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Show BOY'S AND IL'S AgrflCULTURAL CLUiS There havo been few developments develop-ments In recent years of greater educational ed-ucational Interest and signillcancc thun tho work done by association! of boys and girls In agricultural and domestic-art undertakings. As a rule these havo had their beginning in somo form of competitive contert foi special occasions or awards The or ganlzatlon of clubs has usually been an incidental outgrowth of tho plane for theso contents, and tho name applied ap-plied to tho organization itself ha varied widely with the different purposes pur-poses curried forward. Thus wc find clubs for corn growing, cotton glowing, glow-ing, potato growing, fruit growing poultry growing, live-stock study, bird study, home culture, and hlgh-sohool improvement. All of those have been more or les agricultural In their general gen-eral character. To -any who are unacquainted with tho nature of such clubs It may be explained thnt a corn-growing club is an association of boys who enter Into a competition to determine which can grow the most or the best corn on a certain area of ground under definite rules of planting, cultivation, and exhibit ex-hibit of their product A cotton-growing cotton-growing club would undertake a similar sim-ilar competition In producing the best yield of cotton under prescribed conditions. con-ditions. For girls these contests havo frequently taken tho form of bread-making, bread-making, sewing, or Joint contests with boys In gardening or poultry raising. Various agencies have taken tho initiative in-itiative In starting this movement under un-der particular local conditions, but the inspiration for statowido actMty In theso lines has generally come from JSxhlblt at Sonthern Corn Show rc-contly rc-contly held In Atlanta, Gn uhcro moro thnn 10,000 cars of prize corn wcro dlsplujod. somo Individual or official source con-noctod con-noctod with tho state department of education, tho stato agricultural college, col-lege, or tho United States Department Depart-ment of Agriculture Tho flm state-wido movement of this kind began about 1S9S in New' I York, under tho auspices of the Col-lego Col-lego of Agriculture of Cornell University, Uni-versity, ns a development from 1U nature-study lessons. This work ha now gone over tho whole state and has taken a variety of forms. Other states were quick to take up tho work and tho splendid results have boon demonstrated at "Corn ShowV and other chlbItlons, but the most wonderful part of all Is tho ac-tunl ac-tunl Increase of crop yields shown In many localities where these "club" workers aro active. Somo of the Southern statcs Texas, South Carolina Caro-lina and Georgia, have been especially espec-ially active In organizing this kind of work, and much of tho development develop-ment In tho Gulf and South Atlantic States has been greatly assisted by tho hows' demonstration work. Jn Georgia the interest In this work has been chiefly in corn and cotton rrowing and In tho Improvement of llo olock, 4 000 boys being now organized or-ganized Into clubs for tho more Intelligent Intel-ligent and effective cultivation of these products Tn this Stato alone, through the organization of the boys Into corn clubs, tho yield of corn has been Increased S, 000,000 bushels, and 37,000,000 has been added to tho wealth of tho Stato during just one year, and the prospect Is that they will furnish nn equal increase during 1912. Tho recent Southern "Corn Show" furnished a splendid exhibition of corn products, tho effect of the boys corn clubs being widely shown, and the cultivation of corn In place of tho exclusive growing of cotton, was given an lmprotant Impetus. Group of Georgia Corn-Club Bojs. |