52 



ami animals (especially l)irfls and insects'), so that these may be recognized in 

 all stages of their <levelo]>ment. and their economic relaticms determined. 

 This will enable the i)ni)ils to decide whether a given species is mainly 

 l)eneticial or harmful and will set them to thinking about means of per- 

 petuating or exterminating the species. This last consideration is the one 

 which mainly determines the attitude of the farmer toward his field crops, 

 domestic animals, and fowls, as well as toward the weeds and other pests 

 that annoy him. When the nature-study teacher and her pupils have 

 arrived at this point of view they will be in a position to pass over as 

 unimportant such details as color of hair, length and number of teeth, 

 number of leaves, length of petioles and internodes, and a hundred other 

 peculiarities of plants and animals, except as these peculiarities have a direct 

 bearing upon the perpetuation of the species or njiou their usefulness or harm- 

 fulness to man. Such a point of view and such an attitude toward the things 

 studied will aid greatly in developing in the children the faculty of critical dis- 

 cernment. This faculty, according to President Eliot, of Harvard, "ought to 

 be carefully and incessantly cultivated by school, college, and the experience of 

 life, for it is capable of contributing greatly to happiness as well as to material 

 success." 



Such critical studies of plants, animals, soils, ^^■eather conditions, and other 

 natural objects and phenomena, in their relation to each other and to man, will 

 give the pupils an excellent preparation to take up at the beginning of their 

 sixth or seventh year in school the more formal study of the elements of 

 agriculture. 



ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE. 



The course in elementary agriculture may be given most appropriately during 

 the last two years in the rural common school. The time to be devoted to this 

 course will necessarily vai'y in different schools, but it is believed that on the 

 average not less than one hoiu" per week during two years will be required to 

 make the course effec-tive. A well-arranged and up-to-date text-book, with illus- 

 trations and suggestions for practical exercises, should be adopted as a basis for 

 this study. A few such books already exist, and an increased demand would 

 undoubtedly lead to the production of others and the still further improvement 

 of books of this class. The text-book will in most cases l)e necessary as a more 

 or less definite guide for the teacher, who will in all probability be without 

 special training in agriculture. It will also be helpful to the pupils in giving 

 a systematic view and in fixing definite knowledge of the subject, and to the 

 parents in showing them what such instruction really involves and in creating 

 an interest in the subject-matter of the books. 



The instruction in the class room should be sui)plemented by simple experi- 

 ments with soils, plants, and animals both at school and at home. Every effort 

 should be made to connect the instruction with the home life of the pupils. As 

 an aid to the accomi)lishmeut of this aim the pupils should be taken on occa- 

 sional Saturday excursions to neighboring farms to see improved live stock, 

 examine plans of buildings, and take notes on methods of cropping and cultivat- 

 ing. Visits to county fairs, where arr.-mgements could be made to allow the 

 older pupils to judge some of the live stock, fiiiits. and grain, and compare tlieir 

 scores with the work of the judges. Would be fine training for the classes in 

 agriculture. This scheme has been tried with older students of agricultiu'e and 

 has met with thorough approval. The officers of the fairs could probably be 

 induced to offer prizes for products grown by the pupils and for otlier agricul- 

 tural work done by them; or sijecial exhibits of their work could be made at 

 farmers' institutes or other meetings attended by their parents. All these 

 things would tend to create an interest in farm life, and would encourage parents 

 to make the farm more attractive to the children. 



The schoolrooms should be i)rovided with illuslr.-itive material consisting of 

 charts, pictures, collections of specimens (largely made by the pupils), and 

 boxes, cans, plates, and other inexpensive material which can be used in making 

 apparatus for conducting experiments. There should also be a school literary 

 containing at least a few stand.ird reference books on the different divisions of 

 agriculture and the puljlications of the State experiment stations and the Ignited 

 States DepartuH-nt of Agriculture. 



The text-book of agriculture should give an orderly and progressive treatment 

 of the elements of plant production, animal production, and dairying, together 

 with brief and very elementary discussions of a few topics iu rural engineering 



