The

The

Demonstration Work

Dr. Seaman A. Knapp's

Contribution to Civilization

0. B. MARTIN

FORMER STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION OF
SOUTH CAROLINA, SPECIAL AGENT, UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND ASSOCIATE OF DR.
KNAPP IN THE DEMONSTRATION WORK.

1926

THE STRATFORD COMPANY, Publishers
Boston, MASSACHUSETTS

CHAPTER II

BOYS' FARM CLUBS

AS far as the records of the United States Department of Agriculture go, they indicate that the first Boys' Corn Club was organized in Macoupin County, Illinois, in 1899. It grew out of the failure of the Farmer's Institute to secure an attendance. The Secretary of the Institute conceived the idea of distributing some good seed corn to the boys of the county, have them grow some good ears of corn and bring them to the annual meeting of the Institute. He reasoned that if the boys came, their fathers would come also. He was not mistaken, they came in large numbers. In this and other counties in Illinois, as well as in other states of the middle west, this idea was taken up right generally between 1900 and 1905. Boys grew small plots of corn in order that they might have beautiful ten‑ear exhibits to take to the fairs. In fact, the ten‑ear exhibit idea seemed to be the sole basis of award for prizes. It was felt that by emphasizing the good points of an ear of corn, that better seed corn would be generally used. Perhaps this idea was overworked until some of the Experiment Stations began to show that these beautiful ears did not always produce the largest yields, at least it was found that the yielding power of seed corn depends more upon its ancestry and history.

When Dr. Seaman A. Knapp began to organize Boys' Clubs as Junior Farm Demonstration Work, the Boys' Corn Clubs of the middle west had passed the zenith of their activity and usefulness and were somewhat on the decline. After the Farm Demonstration Work had been going on for about four years, it was reported from Mississippi, from Texas and other states in 1906‑07, that the boys wanted to have a hand in this new enterprise. Dr. Knapp realized the possibilities of utilizing the energies of these newly formed purposes. He realized, also, that a county agent could only look after a limited number of individual demonstrators. For this reason he said that “We must organize the boys so as to handle them in groups." He grasped the idea of having the Corn Club Boys demonstrate to the nation and to the world that the South could grow large yields of corn. Of course he did not lose sight of the fact that each of the boys would be helping his community and his county with these same object lessons.

In the beginning of the systematic effort to organize boys wherever the Farm Demonstration Work had gone, the following objects were held up to the agents, school officers, and others interested in promoting the Corn Clubs:

“(1) To place before the boy, the family, and the community in an example of crop production under modem Scientific Methods.

(2) To prove to the boy, his father, and the community generally that there is more in the soil than the farmer has ever gotten out of it; to inspire the boy with the love of the land by showing he can get wealth out of it by tilling it in a better way and keeping an expense account of his undertaking.

(3) To give the boys definite, worthy purposes at an important period in their lives and to stimulate a friendly rivalry among them.

(4) To furnish an actual field example in crop production that, be useful to rural school teachers in vitalizing the work of the school and correlating the teaching of agriculture with actual practice.”

Some statement of reasons for Corn Clubs was thought necessary, too, and it was made in these words: "Corn was selected for the first demonstrations, because it is a plant that can be profitably produced in most sections of the United States. The boys throughout the country have common knowledge of it from childhood, and the lessons seem easy. Corn yields more food to the acre in most sections of the United States, when properly handled, than any other grain crop. Food for men and animals is one of the first necessities. Cheapness of production is an important item. The growing of more and better corn in the South is necessary for better farm conditions. It forms part of a proper rotation for soil building and will furnish feed for a more extended livestock industry. It is the foundation crop for home use in most of the Southern States. Its more extensive growth will encourage diversification."

It was stated further that, "The Farmers' Co‑operative Demonstration Work is not undertaking the organization of these clubs to teach agriculture in the public schools, but it is seeking through its field force to instruct boys in practical agriculture on the farm." Of course it was realized that the reflex action on the school would call for more interest and activity among the teachers, in corn, in potatoes, in pigs, in calves, and in farm matters generally.

Dr. Knapp also observed:

"The Demonstration Work undertakes to create in the schoolboy a love of the farm and a new hope by showing the wonderful possibilities of the soil when properly managed and the ease with which wealth and distinction are achieved in rural life when science and art join hands. This is worked out by the cooperation of the demonstration workers, the county superintendent of public instruction and the rural teachers."

At the very beginning of the organization of Boys' Corn Clubs in connection with the Farm Demonstration Work, Dr. Knapp insisted upon standardization. He said every boy should undertake to demonstrate with an acre of land so that if he broke any records in corn production that it would be upon a full acre basis and not upon any little rich garden spot, for which the boy would have to apologize and explain that at this rate it would be such and such yield per acre. Dr. Knapp went further in his standardization work. He insisted, that the ten‑ear exhibit should be only a small part of the basis of award. It was his suggestion that the cost of production should figure as one of the main items. It was at his suggestion, also, that each boy should write a history of his crop. He realized the beneficial effect on the schools and teachers, when thousands of boys began to write compositions, upon living themes, in which they were intensely interested, instead of upon abstractions. Not only have thousands of interesting stories been written in good English by the Club members on how their crops were made, but hundreds of these bright boys have stood upon their feet and made public talks to large audiences along the same line. There has been no collateral influence touching upon teaching in the schools which has been more beneficial and far‑reaching in its application and use than the farm and home clubs in connection with the Demonstration Work.

The basis of award that was agreed upon in Dr. Knapp's office and adopted generally in the Southern States for the awarding of prizes in the Corn Clubs was as follows: Yield, 30%; Showing of Profit, 30%; History, 20%; and Exhibit, 20%. These ideas and these percentages entered into the bases for judging other crop and live stock club work everywhere.

Although the different phases of work presented in these different items were stressed, and an effort to maintain a proper balance was constantly kept up, the question of large Yields was an engrossing one in the public mind for several years. Very few people realized, previous to that time, that it was possible to grow more than 200 bushels of corn on an acre. In fact, it had been done only a few times in the history of agriculture. Capt. Z. J. Drake, of Marlboro County, S. C., had produced 254 bu. 3 pks. on an acre in 1889, and had won a $1,000 prize. His cost of production was large, however, and the club boys had to limit their expenditures. The following list of boys making the four highest yields and the best records in each state for the first few years of the Corn Club Work in the South are worthy of permanent record:

"Alabama Walker Lee Dunson, Alexander City, Yield 232.7 cost $.199 per bu. Ewell Hickman, Troy, Yield 225.25, cost $.219. Eber A. Kimbrough, Alexander City, Yield 224.75, cost $.198. Junius Hill, AtaJla, Yield 212.5, cost $.086.

Arkansas Willie P. Brown, Hamburg, Yield 172.32, cost $.142. Edwin Moore, Hot Springs, Yield 155.25, cost $.165. Joe Reed, Johnson, Yield 142, cost $.18 Dillard Wyatt, Rosie, Yield 131.14, cost $.32.

Florida J. R. MeVicker, Baker, Yield 191.1, cost $.187. Malcolm Miller, Baker, Yield 170.2, cost $.193. Richard Miller, Baker, Yield 129.28, cost $.26. Gurney Crews, Lake Butler, Yield 124.87, cost $.39.

Georgia Ben Leath, Kensington, Yield 214.71, cost $.142. Ernest J. Wellburn, Madison, Yield 181.72, cost $.30. Bethel Edwards, Avalon, Yield 186.67, cost $.25. Byron Bolton, Zeigler, Yield 117, cost $.135.

Kentucky Roy Steele, Crestwood, Yield 155.83, cost $.145. Edward G. Gallrein, Valley Station, Yield 14, cost $.14. W. Arthur Cook, Owensboro, Yield 131.5, cost $.12. Theodora CumMills, Butler, Yield 138, cost $.137.

