PERIODICAL LITERATURE 77 



each. The title and the pictures were attractive and were likely 

 to cause the reader to pause in turning through the pages of the 

 magazine long enough at least to read the introductory para- 

 graph. This was an expression of an ideal for rural education 

 which up to that time (1903) had not come much into public 

 notice : 



It is not the belief or wish of the writer that we should educate country 

 boys to be farmers merely, any more than that we should educate boys to 

 be blacksmiths, carpenters, or electricians. We should aim to train boys to 

 be men in the highest sense of the term. But why not a course of training 

 in the country school for the country boy which shall teach him more about 

 country life around him? Along with his study of the kangaroo, the 

 bamboo, and the cockatoo, why not study the animals on the farm and a 

 proper feeding-standard for them, the care and composition of the soil on 

 the farm, the improvement of types of grains and vegetables, and the pro- 

 tection of birds beneficial to the farmer? Instead of all the boys' arith- 

 metic being devoted to problems, more or less theoretical, on banking, stocks, 

 exchange, brokerage, alligation, and partnership, why not some practical 

 problems with reference to farm economics? For the boys who will remain 

 on the farm (and 85 per cent perhaps will) the course of instruction should 

 be such as will be an inspiration and a help in their future life-work (104). 



A year later under the title of "Common-Sense Country 

 Schools" a description of Mr. Kern's work appeared in another 

 magazine (105). Other references to his work have been pub- 

 lished from time to time. 



Boys' clubs for carrying on agricultural experiments have 

 been organized in all of the agricultural states. Accounts of 

 their work are attractive reading, and no doubt not only stimu- 

 late the boys in other localities to form similar clubs but help 

 to educate adult farmers to be more appreciative of expert 

 opinion. But the most important contribution made by periodi- 

 cals to agricultural education through boys' clubs has been in 

 making the way easier for agricultural colleges and public-school 

 officers to carry on the work in various parts of the country. 



In the same number of the magazine in which Mr. Kern's 

 article appeared is another dealing with the problem of rural 

 education (106). The need of a school system adapted to rural 



