Author 
 
 Title 
 
 Class ..D..A£L. 
 
 I^OCf 
 
 Inmprinl 
 
PRELIMINARY ANNOUNCEMENT 
 
 OF THE ORGANIZATION OF 
 
 YOUNG PEOPLE'S 
 
 FARM-LIFE CLUBS 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 INSTITUTED BY 
 
 N. C. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 N. C. A. AND M. COLLEGE 
 
 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
 
 M. C. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
 
 (FILE AND PRESERVE FOR FUTURE REFERENCE) 
 
 issued from office of 
 
 Superintendent Public Instruction 
 
 Raleigh, N. C. 1909 
 
PRELIMINARY ANNOUNCEMENT 
 
 OF THE ORGANIZATION OF 
 
 YOUNG PEOPLE'S 
 
 FARM-LIFE CLUBS 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA ^^ 
 
 INSTITUTED BY 
 
 N. C. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 N. C. A. AND M. COLLEGE 
 
 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
 
 N. C. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
 
 (FILE AND PRESERVE FOR FUTURE REFERENCE) 
 
 issued from office of < 
 Superintendent Public Instruction 
 Raleigh. N. C 1909 
 

 E. M. UZZEUL & CO.. 
 
 STATE PRINTERS AND BINDERS. 
 
 RALEIGH, N. C. 
 
 D. Of 0. 
 
 PEE 5 ^^^^ 
 
LETTER OF STATE SUPERINTENDENT 
 TO COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS. 
 
 October 15, 1909. 
 
 My Dear Sir : — -1 ;im sending you for dis- 
 tributiou to each teacher of your county 
 copies of the Preliminary Announcement of 
 the Organization of Young People's Farm- 
 life Clubs. Please read the announcement 
 carefully. 
 
 Knowing that you are in hearty sympathy 
 with our plans, as discussed and explained at 
 the recent meeting of the county superintend- 
 ents at llendersonville, for stimulating in- 
 terest in farm life and for working out a suc- 
 cessful method of utilizing the public schools 
 for providing better preparation for it for the 
 masses of the people, I feel sure that you 
 will give j'our hearty co-operation to Profes- 
 sor Schaub in the organization and direction 
 of these Farm-life Clubs in your county. 
 As you know. Professor Schaub has been 
 employed, without expense to the State, to 
 give his entire time and attention to aiding 
 us in malving the schools a more effective 
 means for the preparation of our people for 
 a more profitable, more comfortable and 
 more attractive life on the farm. I know 
 that you agree with me that this is perhajis 
 at present the most important educational 
 problem for at least eighty-two per cent of 
 the people of the State, and that it is our 
 duty to give our active and hearty support 
 to every effort for its successful solution. 
 
 Professor Schaub will work under the di- 
 rection of the State Department of Public 
 Instruction and the North Carolina College 
 of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. The 
 United States Department of Agriculture and 
 the North Carolina Department of Agricul- 
 ture will heartily co-operate in this work. 
 
 3 
 
The success, however, of the work in each 
 county will depend mainly and almost en- 
 tirely upon the active efforts and hearty co- 
 operation of the county superintendent and 
 the public-school teachers. The interest and 
 co-operation of the teachers of your county 
 will of course mainly depend upon the 
 county superintendent. I beg, therefore, to 
 urge you to get into communication at once 
 with Professor Schaub, to bring this matter 
 at once to the attention of your teachers, 
 in your teachers' association, to urge them 
 to bring it at once to the attention of the 
 children in their schools, and to use your 
 county paper constantly to arouse the inter- 
 est of all the people of your county in it. 
 
 J. Y. JOYNER, 
 
 Superintendent of Public Instruction. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Farming iu North Caroliua is both a busi- 
 ness and a mode of life. As yon know, eighty- 
 two out of every one hundred families in our 
 State depend directly on the soil for their 
 living and their comforts. Therefore, if these 
 families ever increase lu wealth, in comfort, 
 in ability to educate their own children and 
 the children of others, iu ability to help their 
 church and their State, they must get this 
 increase by better aud more economic farm- 
 ing. Any movement, then, to increase our 
 farm yields is a direct movement to enlarge 
 the comforts of our homes, and to make 
 greater our capacity to contribute to good 
 government. State improvements, txlucation 
 and religion. 
 
 Unfortunately for all these interests, the 
 average yield of crops in our State is far too 
 low. Compai'ed with the other States aud 
 Territories, North Carolina stands forty- 
 seventh in its average corn yield. Only three 
 States, namely, Georgia, South Carolina, and 
 Florida, make on the average less corn per 
 acre than we do. New Hampshire, with a 
 soil very similar to ours, makes three aud 
 one-half times more than North Carolina. 
 Our average yield of corn for the past thirty 
 years has been only 13.7 bushels per acre. 
 
