Boy Scouts of America--Merit Badges from 1911

From:   http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29558/29558-h/29558-h.htm

Interesting to note the various agricultural and rural related merit badges from a century ago.

Agriculture

To obtain a merit badge for Agriculture a scout must

1. State different tests with grains.

2. Grow at least an acre of corn which produces 25 per cent. better than the general average.

3. Be able to identify and describe common weeds of the community and tell how best to eliminate them.

4. Be able to identify the common insects and tell how best to handle them.

5. Have a practical knowledge of plowing, cultivating, drilling, hedging, and draining.

6. Have a working knowledge of farm machinery, haymaking, reaping, loading, and stacking.

7. Have a general acquaintance of the routine seasonal work on the farm, including the care of cattle, horses, sheep, and pigs.

8. Have a knowledge of Campbell's Soil Culture principle, and a knowledge of dry farming and of irrigation farming.

Angling

To obtain a merit badge for Angling a scout must

1. Catch and name ten different species of fish: salmon or trout to be taken with flies; bass, pickerel, or pike to be caught with rod or reel, muskallonge to be caught by trolling.

2. Make a bait rod of three joints, straight and sound, 14 oz. or less in weight, 10 feet or less in length, to stand a strain of 1-1/2 lbs. at the tip, 13 lbs. at the grip.

3. Make a jointed fly-rod 8-10 feet long, 4-8 ozs. in weight, capable of casting a fly sixty feet.

4. Name and describe twenty-five different species of fish found in North American waters and give a complete list of the fishes ascertained by himself to inhabit a given body of water.

5. Give the history of the young of any species of wild fish from the time of hatching until the adult stage is reached.

Automobiling

To obtain a merit badge for Automobiling a scout must

1. Demonstrate how to start a motor, explaining what precautions should be taken.

2. Take off and put on pneumatic tires.

3. Know the functions of the clutch, carburetor, valves, magneto, spark plug, differential cam shaft, and different speed gears, and be able to explain difference between a two and four-cycle motor.

4. Know how to put out burning gasoline or oil.

5. Have satisfactorily passed the requirements to receive a license to operate an automobile in the community in which he lives.

Aviation

To obtain a merit badge for Aviation a scout must

1. Have a knowledge of the theory of aeroplanes, balloons, and dirigibles.

2. Have made a working model of an {27} aeroplane or dirigible that will fly at least twenty-five yards; and have built a box kite that will fly.

3. Have a knowledge of the engines used for aeroplanes and dirigibles, and be able to describe the various types of aeroplanes and their records.

Bee Farming

To obtain a merit badge for Bee Farming a scout must

1. Have a practical knowledge of swarming, hiving, hives and general apiculture, including a knowledge of the use of artificial combs.

2. Describe different kinds of honey and tell from what sources gathered.

Blacksmithing

To obtain a merit badge for Blacksmithing a scout must

1. Upset and weld a one-inch iron rod.

2. Make a horseshoe.

3. Know how to tire a wheel, use a sledge-hammer and forge, shoe a horse correctly and roughshoe a horse.

4. Be able to temper iron and steel.

Bugling

To obtain a merit badge for Bugling a scout must

1. Be able to sound properly on the Bugle the customary United States Army calls.

Business

To obtain a merit badge for Business a scout must

1. Write a satisfactory business, and a personal letter.

2. State fundamental principles of buying and selling.

3. Know simple bookkeeping.

4. Keep a complete and actual account of personal receipts and expenditures for six months.
{28}
5. State how much money would need to be invested at 5 per cent. to earn his weekly allowance of spending money for a year.

