents often reported that 25 per cent of their demonstrators were negroes and that many negroes attended the field meetings and public demonstrations.

Booker T. Washington had a prominent part in beginning negro extension work in the South. Tuskegee Institute, which he founded in Alabama, already had carried instruction to negro farmers through its faculty, through farm conferences at Tuskegee and in local communities, and through printed bulletins. Doctor Washington also used a “Jesup wagon,” provided with agricultural equipment to go out among farmers and demonstrate better farming methods. Washington, H. B. Frissell, of Hampton Institute, Va., and Seaman A. Knapp of the United States Department of Agriculture, worked out the relation of Hampton and Tuskegee Institutes with the department and made arrangements for the appointment in 1906 of T. M. Campbell, of Tuskegee Institute, the first negro demonstration agent, and of J. B. Pierce, of Hampton Institute, a few days later.

In speaking of extension work a few years afterwards, Washington said:

It would be impossible to describe here all the ramifications or all the various forms which this extension work has taken in recent years. The thing that I wish to emphasize, however, is that we are seeking in this work less to teach (according to the old-fashioned notion of teaching) than to improve conditions.

His was a spirit of service. In the same connection he expressed in the following excerpt an unusual and unique opinion of the pedagogy of extension work. His experience and his observations constitute a great inspiration for negro extension agents and educators generally.

I have sometimes regarded it as a fortunate circumstance that I never studied pedagogy. If I had done so, every time I attempted to do anything in a new way I should have felt compelled to reckon with all the past, and in my case that would have taken so much time that I should never have got anywhere. As it was, I was perfectly free to go ahead and do whatever seemed necessary at the time, without reference to whether that same thing had ever been done by anyone else at any previous time or not.

General Armstrong, who founded Hampton Institute in Virginia for Negroes and Indians in the reconstruction days immediately following the Civil War, expressed somewhat the same idea when he said:

Many teachers seem to me to have disproportionate ideas of the forces that make up man. * * * There is plenty of study of methods and not enough study of men or of the problems of life.

Negro home demonstration work was also developed through the interest and aid of white agents. White supervisory agents still take sympathetic interest in negro extension activities. In view of the fact that negro women and girls had always done much of the domestic labor in southern homes and because negro schools and colleges had given courses in home economics, home demonstration work for negroes was started in the best possible environment and atmosphere. Many white home demonstration agents and demonstrators took pleasure in giving instruction in gardening, canning, and preserving to negro women and girls whom they knew. But, as the work developed, it soon became apparent that negro women agents could get access to negro homes better than anybody else, so negro home demonstration agents began to be appointed. Annie Peters, of Boley, Okla., was appointed on January 23, 1912, as the first negro home demonstration agent, and Mattie Holmes, of Hampton Institute, Va., on May 24, 1912, as the second. Other appointments followed rapidly.

It has been possible to build up an extension organization in the South for negro people, because of such institutions as Hampton and Tuskegee. In fact, the influence of these two major institutions has affected all the schools and colleges where negro agents have been educated. Many smaller similar institutions have also contributed much to extension work. Table 1 gives the percentage of negro men and women extension agents who were graduated from Tuskegee and Hampton Institutes and from the State agricultural colleges.

Table 1.—Percentage of negro extension agents who are college graduates

Institution | Men | Women
| Percentage | Percentage
Hampton Institute | 7.50 | 5.40
Tuskegee Institute | 10.16 | 5.40
State agricultural college | 9.09 | 2.70
Graduates of the three combined | 26.75 | 13.50

In beginning farm and home demonstration work for negroes in 1906, the cooperation of the General Education Board of New York was most valuable and effective. The board was liberal in its appropriations and generous in the arrangements for the expenditure of them. The money was turned over to the authorities of the United States Department of Agriculture to be used as they thought best in starting and promoting the work. It was because of the demonstrated success of this plan of education that the National, State, and county authorities were more disposed to support it.

When it is realized that various Southern States are gradually increasing the appropriations to the State agricultural colleges, and also that a $9,000,000 endowment fund for Hampton and Tuskegee is being completed, it is possible to look forward to better-trained negro agents. Progress can be faster now because the way is clear. Every Southern State now has a group of efficient negro agents, whose numbers are increasing. (Fig. 3.)

In view of the facts that Booker T. Washington gave the credit for his own success to the influence General Armstrong had over his life and that Tuskegee Institute is an extension and modified enlargement of Hampton Institute, it is well to trace a further development of such teaching and also to get the observation of the recognized leaders. Long before the World War and before the migration of negroes to the North, Booker T. Washington saw the South as the permanent home of his people and he urged them to develop the resources of climate, soil, forests, and folks. He saw conditions clearly and urged his people to train for skill, to practice thrift, and to grow better by doing better. This was the best of preparation for the negro agency force now in the field.

Fig. 3.—Virginia negro extension agents assembled at annual meeting. This group is typical of the efficient negro extension agents throughout the South who, with vision and good judgment, are influencing negroes to follow the best methods of farming and home making in order to increase their earning capacity and improve their living conditions.

In the first farmers’ conference at Tuskegee in February, 1892, which, by the way, was the forerunner of farm congresses at agricultural colleges for white people in various parts of the country, the following resolution, among other important deliverances, was adopted:

In view of our general condition, we would suggest the following remedies: (1) That as far as possible we aim to raise at home our own meat and bread; (2) that as fast as possible we buy land, even though a very few acres at a time; (3) that a larger number of our young people be taught trades, and that they be urged to prepare themselves to enter as largely as possible all the various vocations of life; (4) that we especially try to broaden the field of labor for our women; (5) that we make every sacrifice and practice every form of economy that we may purchase land and free ourselves from our burdensome habit of living in debt; (6) that we urge our ministers and teachers to give more attention to the material condition and home life of the people; (7) that we urge our people not to depend entirely upon the State to provide schoolhouses and lengthen the time of the schools, but to take hold of the matter themselves where the State leaves off, and by supplementing the public funds from their own pockets and by building schoolhouses, bring about the desired results; (8) that we urge patrons to give earnest attention to the mental and moral fitness of those who teach their schools; (9) that we urge the doing away with all sectarian prejudice in the management of the schools.

ORDER OF DEVELOPMENT

Fig. 4.—Negro county agricultural agent helping a farmer to select fattening hogs. Negro farmers desire helpful information on specific things that can be put into immediate use with noticeable results. In this respect, demonstration activities have rendered a valuable service in meeting their needs.

It has been extension experience that negroes are especially responsive to the demonstration method, because of their faith, confidence, and optimism. Demonstrations have reached the most ignorant and most needy better than any form of academic instruction, because demonstrators must be doers before they become teachers. The effect and power of a demonstration are measured by the success of the enterprise and the standing and influence of the demonstrator. The demonstration method has proved to be not only the best for the ignorant, but also for the intelligent. Certainly the more intelligent farmers can carry object lessons further than the ignorant ones. Furthermore, it is safe to assume a fair amount of good farm and home development in an intelligent, prosperous community. Perhaps one reason why farmers tire of institutes and lectures is because they feel that they have reached a stage of knowledge where they can do things fairly well and have thus become teachers and leaders themselves. They do not care to accumulate a lot of information upon diverse subjects just for the purpose of acquiring information. They want usable knowledge upon specific things. (Fig. 4.) The negro has made sufficient progress for extension agents to find men, women, boys, and girls in every community who can demonstrate better farming and home making.

The history of extension work for negroes has not been exactly parallel to that of the whites in the Southern States. The white agents started work with men demonstrators, followed in succession by boys, girls, and women. Negro work started with men and women first. The agents tried to meet the most urgent needs of the farms and homes. At the time when the Department of Agriculture and State agricultural colleges first began to appoint negro agents, the club work of white boys and girls had drifted somewhat away from the demonstration feature and was emphasizing the club feature. When the negro agents began later to enroll boys and girls they did so because they felt that these young folks should have an influence in farming and in home making in their communities. It was not so much a matter of teaching and telling as it was of doing and growing. One agent expressed it by saying, “We are emphasizing work rather than clubs.” Of course, in the natural process of evolution, agents came to pay more attention to meetings, organization, recreation, and group activities in general, but the central theme is the demonstration.

