Scattering the Seeds of Knowledge

Frederick Whitford

Description

Today, Purdue Extension delivers practical, research-based information that transforms lives and livelihoods. Tailored to the needs of Indiana, its current programs include Agriculture and Natural Resources, Health and Human Sciences, Economic and Community Development, and 4-H Youth Development. However, today's success is built on over a century of visionary hard work and outreach. Scattering the Seeds of Knowledge: The Words and Works of Indiana's Pioneer County Extension Agents chronicles the tales of the first county Extension agents, from 1912 to 1939. Their story brings readers back to a day when Extension was little more than words on paper, when county agents traveled the muddy back roads, stopping at each farm, introducing themselves to the farmer and his family. These Extension women and men had great confidence in the research and the best practices they represented, and a commanding knowledge of the inner workings of farms and rural residents. Most importantly, however, they had a knack with people. In many cases they were given the cold shoulder at first by the farmers they were sent to help. However, through old-fashioned, can-do perseverance and a dogged determination to make a difference in the lives of people, these county Extension agents slowly inched the state forward one farmer at a time. Their story is a history lesson on what agriculture was like at the turn of the twentieth century, and a lesson to us all about how patient outreach and dedicated engagement-backed by proven science from university research-reshaped and modernized Indiana agriculture.
Introduction

Part One The Precursors to the Development of Extension Education in Indiana: Research, Farmers’ Institutes, and One Man’s Vision (1882–1912)

1. Research Lays a Foundation for Extension

2. One Man’s Vision for Extension

3 All Roads Lead to the County Agent

Part Two The Show-and-Tell Years of the First County Agents in Indiana: When Seeing Was Believing (1912–1916)

4. Extension Work Being New in the County, the Office Was Not Understood

5. Field Demonstrations Are the Rock On Which We Build

6. Farming Requires Business Principles in Its Management

7. Very Few Farms of the County Are Maintaining the Fertility

8. Test! Don’t Guess!

9. The Marriage of King Corn and Queen Alfalfa

10. Barn Was Engulfed in a Cloud of Oat Smut

11. A Number of Men Sowed Wheat That Had Never Sowed It Before

12. The Fruit on the Unsprayed Tree Was Unsound, Wormy, Knotty, and Rotted

13. Hog Cholera! Keep Out!

14. Cattle Were Found to Have the Foot-and-Mouth Disease

15. The Teachers Look to Me for All Aid in Teaching Agriculture

16. Boys’ and Girls’ Club Work in the County Is Helping Considerably

Part Three Food Will Win World War I (1917–1918)

17. Supporting Soldiers at the Front Through Work in the Fields

18. Every Call Took Some Men Much More Valuable as Producers Than They Could Be as Soldiers

19. With a Food Shortage Possible, There Has Been a Desire to Save All Perishable Food

20. Not Safe to Guess on the Vitality of Their Seed Corn

21. Meeting the Government’s Request for More Pork

Photographs2

Part Four: Living Through the Miserable Years of the Agricultural Depression (1919–1929)

22. The Farm Business Is on the Rocks

23. No One Man Ever Will Know All a County Agent Is Expected to Know

24. The Program Has Become a “Jack of All Trades and Master of Some”

25. Better Hens, More Bushels per Acre, and Greater Economy in Production All Around

26. A Public Servant or a Servant to One Organization

27. The Value of the Hen as the “Mortgage Lifter”

28. The Milk Check Has Been a Very Welcome Thing in a Great Many Homes

29. One-Third of All Tuberculosis Cases Are Contracted Directly from Milk

30. This Is the Finest Bunch of Hogs I Have Raised in Years

31. Better Keep Bees Better or Better Not Keep Bees

Photographs

32. Just Mixed Up Nondescript Corn of No Particular Origin

33. Farmers Should Realize That the Pest Is Within Our Midst

34. The Three L’s—Limestone, Legumes, and Livestock

35. Soil Fertility Is Their Capital Stock for Profit or Loss on the Farm

36. Whenever a Farmer Gets the Soybean Habit, He Rarely If Ever Quits

37. The Wheat Crop Though Unprofitable on the Average Farm Has Returned a Neat Profit in Some Cases436

38. Superior Strains Sought After by Progressive Farmers

39. The Eradication and Control of This Weed Is an Ever Perplexing Problem for the Careful Farmer

40. Care For or Cut Down Orchard Campaign466

41. Farmers Must Find Some Crop Which Will Pay Them a Good Cash Income

Photographs

42. The Tractor Has Taken a Prominent Place on the Farm

43. Crops and Livestock Can Be Made to Grow on These So Called “Worn-Out” Farms

44. The Man on the Dirt Road Today Is at a Decided Disadvantage

45. Hoosiers Are Kind to Rats, Feeding Them on Eggs, Poultry, Grain, and Meats

46. Power in the Home Saves Mother

Photographs

47. Extension among Farm Women and Girls Is as Important as That among Farm Men and Boys

48. The Afternoon of Each School Day Is Devoted to Agriculture

49. Club Members Have Learned to Win Without Boasting, to Lose Without Squealing

Epilogue

Educators by Profession, Friends to Rural People, and Pioneers of Agricultural Change