Louisiana John H. Henry, Jr., Melrose, Yield 150.75, cost $.163. L. Z. Wardlaw, Red Oak, Yield 148.6, cost $.16. John M. Cobb, Vowells' Mills, Yield 131.5, cost $.15. Edward Grimes, Pride, Yield 127.7, cost $.17.

Maryland Thomas Bonwill, Still Pond, Yield 118.4, cost $.20. J. Earl Smith, Chestertown, Yield 110.5, cost $.15 Walter Garner,

Waldorf, Yield 110, cost $.19. Hopper T. Goodwin, Longwoods, Yield 106.4, cost $.29.

Mississippi Bennie Beeson, Monticello, Yield 227.62, cost 4.14. J. Jones Polk, Prentiss, Yield 214, cost $.23. Carlous Reddock, Summerland, Yield 206.6, cost $.136. Carl Graves, Soso, Yield 202, cost $.145.

North Carolina Charles Parker, Woodlands, Yield 195.9, cost $.24. J. R. Cameron, Kinston, Yield 190.4, cost $.34. Geo. West, Kinston, Yield 184.7, cost $.192. Richard Brock, Princeton, Yield 188, cost $.32.

Oklahoma Orion Stutesville, Alfalfa, Yield 122.33, cost $.SO.* Elson Coleman, Newkirk, Yield 110, cost $.19. Earl Ross, Edmond, Yield 105, cost $.218. Harmon Smith, Hastings, 100 bushels to acre at post of $.248.

South Carolina Jerry Moore, Winona, Yield 228.7, cost $.43. Earnest M. Joye, Venters, Yield 207.2, cost $.40. John Fleming, Mt. Pleasant, Yield 171, cost $.25. Gary McKenzie, Hamer, Yield 164.6, cost $.09.

Tennessee Norman Smith, Covington, Yield 168.4 cost $.21. Howard Riggins, Clarkesville, Yield 161, cost $.138 Clarence Nave, Elizabethton, Yield 163.7, cost $.25. Vincent Hamilton, Pau Branch, Yield 134.4, cost $.30.

Texas John Hubert Rose, Henderson, Yield 164, cost $.094. Roy Day, Slocum, Yield 136.5, cost $.106. Bohumil Zatopek, Sugarland, Yield 148, cost $.12. Earl Davis, Grapeland, Yield 112.5, cost $.09.

Virginia Marius Malmgren, Hickory, Yield 209, coat $.11. Frank G. Brockman, Amherst, Yield 167, cost $.225. Leroy L. Sawyer, Norfolk, Yield 166.5, cost $.28. K. D. Secriot, Buchanan, Yield, 165.5, cost $.24.

West Virginia Oscar Francis, Smithfield, Yield 133.35, cost $.22. Roy Kerns, Glenwood, Yield 133, cost $.11. Walter Matthews, Roanoke, Yield 133, cost $.17. Hazel Ayers, Smithfield, Yield 130, cost $.32.

Volumes of records and reports have been made by Corn Club Boys, but only one will be incorporated here. It is typical of the others in many respects, but, of course, is one of the very best. This is the record of Walker Lee Dunson, of Alabama:

"Walker Lee Dunson, Alexander City, Ala. Yield 232 bushels, 39 pounds. $.19 cents. Lived on farm all his life and was 14 years of age when he made this record. Land is a bottom with sandy loam soil 3 to 6 feet deep. First cut corn stalks with a stalk cutter and turned land with a turner, breaking 10 to 12 inches deep. Double cut it with a disc harrow. Land was pulverized good and in fine condition. Laid off rows 3 feet apart and bedded up the rows with a turn plow. Seventh of April planted corn about 8 inches in drill. The corn came up to a perfect stand. First cultivation was May 12th, and applied 400 pounds of 10‑4 guano as a side application. Second cultivation on May 24th, applied 800 pounds 10‑4‑3 guano. Third cultivation June 5th, used 800 pounds 10‑4 guano. Fourth cultivation applied 200 pounds top dressing. Fifth cultivation July 4th, applied 100 pounds of nitrate of soda. Harvested it October 1st. Corn produced one to four ears to stalk. The variety was Marlboro prolific. When corn was planted used 200 pounds 10‑4 guano.

He had been in the Corn Club three years. In 1911, his first year, he made 75 bushels. In 1912 he produced 172 bushels and 12 pounds and in 1913, 232 bushels and 39 pounds. Second year he won a trip to the National Corn Exposition School at Columbia, S. C. In 1912 he won a trip to Washington and several other prizes, among which was a fine percheron mare from the Central of Georgia, R. R. In this length of time he had much experience in farming. He says: 'Every boy ought to try an acre to experiment on. It will teach him how to farm and do better work."'

A summary of the cost of production, etc., of his 1913 crop is as follows:

Fertilizer $26.70

Labor 19.70

Total $46.40

This is a little less than 20 cents per bushel. His profit was $186.10.

In 1914, Walker's fourth year in Club Work, he made 175.25 bushels of corn on his acre at a cost of 20 cents per bushel, 1,623 pounds of seed cotton on his second acre, and 3,354 pounds of oats in sheaf and 1,974 pounds of peavine hay on his third acre, winning a second percheron mare from Central of Georgia R. R., for four crops on three acres. Thus this young farmer won a fine pair of draft mares to continue his high‑class demonstration farming. He has recently married Miss Margaret Brown, one of the North Carolina prize winning girls, whom he met on the trip to Washington in 1913. They are developing a model farm and home.

From 1906 to 1908 the enrollment in the Corn Clubs began to show up in several of the states. Some agents interested the boys and started them to work. Some county superintendents of education helped enlist the boys and aided, in the instruction of the group. The first county superintendent of education who thus organized Corn Clubs was W. H. Smith, of Holmes County, Mississippi, later president of the Agricultural College of that State. He was appointed Collaborator by the United States Department of Agriculture. The first Demonstration Agent to take up this phase of work and promote it actively and successfully himself was Tom M. Marks of Jack County, Texas; 1909 was the first year in which the Corn Club Work was organized and promoted generally throughout the Southern States. It is very interesting to see the number of boys who produced yields of more than 100 bushels to the acre in the first five years of 'this intensive activity in the Boys' Club Work. This record is as follows: 1909, 52; 1910, 171; 1911, 327; 1912, 493, and 1913, 374.

A Department Circular giving results of the Corn Club Work in 1911 made the following observations:

"The Boys' Demonstration Work teaches the boy how to make a crop successfully and economically; hence, there is an element of economic management and profit in it. It inspires a love of the soil and, above all, when the boy is successful there is a consciousness of achievement, which is of great value. It is not merely a Boys' Club for the purpose of having a set of rules or an organization. True, this idea is used, but mainly in an incidental way. This work is not a contest in corn growing wherein each one who enters is left to prepare, plant, fertilize and cultivate in his own way. Of course, prizes are offered in this work, but only for the purpose of arousing interest and keeping up enthusiasm. The plan is to instruct, to direct, to guide and to train. The circulars of instruction sent at different times throughout the year cover the fundamental principles of good farming, such as deep fall plowing, the pulverization of the soil, seed selection, suitable spacing, intensive cultivation, the increase of humus, the economical use of fertilizers, the systematic rotation of crops, the use of more horse power and better implements, and the keeping of farm accounts. The effort is made to have each boy receive attention and instruction on his acre or the acre of a neighboring boy. A boy takes pride in ownership and will learn more agriculture and more business on his own acre of corn than elsewhere."

Soon after the boys began to enroll in large numbers in this new form of Corn Club Work it became necessary to have badges, pennants, banners and other regalia upon which some uniform insignia should be used. Agricultural colleges and high schools began to round the boys up in short courses and encampments at fairs and elsewhere. One of the occasions which Dr. Knapp enjoyed most, in the closing years of his life, was the attendance of 1,500 Corn Club boys in overalls, and with cornstalks as walking sticks at the Texas State Fair at Dallas. He regarded it as one of the greatest honors that had come to him to be able to address such an assemblage.

