West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1916-01-27
Large Number of Women County
Agents Are Now at Work AS
sisting Housewives IN the Solu-
tion of Household Problems-
Great Interest Has Been Aroused

same way that their men colleagues
assist the farmers. The work OF the
women has. however, been more re-
Gently inaugurated and is not there
fore. so we'll known.
At hrst those women devoted them
selves largely TO the formation and
supervision OF canning clubs. Now.
hoyrver. much OF their time is spent
In hcme demonstration work with the
mothers as well as with the girls.
The opportunities that this field offer
are illustrated by the recent meetings
of a Virginia home demonstration
club. The club was organized in June
with IL members, which grew almost
at once to a membership OF 25. So
many applications for membership
came in that It has been necessary to
form other clubs so that each organI-
zation may not be too large to do eff
cient work
The freless cooker was the first
subject that this club took up. The
construction Of homemade device
OF this kind. cost of which was esti-
mated at 25 cents, was explained to
the members and its use demonstrat-
ed at the meetings of the club. After
attention had been called in this way
TO the possibility of saving labor, time
and fuel. and in addition to having a
more comfortable kitchen in many
cases, other ideas were suggested and
worked out by the women themselves
Among these the "scrubbing char
lot" deserves attention. This consists
OF a comfortably padded frame mount
ed on four fiat rollers, and enables the
housewife to save great many steps
In wiping and scrubbing floors and
cleaning woodwork. It's cost was es-
timated at ~ cents Another conven-
ience worked out at these MEETINGS was
handy dustless mop for use on
painted or polished floors. This was
made OF worn material which would
otherwise have been thrown away and
consequently was regarded as not
hoFihB COol dilytnlnR.
A companion convenience to the
hreiess cooker was the milk cooler
or iceless refrigerator, which was
constructed in general in accordance
with the direction furnished by the de-
partment, The homemade shower
BATH the roller tray wagon for use
in carryfuO dfobae fro,.. a. ,t.-,
20 the dining table, and a folding iron
ing board and cover were among the
ether improvements suggested or de-
yeloped as a result OF these meetings.
The interest taken by the women
In this kind OF work is Indicated by
the fact that the county agents have
now enrolled approximately 5000
farm women as home demonstrators
These demonstrators agree to adopt
some household improvement and 10
furnish In this way an object lesson
to their neighbors, or they agree to
carry on certain demonstrations un-
der the supervision OF the county
agents. Some very successful demon
strati9ns have been made in cooking.
IN impreving sanitary conditions, in
winter gardening, in poultry work, in
heme dairying. In addition, they
aaree 70 report to the county agents
~ the end Of the year the results
which they have obtained These
practical object lessons are most eff
cient ways OF arousing interest and
carrying conviction A Georgia wo-
man for example, who had been shown
the use Of the milk separator and bet
ter methods OF butter making. wrote
recently that some Of her neighbors
came t9r miles to see her churn The
Feet, she aaia, that she was getting On
esRts pound for her butter instead
Of 30 cents had done a great deal I'm
making her neighbors want to learn
10 make better butter. The use OF the
thermometer. I'm particular. attracted
their attention. Before seeing Il IN
operation they had not considered the
importance Of having the cream AZ the
flghl temperatufe IhclaentallYs ,hls
F0maH wrote that her husband was
taking much interest In the work and
was planning how TO Hx the barn and
feed room In order to aid HIS wife I'm
her butter making.
This work has been in existence for
about Eve years II began with the
organization Of girls canning clubs
IN two states IN 1910. These glrig
tlups. poMeyer while important in
themselves. were from another stand
point regarded as stepping stone to
further home Demonstration work Cor
lhs farm women At the beglnping
ef the movement enc Of the founders
wrsten eThe direct object ia 10
teach some one simple slralghtfor.
ward lesson to the girls on the farm
which will open tho way to their con
adence and that OF their mothers. and
which will, at the same time. open
their eyes to the possibilities OF add
las % lhe ismilg ihoome through mta.
he work 81 and about the Home.
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