Some Typical High Schools Teaching Agriculture 45 



in one box and found, of course, that all did not do equally 

 well, as they required dififerent treatment, a fact that was very 

 apparent in the exhibition. The pansies fared the worst, suf- 

 fering from the amount of sunlight given the others. This 

 served as a " control " experiment, although the instructor had 

 made no provision for one. A garden trowel was given as a 

 prize to the winner of this competition. 



The class also took up the subject of bees and read John 

 Burroughs' " Birds, Bees, and Sharp Eyes." The instructor, 

 who had had some experience with bees, brought a hive to 

 school. The boys took measurements from it and made hives 

 at home. This was not, however, a part of the manual train- 

 ing that was carried on as school work, although the principal 

 said that the construction of bee-hives during the winter might 

 well have been assigned as one of the pieces required. He 

 instructed the pupils how to get bees. He told how he had 

 caught two wild swarms the previous summer, and suggested 

 that probably they could persuade a beeman to give them a 

 late swarm to nurse over the winter. Bee culture bulletins were 

 then assigned for study. 



One boy took as a special topic the treatment of potatoes for 

 scab. Having no ground of his own, he received permission 

 to experiment on a plat about to be planted by a neighbor who 

 had been rather unsuccessful with his potatoes. The result of 

 the experiment convinced the owner of the efficacy of the treat- 

 ment. There was, however, no control experiment that I could 

 learn of. Another boy so convinced his neighbors of the benefit 

 of spraying potatoes that they joined together to buy a good 

 sprayer. 



The instructor instituted an agricultural club that met through 

 the following summer, and reported a very successful series of 

 meetings. Each member agreed to experiment on some crop 

 and report the results. The instructor also gave each member 

 a dozen strawberry plants for trial. 



New Holland (Ohio) High School 



The environment and influence at New Holland, in Pickaway 

 County, are, in many respects, similar to those in the village 