Dr. Knapp made many valuable suggestions with regard to the insignia to be used by the Club members: It was his suggestion, too, that the boys enter into competitions by groups and by counties rather than altogether as individuals. Inasmuch as prizes were offered and awards made in many instances for best records as clubs, there was much interest aroused in club activities and county records. The first prize trip to Washington was offered by Dr. Knapp personally to the Club Boys in Mississippi when he was on a visit there. It was the beginning of many interesting prize trips to the Nation's Capital, to fairs, live stock shows, to colleges and other places.

By the time the Boy's Demonstration Work had been well established in the fifteen Southern States, public‑spirited citizens were giving more than $50,000 worth of prizes a year to the boys. These awards took the form of cash, pigs, plows, colts, calves, shotguns, books, bicycles, implements, hats, clothing, trips and scholarships. Senator R. L. Owen, of Oklahoma, offered a thousand dollars and asked how best to distribute it. Dr. Knapp advised that he give it to teams from the clubs who would make the best average records. Thus these club members strove to bring honor upon their counties. As the work developed the boys attached more and more importance to the recognition and honor involved in the awards. Blue ribbons, certificates and diplomas were cherished as highly as awards of money.

It was a matter of great personal pride to the founder of the Demonstration Work that the prize winners in the Corn Clubs elected to take scholarships in the agricultural colleges, when such prizes were offered them. It was a matter of great gratification to him, also, that the agents who were appointed in the different states to give special attention to the Boys' Club Work became the connecting link between the Department and the agricultural colleges in their extension work. The memoranda which he drew in perfecting the agreements with the colleges whereby such agents should become agents of the Department and representatives of the colleges really forecast the provisions of the Lever Extension Act. It was very fitting that the man who was the founder of the Demonstration Work and most largely influential in establishing a policy of co‑operative extension work by an enactment of Congress should have also been prominent and influential in the passage of the Hatch Act, providing for experiment stations. No man realized more fully than he did that the research and experiment station work by the Department and colleges was inadequate and incomplete until a proper form of extension activity could be worked out.

Hundreds of Corn Club Boys have graduated from the agricultural colleges and thousands of them are now active and successful farmers. In the communities where they live it is far easier to promote organization of farmers, and the co‑operation of the people along marketing lines than was true at the time the first Corn Clubs were organized.

W. W. Finley, former President of the Southern Railroad, paid the following tribute to Dr. Knapp's participation in the Corn Club Work, in an address to the State Teachers' Association of South Carolina, in June, 1912:

“Splendid as have been the results of Dr. Knapp's cooperative farm demonstration work, I believe that by far the most important thing he ever undertook was the inauguration of the Boys' Corn Club Work. The immediate and primary effect of this work is seen not only in the records of the large yields made by individual members of the Boys' Corn Clubs throughout the South, but in the increasing average yield per acre in all of the states resulting from the stimulation of interest in the best cultural methods and in seed selection. If the Boys' Corn Clubs had done nothing more, their records would stand as an imperishable monument to the memory of Dr. Knapp. But in my opinion the most important results are not in the raising of corn, but in the raising of farmers. They are essentially agricultural schools. The boy who hopes to make a creditable showing or a record breaking crop and to do so by methods that will yield a profitable margin over the cost of production must be a student. The members of the Boys' Corn Club not only acquire theoretical and practical knowledge as to the best methods of growing corn, but I believe that their work in these clubs tends to imbue them with a thirst for knowledge and that they will grow up into scientific and progressive farmers, whose work will lift the standard of agriculture throughout our entire Section."

Correspondence with educational leaders shows that Dr., Knapp fully realized that the Corn Clubs would lead to Pig Clubs, Calf Clubs, Potato Clubs and other clubs. He rejoiced in the evolution of the club, which indicated that the members were developing into broad, scientific and practical farmers and business men. He then said: "This learning agriculture, which is composed of the following ingredients one eighth science, three eights art and one half business methods out of a book, is like reading up on the handsaw and jack plane and hiring out for a carpenter." He took genuine pleasure in seeing these boys learn real agriculture as he had conceived it and also by the methods which he urged.

All Phases of Club Work can furnish stories of achievement by the youngsters. The various live stock clubs are all getting splendid results. Perhaps a good Pig Club record will suggest ' what can be done with calves, lambs and other animals. The story told by Amos Roy, of Yukon, Okla., is a good one. He says:

"I bought my gilt of my father on December 7, 1916, the day she was bred, put her in an alfalfa pasture alone, so no other hogs would hurt her or eat her feed. Her weight when I bought her was 190 pounds.

She farrowed eleven living pigs and one dead one. I was successful in making her raise the eleven pigs and after showing them at the fairs, I sold ten of them at six months of age for $505.80 and one at one year, bred, for $100.00, making $605.80 besides $205.50 in prize money won at the fairs, making a total of $811.30 and I had the old sow left with another litter of pigs.

The total amount of feed eaten by my gilt from breeding to farrowing was: Corn 432 pounds, bran 125 pounds, shorts 125 pounds, tankage 621/2 pounds. Her gain was 175 pounds and cost 4 1‑9 pounds of feed for each pound of gain in weight. She gained in weight 11/2 pounds per day.

The total amount of feed eaten by the sow and pigs during the 120 day contest was: Corn 2,724 pounds, shorts 456 pounds, bran 432 bounds, tankage 235 pounds.

The net gain on sow and pigs was 1,100 pounds and cost 31/2 pounds of feed per pound of gain. They gained over 9 pounds per day. The total cost for feed and care from breeding of gilt to end of the 120‑day contest was $129.83. Adding the cost of food after the contest and fair expenses which were $231.47, making a total cost of $361.30 spent on the pigs. Total income $811.30, leaving a net profit of $450.00.

The sow is now worth much more than I paid for her so I do not deduct anything for her purchase price.

Amos Roy."

When Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated Governor of New Jersey the Farm Demonstration Work was well established in every Southern State, the boys were attracting national attention in corn production and the girls were making a splendid start in their clubs which were opening the way for the home demonstrations. This movement was not lost on the far‑seeing new governor. He noted that "The work grew in every direction." He addressed the New Jersey legislature in part as follows:

"The thing that tells is demonstration work. The knowledge of the schools should be carried out to the farms themselves. Dr. Seaman A. Knapp found the way when he was sent into the South to fight the boll weevil. Choosing a good farm and a good farmer here and there he showed the farmer how to cultivate part of a field, gave him simple, fundamental directions, brought him selected seed, and made frequent visits afterwards to see that his directions were carried out. Of course the neighbors promptly took notice and the next season did the same thing, with the same results, good crops, earlier crops, crops that the weevil was no match for. And fighting the weevil was only an incident. The work grew in every direction, not work in the schools, but work suggested and directed by men sent out from the schools to take science to the farm, until the Agricultural Department could not supply the men called for from every direction. The country man began once more to come into his own. When the farmer does fully take science into partnership, and becomes his own master and fortune builder, the day will be gone once for all when the townsman can tax him and ignore him and absorb unto himself the powers of Government at his pleasure.

It does not require a great deal of money to train men and send 'them out for this work; and when once it is begun it goes on of itself. Private persons, voluntary independent associations, county authorities take it up. It is a thing that gives life as it goes. It awakens country sides and rouses them to take charge of themselves. It is not help from the Government. It is merely light from the "Government. The light does the rest. We should give ourselves the pleasure, the pride and satisfaction of putting New Jersey forward an example in this truly great and intelligent work for relaying the foundations of wealth and prosperity in the United States."

The Corn Club Boys, following demonstration plans and demonstration principles, soon attracted worldwide attention. There were letters of inquiry and visitors from Canada, England, Brazil, Argentine, Russia, South Africa, Australia, and the islands of the sea. At this stage of development Dr. Knapp began to discuss the Demonstration Work for men and boys as a system of education, and also the first step in a great development, as the following quotations will show:

"The Farmers' Cooperative Demonstration Work may be regarded as a method of increasing farm crops and as logically the first step toward a true uplift, or it may be considered a system of rural education for boys and adults by which a readjustment of country life can be effected and placed upon a higher plane of profit, comfort, culture, influence and power."

