112 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



to school to see how the schools are getting along. He 

 went into a country school one day, and seeing the word 

 "average" on the board, asked, "What is an average?" 

 They didn't know. Finally one boy put up his hand to 

 signify he knew, and when asked, replied, "An average is 

 what a hen lays an egg on." As there seemed to be a good 

 deal of surprise aroused at that, the boy said, " I can show it 

 to you in the book," and he turned to a page and pointed to 

 the sentence, " A hen lays three eggs a week, on an average." 



Now, there was a problem expressed in agricultural terms, 

 — just exactly Avhat Professor Bailey has been pleading for, 

 and it accomplished exactly the opposite result. I didn't 

 bring it up because it was a famous case, but because it does 

 give point to the consideration that, if the study of agricul- 

 ture in our schools is to be a mere matter of memorj^ it is of 

 no more value in the public school than anything else ; and if 

 it is a question of simpl}^ putting things in agricultural terms, 

 we have not accomplished anything at all. 



He spoke of the spirit which the school must maintain, 

 which is a much greater thing. He said what appeals to me 

 much more strono'lv, that there is no need of forcino; agri- 

 culture into the schools, and he doesn't believe in it. I 

 don't believe in it. But there is one aspect of this question 

 which I think can be believed, and that is, the pedagogical 

 value of agriculture, — its teaching value, the educational 

 value of it. You know some other subjects are put into the 

 curriculum partly on that account. There is a gentleman 

 here this morning who is very much interested in this mat- 

 ter, and he ought to be arguing this, instead of myself. He 

 tells me they had actually forced Latin into the eighth and 

 ninth grades of the schools in his section. And why? For 

 two reasons, one that was given and the other a reason that 

 was operative. Both, I believe, had some influence ; but 

 the reason given was that the teaching of Latin had a very 

 great educational value and the other was that the pupils 

 could get along so they could go to Harvard soon. I think 

 these things train the mind just exactly as much as Latin, 

 and a good deal more. A man catches a toad and explains 

 what the toad is doing and about liis habits of life, and 



