RURAL SCHOOL EDUCATION AND SCHOOL- 

 GARDENING. 



Rural School Education. 



The major part of the work in Rural School Education is a corre- 

 spondence course for teachers and children in rural districts. Last year 

 41,000 school children and 4,000 teachers in New York State were 

 reached. As a basis for the educational work, there are published each 

 month the Cornell Rural School Leaflets, one for teachers and one for 

 children. The teachers reported on work conducted under the direction 

 of this Department by means of the Leaflets, and thousands of letters on 

 country life subjects were received from childen. In the teachers' 

 Leaflet, lessons were given in many lines of agriculture by experts in the 

 several departments at the College. General outdoor study was given 

 for the young children and elementary agriculture for the pupils in the 

 more advanced grades. 



An effort was made to investigate the need of apparatus in rural schools 

 to aid in agricultural instruction. Materials were sent from the College, 

 helpful in working out some of the lessons. Among other things, an 

 offer was made to send a Babcock milk test machine to each of the first 

 ten persons in ten different counties in New York State who would re- 

 quest them. Six weeks after the announcement was issued, fifty rural 

 school teachers had applied for the apparatus. In some of the smallest 

 rural districts, the machine was used not only for instruction in the school- 

 room but for instruction at Farmers' meetings, grange meetings, and the 

 like, in the vicinity. Children made tests of the milk from cows in the 

 neighborhood. The ten small machines cost about $50 and did good 

 service. A few of the districts to which these machines went have pur- 

 chased apparatus as permanent equipment for the school, and some 

 training class teachers have added them to their laboratory equipment. 



In addition to the work in the schools, there has been started, by means 

 of the Leaflets, the organization of Farm Girls' Clubs and Farm Boys' 

 Clubs throughout the State. These Clubs will be under the direction of 

 a farmer in the community who will help the young persons to organize 

 their Clubs, and to do some useful work relating to country life. 



An effort is being made from the College of Agriculture to direct recre- 

 ation for farm boys and girls. It is hoped to be able to standardize some 



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