COUNTRY CHURCH AND PROGRESS 173 



educational reformers; but it is little enough 

 to say that they can be vastly improved. They 

 are not keeping up with city schools. The 

 country is especially lacking in good high-school 

 privileges. Of technical training too, in spite 

 of forty years of agricultural colleges, the 

 country is sadly in need. Neither in primary 

 grades, in high schools, in special schools, is 

 there an adequate amount of study of the 

 principles of agriculture — principles which an 

 age of science demands must be mastered if the 

 independent farmer is to be a success. (3) 

 Quicker communication. Isolation has been 

 the bugbear of farm life. It must be overcome 

 partly by physical means. There must be a 

 closer touch between individuals of the class, 

 and between farmers and the dwellers in the 

 town and city. 



These social needs are in some degree met by 

 the farmers' organizations, by the rural and 

 agricultural schools, and by the development of 

 new means of communication. There is a host 

 of minor agencies. In other chapters I have 

 tried to show how these various institutions are 

 endeavoring to meet these rural needs. So im- 

 portant are these factors of rural life that we 

 may now raise the question, What should be the 