The last six words give the order of the development. They cannot be reversed or interchanged. They give the program of the Demonstration Work. In many lines and in many Communities they have already been wrought into history. All agents who have studied demonstration work for boys realize that it is necessary for the crops or live stock to be profitable before the club members can go forward with the advanced steps of the development. The principles are the same in all lines. Dr. Knapp said:

"Because the first feature of this demonstration work is to show the farmer how he may more than double his crop at a reduced cost of production, it has been regarded by some solely as a method of increasing farm crops by applying scientific principles to the problem. This would be of great value to the world and would stand as a sufficient justification for the efforts put forth and the expenditures involved, but such a conception would fail to convey the broader purpose of this work."

"It is noteworthy that the scientist adopted the demonstration method of instruction long since. The chemist and the physicist require their students to work out their problems in the laboratory, the doctor and surgeon must practice in the hospital, and the mechanical engineer must show efficiency in the shop to complete his education. The Farmers' Cooperative Demonstration Work seeks to apply the same scientific methods to farmers by requiring them to work out their problems in the soil and obtain the answer in the crib. The soil is the farmers' laboratory."

"The Demonstration method of reaching and influencing the men on the farms is destined ultimately to be adopted by most civilized nations as a part of a great system of rural education."

When the Boy's Club Work is once started along demonstration lines its growth and evolution should follow as a matter of course. Direction and guidance are necessary for enduring system, hence county agents and supervisory extension officers should contribute some of their best thought and attention to gradation, adaptation and rotation. The agriculture of the future will be determined largely by the club activities of the present. In a progressive course of work for three or four years a club member should exemplify the essentials of good farming which will inspire his community and forecast His manhood possibilities for farming on a large scale.

The club members who have grown their acres of corn and secured their live stock should immediately take up the question of how best to use the acre of land which has been in corn and also how to feed their live stock most economically. They should practice soil building and animal feeding. What ever animals a boy may own, some good grazing will have to be provided. The boys who are growing pigs would make a great mistake if they were to pen up the pigs and feed away the corn to them. It would not be a balanced ration for the pigs and the meat would cost more than it could be sold for. The acres which have been in corn should be seeded to small or legumes. In some sections it will be better to saw the acre to a cover crop for grazing and to be turned under in the spring Following this treatment, prize acres of cow‑ beans or

peanuts might be grown. In other see will be advisable to seed together such crops as wheat clover, rye and crimson clover, rye and bur clover, or veteh and oats. Hundreds of boys in some of the States have already made fine demonstrations along these lines. They have taken more pains with the inoculation than the average adult farmer does. The result is that they have taught the important lesson of soil inoculation in their communities. Perhaps it would be a good idea for a boy to put one fourth of his acre in clover or vetch and the remainder in rye, oats, barley, or wheat. If he decides to plant clover, only a small area should be undertaken until inoculation is secured. In as much as he is manipulating this acre for the sake of feeding his live stock and of improving the soil, he might further subdivide it and put one fourth of an acre in rape or some crop to be used exclusively for grazing purposes. In counties where potato clubs are undertaken, one eighth of the acre can well be devoted to potatoes. Summer legumes and annual grasses for pasture, hay and humus will be in order for the remainder of the acre or the whole acre after the winter crops are taken off. When this acre is put into corn again in the rotation, the boy will have a fine opportunity to observe the effects of the different crops on the improvement of the soil. Under this plan boys who make large yields will doubtless be able to repeat on the same acre. It should be a matter, for serious thought that the boys who have produced the large yields have not been able to "come back," when they use the same land the second year. By following even a simple twoyear rotation, combined with live stock feeding, the boys will continue to get large yields at low costs. By seed selection and breeding they will improve quality and increase economical yields in small grains and legumes just as they have with corn. They will develop the best.

There are several thousand boys who are members of the pig clubs. Under the stimulation and encouragement of public spirited business men, some of these boys have started into the hog business without having grown any crops to feed the pigs. Every one of these boys should promptly select his acre and begin with the small‑grain and legume crops. He should have some grazing for his pigs just as soon as possible. He has really entered the farm club work without passing through the first grade. He may, however, join in at this stage of advancement, for he will get an opportunity to do the corn club work when that activity is taken up again. By growing his pig and his feed crops the land is prepared for good work with corn during the second year of his club membership.

The smaller boys, during the first two years of their membership in the clubs, will have enough to do to handle one acre at a time and care for their live stock. It will be better for these boys to exchange small grain, hay, cowpeas, beans, clover seed, or some of their other crops for enough corn to feed their live stock than to overcrop themselves by farming two or three acres just for a limited amount of corn. Some of them might grow just enough corn for feeding purposes, but the average boy, by helping his father with the larger crop of the farm, can get feed corn for one year in exchange for his labor and help. It will be good training for the boys to use their intelligence and resourcefulness along this line. It is more important to demonstrate profitable soil building and animal feeding than it is to try to make large yields of corn every year, especially as the corn demonstrations in the rota, tions will be so much more effective. The older and more advanced boys might farm two acres at a time. One acre will be in corn while the other is in small grain and legumes. Of course , the crops on these acres will alternate. In this way a boy might compete for corn club prizes every year, but it is recommended that prizes be offered also for the live stock, for the legumes, and for the small grain. If the club member uses his small‑grain crop for grazing and for turning under, he can compete for prizes on the legume crops and vice versa. There are hundreds of communities, where prizes on these crops will do a vast amount of good. Club members have a good opportunity to demonstrate the best methods of harvesting seed from such crops. They can make a fine profit on these enterprises. Prizes might be offered for yields of seed and also for hay.

In semiarid sections this program will have to be still further modified and adapted to climatic conditions. Corn, if planted at all, may be alternated with peas or soy beans. The small grain crops may be emphasized to good advantage. Club members in such sections can do some fine demonstration work with kafir, milo, and other corn substitutes, and in live stock feeding.

Toward the close of the second year, in most sections, preparation should be made to plant the acre to corn again. A club member who has followed this plan for two years will know a great deal more about corn production and farming in general than he did when he was a freshman in the work. He will doubtless be able to make an excellent yield at a low cost of production and the quality of his corn should be greatly unproved. He will be better able to write a history of his crop which will reveal his knowledge of the whole plan of work which he has been following for three years. At the dose of the third year he may repeat his rotation if he expects to remain in the dub, but most of the boys will be going away, to high school or college after they have done three years ' work. It is recommended, therefore, that the boy prepare his acre thoroughly and seed it to perennial clovers and grasses, or alfalfa. Such a course carefully followed and such a demonstration thoroughly done will make the club member a benefactor in his community even after he has left home to better prepare himself for further service to his fellows.

He has well merited a certificate of recognition, honor and distinction from the highest officials of the college and state. He is entitled to full membership in the "All Star Club”.

At the time the Boys' Demonstration Work was taken up systematically Dr. Knapp realized the urgency and necessity of similar work for the girls, but he said that if both were taken up then neither would be more than half done. He said it was necessary for the Boys' Club work be successful if it were to attract attention and inspire confidence. He told his helpers in the office and a few throughout the South of the plan that he had in prospect developing lines of work suitable for women and girls. Extracts from speeches that he delivered at that time show what his thoughts were in this connection. The following quotations are taken from an address delivered at the State Teachers' Association of South Carolina, in July, 1907:

"If much can be done for boys to interest and instruct them in their life work, more can be done for girls. Teach them to mend and sew and cook; how to doctor; how to dress a wound or make a ligature; how to adorn the simple home and make it appear like a palace; how by a simple arrangement the environment of the home can be transformed into a place of beauty. In the United States the art of cooking is mainly a lost art. There are communities where not to be dyspeptic is to be out of fashion. If we could have some lessons on how to live royally on a little; how to nourish the body without poisoning the stomach; and how to balance a ration for economic and healthful results, there would be a hopeful gain in lessening the number of bankrupts by the kitchen route."

