The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-08-17
THE CANNING CLUBS
OF VIRGINIA GIRLS
State Agent Tells OF Good Work
Being Done and Some
Results.
TOMATOES BUT A BEGINNING
Farmer Girls" Acquiring Conf
dence i'll Themselves-Making
Home the Dearest Spot.
BY MISS ELLA G.. AGSE.W,
State Agent t.irIs' Club work.

H.
Yes. Mary is here. but she is out
in her tomato patch. where she mostly
Is this summer. Tomato vines are 50
tail that you may not be able 10 find
her, but just you call her" The coun-
Il wo d,f followed the path which
stable and out toward the branch Az
she turned the corner of the stable
her eye was caught by row after row
Of straight. tall stakes. about nine feet
high. tomato vines almost to the top
She couldn't see the small girl, but
answering: Come on in; ain't II fine? -
And IL trul! was. The dainty little miss
could not be seen until you were quite
near. Even the tall county worker
round the plants were UP to her eyes
and many of them filed with tomatoes
ON one We counted twenty thre@ good
sized tomatoes. with several other
groups of blooms. This small girl is
looking for 500 10 900 cans. not To men
ton the fresh ones she is selling now
at 10 cents per dozen in a small village
She is also very iubilant over the
joke she has on her father, who last
year said that under no consideration
would he stake tomatoes. She mi ght
do il if she had 10. but he knew bet
ter. for he intended 10 grow some. and
would show her She said all right
and time went on. The awful drought
y
cultivated TO keep the moisture III the
ground: every direction was carefully
followed. and while her plants did
feel the dry weather TO some extent
they did not dry, and she had a fair
sized crop and the only tomatoes the
family had TO eat or preserve for win
ter use. And. She added Come with
me TO the garden and see fathers patch
for this year" We went and found
several rows of tomatoes as carefully
tended and pruned and staked as the
daughters. Isn't il fun TO teach your
father something, if he will only
learn" She giggled cheerfully.
The early tomatoes We're not a sue
cess, owing to the late frostS and other
sctbacks; therefore many OF the girls
are producing the first fruit III the
neiGhborhood. and are securing fancy
prices.
The hailstorm a week or two ago
completely ruined the plots OF a num-
Der of girls, and they have been forced
to drop out, to their great regret. In
one county there has been too much
rain; iii another too little, and so the
troubles pile up. In spite Of ii all.
most of the girls are as enthusia site
as they were when they put out their
plants in the early spring. They have
been very. careful about following in
structions, and almost every plot is
we'll cultivated. staked and pruned.
Meeting Opposition.
In organizing the canning club work
in county in Virginia the worker is
met by many arguments against it.
The three most often advanced are:
Girls have no business going into the
fields and working: il is not their
place" y close second is: I've got
no land to give her and no time to
fool with her little piece of land. she
won't keep at ii anyway" The third
is: she will get no market for things
put up"
To the first our answer is: I'VE
heartily agree with You: a girls place
Is not in the field. but we are not ask
ing her TO go there We are asking
that she be allowed to have n garden
of her own. Surely, the garden work
belongs to the women folks. The first
year she learns to care we'll for one
thing; the second and third year to
this one thing is added several others,
and by the third or fourth year she
knows how to manage her own gar
den, how to make it produce the most
in the way OF vegetables: how to make
the best possible use Of the vegetables
so that the largest returns may he
counted upon. Vegetables heretofore
thrown to pigs are now canned for
winter use, or when the home is pro-
vided for. sold. and to the girl comes
the profit She then feels that she has
able to make little money of her
own. she does not hear the great call
to the city, to which so many of the
girls respond.
We would, also. respectfully like to
ask many of these same men who make
that plea when 1t refers to girls work
ing for themselves. why II does not
equally apply when she Is thought to
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