USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 36
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 36
USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 36
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First County Farm Agent-The Indians raised corn in a crude way and stored it to carry them through the winters between harvests. From them the Pilgrims learned much which was of value, especially from Squanto or Tisquantum whom Freeman Tilden has facetiously called the first county agent. The great American agriculture had its beginning in the Plymouth Colony and the county agent system has had much to do with its development and continues so to do.
Indian corn deserves to be called the typical American product and it dates from the Pilgrims and their employment of herrings, under the in- struction of Squanto, in lieu of ordinary fertilizer. It is still the leading American crop. Its annual production exceeds that of any two other food crops combined. The Pilgrims rendered thanks to God for their annual crop of twenty bushels of corn and carefully preserved their seed corn. Could they have looked ahead three hundred years they might
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have seen two billion, three hundred million bushels of corn being har- vested,-an amount of grain sufficient to give a bushel and a half to every man, woman and child on the face of the earth. According to Dr. Arthur W. Gilbert, commissioner of agriculture of Massachusetts, corn is the largest single American product of any kind, agricultural, mineral or manufactured. In addition to this, it is the only important product, aside from cotton, of which the United States produces more than all the rest of the world combined. And the great cotton industry was made possible by the invention of a Massachusetts man, Eli Whitney.
Worthy Successors of Squanto-The history of the Plymouth Coun- ty Extension Service dates back to the formation of the original organi- zation in 1915. It was then incorporated under the name "Plymouth County Farm Bureau, Incorporated, Massachusetts, 1915." The object of the Farm Bureau was "to promote all interests which have for their purpose the advancement of agriculture and rural life in Plymouth County." It was supported by United States Government, State, town, and county appropriations, individual donations and subscription fees of one dollar for membership. Any resident or farm landowner in the county could secure a membership for the payment of not less than one dollar, or a contributing membership on payment of over one dollar. Non-residents or farm landowners in Plymouth County could secure an associate membership on payment of one dollar.
Farm Bureau work was established in accordance with the Act of Congress known as the Smith-Lever Bill of May 8, 1914, an Act of Con- gress H. R. 13679 "for farmers' cooperative demonstration work out- side of the cotton belt," and the Massachusetts Act of 1914, Chapter 707, an Act "to authorize counties to aid corporations organized to promote agriculture and rural life."
Burtram Tupper was employed as the first Plymouth County Agent. Desk room was had with the Brockton Chamber of Commerce. During the year 1916, Miss Helen Norris was employed as Home Economics Adviser and Miss Annie L. Burke as part-time supervisor of the club work.
Upon the resignation of Mr. Tupper in May, 1917, Warren S. Baker was employed to begin work June 15, 1917. Miss Mary S. Dean was appointed Home Demonstration Agent in November, 1917, to succeed Miss Norris, upon her resignation.
Lyman P. Thomas of Rock was the first president of the Farm Bur- eau Advisory Board. Mr. Thomas resigned on December 27, 1917, be- cause he was not in accord with the views generally held by the other members. He believed, he said, that too much machinery was being built up. He believed in a simple form or organization, with the agent
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spending most of his time in the field, giving aid to the farmers mainly in marketing, believing that the two needs of farmers were "to be as- sisted in marketing their products and to be let alone." W. H. Wyman, Abington, succeeded Mr. Thomas as president on March 31, 1918.
The impetus which the war need for all possible sources of food gave to the work made it seem advisable on June 1, 1918, to employ Frank L. Davis as Assistant County Agent. Mr. Davis resigned January 1, 1920, and no successor was appointed.
The change from the Farm Bureau organization to the present one occurred in 1918, in accordance with Massachusetts General Laws, Chap- ter 273. The work which had been carried on under the Advisory Board of the Plymouth County Farm Bureau, hereafter was to be under nine Plymouth County Trustees for County Aid to Agriculture. In the new organization there is no membership. All citizens of Plymouth County, however, have equal rights to benefits from the work. It is supported entirely by appropriations from the United States Depart- ment of Agriculture, the State, county, and towns. It still continued to operate, however, under the name Plymouth County Farm Bureau.
