M INTOSHJ 



COURSE OFSTCI) > IN RURAL SCHOOLS 205- 



ers to get better seed corn ; some time could be given to com 

 enemies, which might lead into entomology, but studying each in 

 its relation to corn. It seems to me that this would tend to unify 

 the work, and to furnish a motive for the study of some of these 

 other things which pupils often find uninteresting. Anothei 

 course might be made out on farm animals, the horse, the dairy 

 cow, the beef cow, the hog, poultry, etc. Another course which 

 would be of interest to those who do not raise corn extensively 

 might deal with forests or with horticulture, so that almost any 

 rural community would be able to find some line that would fit 

 into its local conditions. As I see it, it doesn't make so much 

 difference what work in agriculture is done, so long as it is done 

 in a careful, thoughtful manner, and it is carried as far as the 

 pupil is able to carry it under the conditions prevailing. One of 

 our best rural teachers came to me last fall and said that he 

 should like to spend all the time he could give to agriculture dur- 

 ing the year on corn, and asked to be excused from the other 

 work in agriculture. I questioned him to see what he had in 

 mind. He thought that if his boys did careful, thoughtful work 

 on one thing, it would be better than to do merely surface work 

 on several things. I told him to go ahead. He spent some time 

 on scoring corn, and the boys performed some independent ex- 

 periments. I have here three short papers written bv his pupils 

 as a part of our central work, and I should like to read them to 

 see if you think the work was worth while. 



MY EXPERIMENT WITH CORN 



I got 100 grains of corn out of what we are going to plant. I took 

 one grain from each car until I got 100. I put cotton on a plate and 

 then put sand on top of the cotton and then planted my corn. I kept 

 the corn wet and kept o plate over the soil so it would not dry 

 out so quickly. I put the plate under the base-burner and in four days 

 from the time I planted the corn it was all sprouted. This experi- 

 ment shows that the con: will do to plant. 



I went out to the crib and put some corn in a sack and it weighed 

 20 pounds, and in a we^k it weighed 17 pounds. The next time T 

 weighed the corn it weighed the same as it did before. The next week 

 it weighed the same. The next week I weighed the corn it weighed 

 16 pounds. While I was doing this experiment this corn was kept in 

 a dry place. The loss in pounds was 4 and the loss in per cent, was 20.. 

 This experiment was to find out when was the best time to shell your 

 corn — in the fall or in the summer. I think the best time is to shell 

 your corn in the fall. 



Orville E. Boboyeb, 

 Age 14, Eighth Grade, Independent School. 



WHAT I THINK IS A GOOD EAR OF CORN 

 I think to have a good ear of corn the ear should be about 9$< 

 inches long to 10 inches long, and it should have a circumference of 



