252 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



WHY SHOULD AGRICULTURE BE TAUGHT IN OUR 

 SECONDARY SCHOOLS? 



Ramon Strout, Cumberland Center. 

 (Prize Essay.) 



Agriculture, the oldest science known, has but recently 

 been introduced into the course of study of any secondary 

 schools. A few years ago the necessity of preserving the fer- 

 tility of the soil led the government to establish experiment 

 stations and to conduct research work, the result of which has 

 been the publication of a large number of bulletins and text- 

 books on the various phases of agriculture. Their books and 

 bulletins have been used for instruction in many secondary 

 schools and agricultural colleges of the nation. Our question 

 for discussion is, "Why should agriculture be taught in our 

 secondary schools?" I believe that for four reasons agricul- 

 ture should be taught in our secondary schools. First, it helps 

 to keep the boys on the farms; second, it teaches them scien- 

 tific methods of agriculture; third, it benefits the community; 

 fourth, it benefits the school. 



Of late years there has been a great rush of boys from the 

 farm to the city. The abandoned farms all over the state show 

 this. The stirring life and seemingly high wages attract them 

 more than the slow life on the farm, and they do not stop to 

 consider that it will take all they can earn to barely support 

 them in the city. The average boy brought up on the farm 

 sees in life nothing but labor. To show him how interesting 

 farm life can be is one of the opportunities of agricultural 

 teaching. This opportunity is being improved by practical 

 experiments which illustrate things learned in the text-books. 

 We have a room in the basement of our school building which 

 w-e use for an agricultural laboratory. There we have mate- 

 rials for performing experiments with the different kinds of 

 soil, and equipment for testing milk and cream. Last year the 