Negro club members have manifested a disposition for the boy to do the farming and the girl the home making. That tendency is general in all extension work, of course, but the line of differentiation has not been so clear in adult activities. Because of the limited funds available, few counties have been able to afford both negro men and women agents. Thus it comes about that the men agents do more home work and the women agents more farm work than in counties employing both county agricultural and home demonstration agents. As time goes on and more agents are appointed, this matter will adjust itself.

During the present period of readjustment and reconstruction it is becoming more and more apparent to students of extension work that the greatest ultimate reform will take place where the most successful demonstration of content and size are conducted and where such demonstrations are multiplied in the greatest numbers. Many negro agents seem to have the ability to encourage their demonstrators and magnify the influence of their work. They have caught the philosophy of the founder of demonstration work, Seaman A. Knapp, when he said, “Your value lies not in what you can do but in what you can get other people to do.” Negro agents seem to appreciate the standing in the community of a man or woman who has done better work than anybody else. They enter into the thought and life of the demonstrator who estimated that more than 50 men in his neighborhood had been influenced by his success with 10 acres of cotton along the roadside. They know that the boy who said, “My club acre has been noticed by many people in this section and I am sure it will cause some of my boy friends to join the club next year,” had developed in himself the real spirit of service. They appreciate the feeling of pride and satisfaction that came to the girl club member who raised a dairy calf, built a good house for it, and then saw more than a dozen like it built within a radius of 5 miles of her home. (Fig. 5.) The result has been to make each person carrying on a demonstration feel that he has a responsibility as a leader and teacher in his community.

The culminating evidence of these efforts toward improvement through the object-lesson method is found in the results obtained in home and lawn beautification. Particularly in recent years negro extension agents have brought about marked progress in the renovation, painting, and whitewashing of houses and outbuildings, and in the growing of flowers, grass, and shrubbery in the front yards.

VALUE OF COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATIONS

Fig. 5.—Negro club member who made sufficient profit from the sale of butter and buttermilk to pay her way through Tuskegee Institute. The benefits which accrued through her club activities were far-reaching in that her neighbors and friends were inspired to follow the best dairy practices in an effort to emulate her successful results.

Negro farmers have manifested considerable interest in cooperative marketing. They belong to cotton, tobacco, peanut, potato, and similar associations. They usually follow carefully instructions in grading and standardization. They appreciate the opportunity of purchasing fertilizers and other supplies through the farm bureau and other organizations engaged in such enterprises. In some counties where associations have given special attention to marketing carloads of hogs, chickens, potatoes, pecans, and other products produced in surplus quantities, the negroes do their share. It has come about that most marketing plans which have been developed include negroes in their operations better than any other form of productive and educational enterprise. In cooperative-marketing associations the commodity is considered rather than the person or the community. Clarendon County, S. C., is a very good example of such development. The market bureau, which was established at the suggestion of the county agricultural agent and which is conducted largely under his direction and guidance, has the names of more than 700 negroes on its mailing list. These negroes have cooperated not only by shipping potatoes, hogs, peanuts, chickens, and other commodities, but by procuring better seed and stock in order to grow products of better quality for shipment. As this work develops in any community it gradually brings about a general improvement. It begins with individuals but always influences the entire community. (Fig. 6.)

Fig. 6.—A demonstration of home conveniences designed to lighten the labor of the negro home maker and allow her more time for self-improvement and recreation. Such demonstrations by local men or women have stimulated the adoption of good practices and have done much to bring about a general community improvement.

Such cooperation has increased self-respect and has strengthened mutual confidence. This activity has emphasized the fact that men and women limited in ambition and will power may be greatly stimulated to successful effort by the esteem and encouragement of their neighbors. The county agricultural agent of Clarendon County reported that every negro farmer in his county knows No. 1, No. 2, and Jumbo potatoes. He also reported that they are striving to produce No. 1’s because they realize that products of such quality will receive the commendation of everybody concerned and also will bring in larger returns. This realization of the value of superior products has brought about a great improvement in the type of chickens, pigs, and other farm animals raised for market.

Marketing has tended to unify and systematize extension organization in the counties more than any other work that has been done thus far. It has enlisted the active interest of all farmers, both white and colored, and of local business men. Some of the counties which will have full quotas of both white and colored extension agents, and good representative working organizations are developing extension programs to a fuller degree than has been possible heretofore. It is an enormous task to change the customs and habits of centuries or even of decades. Negroes who have grown practically nothing but cotton are slow to become dairymen, poultrymen, and truckers. They change mainly because of economic necessity.

EVOLUTION OF PLAN

The evolution of an agricultural plan of work among negroes, in a general way, followed that of the whites. It began with demonstrations in the improvement of staple crops and then proceeded step by step into crop diversification, animal husbandry, and conservation. The whole development may be briefly expressed as follows: Crop production, livestock production, soil building, and marketing. Fortunately, this program is so logical and so appropriate that demonstrators and club members are naturally disposed to follow it. This does not mean that they all do the same things at the same time. In livestock activities, one group may be emphasizing dairy cattle and another hogs. The retroactive influence upon crop production in one direction and soil improvement in another is very potent. Seaman A. Knapp evidently had this whole evolution in mind, and he was familiar with the work among negroes, when he told the agents not to go before the people with elaborate programs. He said: “The average man, like the crow, can not count more than three. Do the next thing.” General Armstrong was dealing with the same people and, to some extent, with the same thought when he said, “I try to get at bottom facts, and then take the next step.”

A general agricultural plan of work, of course, is applicable everywhere at any time. It is flexible, and requires individual initiative and resourcefulness. The more experienced farmers and club boys will be in the advanced stages while the novices will be taking the first step. The whole procedure goes forward in cycles. As each cycle comes around, modification and adaptation take place in accordance with the progress science has made in the meantime. For instance, in corn demonstrations in most parts of the South, where, in former years, farmers planted one-ear varieties, they are now using prolific varieties, especially where interplantings of peas and beans and where hogging down and grazing are to be done.

The Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station recently came to the conclusion that vetch is the best winter legume for most of the soils in Alabama. Thousands of negro farmers have accepted that instruction and are using vetch as a winter legume and soil improver. The negro farmers have also accepted the teachings of the experiment station in regard to the kinds and quantities of fertilizers to be used.

The negro home program also has been developed through certain logical processes, which may be indicated briefly as follows: Production, utilization, construction, and beautification. This, too, is a natural program which may be followed consciously and intuitively by every person who is properly started in the work. The negro women and girls commence with growing vegetables in the gardens, beginning with the most needed food crops and enlarging their operations gradually. Then they undertake to conserve enough for home use during the winter. They sell the surplus vegetables, both fresh and canned. It is an easy step from canning vegetables to the preservation of fruits. Better bread comes next because of its importance as food and because flour, meal, and grains in general are available. Then eggs and butter are standardized, and poultry meat is properly cooked and canned. Such activities, in turn, stimulate better work with pork, beef, and other meats.

Success in such enterprises suggests and encourages home improvement, involving demonstrations in rearranging kitchens, living rooms, and homes in general. Better furniture is procured and paint and whitewash are in demand. Demonstrations with textiles and fabrics are considered incidentally all along. The girls and women want simple neat dresses in their work. The club idea suggests uniforms for public demonstrations and meetings. In hundreds of instances the program culminates with an attractive new home in a setting of trees, shrubbery, and flowers. Such a self-developed program, the germs of which exist in the plans and hopes of the people who are actually doing the work on the farms and in the homes, is infinitely more important than one developed for them.

