MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 159 



At this point I might ask ^vhy is this matter of school gardens brought to the notice of 

 the public to-day? Partly because of the agitation in large cities for such things to sup- 

 ply for the city boys and girls that which they have not because they are city people. 

 In short to supply country to the city. This is largely, of course, a fad, and the absurdity 

 of it has attached itself to the rural school. Now, just imagine the average citv girl, a 

 high school graduate of about eighteen or twenty years of age, assuming a rural school, 

 digging garden, planting trees, wheeling manure and the like. Besides, what good would 

 it do? As far as my experience goes, it would give the teacher good healthy exercise; 

 and a number of the pupils as well as many of the ratepayers wo\ild think her a fool for 

 her pains. School gardens in the rural schools, as they now are, will never succeed. They 

 may, if undertaken l)y consolidated schools. 



1'his leads to another fad born of the former and nourished by a name, a mere name — 

 agriculture. Some contend that -agriculture should be taught in rural schools. Many, 

 if not all, of those who do so contend have never had any experience as teachers, and do 

 not in any way appreciate the situation. It would l^e about as rational to place banking, 

 civil engineering, !■ hoe-making, tailoring, etc., on the curriculum, and it would be just as 

 easy to teach them; and it would probably be more useful. Agriculture is purely and 

 necessarily an art, not a science at all; and to teach the arts of stock-raising, fruit-growing, 

 grain, hay and grass crops, is beyond the boy of ten or twelve, or even fourteen years of 

 age. 



In the schools of Ontario, for some time past, an attempt has been made to introduce 

 agriculture into the rural schools with the results as indicated in the following quotation: 



" Prior to the issue in August, 1904, of the revised course of study for public schools in 

 Ontario the teaching of agriculture was compulsory in rural schools only in the last two 

 forms, IV. and V. The work in Form IV was largely conversational — and somewhat dis- 

 cursive. In Form V. the text l)ook was introduced, but the study was limited to the first 

 73 pages. As a large number of rural school pupils leave school before the Fourth Form is 

 reached, and nearly all leave at the conclusion of Form IV., the work hitherto done has 

 been of the most desultory and aimless character and has affected but a small proportion 

 of the rural pupils. Moreover, in the absence of any preliminary systematic course of 

 training in observation, the work was purely empirical." 



This shows that with pupils of the fourth and fifth forms (8th and 9th grades of com- 

 mon schools in Michigan), the teaching of agriculture in schools in country districts has 

 proved a failure and the reason assigned is this: the absence of a preliminary course in 

 the systematic training of the powers of obser\'ation. 



Notice the advance made upon the former plan: 



" Under the revised code, from the very beginning of his public school course, the pupil 

 is systematically taught to observe and explain the natural phenomena which dailv pre- 

 sent themselves to his notice. The courses are begun in the First Form, are continued 

 throughout every form, and are obligatory on all pupils, whether rural or urban." 



This applies to girls as well as boys, to all alike. The following quotation gives the 

 general idea the framers of the program had when they drew up this portion of the course 

 of studv: 



"The daily systematic study of the phenomena will, during the first three or four years, 

 give the pupil not only a large fund of useful information, and this is of even greater im- 

 portance, it will trairi him to observe carefully, describe accurately, and interpret cor- 

 rectly — the most suitable preparation for the formal study of agriculture or horticulture 

 or the many and varied occupations connected with the farm." 



The general plan of the matter is given as follows; and it nmst be remembered that it 

 is for the first three or four years of the school life of the pupil, i. e., from eight to eleven 

 years : 



"Soils are to be examined, classified and their utilities determined with reference to 

 various kinds of plants. The adaptations of animals and plants to their habits and sur- 

 roundings come under observation. All the sciences — physics, chemistry, botany, zo- 

 ology, geology, mineralogv — are laid under contriI)ution to supply suitable phenornena 

 for studv. All this knowledge is directly contributory to the scientific study of agricul- 

 ture, and indeed is basal to it." 



The way this is to be brought about is as suggested in the following paragraph: 



" Provision is further made in the revised courses for the establishment of a special agri- 

 culture course in the high school. The high school undertaking this course must be spe- 

 cially equipped. It must have experimental plots, a school garden, an aboretum, and a 

 science laboratory. This course is practical and technical, and aims to give the farmer's 

 son who wishes to be a farmer the same opportunity that is afforded a farmer's son who 

 wishes to enter one of the professions." 



It all resolves itself into this: It was not possible to teach pupils of the 8th and inth 

 grades (12 to 15 years) the subject of agriculture, therefore teach it to pupils of the grades 



