CONVERGENCE
The Development of Agricultural and
Extension Education in North Carolina
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Early Instruction in Agriculture
Around 1901-1903 the state school laws of
North Carolina indicated agriculture was to
be taught
It is something of a mystery where this mandate
came from.
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Where did the mandate to teach
agriculture come from?
There is no legislative record of the state
legislature requiring it.
There is no state school board record of it being
mandated.
Some unknown individual added it; perhaps
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
James Joyner who assumed his position in 1902
(this is the view of several individuals)
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Agriculture in the Schools
The 1903-04 report of the Superintendent of
Instruction indicates that 6,975 white
children are enrolled in agriculture in the
state.
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Agricultural Education at NCSU
In the early 1900s special summer schools
were held at NCSU for school teachers.
Elementary school teachers
were taught the
fundamentals of
agriculture.
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Agricultural Education at NCSU
The 1904 North Carolina A&M College
Summer School and Farmer‟s Convention
report said that 834 teachers were enrolled
and “Great interest was shown in all
subjects . . . especially agriculture, nature
study and drawing.”
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Rural Schools
Rural schools in North Carolina were
dilapidated and run down. The schools for
black children were worse.
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Rural Schools
Julius Rosenwald, President of Sears and a noted
philanthropist, was very concerned about the
condition of schools for black children in the
south.
Between 1917 and 1932
The Rosenwald Foundation
provided funds to build
813 elementary schools in
NC for black children.
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Rosenwald Schools
Schools in rural areas “…were not to
provide only formal and theoretical „book
larnin‟ but also practical work and to have
at least one room for shop and home arts
and two acres of land available for farm
gardens. In addition, to their lessons, the
girls were expected to learn sewing and
cooking and the boys farming and simple
work with tools.”
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General Education Board
In 1903, the oilman,
John D. Rockefeller
established the General
Education Board
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General Education Board
The Board‟s goal was to improve
agriculture and education in the south
"without distinction of race, sex or creed.”
Funds were used to build high schools in
the south
Funds were used to support farm
demonstration and extension activities in
the south
More Later
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
The Anna Jeanes Fund (1908)
The Fund provided “Jeanes Supervisors” for
hundreds of Black school districts to
supervise healthcare, child rearing and
home economics. Most of the supervisors
were Black ladies who had received special
training.
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Who was Anna Jeanes?
Anna T. Jeanes, a Quaker from Philadelphia, was
one of ten children in a wealthy family. She was a
well-to-do single woman in the 1800s who was
interested in the causes of her day. None of her
brothers and sisters left heirs. So in time, she
inherited a great deal of money. Around the turn
of the century, she began to donate her fortune to
charity, and in 1907, shortly before she died, she
gave one million dollars to a fund of income-
bearing securities, to provide education to black
students in rural areas of the South.
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Need for Agricultural Instruction
After agricultural colleges were established
it was seen that more was needed to reach
the masses
Colleges were only serving a minute
number of students
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The Media
Education is “as it was 60 years ago in our
boyhood, so it is today in 99 out of 100
schools. Not a grain of progress that will
help the country boy to a better
understanding of the problem of
agriculture.” - Hoard‟s Dairyman, 1895
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
The Media
We need to abandon “the cut-and-dried
formula of a period when a man was
„educated‟ only when he knew Greek and
Latin” - Wallace‟s Farmer, 1908
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Farm Life Schools
Jan 1911 - Guilford County Board of
Education, County Commissioners, & the
educational committee of the Farmer‟s
Union formed a committee to draft a law to
present to the NC Legislature to provide
agricultural instruction in Guilford County
Bill passed March 1, 1911
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Farm Life Schools
NC State Superintendent of Public
Instruction submitted a bill to the state
legislature to establish and maintain Farm
Life Schools in 1911.
The bill passed on March 3, 1911
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Farm Life Schools
Similar law to Guilford County‟s was
passed on March 4th, 1911 for Wayne
County
The Wayne and Guilford laws differed from
Joyner‟s because they allowed more than 1
school per county & farm life feature could
be added to established schools
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Farm Life Schools
The first 3 Farm Life Schools were opened
Sept, 1911 in Guilford County
Pleasant Garden
Monticello
Jamestown
Nov 1913 Craven County opened the only
Farm Life School to be established under
Joyner‟s bill
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Farm Life Schools
Legislature of 1913 made Guilford County
Act statewide
21 schools were established from 1911-
1917
One additional school was established after
passage of the Smith-Hughes Act
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Farm Life School Curriculum
Agricultural subjects were substituted for
Latin
All other traditional subjects were taught
(literature, etc)
School had to have a farm and adequate
facilities
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Cary Farm Life School
Students at Cary lived in this dormitory
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Cary Farm Life School
This student from Edgecombe County was a boarder.
