AGRICULTURE 



107 



AGRICULTURE 



Courses in Agriculture for Schools 



The effort to relate the work of the school- 

 room to the outside life of boys and girls 

 the emphasis on the practical is one of the 

 most striking tendencies in modern education. 

 It has resulted in the introduction of manual- 

 t mining and domestic science courses in the 

 public schools, in greater emphasis being placed 

 on laboratory work in science courses, and what 

 is of equal importance, it has given the study 

 of agriculture a definite place in the school in 

 many communities. The agricultural college 

 has become too well established to excite com- 

 ment; agricultural courses in town and rural 

 schools are of more recent date, but their prac- 

 ticability and value, which have been weighed 

 and not found wanting, are bringing them more 

 and more into favor with educators every- 

 where. 



Below is given a suggested course covering 

 the months from September to June, inclusive. 

 This may be adapted to the graded town 

 schools or to those in rural communities. Any 

 teacher will find it helpful as a basis of work, 

 and it can easily be modified to meet local 

 conditions. The object of this plan is to make 

 the work in agriculture more than a text-book 

 course; in other words, to make it a vital part 

 of the pupils' every-day experiences. 



SEPTEMBER 



Practical work in the school and fields. Sep- 

 tember Is the month for schoolroom demon- 

 strations of selecting, testing, curing and storing 

 seed corn. (In communities where this is not 

 cultivated some other grain may be chosen.) It 

 should be pointed out that the amount of mois- 

 ture in seed corn at harvest time (from 20 to 50 

 per cent) is sufficient to cause serious trouble 

 In case of early frost Freezing of the water 

 would result In its expansion, which in turn would 

 cause the destruction of the germinating cells. 

 There should be practical demonstrations of cur- 

 ing, or drying, the seed, and of storing It to 

 ct It from mice and Insects and to keep It 

 m dampness and excessive cold. Another 



y line of work Is an excursion Into the fields 

 to observe their condition, to recognize and de- 

 stroy weeds, and to collect seeds. Insects and 



r material used In illustrative lessons. If 

 pupils have cultivated project Held* of their 

 own. they may be visited on these excursions. 

 Composition work. The local fairs should be 



uled, and each pupil should prepare a report 

 <>f the exhibits. In connection with field work 

 use notebooks. Descriptions of the pupils' ex- 



nces as summer gardeners may form the 

 basis of drill In composition work, both wr 



oral. For practice In business letter-writing 

 direct the pupils to write to various authorities 

 for bulletins, periodicals and catalogues. 



Exercises in reading and spelling. The sup- 

 plementary-reading books of the school library 

 and other books available should be utilized 

 whenever possible. Such portions or passages 

 as have a bearing on the work of the month 

 should be carefully selected by the teacher and 

 made a part of the reading lessons. The follow- 

 ing are suggestive titles suitable for this pur- 

 pose: 



Fosdick's Maize; Longfellow's T* Legend of 

 Maize (in Hiawatha) ; Kingsley's Eves and No 

 Eyes; Pope's Happy the Man; Bryant's To a 

 Waterfowl; Trowbridge's Evening at the Farm; 

 Cooper's Bobwhite. 



Agricultural journals and other farm periodi- 

 cals or bulletins to which the school may have 

 access should also be used. 



The spelling lists of the regular lessons may 

 be varied by the addition of new words learned 

 by the pupils in their agricultural reading 1 . As 

 in the regular work, both the pronunciation and 

 definition of these words should be learned. Th- 

 list of terms they will encounter includes such 

 words as cankerworm, parasite, aphis, bind- 

 weed, weevil, environment, etc, 



Lessons in arithmetic. Measurements of the 

 school yard and of fields, and computations of 

 average yields of crops, cost per acre, profits, 

 rate of interest on the investment, etc.. are 

 illustrative of what may be done in arithmetic. 

 Use the agricultural work of the month as the 

 basis of problems that involve the particular 

 mathematical principles the pupils are then 

 studying. 



Lessons in geography. Give lessons In map- 

 making. Some of the pupils, by personal ob- 

 servation, will be able to draw their own map* 

 of the district, or sections of it. while others 

 will succeed only In making copies of original 

 maps made from surveys. Maps of the state or 

 province may also be copied, and on these should 

 be indicated the principal crops of different sec- 

 tions. Make comparisons of crops in different 

 communities, states and province*. 



Work in history. The history of a com- 

 munity, state, province or nation cannot be 

 studied apart from the Industries of Its peo- 

 ple. Show how a particular period or so- 

 under consideration Is connected with certain 

 agricultural facts. The history of Northwestern 

 Canada, for Instance, has been affected by the 

 opening up of the great wheat fields, and the 

 part that corn and cotton have played In the 

 history of the American people Is well known. 

 The plans for the regular lessons need not be 

 dropped, but suggestive topics may be added 

 and adapted to these plans. In planning both 

 the history and the geography lessons, certain 

 topics may be assigned to pupils for outside In- 

 vestigation, reading and Inquiry. Reports on 

 these topics should furnish opportunity for valu- 

 able classroom discussion. Make free use of 

 texts, reference works, periodicals and news- 



Drawing lessons. As a part of the work In 

 drawing, assign the sketching and coloring of 

 parts of the corn plant, and of fruits, 



