112 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



went about organizing successful boys' agricultural clubs in his 

 own county. 



The county superintendent of Delaware County, Iowa, began 

 to organize boys' clubs six years ago, holding township meetings 

 where the boys brought corn selected from their fathers' seed 

 corn. The meetings were addressed by an expert, on "What 

 Constitutes Good Seed Corn." This was accompanied by demon- 

 strations from samples of poor and good ears. The corn brought 

 by the boys was then judged and commented upon by the expert. 

 The superintendent then distributed seed corn which he had 

 bought for this purpose. The year following the boys came 

 together in a contest showing the results obtained from the corn 

 distributed the year before. This work was continued through 

 the next year, except that the boys selected their own seed corn 

 from their fathers' corn. A short course in agriculture was 

 held at Manchester, the county seat, which about sixty boys 

 attended. The corn clubs continued to grow in interest from 

 year to year until most of the boys were as good as, or even better 

 judges of corn than, their fathers. Last year the work was varied 

 by using oats instead of corn. The superintendent purchased 

 forty bushels of Canadian oats, and distributed the seed among 

 the boys of the county. At the close of the season a contest 

 was held at which the results of the season's work were shown. 

 The experiment was watched with much interest throughout the 

 county, and the farmers were eager to purchase seed from the 

 boys for their own farms. In one year the value of Canadian 

 oats for Delaware County was demonstrated by the boys, and 

 oat production in the county was greatly improved. 



All this was extra school work, but the superintendent made 

 good use of the interest thus aroused to help and improve the 

 regular school work. Raising corn and oats became subjects of 

 compositions, references to bulletins and books were used as 

 reading lessons, and estimates of cost and yield furnished mate- 

 rial for arithmetic. By means of printed instructions sent to 

 teachers from time to time, the formal work of the schools be- 

 came enlivened and strengthened by its practical application. 



