144 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



proposition. You cannot emphasize too much the further benefits of club 

 work. 



In the extension service we are coming to realize more and more that 

 one of the very best ways of reaching the older people, reaching the 

 farmers and the farm homes in this state, is through the boys' and girls' 

 work. Possibly you have noticed in your own community that you can 

 interest the boys and girls in better live stock, better crops, better meth- 

 ods, and that for a while possibly the parents are very luke warm about 

 the proposition, but we have hundreds of cases where the boy or girl 

 has demonstrated to the father or mother the way that they are doing 

 is better, and the parent has become converted and has adopted the bet- 

 ter way. In that way the club work has an almost inestimable value in 

 educating the farmers of the state. I hope you will keep that in mind 

 in putting on club work in your communities. 



I haven't time to explain further, I am sorry, some of the results that 

 have been secured from club work. But I want to mention just one of 

 them that stands out quite prominently, as an illustration, and I could 

 cite a good many others. Over in Jackson county two years ago they put 

 one of the calf clubs, using pure-bred calves. That club started and was 

 operated with about 50 members. The records show that after that club 

 had been in operation only a year, 22 pure-bred herds were started from 

 the work of that club alone. That is just an illustration of the advan- 

 tage that can come to the community from a club of this kind. 



One of the reasons why we are bringing this matter of club projects 

 up before you at this time is our attempt to broaden this work. With all 

 of the club work that the county agents and all others have been doing 

 this past year, only about 5 per cent of the boys and girls of the state 

 had an opportunity to receive any of the benefits. This is a very small 

 percentage and if it is a good thing for 15 or 20, or even 50, boys and 

 girls of a county to become enrolled in club work, it is certainly good 

 for the other 4,000 to 5,000 of club age in that county. As one of the 

 agencies in your county, your fair can help reach and help to broaden, 

 and thereby reach boys and girls that need that kind of work. We need 

 all of the agencies working together, and yours is one that we want to 

 co-operate. We want to co-operate with the schools, because that is an 

 agency that is already existing and reaching a large per cent of the boys 

 and girls of club age. We want to co-operate with all other such agencies 

 of the state. 



One of the things that I want to emphasize to you men, as fair man- 

 agers, is the matter of considering this work early. Unfortunately, it is 

 not a kind of work that you can start on in May, June or July and put 

 into your fairs in an effective way the coming fall. It needs to be started 

 early in the season to be successful. 



We have quite a large number of clubs covering the various phases 

 of agricultural work that we have already organized in this state. Prob- 

 ably some of the best known and some of the clubs that are best adapted 

 to fairs are the animal clubs. In these we include the beef calf clubs, 

 the pig clubs, the dairy calf clubs, poultry clubs and various other clubs 

 which may be included. The baby beef and pig clubs have been the ones 



