The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-02-06
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL :
INF OR M A TON
BURE AU
FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Director.
Washington, D. C.
THE HAMPDEN COUNTY LEAGUE
u-son,c of Its Stunts.


| boys and girls. Each of the young
sters gave his or her note in the trans /!
action, and paid for the shoat when
| he had duly matured and been sold
as ham and bacon. Incidentally, each
young pig raiser had to keep books
and show exactly how much money
| he had made.
This was an interesting method of
| teaching stock-raising and business.
and still more interesting were the re-
lations between the children and the
Dpigs The first thing that happened
to every one of those pigs was
christening. He was generally the
first property OF any Importance which
had come into the hands of his own
Ter. He was an advent in the owner S
life. Naturally he was regarded with
affection and given an appropriate
name. Yet, when the time came of
his fairness and maturity, there was
never any hesitation about translating
the erstwhile pet into pork.
One Hampden county youngster
named his pig after the community
agent who had enabled him to ac-
Quire this treasure. This particular
agent happened to be feminine, and to
bear the name of Irene, so that paruc-
ular shoat was compelled to face life
as Irene, too. When the cool and
frosty days of hog killing time came
around, the owner of Irene, the pig,
fappeared at the residence of Irene, the
community agent, bearing a somewhat
soiled and juicy looking package,
4 which he duly presented to the aston
ished young woman, with the oxplana-
ton that Irene, the pig, had that day
been butchered, and this was her liv-
er, and would not Irene, the agent,
accept it as slight token of regard
and esteem.
The interest which the league
awakened among the boys and girls
of Rampden county is shown by the
fact that last year nine thousand OF
them engaged in the activities which
| it set going. These included, in add
| ton to pig-raising, gardening, poultry
raising, and sewing among the girls.
Some of the girls went in for all OF
the activities. A girl raised on New
England farm has fine chance to be-
come versatile. For example, the
young woman who won the sewing
contest last year is also the best me-
chanic on her fathers farm, and fixes
|, all the reapers and binders and things
LIE that. She is 16 years old.
, The raising of poultry by the chill
i dren has been especially urged, and
the leagues poultry expert is one of its
busiest officials. His great task is to
, eliminate the scrub chicken, and to
drive home the somewhat obvious
fact that il doesn't cost any more to
raise good chickens than bad ones. He
is always combating the viewpoint of
the man who said he preferred to raise
scrub chickens because then when he
, ate one he didn't feel as tho he was
) eating up two dollars.
AItho this part of New England is
an ideal fruit country and especially
. adapted to the raising of apples, there
: are not nearly SO many orchards as
there might be, and the league en-
courages the setting out of young
fruit trees and the pruning of old ones.
1t has already greatly extended the
, orchard acreage. The fact affords a
good insight into the condition of the
! New England farm lands that in some
parts of this country the wild deer
make it almost impossible to raise an
orchard.
The league conducts no expert
mental farm, but many of the indi-
vidual farmers plant small expert
mental plots at the suggestion of the
, experts; and these, perhaps, attract
, more attention than would a regular
} experimental farm.
{ The activities of the women and
} children of the county are under a
I special department, headed by Miss
l Minnie Price. Miss Price gives demon
STATIONS in canning and other methods
2 of food preservation, and her object is
to save as much food as possible that
would otherwise go to waste. As an
< evidence that she succeeds to some
extent, it may be mentioned that
: 1000 jars OF local produce were
put up" by Hampden county house
wives last year, and that the league
distributed seven carloads of glass jars
l at cost.
;: Another activity of Miss Price has
to do with the serving of hot lunches
= for school children, which is said by
! Educators and doctors to be so impor-
: tant Such lunches are now being
y served in Holyoke and the system will
!. probably be extended. Each child gets
a bowl of thick soup and some bread
for cents. Miss Price says that this
service just barely breaks even.''
The social and aesthetic sides of life
are not neglected by the league. de-
spite its generally practical character.
1t helps in the organization of social
affairs whenever it can, and works
in general for the Identification and
Dieasantness of life in the country. IT
! this connection, the league officials
| claim that 100000 shade trees have
| been planted as a result of a propa-
| ganda carried on by the league
| Sanitation and health come in for
| a share of attention. Trained nurses,
doctors and dentists are hired or in
Vited to talk along these lines to school
: children and to gatherings of all
: kinds. In this line, the league will
n not ask people to listen to anything
J. but expert advice
s What the league is accomplishing
cannot be proved by figures 1t set
. out to reduce prices. but while it was
. doing this. prices all over the world
3 went up SO per cent or more, nullify-
e ing any results the league might
e otherwise have gotten. Officials of
I the league say that a survey would
| prove that they have considerably in
: creased the acreage under cultivation
il in Hampden county; and that any I'M
| prejudiced observer can see that they
| have made farming here a more at
Z ira cfiYe and nrnfitahle ncc11uafin