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Cary Farm Life School
First year:
general principles of agriculture
farm carpentry
use of tools
construction of things needed on the farm
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First Year
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Second Year
Field crops
different soils, fertilizers, cultivation
seed selection & testing
Fruit growing
orchard location
setting trees, budding, grafting
pruning & marketing
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Second Year
Vegetable gardening
construct hotbeds
each student has a garden plot on farm
becomes familiar with the vegetables that
should be grown on the farm
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Second Year
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Third Year
Livestock
different breeds & characteristics
feeding
livestock judging
breeding
dairying
poultry raising
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Third Year
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Fourth Year
Soils
types
laying of terraces, drainage methods
Farm Management
apply business methods to farming
Rural Economics
marketing problems
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Fourth Year
The Cary School Farm
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Cary Farm Life
School
Agricultural subjects on
the Report Card
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Cary Farm Life School
The Poultry Co-Op was operated out of
the Cary Farm Life School.
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The Philosophy
The Cary School is not satisfied to train men to
produce more grain to the acre, or more pounds of
meat from a balanced ration, but the students are
being shown how to become leaders in their
communities; how they may “make agriculture a
fine, progressive art, which in the future shall
provide a more stable and satisfactory basis for
thrifty, intelligent, refined, and happy rural
communities.”
J.S.Howard, Agriculture Teacher
Cary High School
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1929 FFA members - Cary
Girls?
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Meanwhile, back in Texas
The boll-weevil
was rearing its
ugly head, 1903-04.
The situation was desperate.
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Farm Demonstration Plan
Dr. Seaman Knapp (who was 70 years old)
proposed that a demonstration farm be established
near Tyrrell, Texas to fight the boll weevil
However
• the farm would be owned by a local farmer and the community
leaders would select which farm to use (past demonstration
farms were owned by the government)
• Local community raised an insurance fund of $1,000 to pay the
farmer if the demonstration failed
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Farm Demonstration Plan
The Walter Porter farm was selected
Different cultural practices were used
Porter made $700 more than he would have
using his old farming methods
Soon, there is a great demand for this “on-
the-farm” type of demonstration work
USDA Bureau of Plant Industry provided
funding for additional demonstration efforts
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Farm Demonstration Work
Dr. Knapp put in charge of demonstration
work
1904 - 24 demonstration farms in operation
in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas
1905 - work was expanded to include
Mississippi and Oklahoma
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Come Together - 1906
Funds from USDA to support Farm
Demonstration work were limited
The General Education Board (GEB) took a
interest in the work and joined with USDA
to support farm demonstration agents
GEB paid salaries of agents
USDA paid $1, gave agents official USDA
status, and gave franking (free mailing)
privileges
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
The first agent
W. C. Stallings, first county agent in the
United States
Appointed
November 12,
1906
Smith County,
Texas
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Who is Seaman Knapp
Knapp is commonly called the “Father of
Extension”
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Seaman Knapp
Born - December 16, 1833 at Schroon Lake,
New York
Early education from the Troy Conference
Academy
1854 - entered Union College, received a
classical education
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Seaman Knapp
After college he taught Latin and Greek at
Fort Edwards Collegiate Institute
Then, served as Vice President and taught
rhetoric and criticism at Ripley Female
Seminary
Severely injured his knee in a softball game and
became a cripple. Doctors told him to go west
for his health.
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Seaman Knapp
Moved to Iowa in 1866 and started farming
1867 - 1869, Methodist Pastor
1869 - Superintendent of the Iowa School
for the Blind
1874 - returned to farming (Berkshire hogs,
Shorthorn cattle). A sheep ran into his crippled leg
and he was healed.
1877 - Edited the Western Stock Farmer and
Journal
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Seaman Knapp
1879 - Elected Professor of Agriculture at
the Iowa State College of Agriculture,
responsible for the “Hay-Seed Boys”
1883 - Became president of the Iowa State
College of Agriculture..
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Seaman Knapp
For years Knapp had advocated the establishment
of agricultural experiment stations. He promoted
this as a paper editor and as a college professor.
In 1882 Representative Carpenter of Iowa
introduced a bill that would eventually become the
Hatch Act. Knapp helped draft this bill and later
served on a committee to revamp it.