It is fortunate that negro extension work started with demonstrations by individual farmers instead of with organization for instruction purposes. Organization arose spontaneously. People who did the same kind of work in the same way were easily organized. Negro farmers and members of their families who had the same kind of poultry, for instance, and who built the same kind of houses, were brought together for mutual stimulation, help, and instruction. Every farmer who had an object lesson in growing vetch, soy beans, velvet beans, or peanuts was glad to join a tour to see similar activities on farms in other parts of his county. Field meetings, tours, camps, and short courses have the elements and principles of organization within them. They constitute a focus or converging point for activities that are mutual. If the white agents who did negro work in the beginning or the negro agents who took it up later had proceeded on an organization basis first, the whole proposition would have been misunderstood by both white and colored people.

Observation of the experience of the people who made negro extension work possible and its success notable, naturally calls attention to the elementary methods which have been used. The various processes may be stated in a half dozen words: Consultation, demonstration, emulation, publication, organization, and multiplication. Whether the agents are working with the approximately 217,500 negroes who own their own farms or with the 703,500 who are tenants, deliberation, conference, and good judgment are required to establish the work without creating friction. In the pioneer counties, where the demonstrations were most successful, the introduction was done in a quiet way. The general public did not know much about it until good object lessons in crop production were available, and nothing prevents or stops criticism so readily as successful demonstrations. If the demonstrators have been carefully selected, if they are men whose conduct has been exemplary, the conviction is all the stronger.

The first negro demonstrators were proud to wear the button furnished by the Department of Agriculture containing the word “Demonstrator.” These buttons were often given out in churches as awards of merit and distinction. Negroes are very susceptible to commendation and praise. It means a lot to a man, woman, boy, or girl, who has started out on a demonstration program, to receive recognition from his pastor, his neighbors, and especially from the leading white citizens. Whenever a county paper calls attention to the outstanding results obtained by a negro farmer, he immediately measures up to the added responsibility and goes forward on the path of improvement. Whenever there is a considerable number of demonstrators of that kind, it is safe to do organization work along agricultural and home-economics lines. In fact, negroes who have demonstrated that kind of enterprise and dependability are ready for cooperative marketing or other welfare organization. The great task that is before the negro extension force is to multiply the numbers of good demonstrators. In this way, they will develop leaders and magnify the kind of activities which will meet with universal approval.

GROWTH OF PERSONNEL AND FINANCES [1]

The gradual increase in the number of negro agents and also in the appropriations for their support during the last 10 years gives much promise for the development of this work in the future. On June 30, 1915, the end of the first year under the Smith-Lever Act, 49 negro men agents and 17 women agents were employed, and the total cost of the work during the year was $31,589. In 1919, 459 negro men and women agents were employed and the cost was $247,509. On June 30, 1924, the end of the first decade under the Smith-Lever Act, 299 agents were employed, of whom 191 were men and 108, women. The total amount expended during the fiscal year 1924 was $426,266, which was derived from Federal, State, and county sources, and which represented the peak in the amount of money devoted to this work. More agents were employed during the war period, but many of them devoted only part time to extension work. All things considered, therefore, negro extension work is making steady and substantial progress every year.

From Table 3, page 28, it will be noted that the increase in the number of negro extension agents and in the cost of maintaining them went forward in two distinct stages during the 10-year period immediately following the enactment of the Smith-Lever Act. The number of agents and the number of club members increased very rapidly during the World War, which was followed by a period of unrest and transition. After that came a settling down and then an era of solid and substantial development. There has been a gradual and steady increase in the amount of money devoted to negro extension work. Although it is true that not so many agents were on duty in 1924 as in 1919, yet more than four times as many were employed in 1924 as in 1915. Furthermore, the finances had increased more than a dozenfold. This indicates a better-trained class of negro agents and a greater public willingness to support negro extension work.

Texas, which receives more Federal money than any other State, had 36 negro agents in 1924 and spent $55,424 for their salaries, travel, and other necessary expenses. Alabama had 34 negro agents, men and women, and $50,057 was spent in the maintenance of their work. Mississippi had 36 agents and the cost was $48,876. Virginia had a total of 34 agents and the cost of maintaining this force was $44,787. Georgia had 26 agents and expended $30,452. Several other States have a large agency force and the financial support is becoming more and more liberal.

The percentage of negroes to whites is different in each of the Southern States and this fact would be taken into consideration in any study of appropriations for negro work. At the last census, Georgia had 1,689,114 white people and 1,206,365 negroes; Mississippi, 853,962 whites and 935,184 negroes; Alabama, 1,447,032 whites and 900,652 negroes; South Carolina, 818,538 whites and 864,719 negroes; North Carolina, 1,783,779 whites and 763,407 negroes; Texas, 3,918,165 whites and 741,694 negroes; Virginia, 1,617,909 whites and 690,017 negroes; and Oklahoma, 1,821,194 whites and 149,408 negroes.

It will be observed from Table 3 that practically all of the States which took up negro extension work first have the greatest financial support and the largest number of agents in proportion to their negro population. Alabama and Virginia appointed their first negro agents in 1906; Mississippi, in 1908; Georgia and South Carolina, in 1909; Oklahoma, in 1910; North Carolina, in 1911; and the other States in rapid succession.

It is greatly to the credit of the pioneer agents that their work has met with the approval of county commissioners, boards of education, and public authorities generally. Nothing is quite so encouraging about the whole development as the wholesome public sentiment which has sustained the work and encouraged the agents. This support is based upon knowledge of good work done and results achieved. A large metropolitan daily paper, speaking of the present work of the man who was the first negro agent appointed by the United States Department of Agriculture, said:

His principal duties are to see that negro county agricultural agents obtain outline maps of each county and properly distribute the work; that at least one house in each county is built at stated intervals according to an approved plan; that one or more electric lighting systems be undertaken in the county; that at least one house be whitewashed or painted in each demonstration community; that one or more water systems be undertaken in each county; that at least one farmstead home grounds be developed in each community; that at least one sanitary toilet be constructed in each demonstration community; that at least one crop-rotation demonstration be given; that one or more permanent pastures be established; that at least one person in each community be taught the use of the farm level; that one year-round garden demonstration be established; that at least one farm be properly laid out or plotted in each county; that one playground be equipped in each community; and that one or more demonstration orchards be established in each county.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Funds for cooperative extension work are appropriated for fiscal years ending on June 30, whereas extension agents are required to prepare their reports for calendar years. For this reason, statements of funds appearing in this section and in Table 3 are for fiscal years ended on June 30, and statistics of demonstration results appearing in a following section are for the calendar year ended Dec. 31, 1924.

COOPERATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES

From several years’ experience it has been found that negro agents cooperate closely with their schools and churches. Negro preachers have great power and influence among their people, not only in matters of religion, but also in farming and home making. Wherever an agent obtains the indorsement of a negro pastor, and also gets this pastor to do some good farming and make his home more attractive, he gets assistance that is impossible to obtain from any other source. A negro industrial school in a county is usually a center of influence in extension work as well as in public service generally. Such a school reenforces the instruction given by the agents and is a gathering place for demonstrators and club members. The demonstration activities improve and enhance the school work to a considerable degree.

In addition to the cooperation given by churches and schools, many organizations have assisted negro extension agents in carrying out local extension programs. Much assistance in this respect has been accorded by vocational educational workers, negro chambers of commerce, lodges, health societies, negro farmers’ unions, federations of women’s clubs, and others.

CLUB WORK BY NEGRO BOYS AND GIRLS

As has already been indicated, 4-H club work among negro boys and girls has been a secondary development, but it is now going forward by leaps and bounds. The work by negro agents among adult negroes was just getting well started when the Smith-Lever Act was passed. The effect of the act and of the increase of funds resulting from it was to strengthen and reenforce what was being done for negro farmers and home makers. As was to be expected, the boys and girls soon wanted to follow in the footsteps of their fathers and mothers. (Fig. 7.) There are excellent prospects for junior extension work in the near future. In fact, negro boys and girls have been making records that are stimulating white club members to greater effort and endeavor.

Fig. 7.—This negro club boy is learning seed-corn selection from his county agricultural agent.