"Our greatest need being a wider knowledge of common things, the teacher who really enters into country life and seizes its opportunities for developing the resources of the country, for increasing the harvests, improving the landscapes, brightening the homes and flooding the people with knowledge about helpful things, will never want for friends nor for places to teach. How joyfully will such a teacher be welcomed! The sound of her footsteps on the approaching walk will be sweeter music to the cottage inmates than ever came from organ even under the touch of genius."

The first quotation gives the content of the work now being carried forward by hundreds of Home Demonstration Agents. The second defines the reach and scope of the work being done by them. Such outlines furnish the open "Blue Book" for the guidance of the earnest agents who are travelling from home to home.

Home Demonstration Agents may well keep before their eyes such objectives as developing the resources, increasing the harvests, improving the landscapes, brightening the homes and flooding the people with knowledge about helpful things.

In this same address will be found a quotation which, above all, epitomizes the crowning feature of the Home Demonstration Work. It took the agents and club members a decade to reach this stage, but the founder of the work saw it clearly from the beginning.

"The farm must be made a place of beauty, so attractive that every passing stranger inquires: 'Who lives in that lovely home? The house is of minor consideration the gorgeous setting of trees and shrubbery holds the eye."

Another quotation in the same address is an excellent example of the instruction which was constantly given on such occasions in matters of thrift, good management and other essential features necessary in the training of the leaders who should undertake such a great and useful task:

"We are rapidly becoming a nation of idlers. In the towns more than half the population does nothing towards earning a support if we count all the men, women and children who could do something. These half grown boys and girls could make a garden and raise the fruit and poultry to support the family if they would. It might brown their skins and soil their hands, but it would help them to do something and to know something. It would aid the family pocketbook and help the family character. There is no sufficient reason why every American family should not own a good home and have a snug sum laid by for a rainy day, except our laziness, our lack of thrift or possible sickness, and nine tenths of all sickness is due, to malnutrition, which is another name for ignorance."

All the women agents who attended the first conference of State workers in the United States Department of Agriculture will recall the definite, specific instruction and the line of approach to the home. Dr. Knapp told these agents, not to go, to the farmer's house and tell him they had come to teach his w ife to cook. He said the man would knock them down, and that he would be justified in doing it, out of respect to his wife whether she was a good cook or not. This line of reasoning caused him to prefer to approach the home through the activities of the girls in the dubs. He suggested canning and poultry clubs. He said that if the girls began with the study of one plant in the garden, that they would, soon learn how to utilize other vegetables and fruits. He realized from the beginning, also, that they would be making most interesting demonstrations in f arm animals and their management. That is why he said that after the girls had had some experience as members of the Canning Clubs, many of them would want to take up poultry as their advanced course. He suggested that the gardening and canning activities would constitute the freshman and sophomore years in the club life, while animal husbandry would be engrossing them mainly in the junior and senior years.

Before the Girls Club Work was established the General Education Board had been financing the Farm Demonstration Work in all Southern States east of the boll weevil advance. The appropriations by Congress to the Department of Agriculture were for the purpose of fighting the boll weevil, consequently, the Board at that time was paying the expenses of the work from the State of Mississippi east. The agents were selected by Dr. Knapp, acting for the Department of Agriculture, the Board paid the salaries and traveling expenses of these agents on vouchers prepared in Dr. Knapp's office.

Because of the limitations of the Congressional appropriation and the necessary restrictions of Departmental regulations, the funds from the General Education Board were most helpful. The members of the Board had the greatest confidence in Dr. Knapp's probity and judgment. They supported him in the widest latitude of initiative and enterprise. In the matter of travel expenses alone they were willing to have frequent meetings of agents for instruction and inspiration. They were glad to have state and district agents sent to different parts of the country to see good farming and splendid live stock. Dr. Knapp even sent his leading agents to Canada to observe methods of work there. It was the fixed policy in the administration of the work, also, to have representatives present at all important educational conventions and conferences. He paid, from Board funds, most of the expenses of the Boys' Club work in co‑operation with the colleges. He matched these funds with thousands of dollars from boards of education, chambers of commerce, bankers, county commissioners, county courts and others in the pro‑motion of the work for men and boys, but the funds of the General Education Board were peculiarly helpful, and effective in the inauguration of the Girls' Clubs and the Home. Demonstration Work. When Dr. Knapp went to the Secretary of Agriculture with the request for the appointment of the first woman agent, he was told that no woman had ever been appointed by the Department of Agriculture for field work. The Secretary was doubtful whether the appropriations made by Congress could be used in this, way, although he was anxious to help the girls and also to encourage Dr. Knapp in the expansion of the work which he had in hand. The Board had the faith and confidence to underwrite the work in its pioneer stages and to promote its development. Its money was used freely in getting equipment and supplies. The revolution in the manufacture of canning outfits, sealers, fireless cookers and such articles was brought about because the early demonstrations showed the necessity for better appliances and more practical conveniences for work in the home. No other factor has had such a far reaching influence upon the mechanical and physical equipment and improvements of the country home likewise, more liberal salaries for women agents were wade possible. Thus it was that the finances of these philanthropists were used until the demonstrations attracted national attention. Then Congress assumed the responsibility. Provision was gradually made in larger allowances and broader authority was given in annual appropriation bills. Afterward it was written into the permanent law of the land by Congressman Lever, who had been a constant friend and student of the Demonstration Work. The fact that home economics has a place in the Extension Act alongside of agriculture is directly traceable to the work done by the women agents who began with canning clubs.

That the General Education Board was satisfied with its investment is evidenced by the ‑fact that they responded with increases just as rapidly as Dr. Knapp thought he could use the money wisely. A letter from Dr. Wallace Buttrick shows the esteem in which these co workers held the man who used their money for the benefit of humanity. Dr. Buttrick said:

"The public at large ought to know how great a service Dr. Knapp rendered his day and generation. He was one of the greatest teachers I ever knew and one of the greatest souls I ever loved."

Dr. Knapp expressed the belief that through intensive activity and organization, the boys would be able to attract national attention in five years in their line of demonstration work. He said, however, that before this time was half gone that the demand for Girls' Clubs would be very strong and that the agents must be ready for it.

The first club was organized in Aiken County, South, Carolina, by Miss Marie Cromer, in the early part of 1910. Miss Cromer was a country school teacher and was also the Aiken County representative of the School Improvement Association at their annual session in December, 1909, where a representative of the Department of Agriculture discussed the development of the Boys' Club Work, and gave tentative suggestions for the beginning of the Girls' Clubs. Miss Cromer secured an enrolment of 47 club members in different parts of the country by spring. She met with quite a bit of apathy, indifference and some opposition, but she aroused the girls and got them started, even though she had to write letters after her day's work was done in the schoolroom. Later in that same year some work was undertaken in two or three counties in Virginia, with Miss Ella G. Agnew in charge. Altogether there were about 300 girls enrolled in 1910.

The work of Miss Cromer and her girls in Aiken County soon attracted much attention and favorable comment. Miss Cromer was appointed a special agent by the United, States Department of Agriculture in the latter part of the summer of 1910. A prominent woman invited her to spend the summer in New England where she was given good opportunities to visit institutions giving instruction along domestic science lines. Dr. Knapp sent a representative of the Department of Agriculture to Aiken County to help the girls in the canning of their tomatoes. There was cordial co‑operation on the part of the county superintendent of education, the business men and the state college responsible for such lines of work. Winthrop College, Rock Hill, South Carolina, furnished a special instructor to give timely aid to these girls. The following quotations bearing upon the beginning of this work are taken from a special report made to Dr. Knapp on July 28, 1910, by the representative of the Department of Agriculture, who helped in the inauguration of the work there:

"As soon as the names of the members of the clubs, with their addresses, were sent in, special letters and leaflets were sent to them. A selection of Farmers' Bulletins bearing upon their work was also sent. Each girl had been instructed to plant 1 -10 of an acre in tomatoes."

