502 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



come about largely through the introduction of so-called industrial 

 subjects and the laboratory metliod of teaching. If it be true that 

 there is confusion or lack of knowledge regarding the fundamental 

 principles of education, which have engaged the earnest considera- 

 tion of philosophers and sages for centuries, what of agreement can 

 be exj^ected concerning the essentials of subject-matter or method in 

 teaching these newer subjects which have come into our schools 

 within a few^ decades? 



Take, for example, one of these industrial subjects, agriculture. It 

 is only within comparatively recent times that the sciences upon 

 which agriculture rests have been taught with any reference to their 

 relation to the production of crops and animals, only within three 

 or four decades that agriculture has been taught as a separate sub- 

 ject, and only within quite recent years that a science of agriculture 

 comparable to the science of medicine has been recognized. Educa- 

 tors are not yet agreed upon the scope of this ancient art and modern 

 science. They have not come to full accord as to the definition of 

 agriculture. There are those who would confine it to plant produc- 

 tion or agronomy, not including horticulture or forestry, while others 

 would have it include in a general w\ay not only all phases of plant 

 production, but animal production, agrotechny, and such phases of 

 economics, mechanics, and engineering as have a bearing upon the 

 planning and management of farms, the construction and care of 

 farm structures and machinery, the keeping of farm acounts and 

 records, and the marketing of produce. 



The relation of the instruction in the basal natural sciences to that 

 in agriculture has also given rise to many pedagogical questions. 

 Many educators insist' that a thorough grounding in physics, chem- 

 istry, botany, and zoology is a prerequisite to a proper comprehension 

 of the science and practice of agriculture, and should therefore pre- 

 cede any attempt to teach agriculture in schools. Others would so 

 interweave instruction in the primary sciences and agriculture as to 

 do away with separate courses in the former for students of agri- 

 culture. 



In the very elementary agricultural instruction the children are 

 taught facts concerning plants, animals, chemical elements, the laws 

 of physics, etc., whenever a knowledge of these things seems to be 

 necessary. In other words, the instruction proceeds through the con- 

 crete to the abstract, a plan which is quite generally advocated for 

 elementary instruction, and which seems to meet with good success. 

 Should this plan be carried on up through the high school and the 

 agricultural college, thus doing away with all separate work in 

 physics, chemistry, botany, and zoology? If not, at what point 

 should the order of procedure be modified or reversed? It Avould 



