MS Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



mittee for the Promotion of Agriculture, organized in New York 

 in 1895, for the promotion of agriculture and of agricultural edu- 

 cation, the experiment was tried of giving a course of lectures on 

 natural sciences applied to agriculture in the district and high 

 schools of Westchester county. The work proved of practical 

 value, and a demand came u])oii this committee to extend it to 

 many other sections in the state. It was thought by the New 

 York committee that Cornell University, having such a couiplete 

 equipment for scientific instruction and able teachers in agri- 

 culture, could render valuable service to the entire state bj^ ex- 

 tending this line of instruction, and combining with its experi- 

 ment and investigation work that of instruction in some of the 

 principles of agriculture on the University Extension plan. 



" During the month of October, 1896, this W'Ork was given to a 

 number of schools in the different counties comprising the 

 Fourth Judicial Department, under the provisions of the Nixon 

 bill, for the extension of horticultural knowledge and instruction. 

 Two classes of schools were reached: those in the rural districts 

 and the union free schools. A district school would be visited 

 in the morning, and in the afternoon a union or high school. 

 Two lectures were given in each, namely, on plant and insect life. 

 Observation lessons were given pupils, while methods of teach- 

 ing these subjects were given the teachers. The most familiar 

 objects were chosen from the plant life of the school district. 

 Seeds representing familiar plants were germinated and placed 

 in the hands of jjupils for observation and study. The full corn 

 in the ear w^as show n to illustrate w^hat had taken place since the 

 germination of the seed. Lectures on insects w^ere given, choos- 

 ing the familiar and injurious kinds of the district (those that do 

 direct and serious damage to crops and to vegetation), giving 

 their history, the different transformations through which they 

 pass, and instruction on how to save the losses they cause. To 

 the higher pupils, lectures were given on the beneficial insects, 

 their relation to the flow^ers, and how they are an important 

 factor in the fruitfulness of orchards and vineyards, in the distri- 

 bution of pollen of different flow^ers, in cross-fertilization and 

 formation of the seeds of plants; also on the relation of the soil 

 to all forms of life, vegetable and animal, its important elements 

 in ])lant food and how it can be studied in an elementary manner. 

 Teachers were given instruction by objects and illustrations on 

 how these subjects could be taught, without multiplying studies 

 or exercises or without text-books, by dropping some regular 

 exercise once or twice a w^eek and putting in a tw^enty-minute 

 naturnl science period as incidental work. Thus, during a term, 

 much valuable instruction can be given on important topics with- 

 out adding to the crow^ded demands upon teachers and pupils» 



