188 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [2:5— may, igo6 



In conclusion he affirmed his faith that something will come of the 

 effort now making in the direction of agricultural training in the public 

 schools. 



Mr. L. D. Harvey then addressed the section on " Experiments in 

 Agricultural Education in This and Other Countries." 



In the course of his address he showed that the attempt to give train- 

 ing in agriculture in the elementary schools had gradually ended in 

 failure in this and other countries where tried. He indorsed what 

 President Wheeler had said concerning the lack of definite ideas on 

 the subject and characterized as foolish laws passed by some States 

 making such instruction mandatory in all schools without regard for 

 the unpreparedness of teachers. 



Children of the public school have a right to education that will 

 better fit them for their lives. He is inclined to urge training in.. 

 agriculture because it would make rural people better able to earn a 

 living, and because also of the cultural value which such training 

 undoubtedly possesses. 



In the light of the many mistakes that have been made along this 

 line he urged extreme caution, however. He referred to the Cornell 

 movement as one which was not an unqualified success and said that 

 in practice it was found that the children most interested in the work 

 sent out were the children of the better city schools rather than 

 those who lived on the farms. He expressed the opinion that not 

 much is to be expected from pupils of the age of those attending the 

 rural schools. He detailed attempts made along this line in Canada, 

 Ireland, Belgium, and the Scandinavian countries and told of the 

 discouraging results reached. The results have generally been 

 better in the secondary schools, and incidents were cited to show this. 

 Secondary schools in rural districts (county high schools) are the 

 real schools from which we may reasonably expect results commen- 

 surate with the efforts and expense put forth. 



II dwelt at length upon a school in Wisconsin which gave courses 

 in agriculture, manual training, and domestic ecomony, and in which 

 the work had been made of direct value to the farmers of the sur- 

 rounding region, thus gaining their warm support by leading them to 

 see its practical utility. In conclusion he urged that in seeking 

 agricultural education we must seek for definite things that are 

 useful. 



The discussion of Mr. Harvey's address was led by Dr. True who 

 said in part: " There must be in all matters of this kind a period of 



