94 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. 



Crop Reporter (U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Statis. Crop Reporter, 13 (1911), No. 

 10, pp. 73-80). — Statistics on the condition of crops in the United States and 

 foreign countries, the farm values and range of prices of important crops and 

 products, temperature and precipitation data, sugar-beet and beet-sugar produc- 

 tion in the United States in 1910. durum wheat in 1910-11, cost of producing 

 barley in important barley States, and monthly receipts and stocks of eggs 

 and poultry in the United States are presented. 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 



Beginnings in agriculture, A. R. Mann (New York, 1911, pp. XI I -^34 J, figs. 

 178). — Based on the report of the committee of the National Education Asso- 

 ciation on industrial education in schools for rural communities, this text, 

 another of the Rural Text-book Series edited by L. H. Bailey, treats the 4 sets 

 of subjects recommended by that committee, viz : The affairs of agriculture, the 

 soil, farming schemes and crops, and fai'm animals. 



Part 1, dealing with the general agricultural situation, may be used as a 

 series of introductory reading and discussion exercises. The actual work with 

 subject matter begins with part 2 on such topics as the nature and composition 

 of the soil, plant life in the soil, and the improvement of the soil. Part 3 deals 

 with the dissemination and multiplication of plants, rotation of crops, various 

 farm crops, the orchard, the wood crop, insect enemies and diseases of plants, 

 as well as their improvement. Part 4 treats of the various farm animals in 

 relation to their needs, feeds, types, breeds, and improvement. The appendix 

 contains a list of elementary textbooks on agriculture, pamphlets, and publi- 

 cations of this Department which may be useful in supplementing the text. 



New elementary agriculture, C. E. Bessey, L. Bruner, G. D. Swezey, et al 

 (Chicago and Lincoln, Nehr., 1911, 9. eel., pp. XVIII+209, figs. 62).— In this 

 revised edition a few errors in the first edition (E. S. R., 15, p. 626) have been 

 corrected, all the plates have been carefully revised, and exercises and ques- 

 tions added. 



Suggestions for the teaching of gardening ([Ot. Brit.] Bd. Ed, Circ. 746, 

 1910, pp. 16). — Suggestions are given to teachers and others as to how school 

 gardening can be made educative as well as useful. 



It is asserted that school gardening is a branch of nature study rather than a 

 professional training for an industry. " But it is also — and this is what makes 

 it particularly suitable for the education of children — a study which aims at 

 producing visible and tangible results, which appeals to their practical and 

 utilitarian instincts, and is closely connected with their domestic life." 



The importance of maintaining an intimate and reciprocal relation between 

 the garden work and the ordinary school work is pointed out, as well as the 

 advantages claimed for the single, dual, and common plat systems. Short 

 notes are also given dealing with some of the principal questions involved in 

 successful gardening work. 



The sequence of the seasons, G. A. Bricker (Ohio Ed. lie, 60 (1911), No. 

 10, pp. 554-558, figs. 6). — The author points out the relation of the seasons to 

 farm work, and suggests that agricultural instruction should be timed accord- 

 ingly. 



Scheme of agricultural education ([Lancaster, England] Ed. Dept., 1911, 

 pp. 72, pis. 12). — An outline is given of the scheme of agricultural education 

 to be carried out in Lancaster County at the farm and dairy and poultry schools 

 at Hutton, and the agricultural school at Harris Institute, Preston, as well as 

 of miscellaneous work in the county. 



