Using Adolescent Novels to Disseminate Agricultural Information
Gary Moore Agricultural and Extension Education North Carolina State University, Raleigh

Agricultural communicators are constantly searching for the most appropriate vehicle to use in disseminating agricultural information. Today, we are attracted to such devices as the World Wide Web and interactive multi-media. We are constantly searching for the hottest, newest technology. However, we may be overlooking a time proven device that was extremely useful in promulgating new farming methods during the 1920s and 1930s - the agricultural novel.

During the 1920s and 1930s a number of adolescent agricultural novels were published. These novels were popular with teenagers. These novels promoted modern farming practices and heavily pushed the FFA and 4-H programs. The novels also contained heroes, villains, conflict, suspense and love. But the underlying theme was the application of modern farming practices would save the day. (Notes on the research methodologies used in this paper are found at the end of the text.)

The Agricultural Novels

At least eleven novels promoting agriculture were published between 1925 and 1940. Five authors were involved in writing the novels. A listing of the authors and their works is found in Table 1.

Table 1. Adolescent Agricultural Novels, 1925-1940.

The Case Novels

John F. Case, editor of the Missouri Ruralist and President of the Missouri Board of Agriculture, wrote three “vocational agriculture” novels and one 4-H novel. The first, Tom of Peace Valley (subtitled Boy Knight of Agriculture), published in 1925 tells how the hero and main character of all three vo-ag novels, Tom Woodson, became involved in vocational agriculture. Tom, who was reared in an isolated backwoods valley where trapping and hunting were the main stays of existence and “eddication” was ridiculed, had the opportunity to go “outside” to the little town of Blanton 10 miles away for schooling. With moral support from his mother and financial support from an “outside” uncle, Tom went to Blanton, found a place to board, and enrolled in school. Tom’s decision to go outside the valley for education was not warmly received by the populace in Peace Valley.

On the way to school the first morning, Tom came across a group of local boys beating up on the town drunk. He broke up the altercation but this action was the start of a lasting hostility between Tom and the local “in group” which was lead by “Bull” Durham, the only son of the town banker and school board president. It was only a matter of time before a fist fight was provoked by Bull. Bull received a thrashing in an honest and fair fight but told his father that Woodson and a gang of boys beat him up. Mr. Durham convened the school board and attempted to get Tom kicked out of school, but was not successful because the agriculture teacher, John Roberts, had seen the fight and told what happened.

Because of his love for the outdoors, Tom had been enrolled in vocational agriculture which was a new program that year. Mr. Roberts was not only the agriculture teacher but a collegiate football star and Blanton High’s football coach. He encouraged Tom to join the team. Even though Tom had never played the game he quickly caught on and was soon giving Bull Durham considerable competition on the playing field.

Tom found vocational agriculture to his liking and was soon planning a corn project and was enrolled in the state corn growing contest. Tom, with help from Mr. Roberts, rented a plot of land in Peace Valley for the project. Because of Tom’s outstanding performance in a state corn judging contest, the top corn grower in the state gave Tom some seed corn. However, the plot thickened when a midnight thief stole Tom’s seed corn. Tom enlisted the aid of his mountain kin (and dog) in following the trail of the thief and found where the seed corn had been hidden.

Soon Tom was preparing the ground and planting corn to the great amusement of the locals in Peace Valley. Everyone knew crops just didn’t grow in Peace Valley, farming was hard work, and the time could be better spent fishing and hunting. Tom was soon studying the art of growing corn with great determination and applying what he learned in the vocational agriculture class, to the great derision of the locals in Peace Valley. However, after a while it became evident that Tom would have an exceptional corn yield and the hill folk started taking pride in Tom’s field and even started protecting the field from varmints, both two legged and four legged.

The book concludes with Woodson and Durham grudgingly working together to carry Blanton High to a major football victory over arch rival Denman High. This stirring victory united the town folk and the hill people. Tom made a profit of $700 on his corn crop, placed second in the state corn growing contest and won a prize of $250. The books ends with Bull Durham repenting of his treacherous ways and confessing to stealing the seed corn and trying to destroy Tom’s corn field.

In the second Case novel (Moon Valley), Tom has graduated from the state agricultural college as a vocational agriculture teacher and has the hard job of convincing the adults and students in a new school district, Moon Valley, of the values of vocational agriculture. Tom is also the school principal and teaches adult farmer classes. In a suspenseful plot, the school is torched, bullets are fired, and a girl is wooed before Tom and vocational agriculture triumph. In the third novel (Peace Valley Warrior), Tom is elected to the state legislature.

Case also wrote Under the 4-H Flag. In this novel a struggling farm family was able to turn their fortune around by following the advice of the county agent. The poor family (especially the fiddle playing father) was also able to gain a measure of prestige through involvement with the 4-H program. And the mystery of the missing pigs was solved.