At the close of the 10-year period there was a total enrollment in 4-H club work in the Southern States of 21,721 negro boys and 27,114 negro girls. These figures show a big increase since 1916, when the enrollment of 2,551 negro club members was first recorded separately. At that time the State club agents suggested that negro boys should be organized into farm-makers’ clubs and negro girls into homemakers’ clubs. Prior to that time many negro boys and girls were enrolled in 4-H clubs, but they did not have such different classification as to make their work stand out and receive proper emphasis and recognition.

The end of the 10-year period also found a great many negro boys and girls demonstrating to their parents, their neighbors, and the world that they can clear $200 to $300 a year on their club enterprises and at the same time keep up regular attendance at school during the term provided for them by their respective counties and States. A 14-year-old boy or girl who can put $100 or more into a bank and continue saving each year as he or she grows older is assured of an education and a start in life. This gives the younger generation a big advantage and also furnishes a great inspiration to the agents who are working among these people. More work of this kind will result in considerable advance on the part of the younger generation of negroes.

THE MOVABLE SCHOOL

A development peculiar to negro extension work is the movable school. This is an automobile truck carrying equipment for demonstrations and accompanied by an automobile conveying instructors. (Fig. 8.) The equipment consists of farm and home tools and utensils necessary to illustrate better methods of farming and home making. The school goes to a home where arrangements have already been made by the local agent, and stays from one to three days. The novelty of the outfit and the rather spectacular nature of the occasion guarantee a good attendance of people from the vicinity where the work is to be done.

Fig. 8.—Negro movable school which carries equipment and instructors to local communities where the better ways of farming and home making are demonstrated. Such movable schools have supplemented the work of the local negro extension agent, who follows up and impresses on the community the lessons brought out.

The local agents and the instructors agree in advance upon what is to be done. The program includes such things as pruning trees, terracing land, plowing properly, building a chicken house, building a sanitary privy, grading fruit, eggs, and vegetables, dressing chickens, making fireless cookers, canning, making work dresses and aprons, and whitewashing or painting the house and outbuildings. The people in attendance are divided into small groups and several enterprises are carried on at the same time. After the various jobs are completed, the whole crowd makes a tour of inspection and much incidental instruction is driven home by those in charge. In addition to having specialists in farming and home making, the school usually carries a public-health nurse who gives much needed instruction and demonstration. A necessary part of the equipment is a projector for showing films and slides during meetings at the school or church. Equipment is also carried to facilitate games and play for a short time every day after the regular work is done.

In view of the fact that much interest has been manifested in the movable school, it may be desirable to consider it from a strictly extension point of view. First, in the communities where the negro population is densest and where their welfare has been most neglected, more simple instruction and demonstration by the specialists and agents themselves are necessary. Just as fast as the farmers can make object lessons and assume leadership themselves, just so fast should that responsibility be passed on to them. Second, the movable school supplements the work of the local agent and is supplemented by it. When a home with its premises has been renovated and practically reconstructed by the visit of a movable school, and when the farmer and his family revolutionize their methods on the farm, then the question arises as to how many more farmers can be influenced to do likewise. The movable school does much to lay out the work of the agents, and if they do not follow up such work and impress its lessons, then little benefit is derived. However, the influence can be measured more successfully a year after the visit of the movable school than the day after.

By request of leading white citizens of Dallas County, Ala., the movable school concentrated there for a month and covered the whole county. Many plantation owners, bankers, and business men visited the school and saw it in action. Their commendation was most encouraging and inspires the hope that this enterprise may be used to facilitate the reform and readjustment of farm and home life among negro farmers who are to remain in the South and improve their conditions. A prominent English woman, who recently visited a movable school, was most favorably impressed. Her only criticism was that it was liable to cause confusion because of the wealth of instruction given in so short a time. She thought that the instruction included more than could be assimilated and utilized in a week. She rather facetiously remarked that it would not surprise her if some of the women were to go home and put their babies down in water glass and make “pinless outfits” for the eggs. Her observation still further confirmed the belief that the movable school and the local agents should be mutually helpful.

STORIES OF ACHIEVEMENT

A few typical stories taken from numerous narratives of success quoted by negro extension agents will suffice to give trends and tendencies. Floyd Stokes, of Gloucester County, Va., told the following story of the help given him through extension work (fig. 9):

When I got married back in 1903, I left home to begin life as a renter. The little house to which I moved was on 3 acres of land which I worked when not engaged in fishing or oystering. After having lived on this place three years, a young man, the first demonstration agent I had ever heard of, came to me and began talking soil improvement and how I could make a living out of it. Just about this time the agent induced me to buy 9 acres of land near by which were for sale. Four of these acres had been cleared and there was an old house on the land that had been used as a barn. I sawed some timber, had some doors and windows made for the barn, and moved into my own home.

Under the instruction of the agent I planted the 3 rented acres to melons and sowed cowpeas between the rows at the last cultivation to be turned under as green manure. This crop of melons netted me $300. On the 4 cleared acres I began soil building and the rotation of crops, as follows: In the spring I sowed cowpeas for hay, followed by crimson clover, which was turned under the following spring and planted to corn. Cowpeas were sown at the last cultivation. A good crop of corn was produced the first year. The cornland was planted to garden peas the next year, followed by crimson clover to be turned under and by potatoes the year following. The potatoes were followed by cowpeas, which were cut for hay in the fall. In the meantime, I had cleared the other 5 acres on which I planted melons, followed by crimson clover to be turned under for soil improvement.

Fig. 9.—Farm home and buildings of Floyd Stokes, of Gloucester County, Va., an outstanding negro farmer who attributes his unusual success to following the advice and suggestions of the negro extension agent.

Back in the early days when I began work with the agent, my land was very thin and light, being of a sandy texture; hence, it would not produce over 15 bushels to the acre. By following closely the system of crop rotation taught me, the same land is producing at this time an average of 45 bushels of corn per acre and other crops are doing equally well. From a sand bed, my land has been brought to a high state of cultivation.

In the fourth year after I had bought my first 9 acres, I purchased 7 additional acres. From 1911 to 1917 I rented 13 acres adjoining the 16 acres I owned. At the expiration of this period I succeeded in buying this piece of land, paying cash for it at the rate of $100 per acre. Two years later I bought 20 acres more for which I paid $3,000 in cash, making my total holdings at this time 49 acres. The land on which my house stands cost me $800. I have since been offered $6,000 for it. On the 20-acre plot is a good house which I rent out, although the land is retained for my own use.

In 1923 I began to remodel my house. The necessary timber was cut from the 20 acres purchased last. I planned to add all modern conveniences to the house. A lighting system has been installed and I plan to put in a complete water system next year. I have sheds for housing the farm tools when not in use, and insist that they be kept there. My net income averages around $2,000 per year. I have sold $1,600 worth of green peas this season and just to-day received $300 in small checks from neighboring farmers for seeds and plants grown by me. My farm is self-supporting. I do not buy anything that I can grow, and sell all surplus crops. I have eight children, all of whom are being educated as fast as they are ready for it. Two of my children are graduates of Hampton Institute.

I was one of the first to take up demonstration work in Gloucester County and through it showed that money could be made out of growing garden peas and other truck crops. Since most people at that time were practicing fishing and oystering, no one believed that truck gardening could be successful. When my success became known, one after the other began to take it up until to-day Gloucester County has become a great trucking center.

What success I have had in land buying, soil improvement, home making, and education of my children may be credited to the extension service through its agents who have rendered me most valuable service for which I am deeply grateful.

In Gloucester County, Va., more than 90 per cent of the heads of negro families own their own homes, the jail is usually empty, and the courts have little to do.

Fig. 10.—Herschell Glenn, of Rockdale County, Ga., who made a profit of over $265 through club work in 1924. (Photograph furnished by Georgia Extension Service)

One of the best records made in boys’ club work in 1924 was made by Herschell Glenn, of Rockdale County, Ga. (Fig. 10.) He made a profit of over $265 on his club work during the year and also had for his own use 15 bushels of corn and a pig weighing 200 pounds. He has had the satisfaction of knowing that his good work has aroused and inspired hundreds of other boys in Georgia, including a large number in his own community and county, who will try to excel his record in 1925. In reporting to his local agent he used the following simple and expressive language:

I had 2 acres in cotton. My total cost was $31.50; the total amount of seed cotton, 3,150 pounds; total value of seeds and lint cotton, $289.52; net profit, $265.85; and net profit per acre, $132.90. My corn did not do so well. I only got 15 bushels from my acre. I hope to do better next year. My pig is fine. I have fed her six months. She weighs 200 pounds. I am proud to be a club boy and will continue next year.

