| Abstrakt: |
Seaman A. Knapp, a pioneer promoter of agricultural reform in the postbellum South, wanted to show farmers by demonstration that diversification, rotation, careful cultivation, and seed selection would result in a better yield and higher profits. One of his agencies, the Boys' Corn Club, was designed to educate farm youth by demonstration in better agricultural practices. Stephen G. Henry, of Melrose plantation in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, was so successful in employing these innovative methods that he was proclaimed, by the US Department of Agriculture in 1910, the "World Champion Corn Grower." From this Corn Club movement, the national 4-H Clubs developed. Although Henry later abandoned agriculture for a military career, he later applied the knowledge of demonstration pedagogy he had learned as a Corn Club member when he established the Armored Force School at Fort Knox, Kentucky. |
