with the states under this act and also administer all extension work of the department carried out through the state extension divisions. Under the present plans there will eventually be a county agricultural agent in every county and also a county woman agent, each supported in their work by a trained force of specialists and a competent administrative staff.

So we have the new system of instruction with its full force of instructors and its plans being worked out. A great public service organization has been created. The effect of this great movement can not be estimated. In the South where it has been the longest in operation, the improvement in agriculture is most noticeable. Thousands of community organizations are drawing together for better rural life, hundreds of thousands of demonstrations are conducted each year and the actual number of persons reached already mounts into the millions. The wastes are being stopped, the bad practices remedied, the diseases eradicated, the fertility of the soil conserved and built up, the marketing systems improved, and country life is beginning to take on an air of interest and attractiveness which will hold its people and draw others to the great life of this foundation calling of the people. At this writing, June, 1916, there are practically 3,000 persons employed in the Extension Work, of whom 1,200 are county agents, 450 are women county agents, and the remainder specialists employed in the various states.

The work is yet in its infancy. With the years there will be improvements. What are now regarded as experiments will settle into accepted practices. Skill, form, system, all will grow and be developed as they have with the teaching in the schools. But the fundamental principle of having the teacher go to the one to be taught and to illustrate the lesson by a demonstration conducted by the one receiving the lesson will remain the very foundation of the new educational system. It has already triumphed where the word of mouth instruction failed. The dream of the founder has become the reality recognized and established by law.

THE HOME DEMONSTRATION WORK

BY MARY E. CRESWELL,

Assistant in Home Demonstration Work, States Relations Service, Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.

Home Demonstration Work, as now conducted in the fifteen southern states under coöperative agreement between the several state colleges of agriculture and the States Relations Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, includes the organization of about 60,000 girls who are enrolled to make demonstrations in canning club and poultry club work and 30,000 women who, in rural homes throughout the South, have undertaken definite work for the improvement and upbuilding of country life. All these demonstrations are directed by an organization of state and county agents who plan the demonstrations to be carried out, furnish information and instruction and work together with such unity of purpose and plan as to bring about each year definite results in the training of girls and women. These agents are aided by extension specialists who are constantly contributing information and skill in home economics and such divisions of agriculture as horticulture, dairying and poultry work. The activities directed by these women represent a type of education but recently recognized, yet of such usefulness that it has become a part of the life of at least 75,000 southern homes, has been given a permanent place in public school systems and receives recognition and aid from colleges and universities of every state.

HOW THE WORK IS FINANCED

In the beginning, generous financial help from the General Education Board-the corporate trustees of a fund of more than $50,000,000 given by John D. Rockefeller for educational purposesmade possible the free development of this work. This was soon followed by state and county appropriations. In 1914, Congress made appropriations to take the place of those being made by the General Education Board and the Smith-Lever Extension Act of 1914 brought its first federal appropriations in 1915, thus giving permanent support to demonstration work in agriculture and home.

economics. The present year finds an organization of about 400 counties, supervised by 449 state, district and county agents.1

THE MULTIPLICATION OF ACTIVITIES

Following the development of Farm Demonstration Work as a means of practical agricultural instruction and the development of boys' corn clubs, because many boys insisted upon being enrolled as demonstrators, there was a very insistent demand for activities for girls which should give them opportunity to carry on skillful work in their homes and enter into friendly contest with one another. The opportunity to influence and instruct adults through the interests of their children was recognized from the first.

Activities which have fundamental connection with every country home, and which involve the need for accurate information and skill in doing, were selected. During 1910 some girls' tomato clubs were organized in South Carolina and Virginia, with the aid of teachers and other school officials. These girls cultivated tenthacre plots of tomatoes, following some simple instructions furnished by the Office of Farm Demonstration Work, and canning their vegetables under the instruction of one of its representatives. The results of this experiment were made the basis during the next year for the organization of from two to four counties each in the states of South Carolina, Virginia and Mississippi, under the leadership of women who were appointed to take charge of each state and with the aid of a few county workers whose services were secured for brief periods in the canning season. In 1912 the states with workers in charge were increased to eleven and a total of 160 counties were organized.

