and seeds, and garden
products, which ought at the time to be growing in the locality,
together with a proper plow, for deep plowing, were loaded upon the
wagon. The driver would pull up before a farmhouse, deliver his
message, and point out the strong points of his wagonload and would
finally request a strip of ground for cultivation. This request
granted he would harness the mule to the plow, break the ground deep,
make his rows, plant his seeds, and move on to the next locality. With
a carefully planned follow-up system he would return to each such plot
for cultivation and harvest, and, most important of all, to
demonstrate the truths he had sought to impress upon the people by
word of mouth. Where the first driver sent out was a general farmer,
the second would be, let us say, a dairyman, the third a truck
gardener, and finally a poultry raiser would go; usually a woman,
since in the South women, for the most part, handle this phase of
farming. These agents also distribute pamphlets prepared by the
Agricultural Research Department of Tuskegee on such subjects as
school gardening, twenty-one ways to cook cowpeas, improvement of
rural schools, how to fight insect pests, cotton growing, etc. The
constant emphasis upon practice by no means entails any neglect of
theory.

Besides this work there is each January for two weeks at Tuskegee the
regular Farmers' Short Course. Many of the country schools adjourn for
this period so that both teachers and pupils may attend. In this
course not only teachers and pupils, but fathers and mothers, sons
and daughters sit side by side in the classrooms receiving instruction
in stock raising, canning, poultry raising, and farming in all its
branches. There are special courses for the women and girls in the
care of children and in housekeeping. The following breezy
announcement is taken from the prospectus of this course for the year
1914:

"_A creation of the farmer, by the farmers and for the
farmer._"

"It meets the crying needs of thousands of our boys and
girls, fathers and mothers.

"_It's free to all--no examination nor entrance fee is
required._

"It started 7 years ago with 11 students; the second year we
had 17, the third year we had 70, the fourth year we had
490, and last year we had nearly 2,000. It is the only thing
of its kind for the betterment of the colored farmers. It
lasts for only 12 days. It comes at a