FORTY-THIRD ANNUAL CONVENTION 105 



better than some of the others and because it offered you a bet- 

 ter chance of winning success and the fruits of success. 



Now, the point I wish to make is this. If you wish to in-i 

 terest a boy in the dairy business,you must show him that it is 

 something else besides hard work. Let him see that it is a game 

 worth winning and help him to play it on a small scale while 

 he is yet a boy. Then, once he gets a taste of success and the 

 fruit it brings, even though he has had to work hard for it, he 

 will put forth every effort to learn more about the game, unless, 

 of course, his natural bend leads him elsewhere. 



All this being true, the question naturally arises, "How can 

 I best interest this boy in the dairy farming game?" Before we 

 consider this question, let us see what has been attempted along 

 this line by those who are not themselves dairy farmers, that is, 

 teachers, extension workers, government officials, and the like. 



Eight or ten years ago these people were, as now, doing 

 what they could to improve farm conditions but at that time 

 they were directing all of their energy to influence the farmer 

 himself. The sons and daughters, farmers and farmers' wives 

 of tomorrow, received comparatively little attention until 19 lO 

 or 1911. About that time some of those teachers and extension 

 workers began to realize that the big problem in agriculture was 

 not today but tomorrow. The cityward trend of many of the 

 farm boys and girls began to alarm them. It was apparent that 

 with the better class of these young people going elsewhere, the 

 farms were bound to suffer. So they reasoned, and rightly so, 

 that if they could interest the boy or girl in the farm and in im- 

 proved farming methods, progress was inevitable. 



Their attempt at the solution of this problem was based on 

 two things, ownership and competition. For example, in some 

 communities they organized calf clubs among the boys and girls, 

 each club member to have a calf, a prize being offered to the one 

 that would develop the best calf at perhaps the least expense. Dif- 

 ferent kinds of clubs were started in different communities, the 

 idea being to fit the club to the locality, but always those two 

 principles, competition and ownership were kept in mind. The 

 result has been that many boys and girls have taken a great in- 

 terest in the farm and through their desire to excel in this work, 

 have learned much regarding practical farming. 