"The officials reported that the girls take a great deal of pride and interest in their plants. They also found that the circulars were carefully studied. A great deal was being learned about the soil and plants, by growing and studying one plant. It was also their observation that they could make many valuable suggestions with regard to sanitation, hygiene and general home improvement after having secured the confidence and good will of the girls and their mothers through the club."

"Encouraged by the interest taken and the ability shown by the various members of the club, as well as by the boys and parents, also, it was decided to leave the canning outfit in the county and have it moved from place to place. It was suggested that the girls have 'Canning Parties! The outfit was left in a community where there were 11 girls who have tomatoes ripening from time to time. One girl is to invite the other girls to come and bring their tomatoes to her home and spend the day. Two of the mothers in that community manifested unusual interest and have been present every day. They will be chaperons at the canning parties. There are also two or three boys in the same community who will be first‑class assistants. They bring in wood and water, keep up the fires, and do the capping and tipping. As soon as the work is fairly well finished there, the outfit will be moved to another place 10 miles away, which is the center of another group of members of the club."

"It is more than probable that the Tomato Club will increase in numbers and influence in Aiken County next year. It seems to be a good plan to specialize on one vegetable and make a thorough study and demonstration of it. It seems to appeal to the individual and to the popular mind more forcibly than if the girls were to adopt the name of Garden Club or Domestic Science Club. As a matter of fact, however, the work naturally leads to experiments and demonstrations with other plants and also to various phases of kitchen and household activity and economy but still there is an advantage in singling out one plant and vegetable."

"It can be readily seen that when this work develops it will have a far reaching effect. It will affect the homes in an economic way because the girls can convert some of their spare time into profit. It will encourage thrift. It will also lead to various lines of home improvement. The well trained and enthusiastic young woman working in a county, can bring about wonderful changes in a year. It will have a fine educational value and a beneficial reflex influence on the schools."

In the light of the hundreds and thousands of meetings of Girls' Clubs for instruction, for entertainment and profit held during the past ten years, it will be of interest to incorporate here a newspaper description of one of the first " Canning Parties" held by the Aiken County Clubs in August, 1910.

White Pond, Aug. 14. One of the most successful and enjoyable meetings of the Aiken County Tomato Club girls was at the home of Mr. and Mrs. S. N. Hankinson last Thursday. There were ten of the 'tomato girls' there with baskets and tubs of the loveliest tomatoes, besides a crowd of spectators from far and near too numerous to mention. The canning was carried on most successfully under the instructions and aid of Miss Margaret Harley, and Mrs. S., 9, Hankinson. By twelve o'clock 190 cans were filled and capped ready for exhausting. All capped by Mr. Clemins Hankinson. Then dozens of delicious water‑melons were served. Shortly after, dinner was spread out under the shade, every family having brought baskets of good things. By three o'clock all the tomatoes were tipped, cooked and labeled. The rest of the afternoon was greatly enjoyed by the young folks, who declared the tomato club was most enjoyable as well as profitable.

The Miss Harley spoken of was the country school teacher munity where the home of Mr. and Mrs. Hankinson was located. Mr. Clemins Hankinson was the 15‑year‑old son d brother who was ready to help. The people who assisted making this little "Canning Party" successful were protothousands of others who had similar intelligence and se during the succeeding decade.

When Miss Cromer came to Washington en route to New England and had conference with Dr. Knapp and other representatives of his office with regard to the work she had in hand, everybody was impressed with the fact that her new dub was a confirmation of what Dr. Knapp had planned and prophesied three years before. When the writer learned about the enthusiasm with which the girls were doing their garden work, and the zeal which they manifested in their club organization, he realized the inspiration and power of such activities. Miss Cromer told about the girls whose health had been greatly improved by their outdoor work. She told about others who had been pale and anemic, but who were now strong and rosy. She told about some who were doing better in school since they had become members of the club. There was so much encouragement and exhilaration in the recital of such achievement that one naturally felt an impulse to go up higher. Accentuated by such feelings the suggestion was made that the party go to the top of Washington Monument. The suggestion was adopted. As the elevator climbed up in this great shaft, which is 555 feet and eight inches above the placid waters of the Potomac below, the writer recalled the motto printed on the aluminum apex of this great obelisk. On this apex are two Latin words, as follows: "Laus Deo," which mean "Praise to God." Even then as the vision was enlarged and the horizon extended across the Maryland and Virginia hills, it was realized that here was a line of approach and a method of work which would aid thousands of girls and their mothers and thus brighten as many homes from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Here indeed was a work, which would praise God by helping humanity. It was really a new education. It made one remember a quotation from Dr. Hodge, as follows: "Learning those things in nature that are best worth knowing to the end of doing those things which make life most worth living."

The appointment of women county agents and the organization of Girls' Clubs went forward apace. In 1911 State Agents were appointed in more than half of the Southern States. In 1912 the rest of the states came in. All began appointing home demonstration agents and enrolling the girls as rapidly as the work could be cared for. The following paragraph is taken from a report at the close of 1913:

"In the Canning Clubs of the Southern States, there were 20,060 girls enrolled in 1913. The 4,202 girls who sent in reports put up 1,032,115 cans of tomatoes and 522,147 cans of other products worth $180,420.05. Ten Mississippi girls made a profit of $868.66 from ten tenth acre gardens at an average cost of $29.93. The best county record is that of Etowah County, Alabama, where 104 girls put up more than 30,000 No. 3 cans of tomatoes worth $3,600. Clyde Sullivan of Ousley, Georgia, had best yield reported in 1913. She produced 5,354 pounds of tomatoes from one‑tenth acres, canned 2,254 No. 2s, 212 No. 3's, at a profit of $132.39. Margaret and May Belle Brown, of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, on two tenth acres produced and sold vegetables to the value of $243.86, at a pront of $214.12."

It is very interesting, also, to note that the agents soon grasped the simplicity and significance of the work. They realized its philosophy and power as will be seen from the following quotation taken from the weekly field report of a Virginia county agent at that time:

"After all, this Canning Club Work means that we are to go a," 'girl to do something worth while; have it approved by those she loves, and then lead on to greater things."

This definition gives the law and the prophets in Demonstration Work for girls and boys. It shows the influence and power of the opinion of those we consider worth while. This definition also contains a promise of larger things as the work unfolds and develops. The very next annual report showed some of the promised expansion and evolution both as to the amount and variety of activity. The following is quoted from the 1914 report of the Canning Clubs:

"The enrolment for 1914 was 33,173. Of these club members 7,793 put up 6,091,237 pounds of tomatoes and other vegetables from their tenth acre gardens. These products were put into 1,918,024 cans, jars and other containers. They axe estimated to be worth $284,880.81 and neaxly $200,000.00 of this is profit. The average profit per member was $23.30. Furthermore, these girls put up thousands of dollars worth of other products from the farm and orchard.

In many counties the results of the work from an economic, as well as an educational point of view are large enough to attract attention Ninety girls in Alamance County, North Carolina, put up 55,165 cans and jars, valued at $7,039.65 from their tenth acre gardens; 136 girls in Etowah County, Alabama, put up 46,533 con tainers worth $5,970.17. In Hamilton County, Tennessee, 102 girls put up $14,240.00 worth of fruits and vegetables but, of course, this represents the surplus of the farms and orchards as well as their own little gardens. In Barnwell County, South Carolina, the Girls' Club grew and sold more than $2,000.00 worth of pimiento peppers, and the club of Polk County, Florida, put up and sold about $7,000.00 worth of guava products.

Special work has been done with peaches, berries, figs, scuppernongs, mayhaws, agritos, oranges, cumquats and many other fruits of the South. Nearly 3,000 girls now belong to Poultry Clubs. Many of the best trained club members are succeeding with winter gardens. In all of these activities, the women on the farms have given active help. Fiscal officers, school officers and teachers have cooperated in many ways.

