1905.] AGRICULTURE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 221 



things, and every time she did a mean thing she got smaller 

 and smaller. She kept on doing mean things, and the little 

 girl told me of the mean things that that woman did. And 

 she says : " Just see, she was turned into a bird, and the little 

 red hood that she had still stays as the red head of the wood- 

 pecker." (Laughter.) I said to her: "Did you find out 

 anything about the bird, anything about its feathers or 

 tongue ? " " Oh, no, no. The teacher didn't say anything 

 about that." " Did you find out what the woodpecker eats ? " 

 " Oh, no, we didn't learn anything about the woodpecker at 

 all, not in that way. We didn't learn anything about it, only 

 how it got its red head." So it is. It is unnecessary for me 

 to comment upon that method of teaching. 



I agree that we ought to teach the children the things of 

 nature. We ought to carry them close home to nature, in a 

 way that would make it worth something to him in after life. 

 It is all right to tell stories, but put them where they belong. 

 I don't know where that is, but I am quite sure they do not 

 belong in this phase of the work. 



Over in the State of Illinois there was a little bulletin put 

 out by a teacher there concerning trees. The whole thing is a 

 waste. Among other things the book went on in this way: 

 It spoke of how the trees must feel when they are taken out of 

 their native woods and planted along the public streets in the 

 city. " Oh," she says, " how the trees must feel when they are 

 taken out of their beautiful surroundings, in their native woods, 

 and taken into the town where everything is hurry, this way 

 and that. How the trees must feel when that occurs." And 

 she says : " I can imagine the great big wail which the trees 

 pour forth into the ears of the wind." It is against such work 

 as that that I would like to have public opinion turn its atten- 

 tion, for many good citizens are paying taxes to support the 

 school teachers, who will waste their time and the taxpayers' 

 money in serving out such twaddle as that. I would like to 

 get such work as that out of the way. 



I have before me a little book which I wish all people could 

 examine who are interested in this subject. It is a little bulletin 

 that has been put into the hands of teachers, expecting that 

 they shall follow out these lessons. I want to call your attention 

 to this : If the codling moth lays fifty eggs on fifty apples in 

 a single day, and then lays fifty more eggs, how many apples 



