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Show HE country Jf lads and las- - - ..sies. are the na- By MELVIN RYDER. fEWEY HANE3 Is my hero." That's what Gov. Frank B. Willis ot Ohio said about the seventeen-year-old corn and whoat champion grower of the Buckoye state, after hearing the boy tell over a thousand farmers how they ought to- go about raising corn and wheat in order to get three and four times as large yields per acre at much less cost per bushel and much greater profits per acre. The secret of the success of the boys' and girls' club work and the dozen different projects which the "farmers of the future" are carrying on so successfully is to be found In Governor Willis' five-worded remark. The boys who are showing the men how to farm are the heroes of the agricultural agri-cultural world of today. They are the evangelists , who are- carrying the gospel of better farming into I every section of the state and showing their fa-j fa-j thers and mothers how to farm better and how to live better on the farms. The United States department of agriculture is in charge of this wort Their experts have built up a national orpjJ2Xlon with each state and county as n'J'' aiiy'I their paid agents are in charge ot,, ...et1iXs of organization and tabulation tabula-tion ji''filed"p'f:!vork that has been done and is to be done. The season of 1916 is now under way, and even the most optimistic in charge hesitate to predict how far the boys and girls will go before the season's results are known in solving the problems before the farmers of today and leading these same farmers into the bigger and happier farming life that is possible through the use of better methods and the gaining of better crops of higher quality and market value. Not many years ago a Southern lad, Jerry Moore, startled the entire country by growing more corn- on one acre than many farmers are now growing on ten acres. Newspapers and magazines maga-zines throughout the country commented on his excellent work, and predicted that farmers would find that they might also grow larger and better quality crops if they would follow his methods. They did not realize until after the 'next season just what this boy's achievement was worth to the country, not until they learned that the entire South was following Jerry Moore and growing more corn that sold for millions of dollars. Each year the work of the boys and girls has grown, and the end is farther than ever away. The boys have been specializing in growing crops and live stock, the girls in tending gardens, canning can-ning farm products and studying home economics eco-nomics and better home-life. In numbers the boys and girls are several times greater than the standing stand-ing army of the United States. In enthusiasm they are far ahead of any other organized body in the World. In importance and in recorded results the world has never seen the equal of the same boys and girls. And the season of 1916 has just opened the season that is certain to double or triple in results the last and greatest season of 1915. To best understand what the boys and girls 'found-when they started their work, it is necessary neces-sary to look back through the centuries and see how the science of farming began. The occupa-' occupa-' tion of farming is one of the eldest in the history of tho world. When men knew little else, they knew how to plant seed and reapa harvest that "was sufficient for their daily needs. During many centuries, the farmer was a plodder, who worked that he and his family might exist. Probably he found little joy and happiness in his work. The production of life in a seed was p mystery to him, and ho accepted the mystery without trying to solve it. It was enough that the plant grew and produced fruit, and the early farmer never asked himself how he could treat his soil and the seed so that it would produce twofold instead of one. There was plenty of land, and so when one field did not produce well, he moved to another held or region, and did not bother about tho first area. There came a time, however, when his soil became be-came barren in great areas. The seed no longer grew as it had and tho plants were weak and the fruit of little value. Then it was that science stepped in and the really scientific farming had a start. Science showed that soil that had been cropped until it was partly worn out could be restored re-stored to its productive ability by the return of the elements that had been removed. Science showed the farmer that the soil was a live tiling and that the life in the soil must be maintained. It examine! the roots of the plants and studied tho wc.y tl-.u the plant transforms the raw materials ma-terials in the soil into the l'.,!iheil ; rouuot el the fruii oi tiie pi.iiii. It found that soiu"1 phuus had nour.ies on their roots that were f'ih l with bacteria bac-teria v. li:o!i had the power to lake tip nitrogen from the air. and it found many cii-.er truths that l:av siiive lm.-i the basis fr ramii of the work done by aaiivviiara! teachers. ruling til' la..-1 ten years the ailvar.au of tho scia:i o c t' '.ara.iag has Wa n very ra; i . 'aut tho precMaal a : : i : ; I a.n by t ii farau.Ts ra' iiw principles prin-ciples and piariiaes that Pave r-a'.i proved vahi-ah.e vahi-ah.e lias ret he; t ; ace wiih ti.o .U-wvitL s. it is the lavas aa i a: "Is who arc ciUehhig up. aad therein there-in is the c" :aaa, iau of the results that tie'v have 1 -en g :-a:a". 'lla ir pan at. s miaat have uaae the saiae tisiiaa, hat they did Tl:e bays who are grev-iag c "in siaated wlier.1 taeir failaa-s left o:f and I ui into ;..:h lien txf, leaei.iag that iiie fathers coasi iered iaa "aoa ieal theories. In most cases tho parents h ad iheir hands o'. so far as the boys' aa res were concerned. Maay of ilieai were suspicious of the entire work, ami wore content to let their boys eater because they thought that woaal be tho best way fur the "young 'tins" to bo HE country vf Y lads and las- - i iisies, are the na- i tion's hope of fu- k &r ture prosperity IW and strength A- s 7 iMmA tKt Eate I f a&OMXVTV SSSSSsr3 2 , 1 i&c&f 1 " 1 1 kept on the farms and contented. Now the attitude atti-tude has been changed and the parents are aa deeply Interested as the boys and girls themselves, and in many states and seotions the parents and children are contesting between themselves in order or-der to see which can grow the bigger crops. A notable instance of this was shown in Bartholomew Bartholo-mew county, Indiana, where two years ago the boys beat the parents by a wide margin in the production of corn per acre, but where last year the parents "came back" by making their acres yield more than the acres tilled by the boys. This year the boys have pui their heads together and have their plans