Occasional requests are made for formulas furnishing as much as 10 per cent of potash, and No. 4 has been arranged to meet needs of this nature. It is known that excellent tobacco, in quality and quantity, is grown by the use of fertilizers of this class, and some of our farmers greatly prefer them to others containing less potash. It takes considerable observation and experimentation to determine the best practice in matters of this kind.

Formula No. 7, in 1905, in some tobacco experiments conducted on the brightleaf soils of Granville County, gave very promising results. Three hundred and eighty-eight pounds per acre of this mixture were used, which was equal to an application of 600 pounds of a mixture analyzing 4 per cent available phosphoric acid, 6 per cent potash and 4 per cent ammonia.

A limited quantity of stable manure is very beneficial to tobacco, and it succeeds well after peanuts. These materials add ammonia to the soil, and where heavy applications of fertilizers are to be made in connection with manure, and on peanut land, it would be well not to have so much ammonia in the fertilizers as is used in the ones employed on land not having other ammoniated materials put on them. Formula No. 5 is destined to meet cases of this kind. A good many eastern tobacco growers plant tobacco after peanuts, and some of them grow peas between the hills of tobacco, planting them with hoes and putting six to ten peas in a place, the latter part of June or early in July. This improves the soil for after-crops, but tobacco grown after tobacco and peas is said not to be of good quality, though, as would be expected, the growth is very large.

Good results will come from the use of high-grade fertilizers, such as are suggested above, or similar ones, and we believe that when once tried there will be no inclination to go back to the lower-grade ones, now so largely used.

FARM DEMONSTRATION WORK.

Within recent years there has been inaugurated a method of extending agricultural knowledge known as Agricultural Demonstration. The purpose of this new educational work is not to displace or supplant any of the other established means of increasing and extending agricultural information, such as the Agricultural College, the Agricultural Experiment Stations and the Farmers' Institutes; but it is intended to supplement and assist all other means of bringing the actual tillers of the soil closer to those agricultural facts ascertained by the Experiment Stations and accumulated through long years of experience.

This demonstration method of teaching established agricultural facts to the farmer by operations on his own farm is but another evidence of the present tendencies of scientific methods of teaching. It is the approved modern laboratory method of instruction taken to the individual farm.

The operations already being conducted on the farm are used to demonstrate the value of a knowledge of the few general scientific principles underlying up-to-date farm practices, and that these practices are applicable to and of great value to this particular farm. With farm crops the value of better seed and more intelligent fertilization and of better preparation and cultivation of the land are demonstrated. In fruit growing the increase in the quantity and quality of the product resulting from better methods of orchard management and the value of more attention to preparing the fruit for market are shown. In dairying the unprofitable cows are detected, better methods of care and feeding put in operation, and the greater profits from placing a high-class product on the market proved.

The general method of conducting this farm demonstration work is to send a practical man, having a working knowledge of scientific agriculture and an intimate experience with the special line of work he has in charge, to the farms of the men who are to co-operate in carrying out the demonstration. These visits are made at regular intervals during the period of the demonstrations, in order to make certain that the farmer shall have such instruction and assistance as he may need in performing his part of the work.

When the demonstrator goes to a farm he endeavors to utilize such facilities as already exist there or may easily be obtained. No experiments are undertaken, but only such crops and practices as the value of which have been thoroughly demonstrated are advised. In short, it is demonstration and not experimental work that is contemplated.

The chief obstacle to progress and the introduction of improved methods and implements is that old practices are more easily and perfectly executed because of long practice in following them. A new practice, although in itself much more easily followed and, when well performed, much more effective. may at first be more difficult than the old way, and, for this reason, being less perfectly performed, may be less effective. The personal presence and assistance of the demonstrator in starting new methods and implements of known value removes this obstacle to their introduction and insures them a fair trial, which may lead to their permanent use in future farming operations.

The aim of this demonstration work is simply to assist the farmer to introduce such farm practices as have been proved of value, and thereby enable him to do better farming and get more for his labor. Incidentally, the farmer also obtains much valuable agricultural information.

With the full inauguration of this farm demonstration work the connection between the farmer and agricultural science will be complete. We have the Experiment Stations to verify old and ascertain new facts; the Agricultural Colleges to teach these facts to the few who go to college, and these few to teach the masses, through the medium of the Farmers' Institute, and show the accuracy of their teaching by means of farm demonstration.

So fully impressed was the State Department of Agriculture with the importance of the work and its possibilities for direct, good to agriculture, that, in September, 1907, a division of Demonstration was created and Mr. T. B. Parker elected to take charge of this important line of work.

If the fruit growers, truckers, dairymen or general farmers of any section or any individual desires assistance in any line of farm work, the State Department of Agriculture will be glad to co-operate with him and render all assistance possible to enable him to obtain better results from his labor, and, when necessary, a representative from the Department will visit any part of the State and assist in overcoming any agricultural difficulties encountered.

DEMONSTRATION WORK AS APPLIED TO FARM CROPS.

BY T. B. PARKER, IN CHARGE OF DEMONSTRATION WORK.

So far, in North Carolina, demonstration work relating to farm crops has been confined to alfalfa, crimson clover, vetches, and improved varieties of corn and cotton. It was started about two years ago with alfalfa, in co-operation with the United States Department of Agriculture.

