IIG BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Eveiybody seems to lia\'e enough to do, and enough to eat. 

 I would like to ask Professor Bailej^ if he has observed on 

 the ground any of these things, and, if true, Avhy is it not 

 a good argument in favor of teaching the elements of agri- 

 culture in our common schools? 



Professor Bailey. It is a very difficult question, — in 

 fact, an exceedingly difficult question. I have given some 

 attention to the condition of agricultural teaching in some 

 of the public schools in Europe, never specihcally in Hol- 

 land, although I have visited the country two or three times. 

 I have, however, in Germany. There they do give a great 

 deal more instruction in the common schools on the lines 

 of agriculture than we do. The instruction they receive in 

 the common schools is ordinarily first class, and puts the 

 pupil in touch with the real problems existing there, to a 

 large extent; but one difficulty is, that the effect of that is 

 very largely minimized b}^ the social condition of the country, 

 particularly if the pupils belong to the peasant class. One 

 reason, in my opinion, why the agricultural production is so 

 much greater in the old world, is because of the fact that the 

 population is so dense that the mere struggle for existence 

 compels it. That is partly a social and largely an economic 

 question, and not wholly a pedagogical one. 



Much has been said of teaching agriculture in the schools 

 of France and Germany, and even in the schools of Austria, 

 also in Denmark. "We are a long way Ijehind the European 

 nations in agricultural instruction. We have no schools in 

 this country where one can go and learn merely husbandry 

 or the pruning of fruit trees, and there are such schools in 

 the old world ; they are a special branch of work. 



I don't wish to be misunderstood about advising the intro- 

 duction of agriculture in our schools, — I do believe in the 

 introduction of subjects of that kind ; but my point is, I do 

 not believe in forcing them in, and teaching them as profes- 

 sional subjects. I should like to have the opportunity of 

 developing them in a normal and natural way, as other sub- 

 jects are developed in our schools. 



Mr. F. A. Bliss. I came here to-day almost on purpose 

 to hear Professor Bailey's address, because I have found in 



