54 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



public schools of the state." Those interested in its organiza- 

 tion have expressed the hope that "it will become a pedagogical 

 laboratory for testing and discovering methods to improve and 

 extend the teaching of agriculture throughout the schools of 

 Nebraska." The director is the head of the department of agri- 

 culture in the Peru Normal School and conducts for the society 

 a column in the Nebraska Farmer which is to be the official pub- 

 lication of the society (69). 



An interesting experiment limited to one phase of agriculture 

 is now being conducted at the Western Illinois State Normal 

 School at Macomb in co-operation with the Illinois State Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station. A soil experiment field of two and 

 one-half acres has been provided by the normal school. The 

 school 



as its share of the responsibility, takes full charge of the field operations 

 implied in the plans. Such co-operation provides for both scientific and 

 educative values in the work and it is proposed to make the results as far 

 reaching as possible. Not alone to teachers and prospective teachers will 

 it be valuable but as well to persons now engaged in agricultural practice 

 (70). 



A few helps to teachers have been worked out in normal 

 schools and published, for example, from Cape Girardeau, Mo. 

 (71), Los Angeles, Cal. (72), Greeley, Colo. (73), Hays, Kan. 

 (74), and Chico, Cal. (75). They consist of discussion of agri- 

 cultural subjects suitable for public schools, and methods of 

 instruction. 



There is one large class of normal-school students already 

 mentioned that is not adequately provided for. This class is 

 made up of students who wish to teach in rural schools and who 

 can spend only a year or part of a year in preparation, and is the 

 largest in states where emphasis is placed on examination for 

 certification. These students attend primarily to prepare for 

 examinations. 



It has been the custom in most schools to provide for these 

 students by offering short review courses. Often instruction in 

 elementary agriculture and sometimes in manual training forms 



