The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1915-08-27
HOUSTON EXTOLS
CHILDREN'S CLUBS
Aid Young People TO Become
More Efficient and COntGnted.
GROWING IN ALL SECTIONS.

| Few States Without an Organization
and Demonstrators-Much Money Is
Made In Washington and Oregon,
Where Boys and Girls Are Taught
Scientifically to Can Salmon.
| Washington.-"The primary object of
the boys and girls clubs which are be-
ing organized throughout the country
with the assistance of the department
| of agriculture, but in cooperation with
state colleges of agriculture" says Sec
rotary Houston, "is to aid young people
to become more efficient and more con-
tented farmers and home builders.
1.-THE clubs may be organized under
the leadership of the county superin-
tendent of schools or any of the teach
ers under him. If the educational au-
thorities of the county are not yet alive
| to the possibilities of these clubs the
county demonstration agent may take
charge of the movement, or If there Is
no demonstration agent in the county
such organizations as local chambers
Of commerce, the grange, women's
clubs, ETC., may assume the leadership.
The names and addresses Of the boys
and girls included la the clubs are col
lected and sent to the state agent, who
will furnish organization and cultural
instructions upon request.
Experience has shown, however,
that the difficulty is not in organizing
club with large enrolment of men,
bers, but in inducing these members to
complete their work and to report on
the results. The test of efficiency is not
so much the organization Of new clubs
as continuing interest in those already
formed To assure this continuity of
interest various schemes have been
evolved to make the club work pro-
gressive.
IAN example of agents adapting their
plans to circumstances is the canning
of salmon in Washington and Oregon,
mainly along the Columbia river.
There thousands of tons of salmon
have gone to waste annually. At pres
ent twenty-five clubs of about twenty
members each are canning salmon,
turning what has heretofore been vast
ed into well preserved article of food.
I'm the girls clubs new members
grow tomatoes only. During the Sec
ond year they divide their gardens in
| half and grow tomatoes and q few
other crops. The third year they have
more crops Some of the combinations
are tomatoes, beans and beets and to-
matoes, peppers and okra. After these
| have been mastered the girls begin to
| fill their gardens with perennial vege-
| tables and fruits. In this way, by the
time club girl is ready for high school
| or college she will have started a per-
manent garden or orchard
"In practically every club 1t has been
noticed that some of the parents and
neighbors of the members invariably
adopt the methods of the boys in their
various projects. The yields and profits
that the boys obtain are the best pos
sible demonstration of the value of
their methods. 1t has been said. for ex-
ample. that a single corn club boy in
one community did more for sound
corn culture in his county than five
years of public lecturing could have &C.
complished.
"In the same way the success of the
girls with their canned products has
paved the way for women county
agents to demonstrate simple useful
lessons in cooking to the mothers.
1.-THE new movement of organizing
mother-daughter home canning clubs in
| the north and west is an outgrowth and
extension of the work already done by
| the girls canning clubs. The club pro-
! ject is confined entirely to the canning
| Of fruits and vegetables, and these may
be grown by the club membership
mother-daughter team-or by some one
else and purchased for canning pur-
poses"