50 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 



• Wayne Toivnship High School, Lee's Creek, Ohio 



The Wayne Township centralized school, in Clinton County, 

 Ohio, is a good example of another type of schools. It differs 

 from those already described in being several miles from the 

 nearest railroad and incorporated village. Although the nearby 

 hamlet of Lee's Creek numbers scarcely more than 200 inhabi- 

 tants, the school serves a township with an area of 36 square 

 miles and a population of 1,200. Naturally all of the 2y pupils 

 of the high-school department were from farm homes. The 

 agriculture is taught in alternate years, the last class numbering 

 12. Eighteen weeks, of 200 minutes each, were given the sub- 

 ject, extending over the entire year. It is a second-year study, 

 preceded by a half-year each of physical geography and botany. 

 The text used is one of the popular books written for the ele- 

 mentary grades. The superintendent found that it proved too 

 easy, as the boys already knew most that it contained. The 

 bulletins on corn and on weeds, issued by the state experiment 

 station, were the ones most used as references. Agriculture 

 was placed in the course because of the unanimous demand made 

 by the patrons. The spirit of the community is well illustrated 

 by the question of one of the most conservative of the farmers, 

 himself at first opposed to consolidation, who asked the super- 

 intendent why the school did not try to be up-to-date and intro- 

 duce domestic science. Plans are being definitely made for this 

 and for manual training as well. The basement is large and 

 airy, and well adapted for such work. One part of it. not 

 occupied by the heating plant, was used as a lunch room and 

 physical laboratory. The building was erected three years ago 

 at a cost, including equipment, of $17,500, and has a complete 

 water, lighting, and heating system. Professor Graham pro- 

 nounces it the finest centralized school building in the state. 



General farming and stock raising form the principal industry. 

 There is little dairying or gardening. The farmers feed all 

 they raise. One makes the boast that he has never sold a 

 dollar's worth of grain from his place. Of course these condi- 

 tions largely determine the nature of the class work. The most 

 imjjortant feature of the experimental work was that done at 



