356 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



entirely during the spring of 1918 and did not use wheat until the 

 new crop had been harvested. 



Results. — In regular work the women enrolled put up 34,993,677 

 cans of vegetables and fruits for future use. The value of this prod- 

 uct wa.s more than $7,000,000. They produced over 5,500,000 pounds 

 of dried vegetables and fruits for future use; and brined, pickled, and 

 otherwise stored more than 1,000,000 pounds of vegetables; while 

 the girls in their regular enrollment canned over 8,882,000 cans from 

 their one-tenth acre gardens, which were part of the regular require- 

 ment. The value of these products is over $1,500,000. They also put 

 up over 3,961,000 containers of vegetables and fruits from the farm 

 and orchard outside of their one-tenth acres. It is estimated that 

 gardening increased by 500 per cent in the South in the last year, 

 owing to the campaign among women as well as that referred to 

 on the preceding page. 



The emergency enrollment is estimated to have added a sufficient 

 number of cans to make the grand total of the whole organization 

 practically 200,000,000 cans of fruits and vegetables put away for 

 future use. In many sections of the South disinterested public men 

 on investigating reported five times as much in the pantries and store- 

 rooms of southern homes as in any other one year in the past 50. 

 Those who have Imown the South intimately for the last 10 years will 

 testify to the great results accomplished and the changes brought 

 about by this work. Ten years ago canning, while practiced by some, 

 was a rare exception, and the garden was conspicuous by its absence. 

 During the past year canning has been the rule and the failure to 

 can a rare exception, while practically every home had a garden. 



In addition to these lines of work, homemade tireless cookers were 

 put into a large number of homes, labor-saving devices of various 

 lands w^ere introduced, egg circles for the marketing of eggs were 

 organized and put into operation, and many other things were done 

 to improve the health, the diet, the food supply, and the productive 

 power of millions of southern homes. 



BOYS' AGRICULTURAL CLUBS. 



Boys' agricultural clubs were carried on by State, district, and 

 county agents cooperating with school officials and business men. 

 The number of boys enrolled in 1917 was 115,746, classified by clubs 

 as follows: Corn, 40,394; potatoes, 3,441; cotton, 5,297; grain sorg- 

 hum, 2,126; peanut, 3,157; calf clubs, 2,968; pig clubs, 31,375; poultry 

 clubs, 11,633 ; and miscellaneous clubs, 4,087. The enrollment has been 

 greatly increased in 1918, and it is expected that in addition to the 

 regular enrollment there will be an emergency enrollment of -400,000 

 club members. Many farm boys under the age of 18 are being in- 

 structed by club agents and county agents in doing a man's work 

 on the farm. The emergency enrollment is an effort to get hold of all 

 boys who are taking on the added burdens of the war time and to give 

 them credit for their extraordinary efforts. 



The average yield of corn by the members of the boys' clubs 

 throughout the 15 Southern States was 47.97 bushels per acre. Tliere 

 were 110 boys who made more than 100 bushels per acre, and some 

 good records were made by boys in other farm crops. 



