viii AGRONOMY 



pertain to the training of special shrubs, trees, and vines, and 

 the propagation or breeding of plants. The greatest success 

 attends a class in which each pupil is allotted space for an 

 individual garden, though two pupils may work in partner- 

 ship with good results. 



Every effort should be made to have the student secure 

 first-hand information. A single visit to an implement store, 

 for instance, will give him more information of real value 

 than hours of recitation about implements which he has never 

 seen or examined. For the same reason frequent field trips 

 to parks, market gardens, nurseries, greenhouses, public gar- 

 dens, and the like should be made. These trips should, if 

 possible, be taken in the hours allotted to agronomy in the 

 school day and should be counted as part of the regular 

 work. In many cases the period for this study may come 

 last in the day's program, thus allowing pupils to take as 

 much additional time for the work after school as they desire. 

 There is always a tendency on the part of the teacher to 

 assume more knowledge of familiar things than the student 

 possesses, and for this reason it is well to carry out all the 

 exercises suggested, though at first glance some may appear 

 too simple to be worth while. 



To the end that the pupils be made conversant with the 

 literature of the subject, they should be encouraged to con- 

 sult the reference works named at the end of each chapter, as 

 well as more general works such as Bailey's " Cyclopedia of 

 American Horticulture " and " Cyclopedia of American Agri- 

 culture." Each student should also be encouraged to write 

 to the national government for such publications on plants 

 as may interest him. Upon application, the Superintendent 

 of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 

 will send a list of publications to which a price is attached, 

 and the Editor and Chief of the Division of Publications, 

 Department of Agriculture, will send a monthly list of free 