The Chapman Novel

The most celebrated vocational agriculture novel was The Greenhand, written by Paul Chapman in 1932. In this novel a backwoods rowdy, Fred Dale, after disrupting a Future Farmers of America Banquet and accidentally shooting the vocational agriculture teacher during a deer hunt, is persuaded to enroll in vocational agriculture and join the FFA. Slowly he becomes involved in the FFA and public speaking, much to the dismay of “Red” Holt, a rival. He gets the vocational agriculture students involved in a cooperative project growing tomatoes for a soup company, falls in love with the beautiful daughter of the soup company president, and wins the national FFA public speaking contest just in time to rescue the home farm, on which he and his widowed mother live, from the clutches of the about-toforeclose judge. His winning FFA speech is about the South and how modern agricultural practices can lead the South out of poverty. He also wins the heart of the girl.
The Greenhand was made into a 90-minute movie by the Sears Roebuck Foundation in 1939. The Farm Journal and Farmer’s Wife (Andersen, 1940, p. 43) describe the movie as “...a romance-coated plug for scientific agriculture and better farming in the South.” The setting for the movie and the novel was Georgia. The actors were all amateurs and included state and federal vocational agricultural officials. Chapman was Dean of Agriculture at the University of Georgia and wrote numerous technical books. This was his only novel.

Betty Baxter Anderson

While most of the novels were for boys, the Anderson novel had a definite female slant. A rich, pampered city girl who is on the verge of becoming a juvenile delinquent is sent to the country to spend the summer with her “hick” cousins. Grudgingly, she becomes involved with 4-H club work. Soon she is transformed into a responsible young lady through her involvement with the 4-H program. Anderson wrote a number of career oriented novels for girls. This was her only agricultural novel.

The Schmidt Novels

Sarah Lindsay Schmidt wrote at least four books about vocational agriculture students. Even though each book is different there are similarities in all the books. The setting for each book is in the West (Colorado or Wyoming). In each story there is typically a ne’er-do-well father with a motherless family composed of one or two boys (one still in school and one out) and a strong sister, and a malevolent school age adversary whose father is typically the prominent citizen in the community. In each novel there is conflict, suspicions of dirty dealings, a neighboring girl to be wooed, and a foreboding mortgage. In each novel, the application of modern agriculture practices saves the day (irrigation of alfalfa, marketing livestock cooperatively, developing a hybrid corn). There is also a strong, patriotic dose of the Future Farmers of America in each book. One student even became the Star Farmer of America (David in Shadow over Winding Ranch).

Ms. Schmidt’s husband was G.A. Schmidt, the agricultural teacher educator at Colorado State. She also wrote a book in 1943 titled The Hurricane Mystery and one in 1953 titled This is my Heritage. These books have not been located.

Arthur Charles Bartlett

The Library of Congress contains a book written by Bartlett entitled 4-H Cowboy. The researcher has not yet been able to locate a copy of this book. Bartlett wrote numerous novels about dogs for the adolescent reader.

Other Publications of Interest

During the course of this research, the investigator discovered other sources of literature that were popular with students. A number of the farming magazines carried fiction pieces and special columns for young people. For example, Farm Journal and Farmer’s Wife often carried a column during the 1940s titled “Young America” or “Young Farmers” or “Farm Journal Boys” (yes, there was a “Farm Journal Girls” column that featured recipes and answered letters from girls). At times there were short pieces designed to appeal to teen-age boys such as how to hunt for crows, how to throw a curve ball, how to go camping, and how to take good pictures. It was common to have a mini-novel that was full of adventure carrying over from issue to issue.

Conclusions and Discussion

The avowed purpose of most of the novels was to provide worthwhile leisure time reading for rural students because “... there has been a dearth of good books available for farm boys and girls.” (Nolan, 1936, i). However, the novels were also used to promote modern farming practices, 4-H and vocational agriculture. During the period in which most of these books were written, America was in a depression and there was a mass exodus from the farm. These novels showed the success one could achieve by applying modern farming practices and becoming involved with the Future Farmers of America or 4-H. One book (New Land) showed how out-of-school youth could benefit from the part-time program of vocational agriculture. It was clear from reading the books, that in spite of the depression, mistrust of scientific agriculture by some of the elders, and adversity (generally, the town bully), vocational agriculture and 4-H held the promise for a better rural life. And you could also win the heart of the girl.

The reading of these novels was strictly voluntary in most cases. Many agricultural departments had copies of these books and would loan them to the students. A series of “Suggestive Helps to Teachers of Vocational Agriculture” was started in 1935 by the agricultural education staff at North Carolina State University. The first publication was a “General Reference List for Teachers of Agriculture.” This publication recommended Tom of Peace Valley, Moon Valley, The Greenhand, and New Land to the vocational agriculture teachers. A 1937 update of the list included Ranching on Eagle Eye. Brunner and Koble (1954) compiled a list of recommended fiction for Future Farmers. Most of their recommendations were general outdoor action books by authors such as Zane Grey, Jack London, and Rudyard Kipling. However, they do list the Case novels.

