With the decline of the Grange movement during the early part of the twentieth century, new instruments were developed to sustain the vitality of Vermont’s agricultural community. The Smith-Lever Act, passed by Congress in 1914 to provide for “the advancement of agriculture,” funded the fledgling Vermont Extension Service, operating under the aegis of the University of Vermont. Monies were channeled into three broad program areas, each to be administered by the Extension Service. The first was designed to promote extensive agricultural experimentation, the second sponsored “home demonstrations” across the state to acquaint farm families with innovations in “scientific” farming, and the third organized boys’ and girls’ clubs to “teach them how to manage, grow, and prepare market crops and animals and to demonstrate how to save surplus products by home canning.” Lest this language prove somewhat less than alluring, 4-H clubs, specifying “head, heart, health, and hands,” were born.
For more background on this episode, visit: https://vermonthistory.org/4-h-in-vermont-1914
Episode 51: Railroads
Episode 50: School Consolidation
Episode 49: The First Vermonters, the Abenaki
Episode 48: Act 250
Episode 47: Back to the Land: Communes in Vermont
Episode 46: The VT/NY Youth Project
Episode 45: The Aiken Formula
Episode 44: Dowsing in Danville
Episode 43: Democrats Rising
Episode 42: High Tech Comes to Vermont
Episode 42: Consuelo Northrop Bailey
Episode 39: The Case of Alex B. Novikoff
Episode 38: Maple Sugaring
Episode 37: Town Bands
Episode 36: Senator Ralph Flanders
Episode 35: Electricity Comes to Rural Vermont
Episode 34: World War II at Home
Episode 32: Fighting Silicosis, Dust Control in the Granite Industry
Episode 31: The OWLS, Vermont's Women Legislators
Episode 30: Legislative Reapportionment
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