BOYS' AGRICULTURAL CLUBS 107 



Industry through county superintendents of education four 

 years ago. Three years ago it was extended in a few counties 

 of the Gulf states where the boll weevil was damaging cotton 

 crops. At the beginning of 1909 a systematic plan was under- 

 taken to organize boys' corn clubs in a few counties in each 

 of the southern states. There were enrolled 12,400 boys. 

 During 1910 in response to further demands the organizations 

 have been extended into nearly 600 counties, with a total enrol- 

 ment of 46,225 boys. Although no statistical summary of the 

 work has been issued, a number of reports have been received 

 by the department which show excellent work. In one county in 

 Mississippi 48 boys produced an average yield of 92 bushels per 

 acre; 20 boys in one county of South Carolina made 1,700 

 bushels of corn on 20 acres. Another club of 142 boys produced 

 an average of 62 bushels to the acre, several going above 100, 

 and two or three above 150 bushels. 1 



The Boys' Corn Club work is the Junior Department of 

 the Government Demonstration Work now being carried on in 

 all the southern states. The results of the boys' work have at- 

 tracted the attention of the entire country. Considerable promi- 

 nence was given to it by the public press in 1909, but much 

 more to the results of 1910, particularly to the remarkable 

 achievement of Jerry Moore of Winona, S.C., a boy not fifteen 

 years old, who produced 228^ bushels of corn on one acre of 

 land, this being the second largest yield per acre in the history 

 of corn production. 2 



The crowning event of the work of 1910 was a visit to 

 Washington on December 12, 1910, of the prize winners from 

 eleven southern states. They were awarded diplomas of merit 

 by the Secretary of Agriculture, presented to the President of 

 the United States, and personally conducted by O. B. Martin, 



'The above facts were furnished in a letter from O. B. Martin, government assistant in 

 charge of Boys' Demonstration Work. A full account of this work has since been published 



ds). 



'Results of 1009: Youth's Companion, April 10, 1910; Results of 1910: Associated Press 

 account, Chicago Record-Herald, December n and 18, 1910. 



