The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1914-06-26
THE PUTNAM COUNTY
GIRLS CANNING CLUB.
Miss Jessie Burton, County
Agent, Writes Interesting
ly of the Work.

The girls of the Putnam county To-
matoe and Canning Club would like
to call the attention of every reader
of this paper to the work they are do
ing. In this article we are going to
give you brief history of the work in
this county. Please read it.
The troubles and trials Of the coun-
ty agent in establishing the canning
clubs in new places are such that II Is
really quite difficult to find girl, or
lauy, Wno is willing TO undertake the
work. Therefore, our girls were rath-
er late III their start. Our first agent
made an excellent beginning, secured
some siXty-hve girls on her list, COW
cred a great deal Of territory, tried to
do the work of three persons in the
worst part of the winter, and broke
down from OyerWork. This was
rather a bad start, and very discour-
aging to the girls who were then get
ting ready to start their gardens.
The county went for quite a while
without any agent, the girls mean
while dropping out-principally from
lack of encouragement. About the
twentieth of April the present coun-
ty agent agreed to take the place.
Instructions from headquarters didn't
show up, and she set out to secure all
possible information from any and
every source possible. Consequently
there was another sick agent and an
other period of inactivity. From
here on the work became more In
teresting and the story can be bet
+o1I -, ln E,.Ct
When my appointment was recog-
nized at the Department of Agrlcul-
ture it was dated May 11th. Not
withstanding the fact that | had put
in three weeks of very arduous labor
(for which l was fully paid) l did
not become an employee Of our I'm
Gle Sammy until | received the no.
lice of my appointment the eleventh
of May.
At that time only IS out of the
original IS cluO members were still
interested in their tomatoes. The
other At dropped out for various and
suHdry reasoas, all of them very good
reasons in themselves, but very dis
couraging to = county agent. The
18 club members are very enthusiasts
TIC and | am very proud of them; one
of our girls is under age, but her to-
mato plants are doing 50 well and she
1 sucn a dear little thing that | IN
sist in considering her one of US.
At the time of my appointment
the plants were being transplanted.
Some of the girls (whose parents
were interestcd) had their tomato
plants out in their plot, while some
Of the others had not yet seen the re-
suits of their second planting. By
now all of the girls have either eaten
tomatoes OFT their own vines or are
saving them up for their Sunday
dinner. And of the Is girls | regis
tered on my list not one has left me,
and if | can Just persuade them each
and every one to hand in their report
in essay form that is part of their
work. then our county club will stand
a chance to win the fifty dollars Of
fered by Wilson & Toomer Fertilizer
Co, which will be almost $500 q
piece-provided we win it.
Just at present the question of
prizes is disturbing my peace of
mind. Of course we can't possibly
land any state prize, the drouth has
seen to that; nor do | have much hope
of securing any of those prizes offer
ed by firms throughout the south, or
Florida, with the exception of the
Wilson & Toomer prize. However, if
any of our friends in this county care
to offer any county prizes, | can as
sure them that | have some mighty
smart girls in my cluo and we will all
appreciate the interest shown in our
work.
Later on | will tell you something
of the demonstrations we have held
and if | can persuade the editor
who is a friend to this canning clut
work-to let us have the space, | an
going to tell you something about the
work accomplished by the different
girls.
Yours truly,
JESSIE BURTON,
Crescent City, County Agent
June 23rd, 1914.