laid to win back the records. Rapid as has been the advance of agriculture during the last ten years, the future is going to be filled with more wonderful revelations, through the work of the boys and girls and the inspiration that their work has been upon the farmers of today. to-day. If in the last ten years a farm has been able to produce double its former crops, the next ten years it will produce four times as much per acre with proper soil treatment and cultivation. On the acre of ground that last year yielded 200 bushels of potatoes, 400 and 600 bushels will be raised, because the boys have demonstrated that such yields can be produced. Over in the field where 30 bushels of corn wras considered a good crop in a state where the average yield was only a few bushels more per acre at least 90 to 100 bushels per acre will be raised in the future, because be-cause such boys as Dewey Danes of Ohio raised 153.7 bushels per acre, and the winners in some other states outgrew him "True education" is the basis for the work that the boys and girls are doing. The clubs are the mediums of practical instruction in the common duties of the farm and farm homes. The boys are taught better methods of farming, and the girls are taught better home methods. The agricultural colleges and experiment stations are finding that tho boys and girls are better teachers and more practical experimenters because they are carrying the entire country with them toward better farming farm-ing and better living on the farm. The "old folks" are learning the value of crop rotation, the use of fertilizers and manures, the need of proper tillage, good seed, and the other factors that en- ter into the eilicient management of the soil and the farm. How can the parents help the boys and girls is the question being asked the leaders in the club work by fariin rs in every section of the United States. Parents ca.n and should help by encouraging encour-aging thorn to enter the contests and organized clubs, and allowing the children the time from regular work with farm chores to tend their own plots of ground. Tho children should feel that they are parniars on the farms. Parents, think v. hat this work means to you before be-fore vou reiuse to help. You don't want your children to have the same hardships, the samo toil with little to s'aow for tho years spent such as many of you have had in the past. You don't want your cli ihl nan to have the same discourago-ii discourago-ii eais heeause of seasons when the crops were poor ami tile ma rket iie.es were low. You don't w.aa.t your children leaving the farms and taking up iiia s of weak thai are h--"s paoiuaule, licaiihful and productive of hapi '.:.:'. You cannot afford to refuse your support and your co-operat ion daring the coming season. From a financial reason tilone if for no higher reason you cannot aiford to go on with the same methods that you have been using in growing your crops and getting only half the yields that you should receive. If your boys can raise four times as much corn as you, or even twice as much per acre, you cannot can-not afford to refuse to use their methods next season In growing your crops. If your boys can make twice as much money from one acre as you, are you going to be content to go on as you have been doing and let your children lose confidence in your farming knowledge and ability? Decidedly, Decided-ly, you cannot afford It. Let's see how the boys are getting their record yields Take Jerry Moore of South Carolina, Dewey Hanes of Ohio, and Marius Malgren of Virginia Vir-ginia three of the most successful of the thousands thou-sands of boys who have been showing present-day farmers how to farm. Study their own accounts of how they produced their crops and you will find that they tested their seed corn, they used the best seed corn that they could get, they prepared their seedbeds carefully and thoroughly, so that Vhe young plants would have the very best opportunities oppor-tunities to grow quickly and mature within the limits of their growing seasons. They knew that the plants had to be fed, and they used manures and fertilizers liberally. Thousands Thou-sands of other boys did the Bame. They wouldn't try to raise such yields without feeding their crops, any more than their parents would try to secure milk from their dairy cows without feeding feed-ing the cows properly. They cultivate their fields carefully in order to kill the weeds and conserve the moisture for the growing plants. They gave a little more time to the acre and they reaped much greater crops as results. Nothing wonderful about all this. You say that these principles have been known and practiced for years. Certainly. The boys have made use of principles that have been known for scores of years, but they have not merely accepted the principles prin-ciples and then gone about their farming operations, opera-tions, leaving their knowledge as some men do their Sunday clothes and their religion hung up in closets and forgotten after Sunday is past. . The boys didn't go at farming in a slipshod, halfway fashion, such as many farmers have been doing right along. They were not content to practice prac-tice only ono of the factors and disregard the others. They practiced them all together on their acre fields, .and tho results speak In a way that cannot be misunderstood. They didn't dump on some manure and leave the other factors to luck. They used manure and fertilized, and they used the best seed and the best methods of preparing the land before the seed was planted and the best tillage methods afterwards. Tho fertilizer they used gave tho crops the early start, and tho maturity ma-turity that makes quality and quantity, and they escaped the "soft" corn that their parents found in many liehis where little or no attention had been given to soil and plant-food management. Boys and girls, you have a right to be prord of the work you have done. You have a right to . expect the co-operation of your parents and of t'ao farmers in your community, and you are going to got it tills year and in coming years You have tho government back of you, and it is spending thoia-amls of dollars in curb state so that you can add to the productive wealth id' your state millions mil-lions of dollars in added yields of crops that have higher market values. You boys are to be tho farmers of the future and you are to find great joy and happiness in your work. You girls will some day preside over farm homes that will be happier because you have learned to bake and cook and can, and keep the house neat and tidy and homelike, home-like, and make farm-life happier for your family. None of you is too young to begin, for before you know it you will be out of school, young men and women, making your own way in life. |