76 THE NATURE-STUDY IDEA 



during the summer. This may be expected 

 to maintain the interest throughout the busy 

 season. 



The culmination of the Reading-Course is an 

 eleven weeks' term of instruction at the University 

 in the winter, to which readers and others are 

 eligible. 



Reading-Course and text-book work must not 

 be confounded with true nature-study work. The 

 former aims directly at the imparting of informa- 

 tion ; the latter seeks to put one in sympathy with 

 his surroundings. Any successful reading-course 

 work brings the reader into sympathy with 

 nature, but that is not its prime motive. The 

 nature-study bulletin is distinct from the agricul- 

 ture or farming bulletin, however elementary the 

 latter may be. 



Coordinate with the regular farmers' Reading- 

 Course, there is a course for farmers' wives. The 

 most difficult and discouraging feature of American 

 agriculture is the isolated position of the farmer's 

 wife. This position can be alleviated only by the 

 elevation of the general tone of farm life. The 

 farmers' wives' course is modeled after that for 

 farmers, but it has its own literature. The 

 publications of the Farmers' Wives' Reading- 

 Course are thus far as follows : 



Saving Steps, 



Home Sanitation, 



Saving Strength, 



Food for the Farmer's Family, 



The Kitchen Garden, 



