three hundred and
twenty-five girls were enrolled in such clubs in Virginia and South
Carolina. Dr. Knapp and his fellow workers decided that one-tenth of an
acre would be enough for a good garden. Each girl was urged to plant
some other kind of vegetable in addition to her tomatoes, and to can
surplus fruit. In 1911, more than three thousand girls, in eight
different States, had joined clubs and planted their gardens. By 1912
the number had grown to twenty-three thousand girls in twelve States.
Many of the girls put up more than five hundred quart cans of tomatoes
from their plots, besides ketchup, pickles, chow-chow, preserves, and
other products. Quite a number of girls put up more than a thousand
quart cans, and one girl put up fifteen hundred quart cans. Some of the
girls, in addition to the prizes, had a net profit of as much as a
hundred dollars on their gardens.

The United States Bureau of Plant Industry sets forth the object of the
girls' demonstration work as follows:

"(1) To encourage rural families to provide purer and better
food at a lower cost, and utilize the surplus and otherwise
waste products of the orchard and garden, and make the poultry
yard an effective part of the farm economy.

(2) To stimulate interest and wholesome cooperation among
members of the family in the home.

(3) To provide some means by which girls may earn money at home,
and, at the same time, get the education and viewpoint necessary
for the ideal farm life.

(4) To open the way for practical demonstrations in home
economics.

(5) To furnish earnest teachers a plan for aiding their pupils
and helping their communities."[27]

VI Recognition Day for Boys and Girls

The most astonishing thing about the club activity is the recognition
which it has won wherever it has been worked out on an extensive basis.
The reason for this general recognition is quite obvious, and its effect
is no less stimulating.

Public officials and business men have vied with one another in their
efforts to reward the winners of county and State club contests. The
same bulletin which records the astonishing figures on corn yields,
tells about the things that were done for the 56,840 boys who were
members of corn clubs. Fifty-two Georgia boys received diplomas signed
by the governor of the State and other officials, for producing more
than a hundred bushels per acre each, at an average cost of l