 It has been again and agaiu demonstrated 
 that the corn crop can easily be doubled by 
 the application of a few simple, practical, 
 scientific principles. Our North Carolina crop 
 of corn was last year valued at $39,000,000. 
 Suppose we could double this value in two 
 years. This increase in value would raise 
 thousands of families from poverty to com- 
 fort. If by better methods of planting, of 
 cultivation, and of selecting seed one thou- 
 sand boys can be taught to produce twenty- 
 
six Imslicls to the acrc^ instead of thirteen 
 busliels, there is uo way uf measuring the 
 economic good that would result ; for these 
 boys would then extend these better methods 
 to all their crops and hundreds of slower 
 men would follow their example. 
 
 The principles that would lead to such an 
 increase can readily be taught in school and 
 are being successfully taught every day in 
 some schools. Our State law directs that the 
 elementary i)rinciples of good farming shall 
 be taught in our schools. This law is already 
 enforced in our granunar schools, and in many 
 of them excellent results are obtained. With 
 the estal)lishment of our rural high schools, 
 the way seems clear to give farm-life training 
 a place in the curriculum worthy of its im- 
 ])ortance. This olHce is planning to do this 
 faithfully. 
 
 As one of the preliminary steps in this new 
 teaching, clubs of boys and girls will be or- 
 ganized for study, experimenting, and for 
 work outside of class liotu's. The interest of 
 these pupils will l)e (iuickeue<l and their 
 knowledge made more accurate and practical 
 by this objective work. For these clubs to 
 succeed and to till a vital mission in the 
 life of the yoiuig people and of the schools, 
 they must have the hearty aid of every 
 county superintendent and of every teacher. 
 
 The following is a preliminary outline to 
 aid in organizing working clubs of boys and 
 girls. Fuller information will l)e furnished 
 in later bulletins. 
 
 PLAN OF STATE ORGANIZATION. 
 
 Tile name of these cluiis will be: 
 North Carolina Boys' Farm-life Associa- 
 tion. 
 
 North Carolina Girls' Home-life Associa- 
 tion. 
 
 OIMKC r. 
 
 The objects of this Association are: to 
 quicken an interest m school life by linking 
 the school more closely with the industries 
 
of the farm home ; to direct into active, iu- 
 telligent service tlie native power in young 
 people and to develop this power ; to teacli 
 them that taking thought will increase many 
 times the return from their fields and add 
 immensely to the pleasures of their country 
 life; to awaken by a tirst-hand study a wise 
 interest in the simple and beautiful laws of 
 Nature that underlie all good fanning and all 
 domestic industries. 
 
 OFFICERS. 
 
 1. (ieneral Manager. The State Superin- 
 tendent of Public Instruction has appointed 
 Prof. I. O. Schaub, who is connected with the 
 Department of Education and the T'. S. De- 
 partment of Agriculture, its General Manager 
 of the Association. Professor Schaub is em- 
 ployed to give his entire time to this line of 
 educational work. 
 
 2. A President, ^'iee President and Secre- 
 tary will be elected by the active members at 
 each regular annual meeting. 
 
 3. The Advisory Council will consist of the 
 Superintendent of I'ublic Instruction, the 
 State Commissioner of Agriculture, the Presi- 
 dent of the Agricultural and Mechanical Col- 
 lege, and the Director of the E.xperiment 
 station. 
 
 me.mi!i:k. 
 
 1. Any public-school jnipil between ten and 
 twenty years of age may become a member. 
 
 2. Any boy or girl who is a member of a 
 County Farm-life >>v Home-life Club, <ii- a 
 School Farm-life or Home-life Clul), may 
 also bec(mie a member of the State Associa- 
 tion. 
 
 3. Any teacher or other person interested 
 in the welfare of the Association may become 
 ;in Honorary Member. 
 
 MKF.TIXCS. 
 
 The State Association will meet iinnually 
 at the Agricultural and Mechanical College 
 in IJaleigli. This me<'tin;j: will be devoted to 
 
\ 
 
 business, iustruction, entertaiumeut, and to 
 an exhibit of the worli done by members of 
 the Association. Prizes will be offered for 
 the best exhibits of specified worlv. 
 
 COUNTY ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 County Associations will be organized as 
 follows : 
 
 XAMK. 
 
 County Boys' Farm-life Association. 
 
 County Girls' Home-life Association. 
 
 The object of the County Association will 
 be: to unify the work of the individual school 
 clubs ; to offer prizes for successful contest- 
 ants, and to provide ways for judging these 
 contests ; to select exhibits for the State ex- 
 iiibit, and to co-operate with that body; to 
 liring into closer relation the workers in the 
 
 c()unty. 
 
 Mi;.\iBi;n.s. 
 
 Any school club or any member of such a 
 club, or any pupil in the public schools, may 
 becouK^ a member of the County Association. 
 
 OFFICERS. 
 
 1. The County Superintendent or some 
 capable person appointed by him will be the 
 Manager of the County Association. The 
 County Superintendent is asked to associate 
 with himself two or more intex'ested citizens 
 of the county, and these with the Superin- 
 tendent will constitute an Advisory Com- 
 mittee. 
 
 2. A President, Vice President, and a Secre- 
 tary for the County Association will be 
 elected at each annual meeting. 
 
 The County Association will have one 
 regular meeting a year to transact business, 
 and at this meeting exhibits will be displayed, 
 judged, prizes awarded, and exhibits for the 
 State meeting selected. 
 
