io8 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



assistant in charge of the Junior Demonstration Work, over the 

 city of Washington, visiting all places of interest. 



The relation of this work to the schools is indicated by the 

 following extracts from directions for organization and instruc- 

 tion sent out by the department: 



Where this work is being introduced in a county, the county superin- 

 tendent of education and teachers can reach the boys in all sections of the 

 county more quickly and more effectively than any other agency. The 

 superintendent can explain the plan to the teachers, and they can explain 

 it to the boys and secure the names of all the boys who will agree to plant 



one acre of corn Just as soon as the names of all the boys are 



assembled in the office of the county superintendent of education, duplicate 

 lists should be sent to Dr. S. A. Knapp, Washington, D.C., who has charge 

 of the Farmers' Co-operative Demonstration Work. These boys will from 

 time to time receive circulars of instruction and information in regard to 

 preparation, fertilization, cultivation, seed selection, etc. These circulars 

 furnish excellent subject-matter for discussion at a club meeting, or for a 

 lesson in school. They lead to further study of farmers' bulletins and 

 books. A boy will profit much from such lessons, discussions, and books, 

 because he is making practical application of the principles taught. He 

 learns scientific agriculture because he needs it, and not because it is scien- 

 tific The object of the Boys' Demonstration Work is the same as that 



among men, namely, better methods of farming and greater yields at less 

 cost. Many of the boys in the clubs who begin to study agriculture in this 

 way will continue the study in agricultural colleges; others will continue 

 such efforts on their farms, and all of them will make useful and more 

 effective citizens.* 



The organization of the clubs in various states differs some- 

 what in details, but in general there is a close co-operation 

 between the state departments of education and the state agri- 

 cultural college. A good example of a state organization is the 

 Farm-Life Club Movement in Alabama: 



The leading objects of the Farm-Life Club Movement are educational 

 and for this reason it is our desire to make this movement have a close 

 and vital connection with the work of the county superintendents of educa- 

 tion, the teachers, and the schools of the state. There are many important 

 educational problems in Alabama today, but the largest one is the question 



'From mimeograph directions sent out by O. B. Martin, assistant in charge of Boys' 

 Demonstration Work, June i, 1910. 



