Extension Work in Horticulture. 551 



farmers look upon their farms as holding a special value outside 

 of farming purposes, hence most farms are for sale at any time; 

 while out in the state the interest in land is more permanent and 

 this has awakened a general and active interest in this line of in- 

 struction in every school and school district where it has been 

 given. The plan has been accepted, not only as practical by 

 those .who have witnessed its workings, but as helpful to all 

 whatever may be the work they will take up in life. As a sys- 

 tem of Instruction, it will bring experiences of delight to children 

 in their school days, such as they have not before known, m the 

 many interesting subjects in nature that will be brought out to 

 them to know and to study about. 



" The future value to the state of this kind of instruction can 

 hardly be measured. With some exceptions, the farms of New 

 York are in a condition of sadly depleted fertility of the soil. 

 Nearly everywhere is to be observed the absence of that most 

 valuable renovator of the soil — the clover plant — and in its place 

 a low type of herbage of little value. The cost of production is 

 thereby much increased and the profits in farming conse\|uently 

 largely reduced. Many of the children living on the farms of 

 New York are practically disinherited from the soil upon which 

 they have been born because of the mistakes of their fathers. 

 But while the soil is depleted, it is by no means exhausted of fer- 

 tility; and by the study of its necessities, and by the employment 

 of skill and intelligence in the art of agriculture, it is capable of 

 vast improvement, of maintaining a great population and adding 

 to the greater prosperity of those who shall cultivate it while 

 contributing to the general prosperity and wealth of the state. 

 The future of the agriculture of the Empire State can be deter- 

 mined through educational forces, and our public schools can be 

 made a most certain and powerful factor in its elevation to a 

 much higher position of prosperity." 



The followii^g are samples of many unsolicited letters showing 

 how this type of efforts appeals to teachers: 



" Your visit to our school has been very pleasantly discussed 

 by many of our students and teachers. I think that I may say 

 by the more intelligent ones. I believe it sowed seed for thought 

 and in good ground. 



" We have perhaps seventy-five students from farms and pre- 

 sumably among the best of them, and I am of the opinion that a 

 day or a half day spent by them under the instruction of your 

 department, by coming to us, will be sowing seeds that will yield 

 some sixtv and some a hundred fold. 



