PROGRESS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 291 



graduate (10 cents), 4 dairy thermometers (60 cents), 6 student lamp 

 chimneys (90 cents), 12 5-inch test tubes, 100 5-inch filter papers 

 (15 cents), a pint glass funnel (10 cents), a 4-bottle Babcock milk 

 tester with test bottles, pipette acid measure and acid (S5), an 

 alcohol lamp (25 cents), a kitchen scale with dial which will weigh 

 from 1 oimce to 24 pounds (90 cents), 12 ordinary glass tumblers (30 

 to 50 cents), a small quantity of litmus paper, and a few ordinary 

 plates, iron spoons, pie tins, etc., the school will be provided with an 

 excellent equipment for laboratory exercises, and all at a cost less 

 than $10. 



With this material in the hands of the pupils and a teacher willing 

 to experiment and learn with the pupils the ordinary rural school- 

 room becomes a laboratory in which it is possible to determine the 

 comparative temperature, weight, acidity, porosity, capillarity, and 

 fertility of different soils ; to test their water-holding capacity and the 

 readiness with which they may be drained, and to show the effects 

 of cultivation, mulching, and puddling on the moisture content and 

 physical condition of different soils. As far as the training of the 

 pupils in mathematics will permit, the results obtained in the labora- 

 tory exercises should be translated to field conditions, and the impor- 

 tance of the principles involved should be brought out by questions 

 concerning their application to the practical operations of farming. 



Most of the modem elementary text-books of agriculture contain 

 suggestions for numerous exercises illustrating the principles of 

 agriculture, and several of the agricultural colleges have published 

 circulars and bulletins containing similar suggestions. In order to 

 show the nature of material now available, we give below several 

 exercises selected from a bulletin (Practical Studies in Agriculture 

 for Public vSchools) published by the school of agriculture of Purdue 

 University, Lafayette, Ind. 



Study 1. — To illustrate the capillary power of soils. 



Apparatus needed. — Three or more lamp chimneys, or better, glass tubes, at least 

 an inch in diameter — the longer the better; a shallow pan that will hold water, and at 

 least two types of dry soil, a clay and a sand. 



Procedure. — Tie a cloth over the bottom of each chimney or glass tube, so that the 

 soil will not drop out. Fill one chimney with the sand, another with the clay, and 

 a third with a cloddy soil. If more soils are used, fill a chimney with each soil. Set 

 the filled chimneys in the pan and put about one-half inch of water in the bottom of 

 the pan and keep some there all the time. 



Note. — The soil used should be completely dried and if possible screened, so as to 

 be fine and uniform. 



Observations. — Note in which soil the water rises the faster. How many inches 

 does it rise in a unit of time? Try to explain the cause of the different rates of rising. 

 WTiy does the water not rise as rapidly in the cloddy soil? Does this experiment 

 teach anything about preparation of the seed bed? Try to make an application of 

 this experiment to farm conditions, especially to the subsoil. If you can have glass 



