NATURE 



6i 



THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 1918. 



RECENT AMERICAN TEXT-BOOKS IN 

 AGRICULTURE. 



) The Rural Teacher and his JVork in Com- 

 munity Leadership, in School Administration, 

 iind in Mastery of the School Subjects. By 

 Harold W. Foght. Pp. xii-t-ssg. (New York: 

 The Macmillan Co. ; London : Macmillan and 

 Co., Ltd., 191 7.) Price 75, 6d. net. 

 - 1 The Chemistry of Farm Practice. By T. E. 

 Iveitt. (Wiley Technical Series.) Pp. xii + 253. 

 ( New York : John Wiley and Sons, Inc. ; 

 i>ondon : Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1917.) 

 I'rice 6s. net. 



Soil Biology: Laboratory Ma)iuul. By Dr. 

 V. L. Whiting-. Pp. ix+143. (New York: 

 I'ohn Wiley and Sons, Inc.; London: Chapman 

 and Hall, Ltd., 1917.) Price 65. net. 

 I A Laboratory Manual in Farm Machinery. 

 l?y F. A." Wirt. Pp. xxii+162. (New York: 

 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. ; London : Chapman 

 md Hall, Ltd., 1917.) Price 6s. net. 



Late Cabbage from Seed until Harvest, also 

 Se^ed Raising. By E. N. Reed. Pp. xiii+131. 

 N'ew York : John Wiley and Sons, Inc. ; Lon- 

 don: Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1917.) Price 

 ''.s\ net. 



/^'F recent years a great movement has ]>een 

 ^^ gathering force in the United States to- 

 rds an improvement of country life. It is felt 

 it rural civilisation should develop on its own 

 I s, which would not necessarily be those fol- 

 'owed by urban civilisation. The worker in the 

 vduntry is brought more into contact with things 

 ihan with men: his environment differs funda- 

 nuntally from that of the townsman, and his train- 

 ing and outlook on life must be modified accord- 

 ingly. This movement found expression on the 

 political side in Mr. Roosevelt's famous country 

 life campaign, and on its educational side ip Dr. 

 L. H. Bailey's inspiring writings. If anything is 

 to be dcfne it must be through the teacher; Mr. 

 Foght therefore, in the first book on the list, 

 addresses himself to the task of showing what 

 part the school and the teacher ought to play, 

 not only in training the children and the young 

 pie, but also in assuming leadership and direc- 



I in the new movement. 



Mr. Foght points out that the present condi- 

 11. ns of rural education in the United States are 

 ' entirely satisfactory. There are still too many 

 ' s where country teachers are engaged for a 

 n)dof seven months only, at a salary of 75 dollars 

 month, who at the end of that time "pass 



II the community, leaving not the slightest 

 ling of regret behind." But the author— like 



young .American generally — is constructive in 

 nis mental attitude, and not a mere destructive 

 critic. He proceeds to show what has been done, 

 ■md then to indicate how existing institutions ' 

 NO. 2526, VOL. lOl] 



might be further developed. In his preface he 

 puts the school aims as "(i) good scientific farm- 

 ing, rendering ample returns for labour and capital 

 employed, and (2) a rural social life satisfactory 

 to those living it." For our own part wc should 

 prefer to invert the order and adopt the 

 view of Dr. Henry Wallace, quoted a few pages 

 further on : " Give to any people a vision of some- 

 thing better than they have known, and it is at 

 once a better occupation." In practice, however, 

 the author is quite sound, as is evident from his 

 handling of the subject. He proceeds first to 

 discuss the agencies for the betterment of country 

 life: the Church, the Y.M.C.A., the Grange o'f 

 Patrons of Husbandry, ^ and the more recent 

 organisations. Boy Scouts, Camp-fire Girls, Blue 

 Birds, etc. 



The next chapters give an account of certain 

 schools started to improve rural life in general, 

 and in particular to train the teacher. In the 

 second part of the book the author goes on to 

 consider problems of organisation and administra- 

 tion, for it is a fundamental part of his thesis 

 that the teacher must be strong enough to estab- 

 lish himself as a leader of the community, and 

 therefore must have a firm hold on the organisa- 

 tion and management of the school, and show 

 expert ability in dealing with the altered school 

 curriculum. The book is well provided with refer- 

 ences to other literature, and illustrated with 

 numerous charts and photographs. Altogether it 

 gives an excellent account of what has alreadv 

 been accomplished. 



(2) The connection between agriculture and 

 chemistry is obvious to the man of experience, 

 but not always to the young student, and one of 

 the great difficulties at agricultural schools and 

 colleges is to persuade the student that he cannot 

 make much progress with the science of agri- 

 culture until he has a working acquaintance with 

 the fundamental laws of chemistry. In the matter 

 of text-books the American teacher is better off 

 than we are, and this book by Prof. Keitt is a 

 useful addition to the available literature. The 

 laws of chemistry can quite well be taught through 

 the medium of substances familiar on the farm, 

 and experience shows that, when approached in 

 this way, the subject is of great interest and value 

 to the student. 



It is unfortunate that efforts in the past to 

 simplify chemistry and to bring it within the com- 

 prehension of untrained agricultural audiences have 

 resulted in much looseness of expression. Thus 

 when a farmer applies potassium salts to the soil 

 as fertiliser, he is told that he is applving "pot- 

 ash," and a student is told that he is applving 

 "potassium." This is justified on the score 'that 

 the farmer and the student are supposed to under- 

 stand the terms. Then, when thj; studv of pure 

 chemistry begins, the inevitable confusion arises. 

 Anyone who has had to conduct agricultural chem- 



„k- k •'"'" "^'^^cret society or freemasonry, founded l.y Kelley in 1867. 

 which reached .is high-water mark in 1875: it i% described in Buck's 

 «nd7„"^KeIl!7""''"'' °1 "•'' '!i^ -^l'"'*''^"'." H»!7a"< Historical Studies," 

 Hu b d ■ *" '" '"'='-"«>ni? "History of the Patrons of 