The individual records of thousands of the club members were excellent in 1914. Hester Sartain, of Walker County, Alabama, grew 7,037 pounds of tomatoes. She put up 1,620 cans, jars and bottles and the entire output, at market prices, was valued at $221.35, of which $146.20 was profit. Cora Brown, of Polk County, Georgia, produced 5,290 pounds and made a profit of $144.61. Lois Robertson, of Comanche County, Texas, realized a profit of $193.00, counting 4,868 pounds of tomatoes grown in her garden and the fruit she put up from the farm and orchard. Many other records were almost as good."

It was observed in the report of that year that many club girls were following a systematic course of work by taking two vegetables the second year, three in the third, and so on, and that they also showed a disposition to plant perennial vegetables and fruits. The agents encouraged this tendency because they realized that such permanent gardens would serve as memorials to club members who had gone off to high school or college. It was realized, also, that such gardens would serve as magnets to draw the girls back to the farmsteads. It was noted that these older girls still had a pride' in the possession of things which they could call their own. They had not lost any of their desire to earn something. It was fortunate that the development had made progress before the war came on. It made for increased efficiency and proAoiation in thousands of homes. A West Virginia farmer re remarked that the Extension Act, and the Federal Reserve Act were mainly responsible for the winning of the war, because one provided for finance and the other for food.

Let one of the Canning Club Girls tell her own story of her four years' work, for she tells what multitudes of others would tell with slight modifications here and there. This is the history of the career of Jessie Woddell, of Arkansas, in the Canning Club:

"In 1915 at the age of 13 years, I joined the Girl's Canning Club under the supervision of Mrs. Sarah J. Trussell, Home Demon. stration. Agent for Garland County.

I have been a member ever since. The first year, not knowing very much about the cultivation of tomatoes, I only gathered 2,400 lbs. of tomatoes from my own tenth acre. I sold most of them fresh, only canned for home use. I took an exhibit of my canned products to the county contest for Boys' and Girls' Clubs and won a pair of dial scales which, though a small prize was nevertheless appreciated.

The second year I gathered 3,240 pounds of tomatoes from my tenth acre. I canned 200 No. 3 cans for the market and sold the remainder fresh, making a net profit of $46.36. 1 took an exhibit of my canned products to the county contest again and won 'a rocking chair for a prize.

The third year being an ideal year for tomatoes, I gathered 4,276 lbs. canned 720 No. 3 cans for the market for which I received $2.49 per dozen, and sold the remainder fresh, making a profit of $151.85. 1 took some of my canned products to the county fair and won a cash prize of $25.00.

The fourth year, 1918, being a very dry year my yield was only 3,500 lbs. I canned 100 No. 3 tin cans for market, for which I received $3.00 per dozen and sold the remainder fresh. I received as much as 121/2 cents per pound for fresh tomatoes. I made a net profit of $211.20. 1 sent an exhibit of my work to the Arkansas State Fair at Jonesboro, and have been informed that I won first prize for Canning Club Work in the state, which is a scholarship, in one of the agricultural schools, given by the State Bankers' Association.

This is the prize I have always coveted and have been saving some of my money each year to help me through high school when I had finished the common school.

Being a club girl has been a pleasure to me as well as educational and profitable. I have learned things in my Club Work that will be profitable to me all through life. This being the last year for me in the Club Work, I am going to try and make it my best one."

Dr. Knapp rejoiced in the prospect of the full fruition long before other observers saw the possibilities of these new phases of this work. This was because he was the Nation's seer and prophet in the agricultural civilization of the new day. This is the reason that a prominent thinker said that "Dr. Knapp was the one great agricultural statesman which this country has thus far produced." He died in the spring of 1911, but he had his organization formed and his workers inspired. His son, Mr. Bradford Knapp, who had been his assistant for two years, succeeded him and the work developed and prospered greatly during his term of office.

In 1906 and 1907 Dr. Knapp's speeches and writings were replete with such eloquent passages as the following:

“But to‑day I am not viewing this campaign for increased production in the country from the national standpoint. I am thinking of the people, of rose‑covered cottages in the country, of the strong, glad father and his contented, cheerful wife, of the whistling boy and the dancing girl, with schoolbooks under their arms, so that knowledge may soak into them as they go. I am thinking of the orchards and the vineyards, of the flocks and herds, of the waving woodlands, of the hills carpeted with luxuriant verdure, of the valleys inviting to the golden harvest. What can bring these transformations to the South? ‑ greater earning capacity of the people."

"Sixty years ago most of our mechanics lived in the country upon small farms, which they and their families tilled for support, and they sold their surplus labor to supplement the home income. People were honest and thrifty, because all were employed; these mechanic farmers now reside in town or city, sell all their labor, and live out 'of a canned garden and milk a tin cow. Of course their sons and daughters are idle."

"No young woman is quite half educated who is not a postgraduate in household economy; especially in preparing the food needful for the farmer, in making and repairing the clothing, in the orderly arrangement of the household, in the laws of health and' care of the sick, in the management of the domestic fowls and in the knowledge of trees and plants required for useful or ornamental purposes."

"The third advance in the great uplift of rural conditions consists in teaching farmer's wives and daughters how to feed, clothe and doctor their families."

"In the centuries the American people have been at work on the problems of rural reform some progress has been made, and we are now prepared for the complete accomplishment, of what we have so earnestly sought, the placing of rural life upon a plane of profit, of honor, and power. We must commence at the bottom and readjust the life of the common people."

Under war conditions the club girls not only did much emergency work, but their regular activities were speeded up. The following extract from a weekly field report of the. Home Demonstration Agent of Alleghany County, Virginia, is a ease in point:

"Alleghany County, Virginia, boasts of a 14 year old girl who won the loving cup offered for the greatest amount of patriotic work done during the war by boys and girls of the county. I am sure all will agree she deserved it when her story is read:

‘With the help of my 12 year old brother, I cleared 12 acres of corn land, cut pines and brush, grubbed sassafras, piled and burned the brush and helped fence the field. I dropped fertilizer and corn and hoed it all over once‑part of it twice. Worked my tenth acre in beans and tomatoes, and helped with the home garden, the house work and part of the time cooked for eight soldiers who were boarding with us. I canned 860 cans of vegetable and fruits, mostly in tin, and went out in the neighborhood to help and teach those women to can and seal in tin, as they had never had the experience in tin before! "

Nineteen hundred eighteen was the banner year in the food production lines to date, but the achievements were made possible by the training and experience of the previous years which constituted a wonderful bit of preparedness. A few facts and statistics of this notable year follow:

In the fifteen Southern States there were 9,026 Girls' Clubs organized by the Home Demonstration Agents. These Clubs had a total membership of 286,278. Of these members 77,264 cultivated 1/10 acre plots; others had 1/20 acre, and still others were in bread clubs and poultry clubs. Many of the girls have had to fill the place of some man of the family called to the army and have faithfully attended to the work of planting, cultivating and harvesting crops besides trying to keep up their own plots and can the crops raised there. This extra labor would have been almost impossible if it had not been for the training in the Canning Clubs. During the season a large amount of fresh vegetables was sold by the Club girls, as the demand by the war activities, shipyards and army camps, in many places, made excellent markets for their fresh products. Hence, the canning was not pushed to quite as great an extent as it otherwise would have been. Still the club girls put up 6,629,590 containers of vegetables for home use and for market, valued at $1,511,713.32 from their 1/10acre plots. The girls also put up 65,734 containers of fruit from their 1/10‑acre plots, valued at $18,926.25. From the farm and orchard, as well as wild fruits collected by the girls, they put up an additional 3,850,178 containers of vegetables and fruits, valued at $860,563.10; 54,128 cans of meats and fish were canned by the club girls, valued at $16,150.41.

