882 Department of Agkicultuee 



Secondly, but more important still, the census has had even a 

 deejDer value in that it has directed the attention of the school 

 children to the leading farm industries in their districts and to 

 the total value of their farm products : in other words, it has 

 impressed upon them the extent of the rural wealth of their 

 communities and the need for a more self-sustaining agriculture, 

 j^ever before has their attention been so widely directed to the 

 number of silos in their districts, to the importance of their 

 total output of pigs and chickens. Xever l^efore have they given 

 such general consideration to the fact that their districts were 

 capable of producing a given number of bushels of potatoes or a 

 given number of quarts of milk a day. Xor has "it ever been 

 j)ossil^le before to bring the facts for comparison by counties so 

 squarely before them, directing their interest to the result of 

 their own labors. 



At a time and in an age w4ien the people of a commonwealth 

 are confronted with the problem of keeping on the farm the boys 

 and girls best fitted for country life and those who will most 

 ably provide for the agriculture of the future, an exercise of 

 this kind that interests the boys and girls in the wealth and 

 possibilities of their ow^n farms, and of their own communities, 

 has a timely and a far-reaching value. 



Very truly yours. 



Commissioner of Agriculture. . 



