66 PROTECTION OF PLANTS, 1918-19 



SOME COMMON THINGS ON THE FARM 



Synopsis of an Illustrated Address Given to the Teachers, Children, and 



Parents of Brome Co. 



W. Lochhead, Macdonald College 



It is a common error to suppose that the farm and the countryside lack 

 interest. In fact, it would be nearer the truth to say that more wonderful and 

 interesting things occur about a farm than anywhere else. The animals, the 

 crops, the soil, the pastures, the brook, the woods, the garden and the orchard 

 all contain so much of the marvellous that our greatest scientific experts have not 

 yet done prying into the mysteries that there lie concealed. Strange as it may 

 seem, the most common things are often the most marvellous; and if our rural 

 folk knew more about them they would find life on the farm not only more 

 interesting, but also more satisfying in every way. 



One reason why these common things about the farm seem uninteresting is, 

 I believe, the lack of early instruction regarding them at shcool. The school has 

 practically ignored them as being of little value in education. As a result the 

 parents are also ignorant of their surroundings, and no interest is taken in such 

 matters in the home. It is a matter of experience that persons will not remain 

 long under conditions that are uninteresting, so this lack of interest in rural things 

 may be one of the main causes for the rural exodus. 



Children are naturally interested in the common things; and their wondering 

 inquisitiveness should be encouraged both at school and at home, for the know- 

 ledge gained may be of great value later on in life. No normal child is afraid to 

 handle insects, and it may be safely said that if they fear to touch caterpillars 

 they have been given wrong information from some ignorant source. The 

 importance of a teacher encouraging the study of the common things can hardly 

 be over-estimated. 



For generations the natural sympathies of the child towards nature have 

 been smothered ; as a result he saw but little that was beautiful in the world about 

 him. For generations the child has been educated as a thing apart from his 

 surroundings. Educationists had forgotten, or were ignorant of, several peda- 

 gogic principles, viz.: the senses are the avenues to the mind, and the sense 

 perceptions give rise to definite knowledge in the mind; new thoughts can be 

 comprehended only by the help of old thoughts; the greater the stock of ideas 

 possessed by the child, the greater the progress the child will make in the acquisi- 

 tion of knowledge or new ideas; the best development is self-development, by the 



