•336 State Horticultural Society. 



inortliern part of this State to set peaches extensively for commercial 

 •purposes. They will not pay." Does eight full crops in ten years of 

 any fruit pay? It surely does. Especially of peaches. Was not Mr. 

 Hopkins surely wrong in his conclusions ? 



With the proper kind of soil in which the peach does best, the 

 right altitude, and a latitude similar to its indiginous home, we can, we 

 do and we unll grow big peaches, not only for home consumption but 

 for commercial purposes also. All the common commercial varieties 

 fruit well here. The Elberta, Champion and Crosby, leading as favorite 

 varieties. Our loess soil does not require cultivation throughout the 

 entire life of the peach tree. I cultivate until the fifth year when I sow 

 to red clover — mowing off the first crop and allowing the second to 

 fall to the ground to reseed and make a winter cover. The only en- 

 emies the peach has in North Missouri are an occasional borer and the 

 leaf-curl, neither of which does serious damage. 



All hail to the luscious peach. If the apple is the "king of fruits," 

 then has Pomona surely crowned the peach as the "queen of fruits." It 

 vies with the strawberry in delicacy and flavor and defies the art of man 

 to counterfeit it in color. 



A PLEA FOR A MORE NATURAL COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 



IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 



(By John R. Kirk, State Normal, Kirks ville, Mo.) 



The typical school falls short of its possibilities because it ignores 

 the nature of the children and bends their energies to the acquirement 

 of conventionalities. It represses the natural impulses of childhood in- 

 stead of directing and utilizing them. It inhibits habits of acticMi and 

 tends to destroy the power of initiative instead of developing that povvci. 

 It withdraws the child's consciousness from visible and tangible things 

 among wdiich he lives and must live. It fills him with facts remote from 

 his unavoidable sphere of action. It receives children who are fond of 

 serving others, fidl of willing energy and, by both nature and habit, 

 industrious. It sends them back with distorted ideals and a distaste 

 for doing the world's work. 



Let us survey our field of action and get our bearings : Reformers 

 too often magnify their isolated specialties and fail to see things in their 

 relations. We need practical science in elementary schools. This can 

 not come wIiIkuiI ihe Cfjntemporaneous organization of several relatetl 

 subjects. 



