Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1911-10-05
EDUCATION AT
THE STATE FAIR
A Demonstration Of The Practical Training
Of the BOYS and 6irlS of Our State
Lead BY 6sernOr Mann.

wider circulation among farmers that
q technical organ like it has. We have,
from time to time, reprinted some of
their articles of interest to this section,
and this week reproduce an article by
Governor Wm. Hodges Mann from their
issue Of September 28th, on the results
of the work of the Boys Corn Clubs and
tbs Domestic Science Clubs for Girls,
that will be Of interest to every reader
of the Republican.
"On one of the days of the State Fair
to be held in Richmond, Va, in October,
it has been planned to have parade
which will illustrate two great industrial
and social movements in Virginia.
"a certain number of boys, repre-
sentiDg the Bsys' Corn Clubs of the
State, all mountea, will escort float
upon which all appliances and other
things necessary for the canning of
fruits and vegetables will be placed A
certain number Of girls belonging to the
Domestic ScieRae Clubs, with a teacher
or director, will be actively engaged,
while the parade is in motion, in pre-
pairing and canning sll kinds of vege-
tables and fruits, thus showing to the
people along the route their skill and
efficiency in this useful domestic work.
The parade will start at the Capitol
Square, be headed by the Governor of
the State, and proceed through the
principal streets Of Richmond, escorted
by the Boys Brigade, to the Fair
grounds.
''While this parade will be an inter-
eating feature of the Fair, it has far
more in it than can be seen from the
outside. The Boys Corn Clubs have
been organized in connection with the
public schools throughout the State for
the purpose of demonstrating the eff
cheney of intelligent, scientific methods
of agriculture. 1t was found difficult
TO convince adult farmers that the prac-
tices enaployed by them and their faith
ers before them were faulty, wasteful
and 80 unprouctive as to call for differ
ent and bet<sr methods, and therefore
it was alaost Impossible to persuade
them to adopt the scientific agriculture,
aud eveA when thsir ,prejudices were so
far overcome thAsfhey undertook to do
20 We an experilAent, they would be so
modified by previous practices as to fall
short of promised results. But this was
not the case with the boys, who, having
obtained their fathers consent to culti-
vate an acre in corn, went to work with
out prejudice and faithfully carried out
instructions received from the Depart
ment of Agriculture.
The results obtained have been so
wonderful and the acres cultivated so
widely scattered throughout the State
that the adult farmers have walked up
to the value of method which has pro-
duced 167 7-9 bushels of shelled corn on
an acre of land that under the old way
of cultivation would not have produced
more than Is or 20 bdshels, and enthus-
iasm and hope have taken the place of
the dull routine of the farmers life, and
Virginia finds itself in the midst of a
forward movement in agriculture which
we believe will put her abreast, if not
ahead, of her sister States. Although
the awakening Of which have spoken
seems to have made itself felt more or
less in every section of the country, we
have found that where the lands are
rich it is very much harder to introduce
new methods.
''Of course, when boy or man has
sehned to prq&les the largest yield of
e0xA on al s<re, n Is an easy matter to
ID tie sssnas vikh Ather crops, and four,
R7s and sven SIX tnps of hay now delight
tha sse OF the hfuer on land which a
,fav years sHo would not produce ton
to the acre.
~fhere are some $500 members of our
ReJs' Corn Cubs, and as they are of
1sfe& pxiaesI and have to write out a
correct history Of fertilizers used, times
and methods Of cultivation, mental
training keeps &end in hand with agri-
cultural progress, from which we ex-
pect great things.
''The benefits likely to spring from
the Domestic Science Clubs, while not
so apparent, may prove of as great
value in important directions as the
Boys Corn Clubs.
"Girls are. taught how to plant, culti-
vate and care for the garden. what
kind of vegetables and fruits to raise
and how to can and preserve them.
They are also taught how to cook, sew,
clean up and make the house neat and
attractive; in short, they are taught
how to make home the most comfort
able, pleasant and delightful place on
earth, how to preside over it, and thus
to attract, hold and influence for good
their husbands, who must regard it as
their haven of rest and source of inspir-
alton.
''In this work the homes of the pupils
are visited the mothers yyivea and aia