--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 18 number: 5 published: 1915-03 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations, \"The Boys' Half Acre Contest,\" *Improvement Era* 18, no. 5 (March 1915): 453." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1805unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1805unse start_page: 453 end_page: 453 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1915-03) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1805unse publication_year: 1915 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1915, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Boys' Half Acre Contest EDITORS' TABLE 453 as the Spirit may direct and the exigencies of the times may De- mand. The appointment of boys to the deaconship is done under the direction of the constituted authority of the Lord, though the exact date of its beginning is perhaps not on record. It is an ac- tion that could not have been taken without the sanction of the Priesthood, acting in the regular order. The Boys' Half Acre and Industrial Contests The General Board Y. M. M. I. A., last season, made ar- rangements for a boys' half acre contest, and a city boys' industrial contest. We have already mentioned the latter, the leading prize for 1914 being won by Samuel Stewart. The half-acre contest, con- ducted last summer by the Vocations Committee of the General Board, was won by Howard Dalton, Willard, Box Elder stake, first prize $40. Mention has already been made in the Era of his unpre- cedented potato crop by which he received national recognition, by the Department of Agriculture, and several mentions having been made of him in eastern magazines. The second prize, $30, was won by Noell Fuller, of Winder ward, Cottonwood stake the third prize, $20, by La Yerle Stewart of Alpine stake; the fourth prize, $10, was won by Clayton Hogan, Lewiston First ward, Benson stake. Each boy who entered was required to care for a' half acre on which he could raise anything that suited his fancy, under regulations provided by the Committee. Reports were to be made to the Committee on all work done, the processes used, and the success achieved in each line during the season. Dalton raised potatoes; Fuller and Stewart cultivated general truck gardens, and Hogan raised sugar beets. The judges were Professor I. B. Ball, Professor A. S. Bennion, and Ernest Wangs- gaard. Both of these contests will be repeated for 1915. . In this connection the widowed mother of twelve-year-old Samuel Stewart who won first prize in the City Soys' Industrial Contest, has written the following letter to President Heber J. the General Board, in relation to the awarding of the Grant 'of prize to her son. The letter is self-explanatory and we believe will be of interest to all who read Salt Lake City, Utah. December 16, 1914. Mr. Heber J. Grant, General Board Y. M. M. I. A., and Vocations and Industries Committee. great incentive Dear Brethren: I must thank you for the very given my boy. Samuel Stewart, to bring out the very you have little best there is in him. in an effort to improve the time and talents that God has blessed him with, to the very best of his knowledge and he can to help others and improve his ability, in trying'to do all that own mind and body.