HOME DEMONSTRATION WORK 



packing of potatoes, and many other things which need to be 

 done on the farm and in the country home. 



One of the best examples of the application of the demon- 

 stration idea to a particular fruit is found in the Muscadine 

 Grape Work. Like all other extension work, this is a co- 

 operative proposition. The Horticultural Division of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture began operations 

 on one of the North Carolina test farms about ten years ago. 

 Dr. Charles Dearing gathered scuppernongs, Thomas, James 

 and all other cousins of the muscadine family into a group on 

 this farm. He crossed them, bred them, pruned them and 

 civilized them. They live together in harmony. They grow 

 in clusters like other grapes. This grape is not only indigenous 

 to most of the South, but in vast areas, it is abundant both in 

 the wild and domestic state. Nearly every home there has its 

 ' ' Scuppernong arbor." On the test farm at Willard, North 

 Carolina, in the autumn more than five thousand of these 

 vines are loaded with most delicious grapes having a flavor 

 which is different from all other grapes of the vineyard. In- 

 struction in growing and preservation of these grapes was 

 given at agents' meetings for several years. In September, 

 1919, one agent from each state, where muscadines grow, came 

 to this farm and took special instruction for a week. They 

 reduced grapes to a common denominator. They converted 

 them into five products: jelly, marmalade, paste, butter and 

 grape juice. An appropriate container was selected for each, 

 and an artistic label was provided. The agents transmitted 

 the instruction to the girls and they manufactured muscadines 

 for home use and for market. The dining car services of three 

 great railroad systems bought all the available surplus and 

 the products didn 't last half as long as they expected. Coming 

 seasons will see this activity greatly expanded. Hotels, res- 



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