STATES RELATIONS SERVICE. 341 



meetings, with an attendance of 476,360. Thirty-seven egg circles, 

 producing poultry products worth $53,952.76, have been organized 

 by the woukmi and girls. 



War conditions and needs have brought about a great extension 

 of activities along the general lines which the home-demonstration 

 work h:is pursued for the last seven years. For example, the very 

 earnest campaigns of the past year for a home garden on every farm 

 •were simply a part of a "safe farming" program which has been 

 advocated for several years. These campaigns have been extended 

 to the cities, towns, and villages as well, and it may be safely said 

 that the number of gardens has increased during the past seasonby 

 two to three hundred per cent. The great increase in gardening 

 naturally increases the interest in the preparation of vegetables for 

 the table, and especially in canning, drying, pickling, and brining 

 of fruits and vegetables for future use. Early in the season circulars 

 on home drying, pickling, and brining were prepared and circulated, 

 and all of the home-demonstration agents were given special instruc- 

 tions in these methods. The work was enormously enlaroed by the 

 demands of village, town, and city residents for instructions along 

 these lines. A large number of volunteer workers assisted in spread- 

 ing the information and in giving demonstrations for the benefit of 

 their neighbors. 



Women's clubs. — In the regular process of the organization of the 

 work itself more than 1,000 community clubs of rural women w^ere 

 organized as mentioned above, but under war pressure federations of 

 women's clubs and various civic and church organizations of women 

 have also greatly assisted in the work. 



On July 1, 1917, 1,615,880 women and girls were enrolled for 

 definite demonstration work in food production and conservation. 

 This does not include the number of women volunteers giving instruc- 

 tions to their neighbors under various schemes of organization. In 

 one State alone 200,000 women undertook to carry out without com- 

 pensation some lines of food conservation in their own neighborhoods 

 under the instruction of home-demonstration agents. 



A few years ago canning was done by a relatively small percentage' 

 of the people in the South. Now canning is a general practice in 

 many parts of that region, and reports from most of the States 

 indicate that the amount of fruits and vegetables preserved for 

 future use by canning, drying, pickling, and other means is from 

 four to five times as great this year as during any previous year. 



Early in the spring of 1917 the price of tin cans increased to such 

 an extent as practically to prohibit their use by the individual canner. 

 Through the cooperation of the Bureau of Chemistry, the Council 

 of National Defense, railroads, and manufacturers of tin cans, the 

 office was able to perfect an arrangement by which more than 

 10,000,000 cans were shipped in car-load lots from certain factories 

 direct to counties in the South and sold at cost plus the freight and 

 handling. The net saving to Southern women and girls through this 

 activity alone is estimated at more than a quarter of a million dollars. 



Home improvements or devices were made or installed under the 

 leadership of the women agents as follows : Fireless cookers, 3,290 ; 

 iceless refrigerators, 2,171; flytraps, 5,025; kitchen cabinets, 180; 

 floor mops, 119 ; wheel trays, 292 ; ironing boards, 486 ; water systems, 