A monthly publication, with the exception of short intervals, has been issued since the beginning of the organization, under the name "The Plymouth County Farmer." The first copy appeared October 15, 1915, in stapled form, nine inches long by six inches wide. In the year 1919, the form changed to a four-page paper, nine inches by twelve inches. It became an eight-page paper, eleven inches by fifteen inches in Janu- ary, 1923.
The Trustees for County Aid to Agriculture voted on April 20, 1922, to change the name of the Plymouth County Farm Bureau to the Plym- outh County Extension Service, because they found that the Farm Bureau organization still lived in each county, apart from the Exten- sion Service. Their work, since the separation, has been confined chiefly to the reducing of costs of materials to farmers by cooperative buying and securing beneficial legislation. They have been one of the most influential agricultural organizations in the State and county in obtaining legal support for farmers.
The Trustees voted in November, 1922, to employ a full-time club agent. Hitherto Miss Annie L. Burke had been employed for part- time service. Stanley L. Freeman was appointed County Club Agent in April, 1923, as a result.
Gardner C. Norcross was appointed County Agricultural Agent on February 1, 1924, following the resignation of Warren S. Baker on Jan- uary 1.
The first home of the Plymouth County Farm Bureau was with the Chamber of Commerce at No. 23 Main Street, Brockton. In 1918 the
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offices were moved to No. 31 Center Street, and in June, 1923, to the Home Bank Building, where they are now located.
County Extension Home Section-The story of the Home Section of the Plymouth County Extension Service begins back in the days shortly after the Federal Smith-Lever Act of 1914 gave such an impetus to ex- tension work in agricultural and home economics. It goes back to the time before the Plymouth County Farm Bureau re-organized and fed- erated with the American Farm Bureau, giving over its educational pro- gram to the Plymouth County Extension Service, with authority vested in Trustees, County Aid to Agriculture. There was no break in pro- gram with this change since the directors of the original Bureau became the Trustees for the Extension Service.
On June 1, 1916, Miss Helen M. Norris began her duties with the Plymouth County Farm Bureau. Her title was County Adviser of Women. At that period, war activities were greatly influencing home problems. Miss Norris' chief activities with the homemakers concerned themselves with food production and conservation-gardens, canning and drying, storage. This was before the day of the club agent, and Miss Norris' most notable achievement was with boys' and girls' clubs, supplementing in the county the work of Miss Annie L. Burke, whose chief concern was with home and school gardens. Miss Norris organ- ized and carried on food, clothing, canning, potato, corn, and market garden clubs with such success that when an assistant was needed in the Junior Extension Department of Massachusetts Agricultural College, she was elected to the position. She left Plymouth County June 1, 1917.
On November 19 of the same year, Miss Mary S. Dean came to the county as the first Home Demonstration Agent under the cooperative agreement between the United States Department of Agriculture, Massachusetts Agricultural College, and Plymouth County Farm Bureau, now Plymouth County Extension Service.
This was the beginning of Home Demonstration work in the county as we know it today. It is true that up to 1923, when a full-time club agent was added to the Extension staff, junior home economics clubs were organized and carried on by the home demonstration agent and that club work was a most important project in her program, but from the beginning her chief responsibility was to the women home-makers of the county.
Organization of a Home Section was begun. Among those serving on the first Advisory Council were Mrs. Nathan D. Loud of North Abing- ton ; Miss Helen Holmes, Plymouth; Mrs. Amelia C. Brown, Brockton; Mrs. Dorothy H. Thayer, Pembroke; Mrs. Abbie F. Jenkins, Whitman ; Mrs. Granville Tillson, Middleborough ; and Mrs. Grace M. Poole, Brock-
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ton. Mrs. Brown was also our first woman trustee, serving until 1926, when she was succeeded by Mrs. Edith Garniss, Brockton. This coun- cil, which met at first monthly, and more recently four or five times a year, gave active assistance in planning and carrying out the county program. Mrs. Nancy I. Perkins of Brockton and Bridgewater is the present chairman. Mrs. Theron Fisher, Elmwood, acts as vice-chair- man, and Mrs. George W. Alger, West Bridgewater, as secretary.
