CORNELL 



R^ural ScKool Leaflet 



SUPPLEMENT FOR THE TEACHER 



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. 2 ITHACA, N. Y., OCTOBER, 1908 No. 2 



"Oh, good gigantic smile o' the brown old earth 

 This autumn morning! How he sets his bones 

 To bask i' the sun, and thrusts out his knees and feet 

 For the ripple to run over in its mirth : 

 Listening the while, where on the heap of stones 

 The white breast of the sea-lark twitters sweet." 



— Browning. 



NOTES 



T is now time for every teacher in the rural 

 schools to help the pupils to know something 

 about their surroundings and how to live 

 better in country places. From our experience 

 of last year with many earnest and energetic 

 teachers, we feel that the time has come when 

 children can be given instruction along prac- 

 tical lines of agriculttire and get an all-round 

 educational value from such instruction. The 

 practical should not be kept constantly before the child's mind, but if 

 he can be interested and educated as welt by means of some practical 

 lesson, it would seem advisable to give it in a rural school. In this 

 Leaflet we are giving suggestions for several lessons. The teachers 

 should take those that are best adapted to their surroundings and see 

 that the children have real, live material from which to gain knowledge. 

 A few words on some of these lessons may be helpful. 



Weeds. If the lesson on weeds be given to the class, the children 

 will begin to think about this subject that should interest every farmer. 

 The lesson is one of mere recognition which is important before children 

 can consider the question from the practical standpoint. There is no 

 reason why every child should not during this fall be able to identify 

 many of the weeds about their schools and homes. Later they will 

 study the life history of the weeds and learn ways in which they can be 

 controlled. In New York State 35,000 children worked with us last 



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