CHAPTER n 



BOYS' FARM CLUBS 



AS far as the records of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture go, they indicate that the first Boys' Corn 

 Club was organized in Macoupin County, Illinois, in 1899. It 

 grew out of the failure of the Farmers' Institute to secure an 

 attendance. The Secretary of the Institute conceived the idea 

 of distributing some good seed corn to the boys of the county, 

 have them grow some good ears of corn and bring them to the 

 annual meeting of the Institute. He reasoned that if the boys 

 came, their fathers would come also. He was not mistaken — 

 they came in large numbers. In this and other counties in 

 Illinois, as well as in other states of the middle west, this idea 

 was taken up right generally between 1900 and 1905. Boys 

 grew small plots of corn in order that they might have beauti- 

 ful ten-ear exhibits to take to the fairs. In fact, the ten-ear 

 exhibit idea seemed to be the sole basis of award for prizes. 

 It was felt that by emphasizing the good points of an ear of 

 corn, that better seed corn would be generally used. Perhaps 

 this idea was overworked until some of the Experiment Sta- 

 tions began to show that these beautiful ears did not always 

 produce the largest yields, at least it was found that the 

 yielding power of seed com depends more upon its ancestry 

 and history. 



When Dr. Seaman A. Knapp began to organize Boys' 

 Clubs as Junior Farm Demonstration Work, the Boys' Com 

 Clubs of the middle west had passed the zenith of their 



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