1426 Rural School Leaflet 



they were dclijj^lited to tell me tliiiij.^s about raising corn, as a nmnber of 

 them were raising some at home. Pope says, " You must teach men as if 

 you taught them not," and, as the boy is father to the man. it works very 

 well on boys also. ***** 



There are nineteen large maple trees in the school yard where I teach. 

 These trees are very large, and some of them have been growing nearly 

 forty years. It is needless for me to say that plants or shrubs will not grow 

 in that yard. The children in former years have tried having flowers and 

 plants, but were not successful. Now I do not encourage planting a tree 

 or shrubbery in our yard on Arbor Day, and I explain to them that the 

 large roots take all the moisture and nourishment from the soil and the 

 foliage the sunlight, but that our beautiful maples more than compensate 

 for that, and that the survival of the fittest is best here as elsewhere. 



Sandy Creek, New York, April 16, 19 14 



We try to study, as far as possible, the real not the printed things. For 

 instance, we are taking up the study of poultry. We selected one person 

 in the district who has the best conditions for making the poultry business 

 a successful one. To that farmer's home we went in a bod}', during a noon 

 intermission, each pupil taking notes on facts that he or she was to obtain. 

 (These had been previously planned out and listed.) Some of them were 

 care, food, water, description of the henhouse including size, lighting, 

 ventilation, and inside conveniences for the hens. We also collected 

 specimens of the different kinds of feed. At the end of this trip we knew 

 more about the care of hens than three weeks of patient studying would 

 have given us. We intend to study cattle in the same way. * * * * 



Our trips about the district prove to the skeptical that we are doing 

 som.ething worth while. Our appliance of nature study to practical things 

 of life, such as the identification of forest trees and shrubs and the iden- 

 tification of birds and birds' nests, teaches us to love and respect those 

 things of God's creation as well as those of man's. 



Our plans for the coming weeks are as full of interest as those of the 

 past. We are planning to form an Audubon Club, which we think will be 

 of great help in our bird study. We are trying to do our own work so 

 neatly that we can enter it at the school exhibit at our county fair, and, 

 perhaps, gain some prize. One of our best plans is to have a good garden. 

 Each year we have had a small one on the school ground, and, though 

 it has been satisfactory as far as it went, we think we can do better. We 

 have rented a plot of land forty feet long and fifteen feet wide, from a 

 farmer whose house is near-by. 



In order to transact our business properly we have formed a board of 

 managers. This consists of a president, a vice-president, a secretary, 

 a treasurer, a business manager, and a collector. In the treasurer's 

 hands I have placed four dollars to defray all necessar\' expenses. From 

 this sum the business manager will draw enough, at different times, to 

 pay rent, cost of seeds and fertilizers, and for incidentals. 



As our vegetables mature we are planning to sell them to the occupants 

 of the cottages, and to the hotels at a summer resort close by, and to the 

 grocers of our nearest village as they pass on their delivery trips. The 



