Omaha daily bee., 1917-09-02
The Boy Scouts Form
By Frederic J. Hasktp,.

| "dsHlHSlOEy aug. ol.-In the midst OF the
| neat green shrubbery, the flower beds, the ten
MS courts and the smooth asphalt speedways of
| Potomac park, you suddenly come upon a fine
| held OF corn. Thirteen feet tall it stands with
long graceful leaves and yellow tassels futtering
| in the breeze.
This is the Boy Scout farm. It is primarily
| one product of the garden propaganda, but it IS
also more than that. 1t represents the triumph
OF number OF boys over number of very for
mdable difficulties.
The Boy Scouts of Washington wanted to do
their bit to help the food situation along. and
their commissioner decided that they should be
given the opportunity. He went to see Colonel
Harts OF the War department. who is in charge
OF the parks OF the national capital and laid the
proposition before him.
Colonel Harts, being very public spirited man
and interested in the Boy Scout movement, i'm
mediately placed 800 acres of land in Potomac
park at the disposal of the organization The
various scout masters called their troops of bows
together and told them that at last thew were
gong TO be allowed to demonstrate their patriot
ism, and at the same time help the Bow Scout
organization. For the proceeds from the sale of
the crops are to be placed in the Boy Scout fund
which heretofore has always been raised by tag
selling.
On the appointed day last spring 1000 Bow
Scouts, sholdering rakes and hoes and mattocks
paradea down to their prospective farm to the
martial tunes of the scout band. They marched
proudly, their heads erect,> their little chests
swelling with patriotic emotion as they saluted
the president in his reviewing stand and realized
what important public figures they had suddenly
become. - -
But later in the day they came to understand
that despite SO much evidence to the contrary,
patriotism was not an emotion but plain and
often painful fact. The land which they had
come to farm was not all what they expected. In
,ne nrSo rS pace, 1t was covered with stumps-at
least 500 of them-and all of these had to be un
earthed before any farming activities could be
started. SO the boys laboriously set to work to
uiproot these stubborn obstacles to agriculture.
At the end OF three hours they were also strug-
gling with series of fine red blisters on their
nands; their backs ached, and they had discovered
an amazing number of muscles in their legs
All OF them, with the possible exception Of
three or four, were city-bred. Many of them had
6sen on farms but only in the capacity of visitors
The first night they camped on the premises,
They tumbled into bed after hot camp supper, |
many OF them too tired to sleep After this came |
a long month of blowing This required skillful |
on the part of the scoutmaster, be-
cause after the first week the camp broke up and
the boys returned to their homes. The public |
health department forbade them camping on the |
grounds of their project on account of the great
danger OF malaria. But the scouts were loyal |
They gave every bit of their spare time to the |
work. and even paid their own carfare and |
brought their own lunches while doing it.
The land in Potomac park is all remade land.
That 49, it is really land sucked up from the river
and it is kept in place by stone wall which is
built along the river front AS might be ex-
oected, the soil is very black and rich Almost
anything would grow in it-even Mexican corn
hat everything did After they had powed it
ip with tractor donated by Henry Ford, tfiey
'owed lZO acres in corn, planted beans and peas
Ind asparagus in the rest, and waited for things
Q sprout, which they did, including a hundred
lifferent kinds of weeds aided by the heavy rains
hat deluged the country at that particular time
, The hardest farming struggle was still before
hem All day long boys worked laboriously,
pulling UP weeds, and as fast as they pulled them
Up, new ones seemed to take their places. The
situation became so desperate that everybody had
o work-even the officials of the Boy Scout Or
,anization.
Today the farm is a huge success. There are
ZO acres OF fine corn, concerning which the Mary
and Agricultural Experiment station says: 1T
) the largest yield to the acre and the best grade
# white corn that this station has even seen"
he organization expects to sell it at from $1.2s
o $l.I5 bushel, and there are from seventy-fve
0 eighty bushels to the acre. The other products
the beans, the peas and asparagus-have already
old at an attractive profit.
But the greatest success of the farm IS the
oys themselves. Their physical development
ince they started farming has been remarkable
wo boyswho were going to be kept out of school
MS winter on account of their precarious health
ave become so robust that their parents no longer
onsider it necessary. Moreover, il has brought ss
he boys into actual touch with. life. They have
one real and valuable service, both for their
wn organization and their country, the effect
which has been to make them more self-relant !
nd more thoughtful.