1905.] AGRICULTURE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 223 



in this kind of work if it is conducted in the right way. I was 

 always very much interested in a case that occurred in the State 

 of Massachusetts, some ten miles north of Worcester, in con- 

 nection with a peach orchard there. The man's entire income 

 was from his peach orchard. His children were sent to school 

 from the money derived from that. Their home was dependent 

 upon it. An individual, who was interested in peach growing, 

 and who understood peach trees, walked in there and told the 

 farmer one day that his trees were infested with the peach 

 borers. The man says to the farmer, " Why don't you get rid 

 of those borers? They will kill your trees." The farmer 

 said, " I can't do anything with them. I can't get them out of 

 the way. It is impossible for me to do anything with them," 

 and the visitor said, " You can punch them all to death if you 

 want to. If you will take care of those trees you can save 

 them, but if you do not this orchard will die." " Well," the 

 farmer says, " I can't do it." His little girl happened to be not 

 far away, and she came over, and she said, " What was that 

 you said about getting rid of the borers that are going to kill 

 our peach trees ? " And then the man turned around and told 

 her. She went to work ; interested the family, and they all went 

 to work on that peach orchard, and they practically got rid of the 

 borers that they had. They saved the peach orchard, and by 

 saving the peach orchard they saved their home. They saved 

 that girl's high school work. They saved that girl's education 

 in music. They saved that girl's usefulness, to a great extent, 

 in the community, and benefited everybody else that was de- 

 pendent on them. That is the kind of work that ought to be 

 brought close home to the children in school every day. We 

 ought to teach the value of birds to the farm. And that is 

 one of the most important phases that can be brought out ; the 

 value of bird life. Only a few years ago it was found out that 

 during the craze for birds as ornaments there was taken from 

 Russia a certain variety of bird, which was highly prized for 

 that purpose. I cannot say how many of them were taken out 

 in a very short time, but in less than two years the other coun- 

 tries had to send food in there for the people, so that they could 

 live. Their crops were being destroyed by noxious insects, 

 which had become established in a very few years. By the 

 annihilation of the birds there had come almost a famine. Of 

 course, this estimate of bird life is a thing of great importance, 



