684 RuiiAL School Leaflet. 



of planting seeds, effects of different amounts of cultivation, and the 

 like. If the garden can be kept up during the summer, a great number 

 of experiments can be performed. Different fertilizers may be used. 

 Alfalfa, vetch, soybeans and others of the newer crops may be grown. 

 In many cases experiments may be conducted by farmers adjacent to 

 the school grounds and may be studied by pupils and teacher. 



The best place for pupils' private gardens is at home, where they 

 can be under the constant eye of the gardener. Efforts put forth in 

 encouragement of home gardens nearly always bring good results. It is 

 not necessary that such a garden be for vegetables or flowers. Pupils, par- 

 ticularly the older ones, may grow corn, potatoes, alfalfa, and other crops. 



School-garden work may be connected with exhibits at the county 

 fairs with prizes. 



References. 



Write to the Secretary of Agriculture at Washington, D. C, for 

 one copy of each of the Farmers' Bulletins and the index to them. There 

 are about 275 of these bulletins, each one dealing with a specific topic 

 such as alfalfa, corn, modern conveniences in the farm-home, etc. They 

 will be sent free. These may be punched and tied into volumes with 

 shoe-strings. Manila paper makes a good cover. These bulletins make 

 a good reference library in agriculture. Many of the numbers are 

 suitable for supplementary reading. If they are in the schoolroom, 

 pupils will get much benefit by voluntary reading. 



Also ask the Secretary of Agriculture for Bulletin 186 of the Ofiice 

 of Experiment Stations, " Exercises in Elementary Agriculture." This 

 contains detailed directions for carrying out such exercises in rural 

 schools. 



Write your Congressman asking him to send your school library 

 one copy each of the Yearbooks of the Department of Agriculture that he 

 has for distribution. These are interesting volumes and well illustrated. 



Ask the New York Agricultural Experiment Station at Geneva to 

 send you one copy of each of its bulletins and reports that are available 

 for your library. 



Write to the New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell 

 University, Ithaca, asking for one copy each of its bulletins and reports 

 that are available ; also for one copy each of the Farmers' and Farmers* 

 Wives' Reading-Course Bulletins. 



Many of these bulletins, particularly the Farmers' Reading-Course 

 Bulletins, can be vised as a textbook. Choose a few of these that you 

 expect to use and ask for enough to supply the class. 



The teacher should also receive the nature-study publications of 

 the College of Agriculture. The handsome volume of " Cornell Nature- 



