Rural School Leaflet 



1413 



keep the boys and the p^rls employed at useful and interesting tasks for 

 at least a part of the time when the schools were closed. 



In Otsego County, we were fortunate in having a fami bureau. In 

 each town I presented my plans to the farm bureau committeemen, 



Rural school fair, Fourth Supervisory District, Otsego County 



whom I found verv' ready to cooperate with me, and who appointed a 

 committee of their members to have charge of the agricultural and the 

 poultry contests, and who solicited the prizes to be offered. A teacher 

 was appointed chairman of a committee that had charge of the other 

 contests, and this committee appointed subcommittees to look after 

 special contests that were arranged. 



The prizes for the various contests were obtained in different ways. 

 In some towns the prizes were offered by individuals for whom the con- 

 tests were named. For example, in the town of Milford, the prize for the 

 potato contest was given by Supervisor Charles Armstrong, and in the 

 list of contests it was called the Supervisor Armstrong Potato Contest. 

 In some of the towns the money for the prizes was solicited by the teachers. 

 After the contests had been decided on and the prizes had been offered, 

 announcements were made in a local paper in each of the four towns. 



The fairs were held during the latter part of September, and the con- 

 tests were open to all pupils who had attended school in the town during 

 the previous year, or who had enrolled for the fall term. 



In each town there were special agricultural contests, the potato contest 

 being the most important one. The conditions required that the potatoes 



