102 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



208 rural schools. He regards the introduction of agricultural 

 instruction in these schools as impossible, even if desirable. He 

 would improve the teaching of these schools by placing more 

 emphasis on the "three R's." He says, "the most persistent and 

 able advocates of agriculture in the public schools are teachers 

 and professors in our state and other colleges." This is not an 

 isolated example of the conservative attitude of the farmer 

 toward education. Similar views are held in every farming 

 community in the country. The little one-room school is re- 

 garded as necessary for any scheme of rural education. If the 

 scheme does not fit into the existing system it is unworthy. 

 Much of the opposition to consolidation is no doubt due to the 

 reluctance of abandoning the single-room school, and to the 

 inability to see how a readjustment of school affairs can be 

 brought about. 



The sentence just quoted referring to "teachers and pro- 

 fessors" advocating agricultural instruction shows a little of the 

 resentment that has grown up lately in several parts of the 

 country toward the activity of those interested in the promo- 

 tion of agricultural education in the elementary and secondary 

 schools. A prominent agricultural journal has recently cast 

 some reflection on the motives of some of the men now engaged 

 in agricultural extension among public schools, intimating that 

 the matter is being agitated for the benefit of agricultural col- 

 leges. The editor finds some sympathy among his readers, as 

 evidenced by a protest from one subscriber against so much 

 space being given to school matters, and so little being given to 

 the discussion of sheep-killing dogs ! 



Particular mention should be made of the work of the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society in its relation to the school- 

 garden movement (140). Soon after Henry L. Clapp intro- 

 duced school gardening into the George Putnam School of Boston, 

 the Massachusetts Horticultural Society began to encourage the 

 establishment of school gardens in other places in New England 

 by offering prizes for the best gardens entering competition, and 



