The Washington herald., 1913-12-20
PUBLICITY MEN
brighten FACTS
Before Advent Of Press Agent
Agriculture Reports Were
Dry as Baled Hay.
EXAMPLES OF WORK
Pick Out Live News, Much of the
Heart Interest Kind, to Make
Them Readable.

| Dry-as-dust government reports are not
much in evidence these days. They are
still to be had, of course, provided you
ask for them. But they are not spread
| broadcast as they were in the days OF
yore. Government officials of today are
not satisfied with doing good work; they
want the public to know just what their
departments are doing. Depending upon
| the press for publicity, department heads
are seeing to ii that their reports are
not lacking in those human interest
| touches which appeal to newspaper
readers.
Once upon a time the reports issued
by the Department of Agriculture were
about as entertaining as q bale of hay.
Now they contain many passages filled
with real live dope" Reports from field
agents of the department often throw an
attractive light on their experiences
while in agricultural districts. Here, for
example, is report Of farmers CO.
operative demonstration agent in Ala
bama in reference to the Girls Tomato
Club work:
"One little girl who lives on top of a
mountain cleared and fenced her own
plot, dragging rails, one at a time. down
the mountain side. As she lives alone
with her grandmother she had no one to
plow for her, so she and her grand
mother dug the plot up with grubbing
cept a little barnyard manure, are slen-
der and of a yeIIowish color. and l am
afraid she won't make many tomatoes.
She split her ankle with an AK while
chopping stakes for her plot
Contain Many Heart ThI obs.
Another agent in Arkansas writes as
follows:
while visiting one of my girls 1 found
she had been sick for two weeks and un-
able to get a second planting Of tomato
plants out. l took the matter up with
two young girl members of her club
and they came down with four friends
and set out all the plants. A fine lot
of tomatoes developed as the result"
Here is a report from Mississippi
agent:
"One girl with the help of her father
and brother has put up more 1900 cans.
She has 200 cans of figs. She has already
sold some to local merchants, and her
father said: The boil weevil may eat up
my cotton, but they can't get inside
these cans and jars. We are sure to
have plenty to eat and some ready
money to spend.
CoIUred Nanny Seeks Data.
Agents in Georgia are responsible for
the following reports:
There is much interest in canning
vegetables. An old colored woman re-
quested information from me in Or
der that her chile, whut tuck after her
ole granny who kept something of every
thing, could put up beans and things like
dat you had at the fair last year She
was given canning instructions and a
number Of bulletins on the subject"
"a little girl of Upatore deserves spe-
cial mention. Her parents are poor, but |
good people Of fine sense. She went to |
school, stood at the head of her class; |
did all the work of her patch except |
plowing, working morning and evening; |
borrowed money for Gamer and cans, |
and has put up 500 cans of tomatoes and |
900 cans of blackberries, besides a va
riety of sauces, pickles, jellies, and pre- |
serves for home and market"
''Three-fourths Of the members of the |
Girls Tomato Clubs visited this week
are regular hands on their fathers |
farms" writes an agent in South Caro- |
lima. "One girl is twelve years old and |
weighs $50 pounds. She told me she |
learned to plow two years ago, when her
father was a cripple. She prepared her
one-tenth acre with a two-horse plow, |
hauled her fertilizer, scattered, bedded, |
transplanted, hoed, and plowed it with
out any help at all. When 1 went to /
her tomato garden, about a half a mile
from her home, found it to be in a very
productive state.
Children Run Farm.
At another point three girls and their
fourteen-year-old brother are running a
good-sized farm. Their father died in
February, leaving the mother with eight
children.
One little Arkansas girl. with the aid
of her sister. used a small harrow-such
as is used for cotton beds-to harrow the
space between rows of tomatoes in their
canning club plot One girl took the
place of the horse in the harrow while
the other occupied the place Of the
driver.
This very unusual report is from an
agent in Virginia:
"A peculiar condition was found in
the village of Matoaca. The Holy
Jumpers had invaded the place. and twoIl
little girl club members had been con-
vinced that II is worldly minded to raise
tomatoes. so they have dropped out of
the club work"