A negro home demonstration agent in Wayne County, N. C., gave a very good statement which indicates what is being done by negro women agents in changing home conditions. It will be noted that she followed the desirable plan of putting other people forward to give testimony and express the sentiments of her people. There is a fine recognition of individual effort and community cooperation in this method of reporting which might well be commended to extension workers generally.

I have been in the county two years and seven months. It is a pleasure to note the improvement of the people along every line. They eat better food, sleep in more fresh air, are happier at work, take better care of their children, have higher ideals, and have learned to sell the surplus food instead of wasting it and to buy things which they need. More important than tangible results are their changed ideas and attitude toward the work. One man speaking at a community meeting said: “The agent has put new life into dead bones. I feel better and am doing better and everybody in the neighborhood is doing better whether he belongs to the club or not.” In the same meeting a woman said: “I am 57 years of age, have 20 children, 45 grandchildren, and 7 great grandchildren, but have learned more in two years about caring for children, my home, and health than I had learned in 55 years before. I have 7 milk cows and 75 hens. I sell eggs, milk, butter, apples, peanuts, and a few other little things and now I can see day breaking. I am just learning how to live.”

The negro home demonstration agent of Autauga County, Ala., sketches a general outline of progress which goes into a little more detail in regard to the various activities. She says:

Gardening is no longer a part-time project, but is carried on through the year by both women and girls engaged in club work. We have been able to keep vegetables the year round, even though we have had a long dry spell. The number of insects and other pests, such as worms and plant lice, have been kept down by the constant use of soapsuds and wood ashes. Our winter gardens are doing fine. I feel that beautifying the home and surroundings should get first consideration, due to the fact that most of the time is spent in the house. Homes have been whitewashed, yards cleaned, and flowers planted in each case. Instructions have been given from time to time in the care and handling of a cow and the care and handling of milk in the home. Very few women are taking this instruction, but these few are making and saving money. One separator and six sanitary milk pails have been bought this year. We have worked hard this year with poultry, trying to do away with scrubs and put in more standard breeds. I have succeeded in getting 30 women and 5 girls to buy standard-bred eggs. As a result we have 1,300 more standard-bred chickens this year than we had last year. Our aim is to turn out 100 pullets on each yard.

Canaan community in Montgomery County, Ala., furnishes a fine example of the ultimate objective of home demonstration work among negroes. It is a good illustration of the fact that demonstrations are progressive. When one step is taken and success is achieved, the very situation is a stimulus to additional steps until the whole home and its environment become an inspiring object lesson of better living. The following story indicates that practically all the homes in that community are in various stages of advancement in extension work:

Almost every house in Canaan community shows signs of effort in home improvement, and the demonstration home of this community is now in process of development. The house has been remodeled and the interior decoration completed. Plans for the yards, walls, and fences are under way. This community also leads in bedspread making, having 15 finished bedspreads. It is the plan of the agent to have one demonstration home complete in each community where demonstration work is carried on. The Smothers’ home at Mount Meigs is the best example of home improvement in Montgomery County. The State agent and the landscape specialist, with the cooperation of the county agricultural agent, laid off the walks, surveyed the road, and planted the shrubs, flowers, and Bermuda grass. The owner found that his two-room house was not in keeping with his surroundings and so he decided to remodel. He and his wife left the plans of the house entirely to the judgment of the State and county home-demonstration agents and were satisfied with the plans for an addition of three rooms, a kitchen, back porch, bathroom, and an 8-foot L porch. The plans were executed by an architect at Tuskegee Institute. The construction is now complete and as soon as the plasterers are through, the furniture will be installed. At the request of Mr. and Mrs. Smothers, the home-demonstration agent helped in the selection of new furniture. The curtains and draperies are being made by the club girls of Mount Meigs, and girls of another community are framing appropriate pictures.

The following extract from the report of the home-demonstration agent of Washington County, Tex., is typical of the numerous examples of good work accomplished by negro club girls:

Lena Williams, age 16, of Washington County, Tex., has learned to can vegetables and make jelly and pickles so well that her services are in great demand. This year, after attending to her work at home and keeping up her club activities, Lena made a profit of $63 by canning for other people and even a greater profit from the sale of some of her products, both canned and fresh. With this money she bought a purebred Poland China pig, costing $10, and 12 purebred Rhode Island Red pullets and 1 cockerel, costing $14. Lena also attributes her good fortune in having some good warm, tasty apparel for school to her activity in canning, as she invested the remaining $39 in clothes for school wear, and plans to start a bank account from her investment in chickens and pigs.

It should be noted that any girl club member who makes the right start in productive enterprises is almost sure to go ahead into other phases of better home making and self-improvement. It is therefore very essential to make the proper start. The initial stage from the viewpoint of the demonstrator is most vital. The importance of the starting point was emphasized by Seaman A. Knapp, when he said:

Where to commence is the first problem of reform. Shall we trust the people and commence by increasing their resources, or shall our efforts be directed to improving farm dwellings and home conditions, the construction of better highways, the introduction of the telephone, rural free delivery, a community library, or improved social and religious privileges? Evidently it depends upon the degree of advancement in rural communities. The remedy that would help one might be utterly unapplicable to another. For example, if it were found that the average farmer in a rural township lived in a house valued at about $100, without barn, garden, cow, or pasture, with an insufficient supply of poultry, and unable to read and heavily involved in debt, it would be the height of unwisdom to commence the rural uplift by establishing a public library or even a school. The rural toilers must be first properly nourished, clothed, and housed. It is the order of greatest necessity. The means to do this can not be given to them and if it were, there would be no uplift. They must be shown how to earn it by a better tillage of the soil, and how to husband their earnings by greater thrift. A low wage, a small amount of work accomplished in a day, and an uneconomic use of resources are a part of any civilization limited by a low earning capacity.

No more frequent mistake is made than to assume that the low wage is the result of oppression. As a rule the wage is determined by the accomplishment. In India it requires from 14 to 24 servants to do the work of a small household, where 2 would do it better in some portions of the United States.

Upon the farm one man in the United States with a good team and modern machinery can do the work that 50 to 100 men do in many oriental countries. Consequently, when oriental farm laborers are paid 5 to 10 cents per day they are paid up to their earning capacity and that capacity is insufficient to sustain a high civilization.... In attempting to raise the condition of the colored man, we frequently start too high up, and in talking of the higher progress talk right over his head. When I talk to a negro citizen I never talk about the better civilization, but about a better chicken, a better pig, or a whitewashed house.

DEMONSTRATION RESULTS

At the close of the first decade of negro extension under the Smith-Lever Act, it is well to make permanent record of some of the achievements of the negroes in extension work, not only as a matter of recognition and commendation, but also to set up milestones to mark progress. At the close of the next decade these figures will have even greater interest than now. In fact, they will increase in importance and value with the passing of time.

The statistics which follow are not complete because they pertain to the activities of negro agents only. Hundreds of white agents have done some work with negroes, which is not reported separately. It is probably safe to say that the numbers represented in the 1924 report might be doubled. Since a system of extension work for negroes by negroes has been evolved, the tendency has been to turn the responsibility over to negro agents. The most harmonious relations prevail between white and negro agents in all the States and white agents always stand ready to advise and help.

FARM DEMONSTRATION WORK

During the calendar year 1924, 3,659 negro farmers undertook demonstrations with cotton and 3,072 carried the work to completion and submitted reports. These demonstrations represented a total of 23,043 acres. In addition, 2,630 junior club members planted an acre or more of cotton and 1,734 of them completed the work and submitted reports. Many of these boys cleared more than $100 each on their acres and some more than $200. This is not bad for boys who attend school regularly. Making the usual allowance of about 140 work hours in a year in the production and harvesting of an acre of cotton, these club members earned an average of about $1 an hour for every hour they worked.

