PREFACE vil 



human-interest subject. The underlying reason why such 

 teaching is desirable is because it brings the schools in 

 touch with the home life the daily life of the community. 

 A large part of our teaching has had no relation whatever 

 to our daily lives. 



To those who are not familiar with the nature of agri- 

 culture teaching, it may seem like a trade subject. But 

 it is not primarily a trade subject. Only about half of 

 our population is engaged in agricultural work. But 

 the interest in agriculture includes nearly all the popu- 

 lation. A very large part of our city population, particu- 

 larly of the larger cities, is coming to take the keenest 

 interest in agricultural questions. The number of agri- 

 cultural inquiries that have come to the Cornell Experi- 

 ment Station from New York City within the past few 

 years is very remarkable, but no more so than the move- 

 ment for the ownership and management of farms by city 

 men. Nearly every one is interested in growing plants 

 and animals, and there are some fundamental principles 

 of this growth that every boy and girl should have an 

 opportunity to learn, if they so desire, not that they 

 may become farmers or farmers' wives, but for the edu- 

 cational training and intelligent interest in life that this 

 knowledge brings. This training is often as desirable 

 for those who are to live in cities as for those who are to 

 live on farms. We can never wholly separate our interests 

 from the soil on which we walk, and the plants and ani- 

 mals on which our life depends. 



It is not desirable that a teacher try to make farmers 

 of farmers' sons, or lawyers of lawyers' sons. The thing 

 that distinguishes America from the Old World is the 



