550 Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



deserted, there are thousands of children already in our cities 

 who are dei)rived of school advantages because adequate room 

 does not exist for them to get into the schools of the city. The 

 further problem also arises of the difiicult economic questions to 

 be met in our cities as the result of congestion of population. 

 The standard of teaching has been much improved in New York 

 state. It has been gratifying to meet so universally teachers 

 who are not onh' well qualified, but who are doing excellent work 

 in their schools and who have the true teaching spirit. Our edu- 

 cational forces are thoroughly efficient and well equipped, but 

 there is a need of different application of our school work in 

 rural districts. The life of the district needs to be changed and 

 i1 can in no way be so effectively done as through our schools. 

 The best work cannot be done in schools with an attendance of 

 only half a dozen children. School districts will be forced to 

 even greater consolidation in the future, and it would be desir- 

 able if families could also be consolidated, for it is the lack of 

 social opportunity that is felt. It is the isolation of the farm 

 home that the boy and girl dislikes in these days of close com- 

 munication and contact with the w^orld which is brought about 

 by steam and electricity. School grounds could be enlarged. 

 They should furnish the opportunity for planting trees and 

 shrubs; for the planting of seeds and growing of flowers; for 

 having a nicely-kept lawn, and in time, these things, with their 

 influences would extend to the homes of children w^ho do not 

 have them and bring with them those attractions and interest 

 that make a home what it ought to be — pleasant and inviting in 

 its surroundings. With some principles taught that apply to the 

 life of the farm in its various forms, much that is to-day dis- 

 couraging, unprosperous and almost hopeless will be gradually 

 changed to better conditions, and general and permanent pros- 

 perity will follow. 



" The great need in this work is teachers fitted for it. Many 

 excellent teachers have felt their want of« preparation for this 

 kind of teaching, but our normal schools are already giving some 

 instruction in nature-teaching, and by carrying the system some- 

 what further can render the state an invaluable aid in this direc- 

 tion. 



" The instructors furnished by Cornell University in this work 

 have shown excellent adaptability in it, and while scientific in- 

 struction has been given, it has been made to meet the under- 

 standing and interest of all, even the youngest in the primary 

 grades. This work in the schools in the counties lying within 

 the Fourth Judicial District has met with even a larger measure 

 of interest than in Westchester county. In that county most 