Corn has always been a favorite crop for demonstrations by adults and juniors in the South, because it is used so much for food and feed and because it responds so well to special attention in that section of the country. The 1924 annual reports show that 4,317 negro farmers undertook demonstrations with corn and that 3,292 finished them in good shape. The demonstrations covered 25,442 acres. Of 8,018 club members who planted an acre apiece, 4,308 completed the work with marked success. If each successful demonstration should influence only five neighbors, the totals would be impressive, and demonstrations of outstanding size, success, and continuity are even more far-reaching. From a demonstration viewpoint alone, it is estimated that a million negro farmers and home makers are being influenced effectively.

It is worth while to trace the influence of demonstration in increasing the production of cotton and corn, but it is equally significant to trace the influence of demonstrations on the growing of other crops. Additional attention during the last few years in the South has been given to work with legumes. In order to continue the production of large crops of cotton and corn there must be some soil building. (Fig. 11.) This can be done most readily with such crops as cowpeas, soy beans, vetch, velvet beans, clover, and alfalfa.

Fig. 11.—Negro agent advising a farmer regarding the value of cowpeas, soy beans, and other legumes for soil improvement. During 1924, negro farmers conducted 9,860 demonstrations with cowpeas, soy beans, and other leguminous and forage crops, of which 8,358 were completed on a total acreage of 54,366.

It is very encouraging to note that the negro farmers carried on 9,860 demonstrations with leguminous and other forage crops in 1924 and that 8,358 of these enterprises were completed on a total acreage of 54,366. In connection with these totals should be considered 2,679 club members who were enrolled to grow legumes and 1,799 who completed the work on their acres. When it is considered that most of this work was done on rented land and that most of these crops require inoculation and special care, these figures have unusual value. Of course all the legumes were not planted for soil-building purposes. Some of them were cash crops and some were grown for feed. The order of popularity of the principal crops among these demonstrators is indicated by the number of demonstrations begun in 1924, as follows: Cowpeas, 2,885; velvet beans, 1,498; peanuts, 1,313; soy beans, 1,269; lespedeza, 476; and alfalfa, 272. Vetch, which was included in a miscellaneous total of 384, is increasing in popularity faster now than any other winter legume.

The success of negro farmers with such crops as sweet potatoes, tobacco, and potatoes shows a strong tendency on their part toward diversification in cash and food crops. During 1924, 1,817 demonstrators were enrolled to grow sweet potatoes and 1,461 of them completed the demonstrations and reported their results at the close of the season. The club enrollment for this popular crop was 836, of whom 590 completed their enterprises and reported. The enrollment for potatoes was 993 adults and 619 juniors and the completions were 878 and 448, respectively. In tobacco demonstrations 229 men were enrolled and 211 finished and reported. In junior extension 482 boys grew tobacco. In field-crop activities the enrollment of negro girls has been very small, just as it has been among the whites, which clearly indicates that the boys do most of the work on the farm and the girls in the home.

As a further contribution to the effort of the South to feed itself, the activities of negro farmers with cereals other than corn are indicative. In 1924 demonstrations were undertaken with wheat, oats, rye, barley, and other cereals, and 2,580 men, 983 boys, and 5 girls were enrolled, of whom 1,871 men, 682 boys, and 5 girls completed. In these demonstrations the yields were much larger than those of near-by farmers or county averages; frequently they were twice or three times as large. When a person undertakes, as a representative of his county, State, and Nation, to make an object lesson to his neighbors, he assumes a large responsibility.

Some of the most successful demonstrations in truck farming, from a financial standpoint, have been made by negroes. Good stories of their work with melons, berries, cabbage, turnips, carrots, celery, and other similar crops come in constantly. Some of the enrollment figures in horticultural demonstrations deserve attention and favorable comment. Negro farmers undertook 1,392 demonstrations in trucking and market gardening and completed 971 with marked success. A total of 8,729 persons were enrolled to make object lessons in home gardens and 6,502 of them were carried through to completion. The enrollment in fruits was 2,045, of whom 1,403 completed. Some extraordinary service was rendered by these farmers in spraying and pruning, which made their results more satisfactory and their examples more potent. In fact, many demonstrators became teachers and leaders through the merits of their work.

Unusual significance may very properly be attached to the livestock demonstrations of negro farmers. The large number of cows, hogs, and chickens owned by them indicates increased land ownership by negroes. It throws light also on the increased production of feed crops. The annual reports for 1924 show that 9,936 adult farmers and farm women were enrolled as livestock demonstrators, of whom 7,379 completed the year’s work and submitted reports. It is safe to assume that most of the 264,432 animals used in these demonstrations were purebred. Likewise, it means progress when it is realized that negro boys and girls cared for 102,070 high-class farm animals in their club enterprises. The enrollment of negro boys and girls in livestock work is worthy of the detailed statement given in Table 2.

Table 2.—Enrollment of negro boys and girls in livestock demonstrations, 1924

Line of work | Boys | Girls
Hogs | 3,774 | 682
Dairy cattle | 505 | 2,732
Beef cattle | 83 | 4
Poultry | 2,154 | 7,753

Some idea of the substantial nature of the accomplishments of negro agents may be found in the record for 1924, which shows that they helped to procure better sires for the flocks and herds of 3,552 farms and that they had flocks and herds culled on 4,848 farms. They also introduced better balanced feeding for farm animals on 9,520 farms.

Negro demonstrators used 68,126 tons of fertilizer and 8,288 tons of lime in their exemplary farm enterprises in 1924, and they plowed under 13,547 acres of cover and green-manure crops in their soil-improvement operations. Terracing was done on 1,738 farms and soil erosion was thereby prevented on 43,299 acres. Drainage systems were installed on 573 farms and 18,405 acres were thereby made more productive and valuable.

The climax of negro extension work comes in the constructive features just as for the whites. Special import should therefore be attached to the fact that the agents had 463 barns, 411 hog houses, and 787 poultry houses built according to approved plans. Some rural-engineering work of a constructive nature was done on 3,967 farms under the guidance of negro extension agents. All this development means that thousands of the best negroes are learning lessons of thrift, economy, and enterprise. They are coming to realize more and more the importance of owning land and building permanent homes. Another decade will probably show even greater results along these lines.

HOME DEMONSTRATION WORK

It is certainly very gratifying to note that a large number of negro women and girls are doing excellent home demonstration work. When it is remembered that they have to help a great deal in cotton, tobacco, and other fields, there is unusual significance in the fact that they are willing and anxious to take part in the special activities which make for better living and better homes. In 1924, 21,509 women and 27,114 girls were enrolled in the various activities which pertain definitely to the improvement of the home.

It is interesting, also, to compare the figures on home gardens with those on food preservation and preparation. There seems to be a logical sequence here. During the year, 12,355 women and 14,641 girls were enrolled in home gardening; 13,911 women and 13,826 girls, in food preservation; and 14,731 women and 16,537 girls, in food preparation. As a rule, the work begins with garden demonstrations, so it would seem that the interest increases as the work progresses. It should be remembered also that women and girls did most of the work with poultry. The proportion of members completing these demonstrations and the number of method demonstrations necessary for instruction were about the same as the averages of agents in other parts of the country and in other lines of work.

Gardening work is begun with the most staple and standard crops and soon leads to winter and perennial gardens and the growing of small fruits. Wherever home ownership obtains, the garden demonstrations are followed by orchard and lawn demonstrations. Fruit trees suitable to climatic and soil conditions are planted around the homes, and such activities always approach their climax in beautified front yards and lawns.