Photographs

Notes

Sources

Index

Sujets

• Midwest
• Histoire
• State
• History of the Americas
• United States
• History
• Local

Informations

• Publié par: Purdue University Press
• Date de parution: 15 mai 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781612495071
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Scattering the Seeds of Knowledge
Purdue University Press Founders Series
Books by Frederick Whitford

W hen Indiana’s county Extension agents first took up their posts in 1912, many of the most significant agricultural innovations of the last hundred years were still being developed in the laboratories and experimental fields of land-grant universities such as Purdue University. Enriching the Hoosier Farm Family: A Photo History of Indiana’s Early County Extension Agents captures the story of the state’s first Extension agents during a time when the Cooperative Extension Service was newly formed and county agents were folks who traveled muddy back roads visiting farmers day after day, year after year to share those innovations.
Compiled from original county agent records discovered in the archives of the Purdue University Libraries, this book includes more than 800 rare, never-before-published photographs along with anecdotal information about how these agents overcame their constituents’ reluctance to change. Through patient outreach and dedicated engagement, they built trust in communities and little by little were able to share new information that introduced farmers and their families to exciting new frontiers of productivity.

Enriching the Hoosier Farm Family: A Photo History of Indiana’s Early County Extension Agents
 

The Grand Old Man of Purdue University and Indiana Agriculture: A Biography of William Carroll Latta

The Queen of American Agriculture: A Biography of Virginia Claypool Meredith

For the Good of the Farmer: A Biography of John Harrison Skinner, Dean of Purdue Agriculture
Scattering the Seeds of Knowledge
The Words and Works of Indiana’s Pioneer County Extension Agents
FREDERICK WHITFORD
Purdue University Press West Lafayette, Indiana www.press.purdue.edu
Copyright © 2017 by Purdue University
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.
Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file at the Library of Congress
Hardback ISBN: 978-1-55753-759-1
ePDF ISBN: 978-1-61249-506-4
ePUB ISBN: 978-1-61249-507-1
Designer: Dawn L. Minns
Editor: Carolyn A. McGrew
Indexer: Marilyn Augst
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to Indiana’s early county Extension agents, who between 1912 and 1929 began the work that would help establish the Cooperative Extension Service in the state for its first hundred years and beyond. Specializing first in agriculture and later in home demonstration and 4-H youth programs, these men and women shared common traits that allowed them to overcome the many obstacles they faced. They had great confidence in their abilities, a thorough understanding of farms and the people who worked them, an unshakable belief in the Extension mission, and personalities that helped them win over those less friendly to the cause. Through old-fashioned perseverance and a dogged determination to make a difference in the lives of those they served, these county Extension agents inched their communities forward one person at a time. Along the way, they earned the respect of their constituents and passed on their credibility to those who eventually succeeded them.
On a personal note, I would also like to dedicate this book to my grandson, Clayton Owen Jakes, who in just a few years has brought so much joy to my life.

