Some Typical High Schools Teaching Agriculture 6i 



the work of instruction in agriculture is carried on by the prin- 

 cipal, who also has charge of the discipline of the elementary 

 grades, a lady assistant who gives all her time to the high school, 

 and a grade teacher who handles the domestic science. The 

 classes were combined so that studies not consecutive are taught 

 only on alternate years. The principal at the time the school 

 was visited, Mr. Edw. H. Scott, B. S., is a graduate of the 

 agricultural college at Amherst, and of the Worcester high 

 school, where he received his instruction in manual training. 

 Of the five graduates the second year, the two boys planned to 

 go to the agricultural college, two of the girls to normal school, 

 while the third girl expected to take care of a home of her own. 

 The handsome stone and brick school building was the gift 

 of James W. Brooks. The campus of eight acres furnishes the 

 ground for recreation and sports, as well as for the practical 

 work in agriculture. Already half an acre has been given over 

 to gardening purposes, and a small orchard has been set out. 

 Owing to certain opposition the work started out the first year 

 under the guise of geology, and included an elementary study 

 of soils and soil physics, a scheme that the rocky condition of 

 New England soil made plausible enough. Later in the year 

 plant propagation was taken up with practical work. At this 

 time the " greenhouse " was a modest glass lean-to built against 

 a barn across the street. Then a systematic course was carried 

 on for some weeks on the study of potatoes, pruning, grafting, 

 and budding. The pruning was done on a lot of trees already 

 growing on the campus. The grafting was in the way of 

 demonstration. During the second year, the course included 

 a study of fertilizers in class, with testing, greenhouse culture 

 of lettuce, and cucumbers, the growth of plants for setting out, 

 and floriculture. 



This work was made possible by the erection during the pre- 

 vious summer of a greenhouse just south of the school and 

 connecting with it through the basement. The house is i8 by 30 

 feet, with a stone substructure, and with an independent heating 

 plant. Had it been necessary to pay for the labor and material, 

 the cost would probably have been between $800 and $1,000. 

 The cucumbers were started in April, and began to produce by 



