8o THE NATURE-STUDY IDEA 



adaptation of it is the " district school experiment 

 garden" projected by O. J. Kern, Superintendent 

 of Schools of Winnebago County, Illinois. 

 These Illinois gardens are designed for the 

 explicit teaching of agricultural subjects. Is it 

 not strange that schools in farming communities 

 should not be equipped with a bit of farmed land ? 

 Aside from the tilled school-garden, why not 

 make arrangement with the adjoining farmer to 

 pasture his stock next the school-ground now and 

 then ? And why not have this farmer give the 

 children talks about the animals ? 



In recent years there has been a marvelous 

 application of knowledge and research to agricul- 

 tural practice. We have exerted every effort to 

 increase the productiveness and efficiency of the 

 farm, and we have entered a new era in farming — 

 a fact that will be more apparent in the years to 

 come than it is now. The burden of the new 

 agricultural teaching has been largely the 

 augmentation of material wealth. Hand in hand 

 with this new teaching, however, should go an 

 awakening in the less tangible but equally 

 powerful things of the spirit. More attractive 

 and more comfortable farm homes, better reading, 

 more responsive interest in the events of the 

 world, closer touch with the common objects 

 about him — these must be looked to before agri- 

 culture really can be revived. Appeal to greater 

 efficiency of the farm alone cannot permanently 

 relieve the agricultural status. This is all well 

 illustrated in the attitude of children toward the 



