90G Department of Agricultuee 



As soon as the data are secured, teachers are requested to for- 

 ward the same to their district superintendent, and as soon as 

 reports from all districts are received, he should forward them to 

 this department by first-class mail. For this purpose we enclose 

 a 10-cent postage stamp. The excess postage, if any, will he paid 

 at this end of the line. 



We are anxious to get this work completed as soon as possible 

 and will thank you for your prompt attention to it. 



Please address all communications to the Bureau of Statistics, 

 Department of Agriculture, Albany, N^ew York. 



Yours truly, 



Charles S. Wilson, 

 Commissioner of Agriculture. 

 Approved 



John H. Finley, 



Commissioner of Education. 



On the same day, was issued by the Education Department to 

 all teachers, the University of the State of i^ew York Bulletin to 

 the Schools for February 1, 191G, containing a thorough explana- 

 tion of the census and directions for making the enumeration. 

 From time to time further notices were included in the bulletin, 

 and these are reprinted in full lielow : 



February 1, 19 16 



A FARM CENSUS TAKEN BY THE CHILDREN IN THE RURAL 



SCHOOLS 



Abraham Lincoln said once, in an address before a state agri- 

 cultural society : " No other human occupation opens so wide a 

 field for the profitable and agreeable combination of lalior with 

 cultivated thought, as agriculture. I know nothing so pleasant 

 to the mind as the discovery of anything that is at once new and 

 valuable — nothing that so lightens and sweetens toil as the hope- 

 ful pursuit of such discovery. And how vast and how varied a 

 field is agriculture for such discovery ! The mind, already trained 

 to thought in the country sqhool, or higher school, can not fail to 

 .find there an exhaustless source of enjoyment. Every blade of 

 grass is a study ; and to produce two where there was but one is 

 both a profit and a pleasure. And not grass alone, but soils, seeds, 

 and seasons — hedges, ditches, and fences — draining, droughts, 