From the start nearly every town in the county has had its local lead- ers and organization chairmen who have been responsible for initiating the home extension program in the town or community, and have helped in carrying the program through. In many instances, local leaders, trained by the State extension specialist and the county agent, have car- ried the whole program with the local group. In 1926, seventy volun- teer women leaders were actively engaged in forwarding the extension program and nearly five hundred women were enrolled in extension projects.
The program of work reflects our changing home problems during the last ten years. In December, 1918, the agent wrote: "Plans for the coming year will include further development of the conservation proj- ect, with special work on meal planning, food for young children, and the conservation of time, energy, and strength in the preparation of food, especially through good kitchen arrangement and the use of labor- saving devices." A year later, clothing work had found a place on the program. In 1926, the agent's report showed active work in foods, nu- trition, clothing, home management and house furnishing, as well as miscellaneous activities including special work at fairs and in coopera- tion with various organizations in the county. This program has been car- ried out in part through groups or classes organized for special study, and practice of improved methods in food, clothing, or home management, and in part through home visits. Two kitchen contests have been con- ducted, one in 1924, one in 1926. These contests have resulted in re- arranged kitchens all over the county. Photographs and slides have carried their story far afield. Kitchen tours have given first hand in- formation and suggestions to many a home-maker.
Annual home-makers' day has become an event in many a county home. This is usually observed in June. The day is given in part to portrayal of the year's work by the way of tableau, "stunt," playlet, or pageant, in part to social intercourse, and in part to an inspirational ad- dress by some such speaker as Mrs. Elizabeth MacDonald of Boston University or Dr. Caroline Hedger of the Elizabeth McCormack Mem- orial in Chicago, both of whom have spoken in recent years. On this day, too, the extension leaders meet with our State extension specialists to discuss plans for the coming year.
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In the ten years of its existence, the Home Section has passed from its preliminary stage of emergency work needed because of war conditions, to its present status as an educational factor which is playing a large part in keeping constant those standards of home making and ideals of home life which have made 'many a community of our county the "old home town" to preeminent home builders throughout our nation.
The 4-H Clubs-Before the Boys' and Girls' 4-H Clubs in Plymouth County became a recognized department of the Extension Service, then known as the Farm Bureau, the county agent worked to some extent with the boys and girls, giving assistance to the Brockton school gar- deners and organizing contests for the schools of the county in collect- ing nests of tent and brown-tail caterpillars. Agitation throughout the county for a club agent resulted in proposals to the Farm Bureau by George L. Farley, then superintendent of schools in Brockton, and Le- Baron Atherton, both members of the Farm Bureau advisory board. June 1, 1916, Miss Helen Norris was appointed adviser to women with the understanding that she should give a part of her time to teach- ing home economics, especially canning, to girls. That same summer the services of Miss Annie L. Burke, a teacher in the Brockton schools, who had charge of the school gardens, were obtained for part-time work in the county schools.
Miss Burke and Miss Norris established both agricultural and home economics clubs in many of the towns in the county. Although Miss Burke's work was mainly with garden clubs she started poultry, pig, and dairy clubs. The Plymouth County Trust Company gave many pigs away and loaned the money for the purchase of others by the boys and girls. The garden work was most timely. Boys and girls who had available land and would agree to certain conditions relative to caring for the garden until harvest time, were enrolled. As a result, in 1917, while our country was at war, prices high, and foodstuffs scarce at any price, there were more than 6,000 boys and girls in Plymouth County who had gardens to whom the appeal of the President of the United States to produce more food could be issued. Even though many of these gardens were small, in the aggregate their products amounted to considerable food stuffs. Not only was that food valuable but, as Miss Burke reported at the end of that season, "When men for years, unused to hoe or shovel, undertook the cultivation of some land, the young peo- ple were a most encouraging factor. Knowledge of what they had done and were doing made it easier for father to take a hand."
