ALABAMA
Agricultural Experiment Station
OF THE
Alabama Polytechnic Institute
AUBURN
CIRCULAR No. 9
May, 1911
The Relation of the County Superintendent
of Education to the Boys' Corn Club Work.
How to Organize a Club.
BY
L. N. DUNCAN.
Opelika, Ala.
Post Publishing Company
1911
COMMITTEE OF TRUSTEES ON EXPERIMENT STATION.
HON. H. L. MARTIN ...................................
Ozark
LION. A. V. BELL ..........................................
Anniston
HON. R. F. KOLB........................................Montgomery
STATION STAFF.
C. C. TIACH...... ................................ President
J. F. DUGGAR........................Director 
and Agriculturist
B. B. Ross.........................Chemist and State Chemist
C. A. CAY........ . .Veterinarian and Director of Farmers' Institutes
J. T. ANDERSON.................Chemist, Soil and Crop Investigation
C. L. HARE ................................................. Chemist
DAN T. GRAY ...................................... Animal Industry
W. E. HINDS .......................................... Entomologist
F. E. LLOYD........................Plant Physiologist and Pathologist
L. N. DUNcAN............................Agricultural Extension Work
P. F. WILLIAMS......................................Horticuturalist
C. S. WILLIAMSON................................. Associate Chemist
T. BRAGG..................................... First Assistant Chemist
B. F. CAUTHEN ................... Farm Superintendent and Recorder
W. F. WARD*.......................... Junior Animal Husbandman
L. W. SaooK* ................... Special Agent in Beef and Hogs
I. S. MCADORY........................ Assistant in Veterinary Science
AV. F. TURNER............................... Assistant in Entomology
M. J. FUNCHESS.............................. Assistant in Agriculture
C. S. RIDGWAY.................................... Assistant in Botany
3. C. PRICE.................................. Assistant in Horticulture
E. R. EUDALY........................... Assistant in Animal Industry
0. LI. SELLERS.......................................... Stenographer
*In co-operative beef work with Bureau of Animal Industry.
INTRODUCTORY.
The Boys' Corn Club work was started in Alabama in the
Counties of Calhoun and Tuscaloosa by the United States
Department of Agriculture, Farmers' Co-operative Demon-
station Work.
Mr. O. B. Martin, of this Department, came to Alabama
in the fall of 19o8 and began the work with Supt. H. T.
Persons of Anniston, and Supt. Perry B. Hughes of Tusca-
loosa
Further plans were inaugurated to aid the promotion of
this work in the fall of 1909. At this time the Department
of School Agriculture in the Alabama Polytechnic Insti-
tute, Auburn, Alabama, was created by the United States
Department of Agriculture, Farmers' Co-operative Demon-
stration Work in co-operation with the College of Agricul-
ture, Auburn, Ala. This department is still maintained by
co-operation between the Alabama Polytechnic Institute and
the Farmers' Co-operative Demonstration work, and will
be enlarged during the present year of 19IxI, so as
to be in position to give more efficient aid to the work.
OBJECTS OF THE CORN CLUB MOVEMENT.
The objects of organizing the boys, under twenty-one
years old, in Alabama into Corn Clubs are to increase the
production of corn, to improve the seed, to aid the young
farmers in better methods of cultivation and a more intelli-
gent use of fertilizers, to increase the interest of the farm
boys in agriculture, and to encourage them to get an educa-
tion along agricultural lines and remain on the farm. Of
course arousing interest in one crop will lead to similar
lines of work with other crops and will ultimately result in
a more careful study of methods with all lines of farming.
This will lead to increased production on the farm and will
lay the foundations for better schools, better roads, better
churches, improvement of the social life in the rural dis-
tricts and a more contented and happy people.
HOW THE WORK IS ORGANIZED.
In 4he organization of the work, the County should be the
main unit and the County Superintendent of Education the
leader and the central figure.
