Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-12-13
WELCOMES YOUNG
FARMER CHAMPIONS
Secretary Houston Greets
Boy and Girl Guests of
His Department.
TELLS THEM SYSTEM CAN
REvOLUTIONIZE INDUSTRY
Trip to Mount Vernon Advanced Be-
cause of Good Weather-Hogs
Basis of Experiment.

am Sidu 10 see DOth sexes repre-
sented i'm the group before me-" said
Secretary of Agriculture Houston today
In delivering the diplomas to the prize
winning corn growers. potato raisers and
canning and garden club champions, who
are in Washington as guests of the de-
partment.
THAT women have the harder and
more important task in the conduct of a
farm j think no one will deny, and the
activities of you girls along these lines
most certainly tend to furnish TO the sex
that leadership and power that women
not only are asking for but deserve
The eighty-two champions from the
various states and their friends and rela-
tives, we'll equipped with bright ban
ners, gathered for the occasion in the
greenhouses belonging to the department
at the 18th street corner of the grounds.
but, by unanimous consent. the chairs
We're taken out OH the lawn in front of
the administration building under a big
pine tree and formed into a circle, and a
Spring-llke, Open-air affair was the result.
Il think a vote of thanks is due the
weather bureau today was Secretary
HOuStonS first remark.
Can Revolutionize Industry.
There is no doubt about the need for
an increased army of your sort-an army
of champions said Mr.. Houston. You
are the exponents of a system which. IL
persisted in by the farmers, will revo-
lutionize agriculture in this country and
render it Independent for many years to
come of any foreign nation for it's food
supply. Experts tell US that only II per
cent of the farm lands OF this republic
IfGldlnI ra4CnnahlQ returns
Think what it would mean IL most of the
American farmers could raise 232 bushels
of corn to the acre at a cost of less than
10 cents a bushel!
You have established a standard be-
low which you cannot afford to fall-in
other things as in agriculture. The de-
mand by this branch of the government
and by colleges for men and women who
can do things better than any one else
can do them never fails.
Camera Men Are Busy.
A dozen cameras, motion picture and
otherwise, were busy getting views Of
the circle and of the champions as they
came forward to receive their diplomas
from the hands of the Secretary, and OF
the various separate delegations after
the exercises were over. none of them
missed Walker Lee Dunson of Alexander
City. Ala. whom Mr.. Houston designated
as ''the champion corn grower of the
world Among the girls canning club
champions two sisters. Margaret and
May Belle Brown of Charlotte. n. c.,
tied with los pounds each of fresh toma-
toes canned, and they came forward to-
gether for their certificates.
Owing to the beautiful weather, the
trip to Mount Vernon was brought
forward from Monday to today, and
the champions embarked this after
noon for the sail down the Potomac.
leaving the scheduled inspection OF
various public buildings until next
week
A delegation of six girls from Geauga
county, Ohio, is under the personal
charge of Mrs. j. K. Turner of Cleye-
land, the woman who first got girls In
that district interested in garden and
canning club work
Two Champions Her Daughters.
Two of the champions are her own
daughters, and of the four others three
took the first railroad trip of their lives
when they started to Washington. Mrs.
Turner, in order to understand thor
oughly the work in which she was In
teresting the girls of her county, al
though a woman of large means and
much leisIre. planted her own garden.
raised the vegetables and did the can
ming herself, and feels that no better
work than that she is engaged in could
possibly occupy her time.
Department of Agriculture officials
saw that Walker Lee DunSons record
of 232 bushels for an acre is pretty
likely to stand for several, if not for
many. wears When you get up around
the $50 mark" said Q. B. Martin of
the office of farmers cooperative
work. 1T gets pretty hard
to better the record. It's like that
Iittla fifth of a second In the hundred
ward dash record that won't come on
Experimenting With Hogs.
The office of farmers cooperative
demonstration work Of the bureau of
plant industry is trying out an expert
ment in which it win attempt to show
that tract of two acres of good land
is sufficient to support a family of
five persons. if properly handled One
other divided into halves, with two. good
forage crops. A sow and litter of pigs
are to feed first on one and later on
he other half of this second acre, and
finally will be fattened with the re-
mainder of the corn of acre No. j that
is not put into the form of cornmeal.
1t is expected that the meat Of the
hogs plus the corn, will feed fam
ily The experiment stations in three
southern states, Alabama. Louisiana and
Virginia, already have embarked on this
trial.