It should be remembered that during this era in America, 92% of the rural residents had limited access to libraries (Streeter, 1940) but eagerly sought books. Rural electrification was yet to come in many areas and television was non-existent. After the sun went down in rural areas, you either read, listed to a battery operated radio or visited the neighbors on weekends. People were constantly searching for good reading material.

In a few instances, reading these novels was not voluntary. In some areas of Louisiana, The Greenhand had to be read in order to get the Greenhand degree and Tom of Peace Valley had to be read to get the Chapter Farmer degree (Curtis, 1984).

One additional purpose of this literature was to develop character. According to Nolan (1936, i), “They should be definitely contributive to character education, since justice and right are consistently exalted, and punitive nemesis properly dealt out. Good will, good deeds and noble personalities are exemplified...”

Agricultural education novels were important during the 1925-1940 era. They provided worthwhile leisure reading for students but also contained moral lessons and promoted modern farming practices. The underlying theme in each novel was that good triumphs over evil. It was also apparent that vocational agriculture, modern farming practices, 4-H and the Future Farmers of America were the keys to success.

The use of similar novels in agriculture might be of value today. Samuels (1989) found that students like “problem novels” and teen protagonists. Johns and Davis (1990) indicate students can be better readers if teachers suggest books that match student interests and make a great number of books available to students. This was happening in agriculture in the 1925-1940 era. Perhaps agricultural communicators should reflect on this information. If we want to reach teenage audiences with agricultural information, we might remember that novels or information presented in story form have been effective in the past. Perhaps this method could be effective today.

Methodological Notes

Standard historical research procedures were used in this research. First, all issues of The Agricultural Education Magazine published between 1925 and 1940 were examined to identify agricultural novels. During this era numerous news items were published in the Magazine, including announcements of new books. The researcher also searched the Farm Journal and Farmer’s Wife and Successful Farming. Brief discussions of new books were regularly featured in these publication. Suggested lists of readings for vocational agriculture students published in The Agricultural Education Magazine (Brunner, 1954) and by the agricultural education faculty at North Carolina State starting in 1935 were examined.

After identifying the agricultural education novels and their authors from these sources, the Union Serial Listing was consulted to determine if additional, but yet unidentified books, had been written by the same authors. After the researcher was satisfied that most of the books had been identified, a personal search was conducted for the identified books in university, school, public and private libraries in Wisconsin, Colorado, Louisiana, Indiana, Texas, Georgia and North Carolina. Next, personal or phone interviews were held with individuals (generally retired agricultural educators) in Virginia, Georgia, Illinois, Washington (DC) and Louisiana to secure more information about the books and to determine how they were used.

This was followed by a trip to the National Agricultural Library for additional research on the topic. This research was conducted over a seven-year period. During this research, several series of juvenile novels (The Boy Ranchers, the X Bar X Boys, the Saddle Boys, the Pony Rider Boys and the Range and Grange Hustlers) were found that glorified farming and ranching but had no connection to vocational agriculture or 4-H. These books had minimal educational value and were excluded from this research. Copies of most of the books were obtained by the researcher and read. Detailed notes concerning each book were kept and a qualitative interpretation of each book was made by the researcher.

References

Andersen, L.Q. (1940, May). Young America. Farm Journal and Farmer’s Wife. p. 43.
Brunner, H.S. (1954). Fiction for Future Farmers. The Agricultural Education Magazine. (27)6:136.
Case, J.F. (1925). Tom of Peace Valley. Philadelphia: J.P. Lippincott.
Case, J.F. (1927). Under the 4-H Flag. Philadelphia: J.P. Lippincott.
Case, J.F. (1932). Moon Valley. Chicago: J.P. Lippincott.
Case, J.F. (1937). Peace Valley Warrior. Danville, IL: The Interstate.
Chapman, P. (1932). The Greenhand. Chicago: J.P. Lippincott.
Curtis, C.M. (Jan. 14, 1984). Personal conversation.
Johns, J. and Davis, S.J. (1990). Integrating literature into middle school reading classrooms. ERIC Digest, Bloomington, IN: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills.
Nolan, A.W. (1936). Short Stories for Future Farmers. Danville. IL: The Interstate.
Samuels, B.G. (1989). Young adult’s choices: Why do students “really like” particular books? Journal of Reading, (32)8:714-719.
Schmidt, S.L. (1933). New Land. New York: Robert M. McBride & Co.
Schmidt, S.L. (1936). Ranching on Eagle Eye. New York: Robert McBride & Co.
Schmidt, S.L. (1938). The Secret of Silver Peak. New York: Random House.
Schmidt, S.L. (1940). Shadow over Winding Ranch. New York: Random House.
Streeter, C.P. (1940, Jan). Who’ll start the library. Farm Journal and Farmer’s Wife. 37:61.