In some cases where there is a large school and several
boys who wish to enter the club, a local club may be
organized. Where this is done a simple Constitution and
By-Laws may be adopted, officers elected, and meetings
held, as often as the teacher may deem best, in the evenings
after school or at nights. A local club may be organized
and conducted about as a debating society is organized and
conducted. The debates and discussions should be confined,
largely, to agricultural questions. Boys joining such a local
club would also become members of the main county club.
When the County Superintendent enters upon the work
he should interest all of his teachers in the movement. He
may interest them as follows:
(i) Have the subject placed on the program at the
teachers' institutes and either discuss it himself or appoint
some one to discuss it.
(2) By writing each teacher a letter explaining the work
and asking his or her active co-operation.
(3) Upon his regular visits to the schools, the County
Superintendent could use a little of his time in explaining
the work to the teacher in the presence of the pupas. In
such cases the County Superintendent should enroll all the
boys who wish to join.
In carrying forward the work in any county it is impor-
tant to reach the boys in all sections of the county. The
teachers should be requested to explain the work to the
boys in the school and community, and secure the names
and addresses of all the boys who are willing to enter the
club and grow a prize acre of corn. This list should be
forwarded, at once, to the County Superintendent.
This preliminary work should be done in the fall and
winter. As soon as the teachers have sent in the list
of boys the County Superintendent should call a county
meeting for the purpose of perfecting the organization.
This meeting should be held as early as possible so that the
boys would have plenty of time to make thorough prepara-
tion of the soil. At this meeting, a Constitution and By-
Laws should be adopted and a president, vice-president,
secretary, and treasurer elected.
Suggested program for a county organization meeting.
I. Call to order by the County Superintendent.
2. Invocation by local minister.
3. Objects and purposes of the Corn Club work by the
County Superintendent.
q.. Adoption of Constitution and By-Laws.
5. Election of officers.
6. Discussion of various phases of better methods of
corn growing by the county Demonstration Agent.
7. General questions and discussions.
8. Adjournment.
SUGGESTED CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS.
CONSTITUTION
Article I. This organization shall be known as the
.............. County Boys' Corn Club of Alabama.
Article 2. Any boy of school age shall be eligible to
membership.
Article 3. The purpose of the Club shall be to make
farm life more attractive and farming more profitable, to
assist the public schools in teaching the fundamental prin-
ciples of agriculture in a more practical way, and to assist
the State College of Agriculture and the United States De-
partment of Agriculture in carrying information 'directly to
the farm.
BY-LAWS.
I. The members of the club must agree to read all in-
structions on Demonstration Work.
2. Each boy must plan his crop and do most of his own
work. If necessary, he may have assistance in breaking 
and
bedding his land.
3. No boy in a county will be allowed to contest for a
prize unless he is a member of the county Corn Club.
4. The amount of yield, by weight and measurement of
land, must be certified to by each boy and attested by at
least one disinterested witness.
5. Gather all the corn on your acre and weigh it in the
shuck. Weight of corn in shuck................ pounds.
Weigh out Ioo pounds in the shuck, shuck and shell it and
take weight of shelled corn. Weight of this shelled corn
......... ...... pounds.
6. No boy shall be allowed to receive more than two
prizes.
7. Every member of the club must make an exhibit at
the annual county contest.
8. In estimating profits, $5 per acre shall be charged as
rent of land. The work of each boy shall be estimated at
Io cents per hour, and the work of each horse at 5 cents per
hour. Manure shall be charged at the rate of $i.oo for each
one-horse wagon loads, and $2.oo for each two-horse wagon
loads.
9. The judlge, or committee of judges, for the annual
contest shall be selected by the manager of the club.
Io. Prize winning corn may be sent from the county to
the state contest by the club manager.
i i. In awarding prizes the following basis shall be used:
(a) Greatest yield per acre ........... 30 points
(b) Best exhibit of ten ears...........20 points
(c) Best written account of crop ...... 20 points
(d) Best showing of profit on investment 30 points
Total ..... .... ................ ioo points
WHO MAY BECOME MEMBERS.
