Show q T A N I 1 A H E country lads and lasare sies the na by MELVIN RYDER doom EWEY HANES la my hero what gov frank B willis of ohio said about the seventeen year yea ro old corn and wheat champion grower of the buckeye state after hearing bearing the boy tell over a thousand farmers how they ought to go about raising corn and wheat in order to get three and tour four times as large yields per aard acre at ai 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 differ different eni projects which the farmers of the future tire are carrying on so au successfully Is to bo be found in governor willis fl alve ve worded remark the boys who are showing ti the 8 men hica how to farm alethe are the heroes of 0 the ilie agricultural world of today they are the evangelists evan gelista who ho are carrying the gospel of better farming farmin ginto into every section of tin the state and showing their fathers and mothers how to farm Vett better erand and how to live better on the farms the united states department of agriculture Is 6 in charge of this work their experts have bulli built up a national organization with each state and county as a unit and their bald agents are in charge of the details of organization and tabulation of all the work that hat has been done and ana is to be done the season of 1916 Is now under way and oven even the most mosi optimistic in charge hesitate to predict how bow far the boys and girls will go before the seasons results are known in solving the problems before the farmers of today and leading these same farmers into the bigger and happier farming life thatis 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 J jerry erry moore startled the entire country by growing more corn on one acre than many farmers are now growing on ten acres newspapers and land magazines throughout the country commented on afi his excellent work and predicted that farmers would find that thai they might also grow larger and better quality crops it if they would follow his bis methods they did not realize until after the next season just juit what this boys 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 la is farther than tham over away the boys have been specializing in and live stock the girls in tending gardens canning farm products and studying home economics and better home life in numbers the boys and girls are several times greater than the standing army of the united states in enthus enthusiasm hism they are far ahead of any other organized body in the world in importance and in recorded results the world has neverseen never seen the equal of the same boys and girls and the season season of 1916 has just opened the season thatis certain to double or br triple in results the ilie last and grea greatest teft season of 1015 1915 to best understand what the boys and girls found when they started their work it Is necessary to look back through the centuries and sea how the science of farming began the occupation of farming Is one of the oldest in the history of the world when men knew little else them the knew hofto how to plant seed and reap a harvest that was sufficient tor for their daily needs during many centuries the farmer was a plodder who worked that lie he and his family might exist probably he found little joy and happiness in his work the production of life in a seed was a mystery to him and he accepted the mystery without trying to solve it ii it was enough ih that atthe the plant grow 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 fl aid did not produce well he moved to another field or re region ion and did not bother about the first area drea came a time however when his soil b became ethere etherd barren in great areas the seed no longer grew as it had and the plants were weak and the fruit of little value then it was that science stepped in and aid the really scientific farming had bad a start science showed that soil that had been bee cropped until it was partly worn outs out could be restored to its productive ability by the return of the elements that had been removed science showed the farmer that the soil was a live thing and that the life in the soil must bs be maintained it examined the roots of tho the plants and studied the way that the plant transforms the raw materials in the soil into tho the finished product of the fruit of the plant alanl it found that soma plants had bad nodules li dules on their roots that were filled with bacteria which had thu tho power to take up nitrogen from the aarand air and it found many other truths that have since been the basis for much of the work done by agricultural teachers during the last ten years year s the advance of the science of farming has been very rapid but the practical application by the farmers of the principles and practices that have been proved valuable has not ke kept P f p pace ne with the discoveries it Is the boys and girls who are catching fat ching up and therein Is the explanation of the results that they have been getting gaiting their parents might have done tho the same things but they did not the boys who are growing corn started where their fathers left aft oft off an and d put into practice the tea cLing that tie the fathers considered impractical theories in most cases the parents kept their hands oil off so tar far as the boys a acres cres were concerned many of them were suspicious auspicious 0 of the entire work and were content to let their boys enter because they thought that would be the best way tor for the young auns uns to b be 0 eions hope of future prosperity and strength RM ix W ty P IM R 6 M i t ONO L r am 14 J WA ir 0 1 41 kept kepi on the farms and contented conten tod now the attitude tu dobas has been changed and the parents parent 13 are as aa deeply interested astha as the boys and girls themselves and in many states and sections the parents and chil children drAn are contesting between themselves in order to seo see which can grow the bigger crops A notable instance ice of this was shown in bartholomew county indiana where two years ago the boys beat the parents by a wide margin in the production of corn per abr acre but where last year the parents came back by malting making their acres yield moil more than the acres tilled by the boys this year the boys have put their heads together and have their plans laid to win in 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 0 the boys and girls and the inspiration that their work has be been en upon the