XXll INTRODUCTION 



appreciated. Farm life is not attractive to the boys and girls, 

 and they turn their eyes toward the city. The occupations of 

 the fathers do not appeal to the sons. There is a belief that 

 something better is to be found, and so there is a lack of 

 respect for the calling of the father. Furthermore, there is a 

 lack of respect for manual labor and a belief that education 

 can make it possible to live without work. As most of the 

 boys and girls will be compelled to work with their hands, 

 they should be taught early that labor is honorable and that 

 idleness is disgraceful. By using the dominant industry the 

 teacher can create a respect for it and at the same time show 

 its possibilities. It can be shown that brain and muscle can 

 accomplish just as much on the farm as in the city and that 

 the chances for success are greater. It may not be the prov- 

 ince of the public school to teach any trade or industry as 

 such, but it is the province of the school to teach the boys and 

 girls how to work and to put them in the path of honest living. 

 This is the purpose of the work in agriculture. 



SUGGESTED COURSE 



The work offered in ithis text is intended for the children 

 in the seventh and eighth grades and in the first and second 

 years in the high schools. The text may be used to advant- 

 age as a reader in the sixth grade. When the course of 

 study is too crowded the work may be taken three or four 

 times a week, supplementary to nature study, or it may be 

 taken before or after school. 



This is a suggestion of what may be done by live teachers 

 in the district schools and in the country and town graded 

 schools. The work should be done in connection with arith- 