It is our desire to have every boy, not over twenty-one
years old and large enough to work on the farm, become a
member of the Corn Club in the county where this work 
is
started. We wish especially to have boys who live 
on the
farm engage in this work, or if a man owns 
a farm and
lives in town his son may also become 
a member, or if a
boy has no land and has enough interest in the 
work to rent
the land and enter the club, we shall 
be glad to have him
also.
PRIZES.
As a matter of stimulation, and encouragement 
to the
boys, prizes and premiums should be offered 
for the boys
getting the best results on their acres. Where 
local clubs
are organized, the teacher in charge may 
offer prizes for
the boys in the local club. These same boys, 
of course,
would also have a chance at the county prizes.
If the County Superintendent will make 
a little canvas
among the business men of his community before 
this or-
ganization meeting is held in the early 
spring, he will have a
fine list of prizes to announce to the boys.
SOME PRIZES THAT WERE OFFERED 
IN 1910.
A free trip to Washington, D. C.; $Ioo in gold; 
$50.oo;
$25.o0; $15.oo; $o.oo; $5.00oo; a buggy; a bicycle; a two-
horse plow; a gun; a suit of clothes; 
a corn planter; a pair
of registered pigs; a pair of 
chickens; and other valuable
articles. Interest has been 
greatly added to the work 
at
times by the business men 
giving the members of the 
club
a banquet.
The 1911 session of the Alabama 
Legislature passed a
law utinder which it will be 
legal for the Court of 
County
Commissioners or Boards of 
Revenue or other bodies having
similar jurisdiction in any 
county to appropriate money 
for
prizes in the Boys' Corn 
Club work.
If the Boys' Corn Club work 
is carefully explained to 
the
Commissioners' Court and 
other bodies having supervision
of the county funds, I believe 
that money would be appro-
priated in all cases for 
prizes for the boys' work.
Below is given a copy 
of this law.
No. 62.
AN ACT.
H-198
To authorize Courts of County Commissioners or Boards
of Revenue of any County 
in which the State or 
Federal
authorities shall take or 
have taken up the work 
of farm
a banqu//
r, y
ma~le S.
r
:Y pr
a 2
6
demonstration or the organization of farm life clubs to ap-
propriate funds for aiding in such work.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of Alabama:
Section I. That from and after the approval of this Act
by the Governor, the County Commissioners or Boards of
Reve;nue, or other bodies having similar jurisdiction, of any
county in which the State or Federal authorities shall or
have taken up the work of farm demonstration or the or-
ganization of farm life clubs for the promotion of agricul-
ture, are hereby authorized to appropriate for aiding in such
work such sum or sums as the county commissioners or
Boards of Revenue or bodies having similar jurisdiction
may deem adequate and necessary. Provided, however,
that the sum or sums thus appropriated shall not in any
one year exceed one thousand dollars, and provided, further
that nothing herein shall prohibit the use of part or parts of
such appropriation for premiums or prizes to be offered for
excellence in crop production.
Section 2. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with
this Act are hereby repealed.
Approved February 28, 1911.
SOME RESULTS OF THE WORK.
This movement has been eminently successful wherever
it has been undertaken with energy, and determination. In
the great agricultural states of the central west, the Boys'
Corn Club work is looked to as the prime factor in stimulat-
ing interest in better farming and in arousing the boys on
the farm to the possibilities of agriculture as a profession.
In Alabama the work is well under way. At present there
are about 3,800 boys listed in the work in about 52 of the
counties. Last year there were about 2,00ooo boys in the
work in about 17 counties.
In these 17 counties the boys were entered for the State
prizes where they competed.directly with the men. In this
contest the boys won 13 out of the 17 prizes. The average
yield of these boys being 86.9 bushels per acre, and the
average of the men 83.5 bushels per acre.
