The Detroit times., 1911-04-07
GIRL IS EXPERT
T|LLER OF SOIL
Originates Tomato Club Idea and II
Is Spreading All Over the
South.
RY ROBERT WILSON.


regenerate southern agriculture ana
making a national hgure or the itati
South Carolina schoolmarm VINO pos
sessed the taste for tomatoes ana tue
/ idea
This delicate lady. more than or
j dinarily attractive IN appearance
I goes by the rather ponueroes name
OF Marie Samuella Cromer. ana she
iooks TO be about twenty years oiu'
| She lives in Aiken, > G.. where the
I Newport bunch has its winter COT
tages
Two or three years ago. Supt. Cecll
| III Seigler. OF the Aiken-co. schools,
wrote a letter 10 the seml-weeK!y
Journal advocating better rnIH
school buildings and grounds. Inc
shell-backs received his ideas Win
derision. but there came TO him from
a backMoods school one letter prals-
ing his stand and signed IN rouhd
Spencerian hand Marie ). Cromer.
So when Aiken-co. needed someone
10 take charge OF the rural schooi
Improvement work. Prof. Seigier
wrote TO Miss Cromer and suggested
she take H. She accepted.
When Ira w Williams the depart
ment agriculture's state agent Tor
South Carolina. came down from Col-
umbia TO address a meeting OF the
school children OF kken-co. at the
close OF the first successful year or
the corn clubs, he said something
ought 10 be done 10 interest the
girls, too-some farming venture
easier than corn-raising.
Tomatoes, said Miss Cromer, and
that was the beginning.
At first il wasn't government pro-
ject at all but Miss Cromer's private
scheme The people didn't take the
idea seriously The farmers laughed
at the tomato club.
What we need, said Miss Cromer
TO Williams and others is some In
centiye like the boys have Some
prize A scholarship in the Winthrop
College for Women, would. be a good
one"
So Miss Cromer started out 10 find
a donor OF scholarship
She went over to Augusta, Ga. and
sent in her card 10 John ID. Rocke-
/ feler The oil man refused 10 see
her
Andrew Carnegie replied 10 a let
| ter that his libraries took all his at
tention.
Mrs. Russell Sage and Helen Gould
didn't reply at all.
Finally, in desperation. the determ,
! ined young woman went to a meet
ing OF school girls andN announced
that she would give the scholarship
herself
Il hardly knew how | would man
age it." she said. in telling the story.
1T was pretty reckless. But the
/ scholarship only amounts TO $104 A
year and | could have paid that my
self, though Ia would have meant CIV
ing up everything"
With the scholarship incentive the
! tomato club doomed Several new
clubs were organized. While Miss
! Cromer had been seeking aid she had
/ been studying tomato culture, so the
school girls, each cultivating tenth
OF an acre, went ahead with the most
scientific methods under Miss Crom-
srs teaching.
The result quite exceeded even
Miss Cromer's expectations. When
! Ii was known the tomato crop was
going TO be huge, Williams had tho
i department buy a canning equipment
and send # TO Miss Cromer. Miss
! Cromer held canning picnics, TO which
the public was invited
One club of % girls put up 5000
cans of tomatoes and sold them for
! 10 cents a can. Some OF the individ-
ual yields were enormous. Matte
West got 34666 Scans from her tenth
OF an acre Katie Gunter. aged four
teen, won the scholarship She had
/ 5l2 cans, making her net profit $35.
! This was tomato raising AT the rate
OF $3.50 profit per acre and it opened
the eyes OF the farmers in Aiken co.
The South Carolina Legislature
grew so enthusiastic over Miss Crom-
ers work that ii voted Katie Gunter
the scholarship from state funds
Counties all over South Carolina
and oN OF IL began clamoring sor
Miss Cromer and the tomato cluus.
and Uncle Sam at last woke Hp ana
sent Prof o. B. Martin To find her.
He came upon her telling the Boston
convention OF the National education
association about the clubs He en-
gagged her then and there to take up
the work on large scale.
The corn boys and the tomato girls
are going TO redeem the south, ." said
Miss Cromer They show our "a, T.,
ers, who are getting bare living
scratching over lots OF land, how
much better IL is 20 work a few acres
thoroughly.
And that is the only ambition /
I have--to see the south grew great In
farming II my tomato clubs are sue.
cessful then viii be supremely
happy"