Extension Work in Horticulture. 549 



and iu so doing the entire work of the school will be advanced in 

 interest and iu efficiency. 



" This work has been, without exception, received favorably 

 and with interest by teachers, pupils, officers and patrons of the 

 schools who have come to listen to this course of lectures. In 

 some instances, iu the rural districts, farmers have been present 

 who were school trustees, and at the close of the exercises one 

 said publicly in speaking of the work done that ' if he and his 

 neighbors could have had that kind of instruction when they 

 were boys, they would have been in a far more prosperous condi- 

 tion as farmers to-day.' In some places, notably in districts near 

 where a horticultural school had been held the previous month, 

 the school-house was beautifully decorated with autumn leaves, 

 with boughs of apples hangiug on the walls of the schoolroom, 

 flowers and plants brought in for the occasion, while the fruits of 

 the orchard and of the garden were piled upon the teacher's desk 

 and on the floor to be correctly named and to ascertain the causes 

 of some diseases and blights that were afflicting them; and in 

 such cases there was a marked attendance of the patrons of the 

 school. In several schools a vote was taken to ascertain the 

 number of pupils who lived upon farms, both in district and high 

 schools, and a further test vote taken to ascertain how many 

 were satisfied to live on the farm and desired to do so when they 

 had finished their school work. In some places the astonishing 

 fact was met that not one hand went up or one vote was given in 

 favor of living on the farm. This is a significant and vitally im- 

 portant fact brought out in this experimental educnnonal work. 

 These school children from the farm expressed the simple, honest 

 convictions of their hearts that they w^ere not satisfied with farm 

 living and intended to get away from it in the future when oppor- 

 tunity might ofi'er. Yet these children from the farms showed 

 no lack of interest in the subjects as they were prestnited to them 

 find showed an active interest iu answering questions that per- 

 tain to some of the interesting things about the farm. 



^' This is but a corroboration of the facts obtained in the recent 

 investigation touching the condition of the rural population 

 made by the New York Committee for the Promotion of Agri- 

 culture — that seventy per cent, of the replies received in this 

 inquiry indicated a tendency on the part of the rural population 

 to go to the city. An important question here arises. What is 

 to be the future of our rural schools and of the agriculture of 

 the state if the present generation, as seems so clearly indicated, 

 is not satisfied with rural life and feels no interest in mainlaining 

 or contributing to the agricultural and educational interests of 

 the state? While many more rural school-houses must become 



