796 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. [Vol.35 



wliether in horticulture or animal husbandry, etc. Courses are offered in horti- 

 culture, agronomy, dairying, poultry keeping, and animal husbandry, largely 

 text-book courses, but all related to the general course called field practice. 

 The classes in farm building construction have erected a dairy building, a 

 garage and wagon house, a small bouse for an acetylene gas generator, a black- 

 smith shop, and other small buildings, and with the assistance of two carpenters 

 have constructed a good barn. 



[Barrio school industrial efficiency contest], H. E. Cutler et al. (Philip- 

 pine Craftsman, 4 (1916), No. 7, pp. Ji29-.'f06, figs. 29).— A resume of the barrio 

 school industrial-efficiency contest is given, followed by discussions of standards 

 by which industrial efficiency is judged, and an account of the work of the 

 trade schools, farm schools, settlement farm schools, primary gardening work, 

 etc. 



The barrio schools reported instruction in gardening to classes ranging from 

 S to 45 pupils. In 80 per cent of the schools 5 recitations were held per v eek, 

 and more overtime was given to this course than to any other, and it was 

 considered the one which most influenced the home. The average school garden 

 contained 457 square meters (about 4,917 sq. ft.) of land with an animal-proof 

 fence. The pupils cultivated on an average about 23 square meters of land at 

 school and 16 square meters at home. 



The present trend of nature-study in ■Wisconsin, F. T. Ullrich (Nature- 

 Study Rev., 12 (1916), No. 3, pp. 102-115). — The author gives in detail the 

 results of a questionnaire sent out as to the present trend of nature study in 

 Wisconsin. 



Systematic courses in nature study were presented in only 19 per cent of the 

 86 graded schools of the State reporting, but it was taught in an incidental man- 

 ner in 24 per cent additional. The most frequent objections to or difficulties 

 encountered in the presentation of systematic courses are overcrowded curricu- 

 lum and dearth of qualified teachers for the instruction. 



The majority of the replies state that the chief aims of nature study in the 

 primary grades are to train the powers of observation, to develop the esthetic 

 and appreciative capacities of pupils, and to acquaint them with the animate 

 and inanimate material of their environment. The additional aims for the inter- 

 mediate grades suggest special emphasis on training in the scientific method of 

 thinking and the extension of the acquisition of information, and some educators 

 think that a strong beginning should be made in the introduction of the 

 economic elements into the instruction. In the grammar grades increased im- 

 portance is given to the economic or vocational and the knowledge and prepara- 

 tory aims. 



The vocational aspect is presented in agriculture in three schools and in 

 nature study in one. Even when agriculture is included with nature study the 

 vocational in this subject is not very frequently attempted. There seems to b-a 

 very little opposition to the idea of a vocational trend in nature study, although 

 many believe that the cultivation of an appreciation of nature and nature's 

 ways, may be defeated if the subject is over-practicalized. 



The organization of nature-study, O. W. Caldwell (Nature-Study Rev., 

 12 (1916), No. 5, pp. 189-192). — Information from nearly 400 school systems in 

 Indiana and Illinois, which were taken as types, shows that something like 80 

 per cent of these schools are now teaching nature study, some in all of the 

 eight grades, and practically all in at least four years. Less definite information 

 from most of the other States indicates an essentially favorable situation, 

 while in a few States very little attention is given to the subject. The need of 

 organized courses and principles of organization are discussed. 



