564 Agricultural ExrERiMEXT Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



because they have not been well taught, not because they are 

 unwilling to learn. It is astonishing, as one thinks of it, how 

 scant and poor has been the teaching which has even a remote 

 relation to the tilling of the soil; and many of our rural books 

 seem not to have been born of any real svm])athy with the farmer 

 or any just appreciation of his environments. Just as soon as 

 our educational methods are adapted to the farmer's needs, and 

 are born of a love of farm life and are inspired with patriotism, 

 will the rural districts begin to rise in irresistible power. 



Respectfully submitted, 



L. H. BAILEY, 



In charge of the scientific and teaching work of the Nixon bill, 

 Cornell University, December 1, 1896. 



