Missouri Duroc-Jersey Breeders' Association. 299 



stock raiser. The raising of cotton was by far the most profit- 

 able crop, and little time or attention had been given to other 

 things. This made the situation still more difficult for the 

 planter as he was afraid to venture upon industries about which 

 he knew so little. 



What the south needed most at this time was the means 

 and knowledge necessary to produce supplies for the main- 

 tenance of its people. The greatest assistance along this line 

 was given by Mr. Seaman A. Knapp of the United States Bureau 

 of Plant Industry when he conceived the idea of the boys' corn 

 clubs. He realized that education was a duty the United States 

 Government owed to its people, and especially to the growing 

 generation. To accomplish this he deemed it necessary to give 

 demonstrations from a practical, scientific standpoint. 



The government sent demonstration agents south to teach 

 the people practical methods; and there is now a demonstration 

 agent in almost every county of each state. In the State of 

 Arkansas Mr, Watson is at the head of that department, and 

 there are ninety-three experts throughout the state. What 

 does this mean? It means that the demonstrators went into 

 the south and established stations and taught the boys and the 

 old men how to raise corn; and you know — you who have fol- 

 lowed the records — that out of the corn clubs of the United 

 States the largest yields of corn have been produced in the south 

 by the boys. 



The possibilities of the south are so great that they cannot 

 be estimated. Mind you, there are over 300,000 boys enrolled 

 in these corn clubs; and the story of the increased yields they 

 have made read like The Arabian Nights. The magic of science 

 in the hands of these boys, together with the wonderful fertility 

 of the soil, would startle you people of Missouri. These corn 

 agents are educating the boys. They have also formed them 

 into "pig clubs," so that the boys of the south are not only being 

 taught how to produce corn, but they have been taught the 

 value of the pure-bred pig also. 



Gentlemen, I must say all improvement comes from educa- 

 tion. The blighting hand of ignorance is just like a western 

 wind that comes sweeping over the prairies of Kansas and dries 

 up the corn crop. 



The demonstration agents have brought into the lives of 

 the southern people intelligent and practical knowledge. They 

 knew how to read Milton and Shakespeare and Dryden, and all 