 
The County Agent
BY ALMA MANN DIEHL Dedicated to DeKalb County agent T. E. Myers, 1938
When life meted out the problems
And to each one gave a few
There were many still left over
And a heap of worries too.
They were tied up in a bundle
Labeled plain and thus it reads
Extra! for the County Agent
He a double portion needs.
So from that time and forever
Until life’s short race is run
He can never hope to finish
Though he works from sun till sun,
He must know each true solution
Run at every beck and call
And be ready with the answer
When there isn’t one at all.
No matter what his feelings
He must always be polite,
Must smile, and seem quite happy
When he’s mad enough to fight.
For each matter placed before him
Be concerned and always care
When the true expression really
Is to rave and pull his hair.
When at last he journeys homeward
Seeks to close his weary eyes
Many oh’s! and ah’s! and wishes
Wafted upward to the skies
Seem to tell the old, old story
Of a day so full of woe
No one really can describe it
Only County Agents know.
And me thinks when life is over
And he climbs the golden stairs
There’ll be some unfinished projects
Spring upon him unawares.
But he still must hasten onward
And from him they will depart
Back to earth they’ll find a refuge
In some other Agent’s heart.
CONTENTS
Introduction
Part One The Precursors to the Development of Extension Education in Indiana: Research, Farmers’ Institutes, and One Man’s Vision (1882–1912)
1 Research Lays a Foundation for Extension
2 One Man’s Vision for Extension
3 All Roads Lead to the County Agent
Part Two The Show-and-Tell Years of the First County Agents in Indiana: When Seeing Was Believing (1912–1916)
4 Extension Work Being New in the County, the Office Was Not Understood
5 Field Demonstrations Are the Rock On Which We Build
6 Farming Requires Business Principles in Its Management
7 Very Few Farms of the County Are Maintaining the Fertility
8 Test! Don’t Guess!
9 The Marriage of King Corn and Queen Alfalfa
10 Barn Was Engulfed in a Cloud of Oat Smut
11 A Number of Men Sowed Wheat That Had Never Sowed It Before
12 The Fruit on the Unsprayed Tree Was Unsound, Wormy, Knotty, and Rotted
13 Hog Cholera! Keep Out!
14 Cattle Were Found to Have the Foot-and-Mouth Disease
15 The Teachers Look to Me for All Aid in Teaching Agriculture
16 Boys’ and Girls’ Club Work in the County Is Helping Considerably
Part Three Food Will Win World War I (1917–1918)
17 Supporting Soldiers at the Front Through Work in the Fields
18 Every Call Took Some Men Much More Valuable as Producers Than They Could Be as Soldiers
19 With a Food Shortage Possible, There Has Been a Desire to Save All Perishable Food
20 Not Safe to Guess on the Vitality of Their Seed Corn
21 Meeting the Government’s Request for More Pork
Photographs
Part Four Living Through the Miserable Years of the Agricultural Depression (1919–1929)
22 The Farm Business Is on the Rocks
23 No One Man Ever Will Know All a County Agent Is Expected to Know
24 The Program Has Become a “Jack of All Trades and Master of Some”
25 Better Hens, More Bushels per Acre, and Greater Economy in Production All Around
26 A Public Servant or a Servant to One Organization
27 The Value of the Hen as the “Mortgage Lifter”
28 The Milk Check Has Been a Very Welcome Thing in a Great Many Homes
29 One-Third of All Tuberculosis Cases Are Contracted Directly from Milk
30 This Is the Finest Bunch of Hogs I Have Raised in Years
31 Better Keep Bees Better or Better Not Keep Bees
Photographs
32 Just Mixed Up Nondescript Corn of No Particular Origin
33 Farmers Should Realize That the Pest Is Within Our Midst
34 The Three L’s—Limestone, Legumes, and Livestock
35 Soil Fertility Is Their Capital Stock for Profit or Loss on the Farm
36 Whenever a Farmer Gets the Soybean Habit, He Rarely If Ever Quits
37 The Wheat Crop Though Unprofitable on the Average Farm Has Returned a Neat Profit in Some Cases
38 Superior Strains Sought After by Progressive Farmers
39 The Eradication and Control of This Weed Is an Ever Perplexing Problem for the Careful Farmer
40 Care For or Cut Down Orchard Campaign
41 Farmers Must Find Some Crop Which Will Pay Them a Good Cash Income
Photographs
42 The Tractor Has Taken a Prominent Place on the Farm
43 Crops and Livestock Can Be Made to Grow on These So Called “Worn-Out” Farms
44 The Man on the Dirt Road Today Is at a Decided Disadvantage
45 Hoosiers Are Kind to Rats, Feeding Them on Eggs, Poultry, Grain, and Meats
46 Power in the Home Saves Mother
Photographs
47 Extension among Farm Women and Girls Is as Important as That among Farm Men and Boys
48 The Afternoon of Each School Day Is Devoted to Agriculture
49 Club Members Have Learned to Win Without Boasting, to Lose Without Squealing
Epilogue
Educators by Profession, Friends to Rural People, and Pioneers of Agricultural Change
Photographs
Notes
Sources
Index
INTRODUCTION
T he Cooperative Extension Service passed the century mark in 2014. In Indiana, this milestone can be attributed in part to the foundation established by the earliest county Extension agents, who pioneered educational outreach efforts to rural areas statewide during the first half of the twentieth century. Their belief in proven science as a powerful tool for change altered how rural families managed their farms and homes. It was the beginning of an educational movement that would influence every aspect of rural life. Eventually, it would lead to improvements for all Indiana families and their communities, and even for others who lived well beyond the state’s borders.
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