The number of dwellings constructed and remodeled under the guidance of negro women agents and the number of club members demonstrating the beautification of home grounds indicate clearly the progress of negro home demonstration work. Such activities show that other steps have been taken before the family is ready to build. They show, also, that a great deal of interest has been aroused and that the earning power of the people must have been increased to make such improvements possible. In 1924, 569 houses were built in accordance with plans furnished by negro extension agents and 1,002 houses were remodeled in accordance with the suggestions made by them. The fact that so much work was done to make homes attractive indicates that demonstrators are anxious to make improvements. This point is still further emphasized by the number of members who were enrolled in demonstrations in the beautification of home grounds. A total of 6,433 women and 6,427 girls took up this important enterprise; in 1,336 homes the grounds were laid out according to a definite landscape plan; and 335 school and community grounds were planted according to plans.

Paint and whitewash are good indexes of improvement and prosperity. Demonstrations of this nature exert a fine influence from the standpoint of morals and civilization. In 1924, 2,259 dwellings were painted or whitewashed as the result of extension influence. Many of the dwellings which were built or remodeled installed running water and lighting and heating systems. Altogether, 151 houses installed one or more of these improvements.

Perhaps no phases of home demonstration work are more valuable among negroes than sanitation and health, which were exemplified by more than 10,000 negro homes. In 2,361 homes the doors and windows were screened and in 3,781 homes other methods of insect control and extermination were followed. In most Southern States, negro agents have definite plans with blue prints for the construction of sanitary closets. These plans were followed in 1,890 homes. A total of 9,734 women and 10,351 girls were enrolled in home-health and sanitation demonstrations. The agents gave more than 5,000 demonstrations by way of instruction along this line. The club members and the home demonstrators took much interest in home nursing, first aid, care of teeth, care of skin, good posture, prevention of colds, and similar health activities which the agents were emphasizing.

The statistics on house furnishings by negro women and girls compare favorably with their activities along other lines. (Fig. 12.) During 1924, 7,688 women and 8,656 girls were enrolled to make or buy and install certain house furnishings suggested by the agents. More than 3,000 individuals conducted demonstrations in treating woodwork, walls, and floors. As a result of demonstrations carried on in house furnishings, 4,938 improvements were made in bedrooms, 1,744 in living rooms, 2,190 in dining rooms, and 1,717 in other rooms of the house.

During the year 4,962 demonstrations in home management were conducted by women and girls, most of them pertaining to the kitchen and its equipment. Negro women and girls in their demonstration activities rearranged 2,226 kitchens according to plans outlined by negro extension agents, installed 326 fireless cookers, 312 kitchen sinks, 1,198 kitchen cabinets, and thousands of other articles of equipment and convenience in the kitchen. In equipping the home laundry 277 hand washing machines and 26 power washing machines were obtained. The women and girls also bought 623 electric and gasoline irons and 70 power vacuum cleaners. The record shows that 4,008 club members and demonstrators followed improved laundry practices for the first time.

AGENTS’ ACTIVITIES

In the conduct of demonstration work with negroes the agents made visits to 28,410 farms and 26,515 homes. It required 86,824 farm visits and 49,334 home visits to get the results heretofore reported. It therefore seems that each demonstration farm required an average of three visits and each demonstration home an average of about two visits. If the demonstrations are large and successful enough, the agents will be justified in increasing their visits and also in further magnifying them with field meetings and tours where the demonstrations will be greatly emphasized and the good influences extended.

Fig. 12.—Negro home demonstration agent demonstrating the making of rugs for the home. During 1924, 7,688 women and 8,656 girls were enrolled to make or buy and install certain house furnishings suggested by the agents.

It may be noted further that the agents spent 37,418 days in the field and 15,435 days in the office. The negro agents reported 46,100 method and result demonstration meetings with a total attendance of 820,366. This was in addition to 1,863 special meetings for demonstrators and leaders, 358 short courses, and 107 camps for special training. Altogether, more than a million people attended the special and regular meetings for the promotion of extension work among negroes. To these impressive totals the number of fairs and exhibits should be added. Negroes made exhibits at 815 different community, county, and State fairs, which were seen and studied by thousands of people. Lantern slides and motion pictures were shown at more than 500 meetings.

OUTLOOK

The extension work for negroes and by negroes has been built up practically in the last 10 years. It is a wonderful development in such a short time. It took about the same length of time to build a similar organization for white people. When it is remembered that negro work has been established in a period of transition, turmoil, and readjustment, the significance is all the more remarkable. It is a fine tribute to the good work of the negro agents that, when the period of retrenchment came soon after the World War, their force and their appropriations were the only ones which were not reduced. With this solid foundation, with this inspiring record, and with this successful history the near future holds out much hope for even more rapid development. There is no field of education in this country now where greater good can be accomplished by earnest, devoted agents working along the right lines.

STATISTICS

Table 3.—Number of negro agents and cost of negro extension work for the fiscal years ended on June 30 each year from 1915 to 1924, inclusive