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Seaman Knapp
Even though Knapp is known as the father
of extension, he should also be known as
the father of the federal legislation for
agricultural experiment stations.
Knapp left Iowa State in 1886.
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Seaman Knapp
Moved to Louisiana in 1886 as a principal
in the North American Land and Timber
Company
Had problems selling the land to farmers, so
he offered one “reduced price” farm in each
township if the farmer would farm
according to Knapp‟s general directions.
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Seaman Knapp
Because of the important of rice in
Louisiana and the need to plant better
varieties, he was appointed an “Agriculture
Explorer” in 1898 by the USDA and
traveled to Japan, China and the Philippines
looking for new rice varieties
1898 - 1905, editor of the Rice Journal and
Gulf Coast Farmer
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Seaman Knapp
Knapp worked out of Houston, Texas
between 1904 and 1906 in his boll weevil
farm demonstration work.
1907 - Knapp‟s Headquarters moved to
Washington, DC
1911 - Knapp dies
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Quote from Seaman Knapp:
“What a man hears, he may
doubt; what he sees, he may
possibly doubt; but what he
does himself, he cannot
doubt.”
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
North Carolina Gets an Agent
1907 - The General Education Board sent
Cassius R. Hudson to North Carolina to
start demonstration work
Hudson was a graduate
of Auburn
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Hudson Stone Walled
Hudson plans to start work in Raleigh area
but receives cold shoulder from the North
Carolina Department of Agriculture
NCSU would like to help but lack any
resources to do so
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Go West Young Man
Hudson moves to Statesville to start farm
demonstration work
Hudson, with local input, appoints James A.
Butler to be the first county agent in 1907.
Butler serves Iredell county.
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Demonstration Work Grows
Eight counties were involved in Hudson‟s
demonstration farms by 1908
20 counties had demonstration agents
supported by GEB and local farmer
contributions by 1909
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Meanwhile, Back in Raleigh...
1907 - The North Carolina
Department of Agriculture appoints
T. B. Parker to head up Farm
Demonstration Work (in addition to
running the Farmers Institute
Program).
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Meanwhile, at NCSU...
1909 - The USDA and NCSU sign an
agreement to cooperate in extension
type activities
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
USDA-NCSU Agreement
Department of Agricultural Extension
started at NCSU - July 1, 1909
I. O. Schaub became the first
Professor of Agricultural
Extension (May 1)
Responsible for Boys Corn
Club work
Salary and Travel came from
the General Education Board
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Corn Clubs Grow
The first official organized corn club was in
Hertford County in 1909.
The Hertford County Superintendent of Schools
was a strong supporter of the idea - his name was
Tom Browne (Browne also was a Farmers
Institute Lecturer on corn production)
By 1910 Corn Clubs were operating in 60 counties
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Corn Clubs
Schaub worked closely with State Superintendent
of Public Instruction Joyner to promote corn clubs
in schools
Schaub also worked with T. B. Parker who did
boys club work for the NCDA
Until 1916 the NCSU Corn Club agent reported
the results of his work to Joyner
The Superintendent‟s office listed the Corn Club
agent as an officer of the DPI
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Growth of Corn Clubs
Year Counties Boys
1910 60 1575
1911 3000
1912 90 3500
1913 86 2276
1914 97 4540
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Girls Clubs
1911 - NCSU hires Jane
McKimmon to work with girls
clubs and do home demonstration
work. She had been a Farmers
Institute lecturer.
Girls clubs concentrated on tomato canning and
gardening
By 1914 32 counties had 1,500 girls in club
activities
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Home Demonstration Work
Mothers of girls in the girls clubs demanded
to also learn better methods
McKimmon gained support to hire home
demonstration agents
by 1914 there were 37 home demonstration
agents
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Convergence I
Schaub and NCSU persuade Mr. Hudson to
leave Statesville and come to State in 1911.
Hudson does this and becomes State Farm
Agent. He continues the demonstration
work he has started.
1911 - The Department of Agricultural
Extension has three employees
Schaub, McKimmon, Hudson
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Convergence II
1912 - Corn Club work conducted by NCDA is
transferred to NCSU
1913 - Schaub leaves (he will return 10 years later
as Extension Director). Tom Browne replaces him.
1914 - Smith-Lever Act officially establishes the
extension service.
1917 - Smith-Hughes Act officially established
agricultural education in public schools.
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
Summary
While most of the slides are about North
Carolina, similar activities were going on in
other states.
Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education