BOYS' AND GIRLS' CLUBS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 14 October 1922, Page 9

BOYS' AND GIRLS' CLUBS.

HOW CLUBS KEPT YOUTH uN

FARM

The following report by the National Committee on Boys' and Girls' Clubs work in the United States is an instance of the value of such clubs: A survey recently made by the lowa State College in Henrg County, lowa, shows clearly the benents of boys' and girls' club work—not only to agriculture and the industries closely allied to it but to the welfare of the nation as a. whole. A summary of the results of this survey shows that: .

"Every member or past member of Henry County's clubs were enthusiastic over what the work had accomplished in his community. Practically all of them who are raising purebred livestock trace their start to a. calf, lamb, or pig bought when they joined a livestock club. -

"Of the eight original members of-' th© lamb club in 1916, seven are now farming and five are raising purbred Shropshires. One of the original members who started with one ewe when the club was organised now has 143 purebred ewes, one of which won the gr.and championship at, the State fair last' fall. "Of fourteen original calf club members eight are now farming and five are raising purebred cattle, due, they say, to the start they got in club work a few years ago. All these men attribute the better systems of management they practice to instruction^received from the hands of the extension service;, working through local clubs." , When: one considers . that less than .3 per cent, of all the live stock in the United States is purebred,, that only 10.8 per cent, of all 'the farms in the United States report any purebred live stock whatever, and that the superior earning power of all classes of live stock, according to the Bureau of Animal Industry, is over 40 per cent, more efficient,- jjased on utility alone, and that 75 per cent, of all of their crops are marketed by" means of live stock, it is realised thatjbhis work with the boys and girls is all-important from every standpoint.