Rural School Leaflet 1089 



about seven thousand egg masses. One day my teacher opened a good- 

 sized egg mass and we tried to count as best we could the little eggs that 

 were in it and there were two hundred and seventy-one eggs in the mass." 

 We hope to hear of many schools that are fighting the tent-caterpillar 

 or some other serious insect pest. 



District No. 3 ; Town of Canaan ; Columbia county 



Canaan, N. Y., January 6, 1913 

 Dear Mr. Tuttle: 



In this letter, I'm going to tell you about how I won first prize on my 

 corn. 



Mr. Oliver Kipp, head gardener for the " Berkshire Industrial Farm," 

 held a contest in which all boys and girls under sixteen years of age living 

 in the town of Canaan could enter. This I thought was a good chance 

 for me to show my knowledge in agriculture. So I entered with much 

 enthusiasm, as everything was convenient. 



The first thing I did was to select my land, and of course, this year 

 being very dry, I selected very moist ground. Then I put sufficient 

 fertilizer on it and next plowed and harrowed it carefully. I marked it 

 by hand so my rows would be extra straight, but before doing this I picked 

 off all the large stones to make it smooth. After this had been done, I 

 selected my corn, taking the best pint from a peck of good selected seed. 

 The kind planted was twelve rows early Dutton. I used just one pint in 

 planting one tenth of an acre. After my corn appeared above the ground, 

 I took good care of it, hoeing and cultivating till it was ready to cut. I 

 cut, shocked, and husked it all myself. My yield was pretty good, receiv- 

 ing thirteen bushels from one tenth acre. I sorted it out, picked out the 

 best bushel, and took it to the judge, who said it was very nice corn for 

 this year. I received five dollars which was given as first prize, for the 

 best twelve ears of corn. Besides doing all the work I had to keep an 

 accurate account of all work done and seed used. Besides this I had 

 to tell how much fertilizer was used. 



I thank you very much for the leaflets you have been sending me. I 

 intend to write many more letters to you, so I can get a picture. 



Yours truly, 



Elizabeth Haussener 



Editors' note. — The letter from Elizabeth Haussener brings up the 

 subject of agricultural contests of various kinds, and it is well that the 

 boys and girls of the State should know what is being done in this line. 

 Last year several contests were held in different places and considerable 

 interest was shown. During the coming summer many of the district 

 superintendents are planning to hold contests of one sort or another. 

 The State College has prepared a special leaflet in order to help those 

 who enter these contests. As soon as a contest is organized we shall send 

 copies of the leaflet to the district superintendents, who will distribute 

 them to the boys and girls competing. We wish to urge you to enter a 