Among the boys who became especially noted for their garden work at that time were James Spadea, Gust Anderson, George Erickson, Leo J. Fitzpatrick, Charles F. Oliver, Jr., all of Brockton, and Harry A. Ball of Bridgewater. Local leaders were of course necessary. Principals
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of schools saw the need for help and its value and responded to the need. In addition to the work in Brockton the principals and teachers of the schools in Abington, Middleborough, Mattapoisett, Bridgewater, Plym- outh, Wareham, Rockland, and Whitman helped many young gardeners. Miss Norris left the county in June, 1917, and Miss Mary S. Dean became home demonstration agent in November of the same year. Their work with the girls in food, clothing, and canning clubs made such clubs per- manent organizations.
April 1, 1923, Stanley L. Freeman was appointed full-time county club agent. He picked up the organization of girls' clubs and that of the agricultural clubs, interest in which had waned with other post-war weakening of enthusiasm. Projects most valuable to Plymouth County, those showing a possibility of offering lessons to the people of the coun- ty and those offering opportunities for profit to the boys and girls,-gar- den, poultry, clothing, food, and canning, were emphasized. Twenty or more towns out of the 26 in the county have had enrollments in club work each year since. Club work was not emphasized in Brockton be- cause of the lack of need for it with the school garden work continuing and the home economics courses offered in schools.
Four-H Clubs organized separately and studied definite subjects. Each of the members put into practice at home those things taught about chickens, gardens, cooking, or sewing. In addition, through camps, fairs, and county-wide organizations, a club spirit was developed with ideals of service to others and better citizenship and leadership. Out- standing club members who not only did excellent club work themselves but led clubs and taught others what they had learned, were Ralph Stur- tevant, Howard Waterman, and Elizabeth Grover of Halifax, John Den- nett and Elizabeth Fillebrown of Plympton, Grace Dean and Miriam Burgess of Plymouth, Edward Loomer of Abington, Eileen Whelan of Hingham, and May Beary of Whitman.
Local leaders, because of the number of club members and the size of territory in Plymouth County, are the most valuable cog in the 4-H club machine. Men and women, older boys and girls, have responded marvelously to this call. Some of them have been a big factor in the success of the clubs for a period of several years and have helped many boys and girls in that time. Some of the long-time local leaders were Ruth Burr, Esther Benson, and Marguerite Lamson, Hingham ; Charles Frahar, North Abington; Ruth Sturdy, Whitman; Edith Schweitzer and Margaret Cornealy, Halifax; Ina M. Curley, East Bridgewater ; and Rose McDonald, West Bridgewater.
The agricultural projects for the 4-H Club members of Plymouth County in 1926 included poultry raising and gardening. From the standpoint of value of products, of number of commercial plants, and of
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results from the teachings, the poultry project was the most valuable in this county. The larger flocks kept this year made it necessary for the boys to consider more carefully the problems of the poultrymen and made it possible to make a fine income. In the seven months in which this project was carried on, the boys and girls were successful enough to make a profit of $5,788.37. According to their records, they adopted ad- vised practices in hatching, disease prevention, size of flocks, quality of birds, and egg production. Because of their activities at the poultry shows, the Plymouth County Egg Show, fairs, and county-wide gather- ings, we know that on that part of the boys and girls and parents there is a great interest and firm belief in the value of poultry clubs.
Successful gardening was the result of the garden project this year more than in any previous year. All the club members with their home gardens paid more attention to a family vegetable budget, planting more of the most healthful vegetables. The boys and girls with larger gar- dens were more successful as market gardeners. They produced $2,- 354.48 worth of vegetables. By using the information sent to them in bi-weekly letters throughout the season and that given by the county leader during his visits, the garden club members became more success- ful in controlling pests and diseases and in proper cultivation and fer- tilization of the gardens.
The home economics projects, food, clothing, and house furnishing, taught the girls several important practices and, according to the records of their successful accomplishments, succeeded in having them use their teachings. The food clubs gave considerable prominence to nutrition, emphasizing good food habits. They also taught cooking and stand- ards for their products. The amount of work done by the food club members indicates that they must have used the information they re- ceived. They prepared 1,596 meals, made 521 bakings of bread, 2,012 other dishes, and packed 12,095 lunches.
