Sowing seeds : the daily press and the evolution of Tennessee's agricultural extension service

This study examines how three Tennessee daily newspapers treated and reacted to the concept of "teaching by demonstration,"—educating farmers in their fields—the central idea that would lead to the formation of the Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service and others like it around the country. The study covers a 5 1/2-year period from January 1909 to June 1914, one month after the Smith-Lever Act formally established a national extension education system operated through the nation's land grant universities. Chosen for this study were three of the state's largest dailies. The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, the Nashville Banner, and the Daily Journal and Tribune in Knoxville. The study also looks at the evolution of Tennessee's Agricultural Extension Service and farming conditions within Tennessee and the South during this time.

The study found that the idea of teaching by demonstration gained strength in the press, especially as the newspapers began paying greater attention to children's agricultural clubs. Coverage of the concept was often linked to events. More rapid acceptance and application of teaching by demonstration may have been hindered more by a legal restraint than by farmer indifference or hostility.

Editorial reaction to the idea by all three newspapers was favorable and at times enthusiastic and perceived as a solution to poor farm performance. Although the University of Tennessee and the Federal Cooperative Demonstration Work program used "demonstrations" differently in teaching farmers, the press never compared or examined the two concepts.