Some Typical High Schools Teaching Agriculture 73 



in part the Latin and science of the other courses, and in part 

 are added to the various sciences, so that it is not a " snap " 

 course. 



Since stock raising is the principal industry of the county, 

 most interest centers around animal husbandry and the related 

 subjects of corn growing and animal feeding. For this reason 

 all such work is taught in the earliest year of the agricultural 

 work. It has been found that this arrangement best enables 

 the school to justify the work in the eyes of the patrons and 

 appeals to the liveliest interest of the country pupils. Only 

 boys are admitted to the class in animal husbandry, which shuts 

 out girls from the agricultural course, unless allowed to make 

 substitutions. As the principal of the school expressed it, " The 

 farmers scoffed the first year, were silent the second, and ap- 

 proved of the work the third," for it had won their respect. 



The following description of the courses in agriculture will 

 indicate the scope of the work and the methods followed. 



Stock judging.—Scove card practice supplemented, by lectures 

 on the origin and history of the various breeds of live stock. 

 Craige's work on stock judging is used as a basis of the study, 

 and on specified days of each week the classes visit the stock 

 farms of the surrounding country. The animals are studied 

 from the standpoint of the farmer and professional stockman. 

 The fall months are devoted to cattle, both beef and dairy types 

 receiving attention. Horses and swine occupy the spring 

 months.* 



Two days a week are given to lectures and one to score-card 

 practice and judging throughout the year. During the fall term 

 the other two days are given to lectures on live stock manage- 

 ment. Notes of all lectures are written up by the boys. 



Agronomy. — The study of corn and other grains occupies those 

 months of the school year when it is impossible to do field work. 

 On account of its prominence, corn receives the greater attention. 

 The ideas that Professor Holden has been emphasizing for the 

 past few years are systematized and the principles of seed selec- 

 tion and seed testing put into actual use. 



This work occupies two days a week during three of the 

 spring months. Two-thirds of the time is devoted to the scor- 

 ing and placing of corn, the remainder to making germinating 

 tests, largely on samples of seed to be used in spring planting 



* Guthrie County High School Bulletin, 1907-1908. 