State | 1915 | 1916 | 1917 | 1918 | 1919 | 1920 | 1921 | 1922 | 1923 | 1924
and | Number | Estimated | Number | Estimated | Number | Estimated | Number | Estimated | Number | Estimated | Number | Estimated | Number | Estimated | Number | Estimated | Number | Estimated | Number | Estimated
sex of | of | cost | of | cost | of | cost | of | cost | of | cost | of | cost | of | cost | of | cost | of | cost | of | cost
agent | agents | | agents | | agents | | agents | | agents | | agents | | agents | | agents | | agents | | agents |
Alabama: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Men | 7 | $6,407 | 7 | $6,099 | 9 | $8,688 | 22 | $14,939 | 30 | $24,275 | 24 | $28,176 | 24 | $31,562 | 24 | $39,066 | 23 | $44,765 | 25 | $38,576
Women | | | | | 1 | 1,032 | 12 | 5,976 | 11 | 8,590 | 9 | 5,871 | 9 | 10,588 | 9 | 11,351 | 9 | 12,694 | 9 | 11,481
Arkansas: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Men | 2 | 1,380 | 4 | 2,637 | 6 | 3,017 | 12 | 5,273 | 11 | 13,423 | 10 | 13,951 | 10 | 19,242 | 9 | 19,489 | 10 | 15,429 | 10 | 13,783
Women | | | 1 | 314 | 1 | 1,050 | 28 | 6,371 | 21 | 5,921 | 13 | 10,351 | 9 | 14,679 | 10 | 17,320 | 12 | 15,376 | 11 | 17,841
Florida: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Men | 1 | 590 | 2 | 1,632 | 8 | 3,660 | 14 | 5,681 | 13 | 7,312 | 8 | 5,991 | 9 | 6,840 | 9 | 7,222 | 8 | 8,400 | 8 | 9,063
Women | | | | | | | 18 | 2,492 | 18 | 4,943 | 8 | 3,227 | 10 | 4,925 | 9 | 6,628 | 7 | 6,830 | 8 | 7,810
Georgia: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Men | 2 | 1,245 | 2 | 1,847 | 3 | 3,280 | 5 | 6,805 | 14 | 11,249 | 13 | 16,212 | 12 | 15,613 | 15 | 18,302 | 12 | 17,978 | 13 | 19,703
Women | | | | | 1 | 480 | 32 | 6,090 | 29 | 5,304 | 2 | 1,802 | 11 | 6,730 | 17 | 13,302 | 17 | 14,593 | 13 | 10,749
Kentucky: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Men | | | | | 1 | 165 | 4 | 2,723 | 4 | 4,872 | 4 | 4,320 | 6 | 10,118 | 5 | 7,289 | 5 | 6,744 | 5 | 6,826
Women | | | | | | | 4 | 1,515 | 3 | 1,870 | | | | | | | | | |
Louisiana: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Men | 1 | 625 | 6 | 1,953 | 7 | 4,622 | 12 | 8,148 | 17 | 12,728 | 12 | 14,420 | 11 | 15,894 | 9 | 13,391 | 9 | 11,380 | 10 | 13,981
Women | | | 2 | 442 | 2 | 1,380 | 5 | 3,174 | 8 | 5,923 | 2 | 2,027 | 3 | 3,562 | 6 | 6,101 | 5 | 6,513 | 6 | 6,414
Maryland: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Men | | | | | 1 | 333 | 3 | 3,110 | 3 | 4,960 | 2 | 3,792 | 2 | 3,975 | 2 | 4,040 | 2 | 4,140 | 2 | 4,140
Women | | | | | | | 5 | 3,445 | 5 | 4,242 | 1 | 1,553 | 1 | 1,160 | 1 | 1,548 | 1 | 1,650 | 1 | 1,775
Mississippi: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Men | 4 | 2,175 | 5 | 3,550 | 8 | 4,608 | 13 | 7,464 | 17 | 16,626 | 12 | 15,052 | 10 | 15,760 | 14 | 20,275 | 17 | 28,240 | 19 | 28,292
Women | | | | | | | 6 | 2,614 | 27 | 5,769 | 10 | 6,314 | 10 | 12,527 | 14 | 15,906 | 17 | 21,186 | 17 | 20,584
Missouri: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Men | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 2 | 3,800 | 2 | 4,000 | 2 | 4,239
Women | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | 2,000 | 1 | 2,000 | 1 | 2,200
North Carolina: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Men | 8 | 3,960 | 5 | 4,841 | 5 | 5,170 | 17 | 11,696 | 18 | 17,237 | 16 | 18,510 | 15 | 20,988 | 15 | 22,477 | 20 | 25,286 | 20 | 24,418
Women | | | | | | | 18 | 2,062 | 43 | 6,723 | | | | | 5 | 13,481 | 6 | 9,408 | 6 | 11,413
Oklahoma: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Men | 1 | 895 | 1 | 1,001 | | | 6 | 3,618 | 9 | 9,798 | 9 | 17,701 | 10 | 19,612 | 10 | 21,070 | 11 | 21,263 | 10 | 24,188
Women | 1 | 884 | 1 | 900 | 1 | 879 | 4 | 4,870 | 5 | 4,664 | 4 | 6,317 | 4 | 6,545 | 4 | 6,982 | 4 | 6,794 | 4 | 5,728
South Carolina: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Men | 7 | 2,721 | 5 | 2,210 | 5 | 1,943 | 10 | 2,220 | 11 | 6,430 | 7 | 6,160 | 6 | 6,042 | 7 | 10,372 | 9 | 12,077 | 10 | 14,318
Women | | | | | | | | | 4 | 1,063 | 1 | 900 | 10 | 1,788 | 13 | 2,925 | 14 | 3,624 | 6 | 7,283
Tennessee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Men | | | | | | | 8 | 4,076 | 8 | 7,134 | 6 | 7,023 | 5 | 7,860 | 5 | 8,096 | 5 | 8,099 | 6 | 8,735
Women | | | | | | | 3 | 1,562 | 23 | 8,115 | 4 | 3,223 | 4 | 6,651 | 4 | 6,285 | 5 | 6,137 | 5 | 7,936
Texas: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Men | | | | | | | 7 | 5,233 | 8 | 8,094 | 12 | 12,046 | 13 | 22,524 | 16 | 24,528 | 23 | 30,145 | 23 | 38,492
Women | | | | | | | 12 | 1,517 | 15 | 4,429 | 11 | 5,393 | 9 | 8,810 | 11 | 11,917 | 12 | 15,381 | 13 | 16,932
Virginia: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Men | 16 | 8,638 | 15 | 11,120 | 19 | 12,680 | 23 | 16,065 | 26 | 22,850 | 23 | 21,148 | 23 | 23,863 | 27 | 30,849 | 26 | 34,130 | 26 | 34,458
Women | 16 | 2,069 | 1 | 1,310 | 3 | 2,447 | 56 | 10,525 | 56 | 12,798 | 10 | 2,252 | 6 | 3,340 | 8 | 7,318 | 8 | 10,297 | 8 | 10,329
West Virginia: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Men | | | | | | | | | 2 | 167 | 1 | 250 | 1 | 1,600 | 5 | 4,582 | 4 | 4,281 | 3 | 4,579
Women | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | 740 | | | 1 | 1,800 | | | |
Total: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Men | 49 | 28,636 | 52 | 36,890 | 72 | 48,166 | 156 | 97,051 | 191 | 167,155 | 159 | 184,752 | 157 | 221,493 | 174 | 254,848 | 186 | 276,357 | 191 | 287,791
Women | 17 | 2,953 | 5 | 2,966 | 9 | 7,268 | 203 | 52,213 | 268 | 80,354 | 76 | 49,970 | 86 | 81,305 | 113 | 124,864 | 118 | 132,483 | 108 | 138,475
Grand total | 66 | 31,589 | 57 | 39,856 | 81 | 55,434 | 359 | 149,264 | 459 | 247,509 | 235 | 234,722 | 243 | 302,798 | 287 | 379,712 | 304 | 408,840 | 299 | 426,266

ORGANIZATION OF THE
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

September 13, 1926

Secretary of Agriculture | W. M. Jardine.
Assistant Secretary | R. W. Dunlap.
Director of Scientific Work | A. F. Woods.
Director of Regulatory Work | Walter G. Campbell.
Director of Extension Work | C. W. Warburton.
Director of Information | Nelson Antrim Crawford.
Director of Personnel and Business Administration | W. W. Stockberger.
Solicitor | R. W. Williams.
Weather Bureau | Charles F. Marvin, Chief.
Bureau of Agricultural Economics | Lloyd S. Tenny, Acting Chief.
Bureau of Animal Industry | John R. Mohler, Chief.
Bureau of Plant Industry | William A. Taylor, Chief.
Forest Service | W. B. Greeley, Chief.
Bureau of Chemistry | C. A. Browne, Chief.
Bureau of Soils | Milton Whitney, Chief.
Bureau of Entomology | L. O. Howard, Chief.
Bureau of Biological Survey | E. W. Nelson, Chief.
Bureau of Public Roads | Thomas H. MacDonald, Chief.
Bureau of Home Economics | Louise Stanley, Chief.
Bureau of Dairy Industry | C. W. Larson, Chief.
Fixed Nitrogen Research Laboratory | F. G. Cottrell, Director.
Office of Experiment Stations | E. W. Allen, Chief.
Office of Cooperative Extension Work | C. B. Smith, Chief.
Library | Claribel R. Barnett, Librarian.
Federal Horticultural Board | C. L. Marlatt, Chairman.
Insecticide and Fungicide Board | J. K. Haywood, Chairman.
Packers and Stockyards Administration | John T. Caine III, in Charge.
Grain Futures Administration | J. W. T. Duvel, in Charge.

This circular is a contribution from

Extension Service | C. W. Warburton, Director.
Office of Cooperative Extension Work | C. B. Smith, Chief.

ADDITIONAL COPIES
OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED FROM
THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON, D. C.
AT
10 cents per copy

Transcriber’s Notes

- pg 1 Changed: success in influencing the connstruction
to: success in influencing the construction

- pg 11 Changed: good object lessons in crop productoin
to: good object lessons in crop production

- pg 20 Changed: good house which I rent,
to: good house which I rent out,

- pg 23 Changed: completed 971 with marked sucess.
to: completed 971 with marked success.

- pg 25 Changed: kitchen cabinets, and thouands of other articles
to: kitchen cabinets, and thousands of other articles

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DECADE OF NEGRO EXTENSION WORK, 1914-1924 ***

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Table of Contents

- A DECADE OF NEGRO EXTENSION WORK 1914-1924
- CONTENTS
- AGRICULTURAL STATUS OF THE NEGRO

- DEVELOPMENT OF NEGRO EXTENSION WORK

- EARLY HISTORY

- ORDER OF DEVELOPMENT

- VALUE OF COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATIONS
- EVOLUTION OF PLAN
- GROWTH OF PERSONNEL AND FINANCES [1]
- FOOTNOTES:

- COOPERATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES
- CLUB WORK BY NEGRO BOYS AND GIRLS
- THE MOVABLE SCHOOL
- STORIES OF ACHIEVEMENT

- DEMONSTRATION RESULTS

- FARM DEMONSTRATION WORK
- HOME DEMONSTRATION WORK
- AGENTS’ ACTIVITIES

- OUTLOOK
- STATISTICS
- Transcriber’s Notes
- THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE