The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-25

dividual citizens gave prize trips Tn Il
 southern states.
 Governors and superintendents Of edu-
 cation also are giving diplomas of honor
 to all boys who produced 75 bushels per
 acre, at a reasonable cost. It is com
 mon occurrence for 500 to 1000 to witness
 the awards of 15 or 20 certificates at Q
 county seat. In the Mississippi county
 48 boys averaged 92 bushels per acre. In
 one South Carolina county 20 boys pro
 duced 170o bushels of corn on 20 acres.
 In another county in the same state AZ
 boys averaged 62 bushels per acre.
 The following are names and addresses
 of the winners of the trip to the capital
 of their country. and also the yields of
 their respective acres and the cost per
 bushel:
 Hughey A. Harden, Banks, Ala. 12o
 bushels, costing 32 cents per oushel; Ira
 Smith, Silver, Ark, 119 bushels cents;
 Joseph Stone, Centre, Gao lo29s pusheis'
 20 cents: stephen G. Henry, Melrose, Ba..
 199 S-10 bushels, 13.6 cents; William Will E1iams. Decatur, Miss, 146 AT bushels, lS
 cents; w Ernest Starnes, Hickory, N. o.,
 146 2-7 bushels, 3S cents Floyd Gayer,
 Tishomingo, Okla, 951a bushels, cents;
 Jerry H. Moore, Winona, S. C.. 22Saa bush
 els. 4S cents; Norman Smith, Coving-
 ton, Tenn, 125h bushels, S7 cents; William
 Rodger Smith, Carnes City, Tex, SS l-9
 bushels, 1s 2-S cents and Morris Olgers, Sutherland, Va, 16S bushels, 40 cents. In addition a second prize was given from South Carolina and one from the Sixth Alabama congressional district. These were won by Archie Odom, Ben nettsville, s. C., 177% bushels, x cents. and John Williams, Tuscaloosa, Ala. SSN | bushels, 49 cents.
 The Row Corn club Is one of the levers by which the department is aiming to raise the whole farm element of this country to more profitable plane. It Is the keynote to their success and the dirge to the shiftless, aimless plodding of back number methods. No one who has seen those bows and learned of what they have
 done will doubt for an instant the out come of their futures. Uncle Sam, through his department, has placed within their reach the means by which each may at- 1 tain wealth and position.
 Once the competitive idea was tnsti- tuted, the young rural American rose proudly to the occasion. And now, after l only about a dozen years of earnest eff | fort, he easily outdistances his father in | the race for the greatest yield and, tne | finest specimens for the smallest outlay
 of money, time and ground
 | The beginning of the end of the farm retrograde was marked by the organiza- | ton in the department of agriculture or | the Idrmer CO-OperdllVo ueiuohStiebtiO work. which, with the unerring instincts of success. started with the children, and
 now all through many states IS result may be found boys and girls agricultural l and domestic science clubs, whose con- | stantly growing influence means a com plete reform in many sections, both as | to methods of farming and also in the manner of living. The next generation of men who follow the blow and wield | the hoe will be as far superior to their grandsires in their farm infringement, as l the modern passenger train Is to the olo | prairie schooner"
 | The object of these clubs is to foster in the schoolboy and girl the love of tho farm, and to show them, through their own convincing personal experience, the wonderful possibilities of the soil under | intelligent handling and the ease With which both wealth and distinction may be acquired through the combination of | science, art and labor Through the in- l terest of the teachers in the rural schools | boys and girls of 10 years and over are | organized into clubs and agree to follow Implicitly the plans and instruction pro- vided by the demonstration work and to personally cultivate one acre of ground | according to. the rules laid down for all | of the contestants.
 | The respective parents supply the l ground, implements and the use of teams, | while the bankers and business men pro- | vide the prizes, and the local papers do their part to promote the good work by | the publicity given the contests. Nat urally there is an immense amount of in- terest around in counties where sew
 araI hundred boys are competing along the same lines. While there are clubs l for. cotton raising, fruit cultivation and l poultry raising, the corn clubs seem
 to be most numerous and populous. l In the corn clubs the boys enter into | competition to see who can grow the most and best corn on a certain amount
 Of ground under positive rules of plant ing, cultivating and exhibit of their crop. ! Ir the other clubs the same conditions l prevail, the only difference being in the I product.
 l While these contests have been of great 1 advantage to the children they must | have done much for the respective com munities, in stimulating the farmers to abandon old and less profitable methods | for the scientific and more dependable | processes advanced by the department | of agriculture.
 | In the simple matter of testing seed corn, as taught in the schools, much has I been done to increase the general knowl- | edge of the importance of testing all seed corn on the ear instead of after smelling. | There are no doubt many farmers who know the advisablity of making this and other similar seed tests, but who con slider 1t too much trouble. Here is where | the boy or girl of the family may be of great service, by repeating the experi- ments they have made at school With a shallow wooden tray, some tacks, twlne and sand and 10 ears of carefully se- lected corn, any boy may demonstrate the ease with which he may actually figure out how much of yield to ex- pect from his planting Provided the seed corn Is up to the standard of his expec- tations, which the test will prove. the boy knows that IS ears of good size will plant an acre of ground, giving three kernels to the hill.
 Perhaps the greatest amount of good resulting from these clubs lies in the fact that not only are the boys enthusias- ticaliy and devotedly bound to agricul- tural pursuits, but the influence of their training in these matters is extended to the parents, and Is conducive to a strong tendency to better all of the conditions of rural life. Not only are the boys trained to recognize the good and had qualities in their products, but they also learn to combat the natural adversaries of vegetation, in the shape of insects, fungi, etc., and to work out for themselves problems for the improvement of plants, live stock and the simplifying of labor. They learn the value of labor, the cost of production and how to estimate their returns
 The aullness and isolation of country life is one of the great drawbacks to