The clothing clubs taught the girls how to sew and also standards for clothing, with ideas as to the most suitable kind of clothing to make or to buy.
The house furnishings project, carried on in one club and in one county-wide contest, showed to those who were able to watch the prog- ress of the clubs closely, the greatest accomplishments on the part of the club members of all the projects, and yet this is the least adaptable to reporting by figures or words. The changes made by the girls were remarkable for showing the use of the ideals of house furnishing as they had been presented and as the club progressed many definite cases of the spread of influence were noted throughout the county.
The 4-H Clubs have developed in size and numbers the past year. Of the 27 towns in the county, twenty-four of them carried on some 4-H"
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project this year. Enrollments increased from 524 in 1925 to 629 in 1926, and completions increased from 396 to 478, with the percentage of completions remaining just the same, seventy-five. The 4-H clubs have not only increased in numbers but have truly become valuable to the county as trainers of future farmers and home-makers, and more valu- able citizens.
Reclamation of Waste Lands-It may not be especially strange that nearly all the work which has been done in the State to reclaim low land has been done in Plymouth County, but that the Pilgrims themselves should have started a project of that character three hundred yars ago, which has been kept alive ever since and is still active but not quite com- pleted, is remarkable, to say the least. The Pilgrim Fathers had the in- herent fondness of Englishmen for landed possessions and early became restless in Plymouth, wishing for possessions far away, even though they took their lives in their hands when they became separated from the army of defense, under command of Captain Myles Standish, and ceased to reside under the protection of the two guns which frowned upon the savage foe from the imposing fort at the top of Burial Hill.
One of the first migrations was to Marshfield, shortly after 1627 as there is a record of the church at Plymouth, in the margin of which ap- pears a notation as follows: "In the beginning of the church at Marsh- field was the second church of God that issued out from the church of Plymouth." In those same church records, under date of 1632, appears the following :
But to touch this sad matter of the church's parting, as hath been said, and to handle things together that fell out afterwards to prevent any further scattering from the place of the town of Plymouth and weakening of the same, it was thought best to give out some good farms to special persons that would promise to live at Plymouth and likely to be helpful to the church or commonwealth; and so to tie the lands to Plymouth as farms for the same, and there they might keep their cattle, and tilling by some servants, and retain their dwellings here, and to some special lands were granted at a place usually called Green's Harbour, where no al- lotments had been in the former division, a place very well meddowed, and fit to keep and rear cattle; good store; but, alas! this remedy proved worse than the disease, for within a few years those that had got footing there sent themselves away partly by force and partly by meeting, the rest with importunity and pleas of necessity for as they must either suffer them to go, or live in continued oppo- sition and contention, and others still as they conceived themselves straightened or to want accommodation, broke away under one pretense or other, thinking their own continued necessity and the example of others a warrant sufficient for them, and this I fear will be the ruin of New England,-at least of the churches of God there,-and provoke the Lord's displeasure against them.
This church at Marshfield, above called Green's Harbour, was again and after- wards carried on by the help and assistance under God or Mr. Edward Winslow, who at the first secured several Welsh gentlemen of good note thither, with Mr. Blinman, a Godly, able minister, who unanimously gathered together in hold Plym-22
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fellowship, or at least were in a likely way thereunto. But some dissension fell amongst them, which caused the parting not long after and so the hope of a godly society as to them was frustrated. Not long after, those that went from Plym- outh with that godly gentleman, Mr. William Thomas, keeping up a communion, it pleased the Lord to send unto them, a suitable and able preacher of the gospel named Mr. Edward Buckley, who was chosen their pastor and officiated in that place very profitably divers years, but at last he left them and went to a place called Concord in the Government of the Massachusetts, and a considerable time after the Lord raised up and sent another faithful servant of his, who proved able and well-fitted for the work of the ministry, Mr. Samuel Arnold by name. He remained with them for their special comfort in the work of the ministry.
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