Administration, Equipment, and Methods 95 



One overworked North Carolina teacher with 18 classes man- 

 ages to spare 20 minutes per week to agriculture, and succeeds 

 in the course of 20 weeks in demonstrating most of the experi- 

 ments in the text. Little wonder, however, that the attitude of 

 the class is reported as " indifferent." 



Besides the difficulties already cited, a few others of an ad- 

 ministrative sort were mentioned, such as, " the shortness of 

 the season," "unsuitable winter season" (given twice), "the 

 necessity of carrying experiments home at night on account of 

 the building getting cold," " immaturity of the pupils," " poor 

 work done in the grammar grades," " size of the class," " too 

 many other studies," " determination of the place of agricul- 

 ture in the course," " too heaviness of the course." 



Experimentation and Field Work 



A point in favor of the modest course in agriculture intro- 

 duced by many of the smaller high schools, is that it requires 

 little equipment in addition to that used in the sciences usually 

 taught. It requires no more elaborate laboratory facilities. In 

 fact, its initial installation requires less expense than either 

 physics or chemistry, while botany and zoology can get along 

 with no less apparatus, and the use of the miscroscope renders 

 their cost much more. If properly taught, physical geography 

 should have as much in the way of apparatus, maps, and models, 

 although this study has freed itself less than any other science 

 taught in small high schools from the stigma of being a book 

 science. 



Much of the apparatus distinctively agricultural can be made 

 by any boy handy with carpenters' tools, and should, in fact, 

 often does, furnish the direct motive for the manual training 

 work. The home or village dump will supply most of the tin 

 cans, pickle bottles, and jars. It is significant that 6 schools 

 reporting " no difficulties " also reported " no money spent for 

 agricultural apparatus." Their reports indicate that the work 

 was not of the book type. Of 115 reporting their chief diffi- 

 culties, apparatus and laboratory facilities were specifically men- 

 tioned by 31, while 13 others mentioned " equipment," " facili- 

 ties," and " money," which might apply equally to difficulties 



