73 



which the report of the successful competitor should bo mado. These are ?onie of 

 the. helpful features for creating a more active interi'st in tlie institute. 



Many of the counties of Illinois have organized what are terincd l)()ys' experimental 

 clubs and girls' home-culture clulw. To illustrate: AVinnebagd County has a farmer 

 boys' experimental did) with more than 500 members, and a girls' lionu'-culture clul) 

 with more than IM) members. The boys there are growing a high-bred variety of 

 corn, and also sugar beets for a beet-sugar factory. This year 112 boys i>lanted corn 

 from seed furnished by the officers of the Winnebago County Fanners' Institute. 

 Some 75 members of the club volunteered to grow sugar beets. Over 50 acres were 

 planted by these boys. This work is in cooperation with the Winnebago County 

 Farmers' Institute, tlie officers of which offered the following prizes to the boys in 

 last year's corn contest, all premiums being cash: First prize, $15; second ])rize, $10; 

 third ])rize, $5; fourth prize, $3; next ten prizes (each), $1.50; next ten prizes 

 (each), $1. 



All other boys making exhibits would receive cash premiums at the discretion of 

 the corn committee. The boys who take first, second, and third prennums are 

 expected to write an article, to be presented at the institute, telling of the })reparation 

 of the seed bed, j)lanting, cultivation, and harvesting of their prize corn. Let me 

 remark in pa.«sing that it is a ho|)eful sign for the farmers themselves to believe 

 enough in tlieir own boys to contribute cash for prizes without asking the merchants 

 of the town to donati' collar buttons, link cuff l)uttons, suspenders, stock food, etc., 

 to encourage the farmer boys to be l)etter farmers. 



The following are a few of the i)rizes offered to the girls of the home-culture club: 



For sewing, patching, darning, prizes in each of these: First prize, $1; second prize, 

 50 cents. 



Six prizes were offered for the work of girls of 12 years of age and younger and 

 six for that of girls 18 years of age and yoimger. The following classes were made: 



First and second prizes for handkerchiefs made by Iiand; first and second prizes for 

 best setting in of patch in j)iece of j)laid goods. First and second jjrizes for best 

 darned hole in ilress goods or table linen not less than 1 inch in diameter. Prizes 

 were also offered the girls in bread-making contests. This is to cite briefly from 

 Winnebago County, which is only one of the many counties which are taking up 

 the same line of work. 



However, they have gone a step further than this. It sometimes develops that 

 the boys were there more for the premiums tiian anything else, and, after a year or 

 two, while the boys bring in l)etter corn l)Oth as regards (juality and selection, they 

 sometimes pattern after older exhibitors and bring in corn which they did not raise 

 and got help from others in the selection of the same; and thus the e.xhibit degener- 

 ates into too much of a scraml)le after iiremiums; for the boys and girls often made 

 an exhibit when they had nothing to do with tlie growing or selection of the corn. 



This year the Illinois Farmers' Institute has inaugurated a new kind of a contest 

 known as the "corn-judging contest," one in which the boys would get the benefit 

 of the contest themselves. Mr. A. P. Grout, treasurer of- the Illinois Farmers' Insti- 

 tute, last year offered as a premium to pay the expenses of .the winner of this contest 

 while taking two weeks' instruction in corn judging at the college of agriculture. A 

 competent corn judge and instructor were provided. The first day of the meeting 

 the boys were given careful instruction in corn judging, and they handled the corn, 

 measured, and scored it. This school was conducted both forenoon and afternoon. 

 The next day the boys were examined in corn judging. Nineteen boys competed 

 and did good work. And, by the way, this instruction was worth just' as much to 

 the older people back in the audience as to the boys. The parents of the winner of 

 the prize in the first contest wrote a letter to Mr. Grout thanking him and saying 

 that " their boy was so much pleased that he now wishes to take a full course, think- 

 ing it the only course for the coming farmer boy." 



Several counties are planning to introduce this corn-judging contest into their 

 institutes this year. One county is offering premiums of this kind to boys of each 

 township in the county — as many premiums as townships. Who can measure the 

 educative results of sending a l)oy from each township in a county to the agricultural 

 college for two weeks? It means the facing of so many l)oys, perhaps for all their 

 lives, toward scientific agriculture. It means the telling of the story of their trip and 

 the instruction received in detail to their parents and schoolmates. It means the 

 interesting of scores of other boys and their fathers in the practical training in agri- 

 cultural lines and the marvelous achievements of the college of agriculture and 

 experiment station. Every step in such a contest is an education to the boy, whether 

 he wins the large prize or not, for one of the conditions is that the contestants must 

 attend the day sessions of the institute. 



The boys and girls go into these contests with vim and enthusiasm, and who will 

 gainsay that these experimental clubs as fostered by the State farmers' institute and 