At a meeting of a corn club, in one of the best corn club
communities last fall, the boys reporting showed a total yield
of over 2,0o00 bushels of corn. The yields in this case were
from 40 to 110.5 bushels per acre and the average yield 
was
over 70 bushels per acre. The average ordinary yield in
this section was about 15 bushels per acre.
Below is given ajsummary report of ten boys whose corn
was sent to the national corn exposition, 
Columbus, Ohio.
NAME Bushels Cost 
Value Profit
per acre per acre per acre per acre
(1) (2) (3)
Arthur Acton, Birmingham, R. 4__ 105 $31,45 $78.75 $47.30
Lloyd Barron, Notasulga, R. 1 ... 99.44 19.00 74.58 55.58
Lofton Brock, Cuba______ 102 51.25 76.50 25.25
Jas. L. Elliot, Ramsey ...-. 153 (not given) 
-
Hughey Harden. Banks, R. 1 120 35.65 90.00 54.35
J. J. Phillips, Jacksonville, R. 3___ 80 20.00 60.00 40.00
Mack Sawyer. Jones Mill__ 110.5 (not given)
H. H. Scott, Fort Payne, R. 3_.... 76.5 17.21 57.38 40.17
Grover Shamblin, Dewdrop-...-- 80 21.15 60.00 38.85
B. C. Smith, Evergreen 109.5 30.25 82.13 51.88
Averages . -...-... 103.5 28.25 72.42 44.17
In getting the cost per acre under column (i) rent of
land was charged at $5.oo per acre, labor of the boy at io
cents per hour, labor of horse at 5 cents per hour, fertilizers,
manures and other items at actual cost. In estimating the
value of the crop under column (2), 75 cents per bushel was
allowed for the corn. Column (3) is the difference between
column (i) and column (2).
The average cost per bushel of this corn was slightly
more than 27 cents. While this crop was being 
made the
farmers of Alabama were paying about $i.oo per bushel
for corn. It certainly pays the farmer 
to raise his own corn.
The most important lesson to learn from this 
table, how-
ever, is the wonderful possibilities of 
our soils. If these
acres will produce such large crops at such 
a splendid profit
it can be done on a large scale all 
over Alabama.
"Many of the boys in the clubs who begin to 
study agri-
culture in this way will continue the 
study in the agricul-
tural colleges; others will continue 
such efforts on their
farms, and all of them will make 
more useful and more effi-
cient citizens. From the pleasant 
and profitable experience
of owning and managing their small 
plants they will develop
into independent, intelligent farmers. 
The country needs a
citizenship, and such a life offers, and 
will offer, great op-
portunities for the future. The 
professions are crowded,
and the wage earners must pay high 
prices for the neces-
sities of life. The wise and judicious 
producer can enjoy
health, wealth, and contentment. 
Success in this work is
good training for usefulness 
in any line. The question 
is,
How many boys can be reached and influenced thus to
succeed ?"
To have better methods of farming adopted by the whole
farming people and to secure larger yields from 
our lands,
at the lowest possible cost without exhausting the soil, 
are
the most serious educational problems confronting us to-
day. With the active lead of the County Superintendents,
and the co-operation of the teachers and the schools, these
problems may soon be solved.
This work offers an opportunity for the county superin-
tendent to take the lead in the greatest movement yet 
pro-
jected where real patriotic service is needed. It offers 
the
rural teachers a chance to make the school of real 
service
in helping to solve the many difficult problems 
of the farm.
It will give new life to the school and make 
the school the
center of interest in the community.
In conclusion, I desire to express my very 
great appre-
ciation for the active support and co-operation 
of those
demonstration agents, county superintendents 
and teach-
ers who have shown an interest in this great 
work. If the
proper impression could be given to the public, 
the impres-
sion which I would have go abroad, 
it would be that the
county superintendents, demonstration agents 
and teachers
are doing this work and I am merely helping 
them as best
I can.