No. 4.] BOYS' AND GIRLS' CLUB WORK. 467 



Corn Club. 



This has been in operation for the past three years. It is 

 not an easy enterprise to manage owing to the great variety 

 of soil and climatic factors involved. Some sections seem well 

 adapted to corn, others do not. Some soils are favorable while 

 others in the same locality are not. The necessity for increas- 

 ing the home-grown supply of grain seems to justify the con- 

 tinued promotion of this work. 



About 75 boys engaged in corn growing the past year, the 

 areas ranging from one-half to one acre. Fifteen of this num- 

 ber completed the work and made final reports. This, however, 

 is not a fair measure of the success of the work. The season 

 was late in the spring, and was shortened by an early frost in 

 some sections which discouraged many members from reporting. 



The prize winners in the corn-raising contest were as follows : 

 first prize, John E. Devine, Amherst; second prize, Bernard 

 Hartnett, North Hadley; third prize, Ferdinand J. Ice, Wil- 

 liamsburg; Donald Lent, Maynard; and Luman Barber, Ber- 

 nardston. 



The following are some of the facts that appear from a sum- 

 mary of the reports. The average yield per acre of the 15 re- 

 porting was 71 bushels. This is nearly twice the average for 

 the State. The highest yield was 118 bushels field measure. 

 Three competitors reported a yield of over 100 bushels, as fol- 

 lows: John E. Devine, Amherst; Ferdinand J. Ice, Williams- 

 burg; and Russell G. Skinner, Brimfield. 



The average profit per acre was $25.60. The highest profit 

 was made by Luman Barber of Bernardston, amounting to 

 $49.32. Three report having planted dent corn. The remain- 

 der report some variety of flint. The two highest yields were 

 made by flint corn. White dent came in for third place, with 

 105 bushels. However, it lost 22.13 per cent when freed from 

 water, while the flints that were tested lost 16 to 18 per cent. 



The score card for corn was based on the following four items : 

 yield, 30 per cent; profit, 30 per cent; ten-ear exhibit, 20 per 

 cent; and written story, 20 per cent. 



