CORNELL 



R\iral School Leaflet 



Published monthly by the New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell University, from 

 September to May and entered as second-class matter September 30, 1907, at the Post Office 

 at Ithaca, New York, under the Act of Congress of July 16, 1894. L. H. Bailey Director 



ALICE G. McCLOSKEY, Editor 

 Professors G. F. WARREN and CHARLES H. TUCK, Advisers 



Vol. I. 



ITHACA, N. Y., FEBRUARY, 1908. 



No. 6 



/;;;/.'i7i/-////Vi;,i,^ 



FOREWORD. 



HE Cornell Rural School Leaflets are prepared for 

 the purpose of helping teachers who desire to give 

 instruction in agriculture, and who feel that they 

 have not sufficient preparation for the work. We 

 are not following as complete and consecutive 

 work as would be given in a textbook on agricul- 

 ture, but endeavoring to give suggestive lessons 

 that will open the way for more definite instruc- 

 tion in agriculture later. The lessons given in the 

 Leaflets are prepared by persons who are teach- 

 ing the subjects in the College of Agriculture. 



It is difficult to give lessons in agriculture 

 without some equipment for laboratory work. We 

 try, however, to have the work so planned that every teacher, even in 

 the poorest rural school, will be able to give some instruction from each 

 lesson that will be fundamental to agricultural knowedge. Every 

 teacher may not be able to give the entire lesson as we suggest in the 

 Leaflet. IMany wall be able to do this, and others should give as much as 

 their opportunities will permit. 



Make the lesson as live as possible. Whether it be on the snow 

 storm, on the horse, on plant-foods, or on milk products, have actual 

 material with which to work. It will not require a great deal of effort to 

 provide material for these lessons, and teachers will be fully repaid by 

 the increased interest. 



One teacher recently wrote, "Do not give us too much farm in the 

 Leaflets, we like nature-study." Such a request is encouraging, because 

 we are hopeful when we find teachers willing to put their pupils in touch 

 with the out-of-doors. This is always fundamental to agriculture. All 

 agriculture is nature-study, but, since most educators have recognized the 

 value of general out-of-door study, the College of Agriculture is now able 

 to center its interest more and more on that part of nature-study which 

 is closely allied to practical agriculture. Many excellent books 



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