94 state; tomological society. 



papers and bulletins. We believe the interest in farm life must 

 be fostered by the public school, and that the environment of the 

 boy and girl should form the basis of his education. We would 

 not teach agriculture or horticulture as such in the public school, 

 but we would bring the life of the orchard, the stock yard, the 

 brook, the forest into the every day experience of the children, 

 through the various studies already in the school room. We 

 would make Nature Study the basis of a large part of the intel- 

 lectual training of our young people. 



The time will not allow of a discussion of the methods of teach- 

 ing nature study, or of the preparation of teachers for such work. 

 We would emphasize however the importance of this movement 

 throughout the country on the future agricultural and horticul- 

 tural industries. There have been three great educational move- 

 ments for the betterment of farmers in America, first, the estab- 

 lishment of the Land Grant Colleges, second, the establishment 

 of an Agricultural Experiment Station in each state as a depart- 

 ment of the Agricultural College, and third, the nature study 

 movement in its relation to the public schools. The last move- 

 ment has not risen to the national proportions of the first two, 

 but it is liberally supported by state aid in several instances. 

 New York State has been the leader of the movement and thou- 

 sands of dollars have been appropriated, under the direction of 

 Cornell University to interest boys and girls in nature, and in 

 showing teachers how nature studies can be adapted to present 

 school methods. Other states have followed the example of 

 New York so that now there is under way one of the most impor- 

 tant movements looking to the betterment of farm life. I have 

 great faith in the present public school system but I am convinced 

 that American agriculture will be touched more closely by it, 

 when the school is able to draw its teachings largely from its 

 environment, when the life of the farm is part of the material 

 on which the boys and girls build up their education. If our 

 boys and girls catch their inspirations from the life of the 

 meadows, the orchards, the brooks, and the forests, the manifold 

 difficulties that now beset the fruit grower, and which will 

 increase rather than grow smaller, will be more intelligently met 

 by the generations that are to come, and the public school will 

 be a more potent factor in the permanent upbuilding of rural 

 life. 