Conservation

To obtain a merit badge for Conservation a scout must
1. Be able to recognize in the forest all important commercial trees in his neighborhood; distinguish the lumber from each and tell for what purpose each is best suited; tell the age of old blazes on trees which mark a boundary or trail; recognize the difference in the forest between good and bad logging, giving reasons why one is good and another bad; tell whether a tree is dying from injury by fire, by insects, by disease or by a combination of these causes; know what tools to use, and how to fight fires in hilly or in flat country. Collect the seeds of two commercial trees, clean and store them, and know how and when to plant them.
2. Know the effect upon stream-flow of the destruction of forests at head waters; know what are the four great uses of water in streams; what causes the pollution of streams, and how it can best be stopped; and how, in general, water power is developed.
3. Be able to tell, for a given piece of farm land, whether it is best suited for use as farm or forest, and why; point out examples of erosion, and tell how to stop it; give the reasons why a growing crop pointed out to him is successful or why not; and tell what crops should be grown in his neighborhood and why.
4. Know where the great coal fields are situated and whether the use of coal is increasing, and if so at what rate. Tell what are the great sources of waste of coal, in the mines, and in its use, and how they can be reduced.
5. Know the principal game birds and animals in his neighborhood, the seasons during which they are protected, the methods of protection, and the results. Recognize the track of any two of the following: rabbit, fox, deer, squirrel, wild turkey, ruffed grouse and quail.

Cycling

To obtain a merit badge for Cycling a scout must
1. Be able to ride a bicycle fifty miles in ten hours.
2. Repair a puncture.
3. Take apart and clean bicycle and put together again properly.
4. Know how to make reports if sent out scouting on a road.
5. Be able to read a map and report correctly verbal messages.

Dairying

To obtain a merit badge for Dairying a scout must
1. Understand the management of dairy cattle.
2. Be able to milk.
3. Understand the sterilization of milk, and care of dairy utensils and appliances.
{32} 4. Test at least five cows for ten days each, with the Babcock test, and make proper reports.

First Aid to Animals

To obtain a merit badge for First Aid to Animals a scout must
1. Have a general knowledge of domestic and farm animals.
2. Be able to treat a horse for colic.
3. Describe symptoms and give treatment for the following: wounds, fractures and sprains, exhaustion, choking, lameness.
4. Understand horseshoeing.

Forestry

To obtain a merit badge for Forestry a scout must
1. Be able to identify twenty-five kinds of trees when in leaf, or fifteen kinds of deciduous (broad leaf) trees in winter, and tell some of the uses of each.
2. Identify twelve kinds of shrubs.
3. Collect and identify samples of ten kinds of wood and be able to tell some of their uses.
4. Determine the height, and estimate the amount of timber, approximately, in five trees of different sizes.
{34} 5. State laws for transplanting, grafting, spraying, and protecting trees.

Gardening

To obtain a merit badge for Gardening, a scout must
1. Dig and care for during the season a piece of ground containing not less than 144 square feet.
2. Know the names of a dozen plants pointed out in an ordinary garden.
3. Understand what is meant by pruning, grafting, and manuring.
4. Plant and grow successfully six kinds of vegetables or flowers from seeds or cuttings.
5. Cut grass with scythe under supervision.

Horsemanship

To obtain a merit badge for Horsemanship a scout must
1. Demonstrate riding at a walk, trot, and gallop.
2. Know how to saddle and bridle a horse correctly.
3. Know how to water and feed and to what amount, and how to groom a horse properly.
{35} 4. Know how to harness a horse correctly in single or double harness and to drive.
5. Have a knowledge of the power of endurance of horses at work and know the local regulations concerning driving.
6. Know the management and care of horses.
7. Be able to identify unsoundness and blemishes.
8. Know the evils of bearing or check reins and of ill-fitting harness or saddlery.
9. Know two common causes of, and proper remedies for, lameness, and know to whom he should refer cases of cruelty and abuse.
10. Be able to judge as to the weight, height, and age of horses; know three breeds and their general characteristics.

Marksmanship

To obtain a merit badge for Marksmanship a scout must
1. Qualify as a marksman in accordance with the regulations of the National Rifle Association.

Poultry Farming

To obtain a merit badge for Poultry Farming a scout must
1. Have a knowledge of incubators, foster-mothers, sanitary fowl houses, and coops and runs.
2. Understand rearing, feeding, killing, and dressing birds for market.
3. Be able to pack birds and eggs for market.
4. Raise a brood of not less than ten chickens.
5. Report his observation and study of the hen, turkey, duck, and goose.

 

Stalking

To obtain a merit badge for Stalking a scout must
1. Take a series of twenty photographs of wild animals or birds from life, and develop and print them.
2. Make a group of sixty species of wild flowers, ferns, or grasses, dried and mounted in a book and correctly named.
3. Make colored drawings of twenty flowers, ferns, or grasses, or twelve sketches from life of animals or birds, original sketches as well as the finished pictures to be submitted.