farmers of today if in the la stten years a far farm has be been enable able to produce double its former crops tho the next ten teh years it will produce four times as much per acre with proper soil treatment and cultivation on tho the acre of ground that last year yielded bushels of potatoes and bushels will be raised because the boys have that such yields can be produced over in the field ayere wh ere 30 bush bushels els of corn was i considered a good 1 crop in a a state where the average yield was only a few bushels more per acre at least 90 to bushels per acre will be raised in the future because such boys as dewey hanes of ohio raised 1537 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 ille common duties of the farm and farm honigs homes the boys ara are taught better methods of far farming ming and the girls aro are taught better home methods the agricultural colleges college sand and experiment stalio stations nei are finding that the tha boys and girls are better teachers and more practical experimenters because they are carrying the tha entire country with ibm toward better farming and better living on the farm the th e old folks are learning the value ofa outcrop crop rotation the ase use of fertilizers and manures the need of proper tillage good seed and the other factors tatt enter into the efficient management of the soil and the farm how can the parents help the boys and girls is the que question stich being asked the leaders in the club work by farmers in every section of the united states parents Parent scan can and should help by eri encouraging cour them 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 the children should feel that they are partners on the farms parents think what this work means to you before you refuse to help you dont want your children to have the same hardships the same toll with little to show tor for the years spent such as many of you hw hop hadin had in the past you dont want your children to havo have the same discourage menis ments because of seasons season s when the crops were poor and the market prices were low you dont want your children leaving the farms and taking up lines line of work that are less profitable healthful and productive of happiness you cannot afford to refuse your support and your co operation cooperation during the coming season reason from a financial reason alone if for no higher reason reason you cannot afford to go on with the rame came methods that you have been using in growing your crops and ad getting only half the yields that ahat you should receive it if jour your boys can rals f 0 our ier times as much much corn ahyou as you or even twice as much per acre you cannot afford to refuse to use their methods next next peason in growing your crops it if your boys can cam make twice as aa much money from one acre as s you are you going to be ba content to go on ahyou as you haza haye been doing and let your children loso lose confidence 31 in your farming knowledge and ability decided lykou ly you cannot afford it lets see liow how the boys are getting their record yields take jerry jerky moore bloore of south carolina dewey hanes of Ohio and marlus marius malgren of virginia j three of the most successful of the thou i sandhof sands of boya who have been showing present day farmers how to farm farin study their own accounts of how they produced their cr crops and you will find i that they tested their seed corn they used ther the best seed corn that they could get they prepared their seedbeds cl carefully irefully and thoroughly so that f IN the young plants would have the very best P A tuni ties to grow grovv quickly and ma mature turo within the limits of their growing seasons they knew that the plants had to be fed and they used manures and fertilizers liberally thou f sands of other otherl boys did the same they try to raise such yields without feeding their ameir crops any more than their parents would try tow to secure milk fr from 0 in their dalit dairy cows without feeding the cows properly they cultivate their fields carefully in order to 01 the weeds weed sand and conserve the ti moisture iol sture tor for the growing plants they gavi gave a little more time ilme to the acre and they reaped much greater crops ad 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 usa of principles that have been known tor for scores or oc s 1 ayears years but they have not merely accepted accept bd the prini principles caples and then gone about their carml farming ng operations leaving their kia knowledge as somo men dor do y their sunday clothes and their rp religion ligion hung up in closets and forgotten after sunday is past pact f the boys go at farming in a slips slipshod hod halfway fashion such as many farmers have been doing right along they were verenon not content to ties only one ona of th the a factors and disregard the c others they practiced them all together on f their acre fields and the results speak in a way that cannot be misunderstood they dump i on some manure and leave the other factors to luck they used manure and fertilized and they used use the best seed and the best methods of preparing the land before the seed was planted and the best beat tillage methods afterwards the derfl fertilizer lizer they ther used gave tha atia crops the early start and the he maturity that makes quality and quantity and they s escaped the soft corn that their parents found tn in many fields where little or no attention had been given to soil and plant food management boys and girls you have a right to td be proud or the work you have done you have a right to expect the co operation cooperation of your parents and of the farmers in your community and yo you are going to get it this year and in coming years you have the government back of you and it is spending thousands of dollars in each state so that you can add to the productive wealth of your state millions of dollars in added yields of 0 crops that havo have higher market values you boys are to be the i farmers of the future and you are to find great joy and happiness in your work you girls will someday preside over farm homes that will be happier because you have learned to bake and cook and i can and keep the house neat and tidy and homelike and make farm efto ufo happier tor for your family none of you is too young to begin for before you know it you will be out of school young men an and 4 women making your you rown own way in life lif e 1 |