AltnUKSS OK WKT/'OMR. 43 



five had made a liviiis and accumulated sufficient in addition to invest 

 $10,000 in American scliool l)onds. They inquired of my friend of tlie 

 soundness of American securities of that kind, for they were thinlviug 

 of investing more. In Nebraska we require 160 acres of land for our 

 farming operations; there this family had 7 acres. Being of an investi- 

 gating turn of mind, my friend turned to the cause. He went to the little 

 town school, and what do you suppose he found tliere? He found in the 

 ninth grade a knowledge of agriculture that would put this scientific body 

 to shame. He proposed a question in scientific agriculture to the ninth 

 grade class of some forty or fifty pupils, such as might be proposed to a 

 high s('hool class. The class answered in a chorus, the question was con- 

 sidered so elementary. The whole basis of their study there had been 

 agriculture. They loved it, and lived it, and made it a part of their, every- 

 day life. The school was helping them to train for the thing they ex- 

 pected to do in life. 



The point that I am trying to make is that our problem of the future 

 in Nebraska is to carry this type of training to the coming generation. 

 This knowledge of scientific farming must be taught in every country 

 school. Let me tell you that the school system of Nebraska today is the 

 same in the rural districts that it was twenty-five years ago. Our rural 

 schools in Nebraska are having as a basis of their instruction a course 

 of study which leads to a classical high school course, and from that to a 

 course of the same kind in the college or University. It is a fact that 

 about ninety-three boys out of one hundred never get beyond the eighth 

 grade, and they never get that training for real active life in the college 

 or University. This is what our school system amounts to now. We are 

 confronted with the problem of carrying agricultural education to the 

 schools of Nebraska. That is the problem tliat is presented to you and 

 to me and to all who are interested in this work. That is one of the 

 things that we must do if we expect to keep pace with the nations who 

 are doing it. We must have in our rural districts schools which can give 

 real agricultural instruction, schools w^hich are worthy of being leaders 

 in the various communities. We must have consolidated school districts, 

 and with these must come means and facilities for a small experiment 

 farm for each school. It may be a little way off in the future, but that 

 thing must come. It must come if our educational system is to survive 

 and assume the burden that is iaid ujion it. We must have in our com- 

 mon schools and in the colleges of our state a course of study which has 

 as its basis a knowledge of agriculture. It might not do ibr Lincoln or 

 Omaha schools, but in the schools throughout Nebraska as a whole, an 

 interest in agriculture is above everything else. In our high schools we 

 must not have merely a course in Latin and German and English and 

 history, but we must have a course in agriculture that means something. 

 So I bid you welcome today, men of the State Horticultural Society, 

 because we are interested in the same things you are. I bid you the wel- 

 come of a servant as one of the custodians of this Institution of yours, 

 and the welcome of the comrade, because we are seeking the same Ideals 

 In our lifework. 



