REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 83 



their boys. Where a farmer's boy has been enlisted in a corn club 

 and produced on his father's farm an acre of corn yielding from 50 

 to 200 bushels at a cost of not more than 30 cents a bushel, the 

 farmer is no longer skeptical about improved farm methods. 



In 1909 there were 10,543 boys enrolled in these clubs. In 1910 

 the number has increased to 46,225. This feature of the work has 

 aroused unbounded interest and enthusiasm and turned attention 

 toward the farm. Public-spirited citizens in the various Southern 

 States have contributed S40,000 for prizes for these boys. Prize 

 winners in four States were given trips to Wasliington and awarded 

 diplomas of merit. This year such trips are offered from every 

 Southern State tlu-ough bankers' associations, boards of trade, 

 educational associations, private citizens, and state fairs. Governors 

 and superintendents of public instruction \vill give diplomas simi- 

 lar to those earned last year to all boys who make excellent records. 



^Mien a boy makes a thorough study of corn it is easier to succeed 

 with other crops. Some of the boys in the boll-weevil parishes of 

 Louisiana have not only broken the records in corn production there 

 but have achieved the same extraordinary results with cotton, pota- 

 toes, onions, and other crops. 



Marked changes in general farm methods and in the economic 

 life of the people do not take place in a single year. The few demon- 

 strations in each neighborhood the first year attract attention and 

 dispel doubt, the second year brings increasing success, and the 

 third year usually marks the beginning of the general adoption of 

 the changed methods, though time is required to make the adoption 

 universal and thorough in a community. 



Special work is done in advance of the weevil to prepare the 

 farmers to meet the new conditions. During the seasons of 1910 and 

 1911 tliis effort is being and mil be exerted within a few hundred 

 miles of that great semicircular line which marks the boll weevil's 

 advance, and it is hoped that the panic and business depression 

 usually accompanying the invasion of the weevil will thus be avoided. 



PROGRESS IN FORAGE-CROP INVESTIGATIONS. 



Breeding improved forage crops. — For most of the farming 

 areas of the country experience and much experimenting have 

 determined the most valuable forage crops. Thus, timothy and 

 red clover are of paramount importance in the northern part of the 

 country and alfalfa in the West, while in the South among the several 

 forage crops used cowpeas are perhaps of highest value. Each of 

 these crops consists of numerous varieties and strains, some of much 

 higher value than others. The isolating of the best strains by 

 selection and the combining of the good features of two or more 

 varieties by hybridizing have already yielded valuable results, and 

 extensive work of this kind is now being prosecuted. 



