SOCIETY OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS., 291 



Mr. Gregg — Would not tobacco be a good insecticide. 



Mr. Weed — Yes; but it is not prepared for this purpose, and 

 is therefore more difficult of application. 



Mr. Johnson — The paper is most excellent, and we can scarcely 

 add to it. He spoke of the danger of using these applications too 

 strong. This is often done to the injury of the tree and plant. 



SCIENCE AND THE FARMER BOYS. 



BY PROF. S. «. PARR, JACKSONVILLE. 



Tn the wide range of topics allowed by this Society, it seems 

 eminently proper to discuss some of an educational nature, especi- 

 ally those more nearly related to scientific intelligence, its field, 

 methods, object, value, etc. 



Two questions present themselves — questions which at first 

 seem foreign to each other, but which are in reality closely related. 

 First, " How much of importance is due to science and the scientific 

 method in a well-balanced education? " 



The other question is this: "How and what shall we teach the 

 farmer l)oys? " 



The first of these, in some form or other, has been very prom- 

 inent and widely discussed in recent years, and not without valuable 

 results, for the prospects are favorable for the pros and cons of sci- 

 ence in education to arrive at a better understanding, each of the 

 other's position. From the resulting attention and study given to 

 the matter in its details must ifi-ise many sound theories as to the 

 particular aim and value of the two great methods for discipline 

 and research, the literary and scientific courses of our schools and 

 colleges. 



We are not dispos<Ml. nor is it our province to discuss the Greek 

 question. But the elaims of science still need setting forth with 

 fairness and moderation — without partiality, without hypocrisy. 

 When thus stated and understood much occasion for controversy 

 must disap|t(Mr. and the way nuide easier for prescribing the diet of 

 those who would be fed from the storehouse of knowledge. 



Like everything else, the matter of scientific education must be 

 left to the old and ever-recurring questions of " What good is it? " 

 "What are the benefits?" "What the results?" "Does it pay?" 

 not in the narrow meaning of dollars and cents, but in the broader 

 range of benefit of whatever kind to the individual. 



It is unnecessary to name here the things which largely make 

 the civilization of our day what it is, and which are directly in- 

 debted to science and scientific education|for their existence and de- 

 velopment. These wonders of mechanism; the tricks man plays with 



