STATES RELATIONS SERVICE. 373 



demonstration agent was represented and in most of them slie was 

 the leading figure. During the year 1918 in the 15 Southern States 

 there were established 855 community canneries; 639 conununity 

 demonstration kitchens, where women gathered to receive instruc- 

 tion; 131 community drying centers; 137 rest rooms in cities and 

 towns for the benefit of farm women; 173 og^ circles for coopera- 

 tive sale of poultry and eggs; 211 cooperative breeding associations 

 engaged in the improvement of poultry; and 20 free curb markets 

 were organized where farmers and farm women and girls come to 

 dispose of their i^roducts directly to housekeepers. 



PURPOSE AND PLAN OF THE WORK. 



The whole purpose of the work was to reach, through organiza- 

 tion, the largest possible number of women and girls and give them 

 direct assistance in problems of production, conservation, and utili- 

 zation of food, and in the preservation of health, prevention of 

 disease, introduction of labor-saving devices and home conveniences, 

 beautification of the home and its surroundings, cooperative and in- 

 dividual marketing of products, and thrift and saving from the 

 family income. 



This program included gardening, canning, drying, and brining; 

 production of butter and cheese for home use and for market; pro- 

 duction and marketing of eggs and poulti-y; purchase and homo 

 manufacture of labor-saving equipment; home management; utiliza- 

 tion of home-produced and other foods for a healthful diet; saving 

 of wheat, meat, sugar, and fats; conservation of clothing; develop- 

 ment of community enterprises, such as canneries, drying plants, 

 demonstration kitchens for instruction, and curb markets; and co- 

 operative marketing of products. 



In all of this work there were three main objects first, produc- 

 tion; second, economy and thrift; and third, health. Along with 

 the other work considerable attention was given to recreation, social 

 enjoyment in the club meetings, and the general improvement of 

 rural conditions. 



RESULTS. 



The total number of containers of vegetables and fruits put up 

 during 1918, under the direction of the home demonstration agents, 

 was 64,604,531, valued at $15,566,456.15. The women enrolled as 

 regular members of clubs, whose work was intensive and thorough, 

 put up 23,528,345 cans, while the regular enrollment of girls put up 

 10,497,768 cans; 2,654,607 cans are to be credited to the urban work 

 and 19,334,583 to the emergency enrollment. Rural negro women 

 put up 1,073,663 cans and negro girls 430,314 cans; the city negro 

 women 456,470 cans, and the negro emergency enrollment 2,344,776 

 cans. A very large proportion of the vegetables canned were pro- 

 duced from the home gardens and from the tenth-acre plats of the 

 members of the girls' clubs. Eight hundred and fifty-five community 

 canneries were established for operation on a cooperative basis. A 

 great contribution to the food resources of the South was made dur- 

 ing the Avar as a result of this work of the women and girls. 