Through this co-operation effected with the Federal Department of Agriculture, we were last year able to send crimson clover and vetch to nearly seventyfive farmers living in more than twenty-five counties and embracing nearly every section of the State. These seed are not distributed indiscriminately. They are sent out for the specific purpose of finding out where they will succeed and under what conditions they do best, and to prove to the farmers their economic agricultural value. Each person receiving seed will also be required to keep a record of time of planting, the nature of the land, what crop occupied the land last year, if high land or low land, level land or hill land, the methods of cultivation, fertilization, etc., for which we furnish blanks to be filled out by the co-operator. With this data, covering every variety of soil in the State, different methods of cultivation, fertilization, etc., we can draw conclusions that must be helpful to the agricultural interests of the State. Follow this up a few years, until we have proved by the test of time the results of these farm tests, and we will have a fund of information that will be invaluable to the farmers of the State.

The value of alfalfa as a forage crop, as well as a soil improver, wherever it can be grown, is sufficient reason for the Department of Agriculture to encourage its cultivation, which we are doing on small areas in many parts of the State.

Crimson clover is another of the legumes that we are anxious to see grown all over the State, especially where red clover will not succeed. The Department feels justified in inducing our farmers to grow this crop. It is not only a fine soil improver, but is also a good hay plant.

The vetches also belong to the legume family and are valuable for soil improvement and for hay.

The great value of these plants has been proven at our test farms, and we are desirous of demonstrating to the farmers their value along these lines.

But few reports have as yet come in, but those that have are of a very encouraging nature and give evidence of an interest in these crops. We have not yet been able to make any definite arrangements in regard to crimson clover and vetch to send out again this fall, but we are hoping to be able to send out even more than we did last season.

In addition to the above-named crops, the Division of Demonstration Work has this year (1908) sent improved seed corn to about 175 co-operators, and improved cotton seed to about an equal number, embracing every section of the State in which cotton is produced in appreciable quantities. Besides, in four counties we are co-operating with Dr. S. A. Knapp, of the United States Department of Agriculture, in demonstration work, the State Department of Agriculture furnishing the seed and Dr. Knapp the demonstrators.

With this nucleus of workers, demonstrators and co-operators scattered all over the State, we are expecting reports that will justify an extension of the work until every county in the State will be occupied.

It has been demonstrated at our test farms that the highest yielding variety of corn will produce almost twice as much corn per acre as the lowest yielding variety tested. Likewise with cotton. At the Edgecombe Test Farm last year (1907) the best yielding variety of cotton produced $57.71 worth of lint and seed, while the lowest yielding variety tested produced only $24.25 worth of lint and seed. If we can introduce the best variety of either corn or cotton in the field of a farmer who is planting the lowest yielding varieties, and let him compare the different varieties, he at once becomes a convert to improved seed. If it were possible to do this on every farm in the State, we would raise the yield per acre for both of these crops to a point that would mean a very greatly increased profit. But the Department of Agriculture cannot do these things alone. It must have the co-operation of the farmers. We are willing to send the seed as long as our supply will permit, and give any instructions or other information at our command, and the co-operators must do the balance. We would like to have in this work as co-operators farmers who really believe there is a future for the farmers and who believe better seed and better methods of preparation and cultivation will result in increased yields, and who will be willing to keep a record of the work and report results for the benefit of his fellow farmer. We should be glad to correspond with those who are interested to this extent.

The field of demonstration work, or co-operative experiments, is wide and freighted with great possibilities. With the full and hearty co-operation of the State Department of Agriculture and the progressive farmers of the State, our crop yields can be made much larger and farm life much more enjoyable.

ORCHARD DEMONSTRATIONS.

BY W. N. HUTT, HORTICULTURIST.

During February, 1908, several orchard demonstration institutes were held in the apple-growing regions of the State to show the best methods of pruning and spraying fruit trees. The meetings were held right out in the orchards, where the demonstrators could actually do the work and have the trees to illustrate what they were talking about.

The orchards in which the demonstrations were given were selected beforehand, on account of convenient and central location. The trees used in the demonstration were generally near a road, where they could be under observation throughout the season, so that the results of the demonstration could be noted.

Demonstrations were given in the following counties: Stokes, Surry, Alexander, Wilkes, Caldwell, Watauga, Henderson, Haywood, Jackson and Swain.

PRUNING.

The demonstration of pruning proceeded about as follows:

1. The fruit growers present were taken through the orchard, and the best

forms of trees for commercial orcharding were noted.

2. Those present picked out a tree which they desired to see pruned.

3. The demonstrator outlined the method of growth in trees and explained the reasons for pruning.

4. The origin of fruit buds and their development were explained.

5. Pruning tools of different kinds were shown and their uses explained by the demonstrator.

6. The tree was pruned and the principles of pruning and the why and wherefore of each step explained while the work was being done.

7. The pruned and unpruned trees were compared.

8. How to properly remove a limb and treat the resulting wound was demonstrated.

9. Different kinds of trees were pruned. For example, apple, pear, peach, plum, etc.

10. The pruning and training of a young tree was explained and demonstrated.

11. Methods of renovating old and neglected trees were shown.

12. Tools were distributed to those present and trees were pruned by them, under the direction of the demonstrator.

13. A general discussion of the subject of pruning followed these demonstrations, and questions were freely asked and answered.

FUTURE DEMONSTRATIONS.

The coming fall it is purposed to visit the same orchards in which the pruning and spraying demonstrations were given this spring, and to call the orchardists together to note the results of the work done at the spring demonstration in improving the quality and increasing the quantity of fruit. It is the further purpose to pick this fruit and to demonstrate the most approved