A total of 42,751 containers of pimientos, 62,342 cans of Dixie relish and chutney, products made largely from the pimientos, were put up. The girls of South Carolina also learned how to store their pimientos fresh for winter use and large amounts are now sold direct to the consumers in their natural state. The club girls have not only been instructed in canning as a method of food conservation, but have also been taught d drying of fruits and vegetables, and brining of vegtables. These instructions have resulted in the girls storing 2,043,181 pounds of dried fruits and vegetables, valued at $404,419.02, and 19,670 gallons of brined vegetables, valued at $4,682.00. The' club girls are not only growing their 1/10‑acre plots' but 19,925 of them have winter gardens and 7,111 have established perennial gardens. The perennial gardens generally contain some fruit trees, grape vines (especially of the best Muscadine varieties), or other small fruits selected according to climatic conditions, after advice of the agent. As a result of this work special products are made, either for home consumption or for market, and as fast as these gardens are established with their uniform system and selection of plants, considerable income can be expected for the girls. Of the special club products, 70,238 bottles of fruit juice and fruit sirups and 90,864 glasses of jellies, marmalades and fruit butters were put up in 1918. Some fruit pastes were also made. The excellent quality of the fruit paste made from the Muscadine grapes indicates that this paste will in a few years be a fair rival to the fruit pastes now imported from other countries.

Although the, girls largely contributed, by means of knitting and sewing for the Red Cross, Belgian Relief Work, etc., they also followed the regular sewing courses taught by the Home Demonstration Agents in the Girls' Clubs. The result for 1918 being 39,175 caps and aprons, 7,711 dresses, 64,220 miscellaneous articles of sewing, including holders, towels, laundry bags, and sewing screens. Seven hundred and sixty‑four short courses for club girls were held and were attended by 26,039 girls. As an encouragement to the girls, 2,157 scholarships have been awarded; of these, 1,427 were county, and 730 were state.

The agents have assisted the club members in marketing “4-H” Brand products of fruits and vegetables and very satisfactory results have been secured. The members of the Girls' Clubs had emphasized the symbolical expression of the development of the head, hand, heart and health by placing the "4-H's" on their insignia for uniforms, caps, aprons, badges and banners. The Boys' Clubs had adopted similar insignia. They took pride in using it on their labels to designate the brand and establish standards.

The working out of the 4-H badge, brand and insignia ran through several years in the early history of the club work. Changes were made in response to needs. As the numbers grew there was more demand for distinctive badges, banners, pennants and labels. It was thought to be a good idea for the boys and girls to use the same emblem as far as it was applicable to the different products made.

The first regular design for the Boys' Corn Club had a grain of corn in the center with the four clover leaves around it. The Girls' Club badge used a tomato in the background and a 4-H clover leaf upon it. Prior to that even, a label has been extensively used giving a picture of a girl with a basket of fine tomatoes. The boys had used various designs showing ears and stalks of corn on their badges, banners and ribbons. They had made extensive use of a button containing the word, "Demonstrator." The motto, "To Make the Best Better," was suggested by Miss Carrie Harrison, of the United States Department of Agriculture. She is quite a friend of the Club Work and was the author of the recipe for B. S. Chutney, which so many girls made and used.

In 1911, a former county superintendent of education from Iowa, Mr. 0. H. Benson, was brought into the Washington Office to help with the Club Work, which had been in existence for years, and was then developing very rapidly. He had already used a badge with his boys and girls in Iowa. It was a three leaf clover. The idea of using a four leaf clover and adding a new H was suggested by another assistant of Dr. Knapp's, who had been in charge of the Club Work since its organization in the Department of Agriculture. After the girls began to make exhibits of canned tomatoes and other high class vegetables and fruit products at the fairs and put them on the market, a suggestion came in from Mrs. Jane S. McKimmon, State Agent of North Carolina, that there should be a special brand name for all of these products which should come up to standard requirements. She had realized this need when she took the matter up with some of the leading grocers in her state. The idea was passed on to various state agents with the request that suggestions for a brand name be sent into headquarters. Quite a number of suggestions were made, but none seemed to meet with general approval. It was at the Conference for Education in the South, in Richmond, Virginia, in 1913, that the idea of using the figure 4 in front of the H came to the author of this volume as the solution of the problem. It was during the course of a meeting while listening to an address. As soon as the meeting was over he called together the state agents who were present and said: "I have it." When the suggestion was submitted to the agents it met with unanimous approval. It soon appeared on an artistic tomato label which was used all over the country. From that it was extended to other labels, not only in the Girls' Work, but on the boxes of potatoes, seed corn, and other such things which the boys had to sell. Then began the systematic campaign to raise and maintain standards in order that the 4‑H brand might become favorably known. Since then this design has been used upon myriads of badges, caps, aprons, pennants, flags and standards in all lines of club work.

As already stated, the girls have been taught thrift and how to save. They have invested a large part Of the proceeds from the sale of their products in War Savings Stamps and Liberty Bonds, pure bred chickens, live stock and furniture. Many have used freely of their earnings to improve their homes. Two stories, one from Georgia and one from Mississippi, show how the girls can make money on poultry and how they are disposed to use it:

"Extract taken from Weekly Field Report of the Home Demonstration Agent of Clark County, Georgia, March IL, 1919.

'The little club girl, who by results from her flock of about 50 chickens and 1‑10 acre garden last year, completed payment on her piano, and saved a 'nest egg' on her 'college fund,' has already sold $16.00 worth of lettuce, spring onions and parsley. Her lettuce and parsley were grown in a 'discarded' cold frame which was once used by the school garden. Her onions were grown in the open on her 1‑10 acre plot. She expects to clear about $6.00 from her early English peas and radishes. She hopes to have a bank account of not less than $300.00 from all her 'club work' sources at the close of this year's work.’ “

'This being my third year in the club work I was fairly well equipped in material experience for beginning what I hoped would be a very successful year with my chickens.

Early in the year, Miss Cowsert, our County Agent, reorganized the club and gave us our new instructions for carrying on our work, not only in regard to our poultry, but also continued our lessons in sewing and cooking and growing feed stuffs for our fowls.

One of the first things I did was to select from my flock of 53 Reds, several of the best hens, whose eggs I saved very carefully for setting purposes. Among those selected were Emma, Susie, Della, Annabell, Lula and Ruby. (You see I have my best fowls named for Home Demonstration Agents.) All of them were good layers, but Emma was superior to the others. She seemed to realize that she was a Club hen and that my reputation as a club member depended to a great extent on her. She actually laid 15 dozen eggs and really deserves honorable mention in my story, and I must not forget my big cock, Talbert, who was my prize winner last year, together with several hens.

Early in March I set my first hens and continued to set them all along until May, setting altogether 263 eggs, and hatching from that total 248 chicks. Besides setting all the eggs I needed, I sold about $35.00 worth, thereby introducing my breed of Reds to the public and more important than that, replenishing my supply of ready cash. I kept an egg record on 15 hens. They bid 2,003 eggs in ten months.

In addition to the eggs, I have sold during the year $49.00 worth of chickens besides having both chickens and eggs for eating purposes whenever we wished. The expense of feeding and keeping my flock is small for I have raised most of my feeding stuff for them, so most of the money realized off my chickens is clear profit.

By crediting myself sales stock on hand and equipment my assets are $541.36. By charging for the stock at the beginning of the year with feed, fencing and house, my expenses for the year were $205.07. This leaves a net profit of $336.79.

Nor is the expense and profit of raising pure bred chickens all the good I have gotten from the Club Work this year, for I have had some very practical lessons in sewing and cooking, besides good training in practical arithmetic and composition. In preparing for the Fair I had to make a table cloth, napkins, a dress, a nightdress, write my booklet, and fill out my record book, on both of which I won a prize."

Girls who made money in the clubs by industry and thrift helped to furnish the home better, to improve the grounds surrounding the home, and in some cases have even ass or given the initiative, with their earnings in building a better home. All of these improvements are made after consulting the Home Demonstration Agent, who generally acts as the financial adviser of the Club girls. Basket 'Making, and other results of club training have also added to the girls' income and a large number of them have good bank accounts to their credit.

In this connection it is especially pleasing to note the ever increasing number of girls who attend high schools, colleges and universities, paying for their education out of the earnings from their club work. Many of the early Canning Club girls have attended colleges, secured their degrees in home economics, or domestic science, and returned to their states to become County Home Demonstration Agents.