EDUCATION. 123 



deliberately so fixed by the authorities, when the schools 

 were closed. The children were proud of the few shillings 

 that they earned. And they learnt something. We train 

 sailors young : why not agricultural labourers in a half- 

 paying way ? Grown up men in towns find some work 

 on their allotments a welcome recreation. During the war 

 we have seen schoolboys making hay, out of which per- 

 formance no doubt they managed to extract some fun. 

 If only the ne quid nimis is observed, and sufficient change 

 from one occupation to another is studied, there is no 

 reason to fear that a little paid field work would, in the 

 country, interfere with children's learning. 



In the United States American inventiveness has devised 

 a peculiarly attractive form of practical educational work 

 for children, which has proved exceedingly effective, and 

 overflowed, with the same results, into Canada. 



This work is called " Club work." It was begun in the 

 Southern States about eleven years ago, and in the Northern 

 about six years ago. The object of the work is, by means 

 of Clubs to instruct boys and girls in practical agriculture and 

 home economics, bringing to them the latest results of re- 

 search by the Department. To the promotion of this 

 activity the Department has given considerable attention, 

 especially through the States Relation Service and the 

 Bureau of Animal Industry. The number of boys and girls 

 enrolled in the clubwork has grown rapidly, until, in 1915, 

 it approximated 250,000. The number has grown further 

 in volume since. A Report recently issued says : — 



" And the activities of the members, which were at first con- 

 fined to corn, now include the following projects : Corn, potatoes, 

 home garden and canning (without artificial preservatives), 

 ' mother-daughter home canning,' alfalfa growing, poultry, 

 market garden, farm and home handicraft, forage, home manage- 

 ment, farm management, sewing and sugar-beet clubs. The 

 Office of Extension Work in the South has a large corps of 

 workers in Washington and a still larger force in the field, who 

 give their entire time to boys' and girls' club work in the Southern 

 States, and a similar organisation in the Office of Extension 

 Work in the Northern and Western States promotes club work 

 among the boys and girls in its territory. 



" In the organisation of boys' and girls' clubs the Department 