SCHOOL ORGANIZATION. 
 
 School clubs will be formed as follows : 
 
 NAME. 
 
 School Boys' Farm-life Club. 
 
 School Girls' Home-life Club. 
 
 These school clubs will take up directly the 
 work to be doue. They will follow the direc- 
 tions for planting, cultivating, and harvest- 
 ing such crops as may be undertaken, and the 
 girls will follow directions for work in do- 
 mestic science. These employments will be 
 supervised by the teachers, who in turn will 
 be aided by the General Manager, the County 
 ]\Iauager. and by others appointed for this 
 purpose. 
 
 MEMBERS. 
 
 1. Any pupil enrolled during the year and 
 during previous years may become a member 
 of the club. 
 
 2. xVny resident of the school district, who 
 is interested in the objects of the club may 
 be elected to honorary membership. 
 
 OFFICERS. 
 
 The teacher or principal of the school, or 
 some other competent person appointed by 
 the County Superintendent, will be General 
 Manager of the club. 
 
 2. A President, Vice President, and Secre- 
 tary will be elected by the active members, 
 and will serve for the school term. 
 
 MEETINGS. 
 
 Meetings will be held as often as may be 
 necessary for the welfare of the club. The 
 teachers will in a large measure guide these 
 meetings into useful channels, and supervise 
 the work of the club. 
 
 The first woi'k undertaken by the club will 
 be the growing of corn. 
 
SUGGESTIONS TO THE COUNTY COM- 
 MITTEES AND TEACHERS. 
 
 The first thing to be done is to arouse an 
 interest among the patrons and pupils of the 
 schools and to secure a sufficient number of 
 boys as contestants to create rivalry, stimu- 
 late euthusiasni and justify the payment of 
 prizes. 
 
 To accomplish this tlie County Committees 
 sliould enlist the support of their local papers 
 to give the proposed contest the greatest 
 publicity and urge tlu> boys of tlie county to 
 take part. 
 
 Each teacher sliould explain the contest to 
 his or her school and urge the pupils and the 
 boys of the school district, whether in the 
 school or not, to enter their names as con- 
 testants. 
 
 In each school district will be found one or 
 more progressive farmers who will be glad to 
 assist the teachers in arousing local interest, 
 if requested to do so. 
 
 If any society or other social gathering of 
 the patrons of the school is held at the school- 
 house, or in the district, the teacher or some 
 intereste<l patron, should take this occasion 
 to outline tlic work and urge that the school 
 district be well represented in the County 
 Contest. 
 
 Finally, each teacher after enrolling as 
 many boys as possible should forward their 
 names and addresses to the County Superin- 
 tendent, lie will make a record of such 
 names and in turn forward the list to the 
 State Man,Mg(M-. 
 
 CONTESTANTS, STATE AND NATIONAL 
 DEMONSTRATORS. 
 Every boy entering the contest will be eiv 
 rolled with the United States Department of 
 Agriculture at Washington as Ji co-operator. 
 He will be sent printetl instructions and sug- 
 gestions as to the best methods of preparing 
 land, planting, fertilizing and cultivation to 
 secure a large yield of corn. lie will, also, 
 receive from time to time other lessons on the 
 
 10 
 
value of good seed, how to judge corn, how 
 to select seed, how to build up the soil, etc. 
 
 As far as possible, also, the General Man- 
 ager and special agents of the Department 
 engaged in farm demonstration work in this 
 State will in their rounds visit these boys and 
 advise and encourage them in their work. 
 
 There should be at least fifty boys entered 
 in each county. Indeed, it is hoped that from 
 one hundred to five hundred contestants will 
 be secured in each county. 
 
 It should be easy to do this if all teachers 
 and county committees show sufficient en- 
 thusiasm. An enrollment of only four or five 
 boys in each school district will give an im- 
 posing total for the county. 
 
 In addition, the State Committee expect to 
 arrange for State prizes, to be competed for 
 hy the winners of the county contests. 
 
 GENERAL RULES. 
 
 Who May Contest — -Any boy over ten and 
 under twenty years of age. 
 
 How He May Enter — By giving his name, 
 age and address to the County Superintendent 
 or any teacher and expressing an intention 
 to contest under the rules of the State Com- 
 mittee. 
 
 How Much Ground He Must Cultivate — 
 Any area he pleases from one acre up. 
 
 Other Requirements— None, except that he 
 shall keep a record of all that he does in 
 cultivating his plat of ground and forward 
 an exhibit of the corn grown to the County 
 Committee. 
 
 We invite the Farmers' Unions, Commercial 
 Clubs and progressive citizens generally to 
 co-operate with us and with the teachers of 
 the State in inaugurating these Boys' Clubs 
 in North Carolina. 
 
 We believe this movement can be, and will 
 be, the means of accomplishing great and last- 
 ing good to the State. 
 
 Address all communications with reference 
 to Corn Clubs to I. O. SCHAUB. West 
 Raleigh, N. C. 
 
 11 
 
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