THE STATE LEADER OR ORGANIZER

In the beginning of the girls' canning club work, a state leader or organizer was appointed. To help her in each county organized, a capable woman was secured for about two months in the year to hold the canning demonstrations in the summer and give what volunteer help she could in spring and fall. The clubs were organ

1 Anyone desiring fuller information about this work can secure it in the bulletins and publications of the States Relations Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, and from the Extension Divisions of each of the State Colleges of Agriculture in the South.

ized and the first instruction was given through the schools where the girls could be met in groups. Correspondence and an occasional visit from the county agent had to suffice as instruction and supervision until the canning season opened when regular field meetings, in way of canning demonstrations for groups of members, were held at central points in the county. Again in autumn, the collecting of results and the holding of an exhibit of canned products were largely volunteer work of the county agent. The results which these workers obtained were so notable that in a short time this general plan was adopted permanently, the period of employment for the county agent increasing rapidly to nine or twelve months.

The girls' canning clubs, with a tenth-acre garden as the basis of each individual's work, have made possible a gradually evolved four years' program of work which thousands of girls have eagerly entered upon. Each year finds a larger per cent of these girls continuing the program and finishing the season's activities. As in all real demonstration work, the girl becomes a "demonstrator." She agrees to follow instructions and use approved methods; her work and its results being accomplished with more skill, greater efficiency, and showing finer quality than that which has heretofore been known, become an object lesson for others and the center of influence in the home and community. Each season brings its characteristic activity of natural work accompanied by the stimulus of individual ownership and group contests in skill and definite accomplishment.

A SYSTEMATIC FOUR-YEAR PROGRAM OF WORK

Since the mastery of some definite phase of work is essential for each year, a systematic program has been worked out. During the first year the girls select tomatoes as their main crop, learning a great deal about the cultivation of this vegetable and how to market both fresh and canned products. They acquire considerable horticultural skill in managing their gardens. The financial records they keep give a good business training. For the public demonstrations which they give for the benefit of their communities, these girls find it necessary to make attractive uniforms, aprons, caps, towels, holders, etc. This gives sewing a very definite place in their work. During the second year two vegetable crops are cultivated, these being chosen with definite regard to home needs and marketing con

ditions. In addition to the canned vegetables, many clubs market soup mixtures, sauces and special products which have been originated for them, like Dixie relish and B. S. chutney. Sewing is continued in the making of uniform dresses of attractive and appropriate design and material. An instance of the use of such uniforms is given in the report of a county agent, as follows:

The meeting at Pheba was especially interesting. Sixteen Canning Club girls in white uniform, cap and apron, gave a program with club songs and yells. Afterwards they served a two-course luncheon to the mothers and teachers. The latter were especially interested and announced their intention of going back tó their schools and having their club members make caps and aprons and learn the club songs.

During the next two years, perennial gardens are started and either small fruits or perennial vegetables, suited to the locality, or especially attractive for market, are planted. Many girls who have proceeded thus far are ready to make a reputation for special products from southern fruits such as the fig, scuppernong, May haw and guava, or to succeed admirably with the Spanish pepper for which a great demand exists. The preparation of their vegetable products for the table and contests in bread making are given active place. In many instances, winter gardening is carried on extensively.

THE HOME AND SCHOOL AT WORK TOGETHER

It can be easily seen that all of these activities are carried on in the home and form an integral part of the life of the girls themselves, but everywhere the schools are taking a very active part in promoting this work. The coöperation of the teacher is always essential. Since the girls work frequently in groups, many of their meetings are held at school where the girls should receive constant help in reading bulletins, following instructions and in keeping records. Sometimes a hot bed or cold frame is built on the school grounds and there, under the teachers' supervision, plants are raised for the home gardens. Club work furnishes constant opportunity to enliven school room routine with vital interests and fine motives for study. Many instances of the helpful reaction which these clubs have upon the schools have been reported. In a similar way they give the schools a better opportunity to bring influences to bear directly upon the homes. To enumerate a few of the results of demon