Corn Groivers' Association. 211 



Board of Agriculture and the Agricultural College to send a de- 

 tachment of its cadets out to the various parts of the State and 

 let the boys at the encampments see a touch of military life and 

 get in touch with the University. It is impossible for a boy to 

 get enthusiastic over anything until he is brought into contact 

 with it. 



I will give you an illustration of how the trip to Columbia 

 impressed one boy, who was up here last winter. At our encamp- 

 ment this fall, I asked him if he had some corn to bring to the 

 fair and he said, "No, I haven't." (He did not have any that he 

 thought good enough,) I told him he had better bring some along 

 and we could find some place to put it underneath the rest, and 

 so he consented to bring some. I found that his corn was not good 

 show corn, and I showed him where to put it. After the show I 

 asked him if he wanted the corn, and he said he did not. The 

 last night of the fair when everyone was packing up corn and 

 taking it away, I noticed a man standing outside. I knew that 

 he had no exhibit there, and I asked him if he was looking for 

 some corn. He pointed to the corn that this boy had brought 

 and said : "I want to find the owner of that corn so I can buy 

 it." I told him that I knew the owner and that it would be all 

 right for him to take some of it home with him. A week after- 

 ward I met the boy on the street who had exhibited that corn, 

 and I told him about the incident, I told him the man said that 

 was the best corn he ever saw and he wanted to grow it. "Humph,' 

 he said, "He had better go to Columbia and learn something." 



So you see the good the bank did in sending that boy up here ; 

 he was in Columbia just one week, but he learned that he did not 

 know what good corn was. He told me that he was going to raise 

 some corn for the next fair, and that the other boys would have 

 to grow some good corn if they beat him. So you can see the 

 good influence that the Agricultural College had on the boy. 



I hope this idea of the Farm Boys' Encampment will grow. 

 It is one method of reaching the farm boy, and in my opinion 

 it is one of the best. It makes them enthused with the agricultural 

 ideas, and they don't want to leave the farm and go to the cities, 

 but they want to leave the cities and go back to the farm. 



