BAILEY] POINT OF VIEW IN AGRICULTURE 249 



were introduced to the school, making the new subject in time as 

 •distasteful as arithmetic and grammar often are. In this new 

 agricultural work we need to be exceedingly careful that we do 

 not go too far, and that we do not lose our sense of relationships 

 and values. Introducing the word agriculture into the scheme of 

 studies means very little ; what is taught, and particularly how it 

 is taught, is of the greatest moment. We hope that no country- 

 life teaching will be so narrow as to put only technical farm sub- 

 jects before the pupil. 



We need also to be careful not to introduce subjects merely 

 because practical grown-up farmers think that the subjects are 

 useful and therefore should be taught. Farming is one thing and 

 teaching is another. What appeals to the man may not appeal 

 to the child. What is most useful to the man may or may not be 

 most useful in training the mind of a pupil in school. The 

 teacher, as well as the farmer, must always be consulted in respect 

 to the content and the method of teaching agricultural subjects. 

 We must always be alert to see that the work has living interest 

 to the pupil, rather than to grown-ups, and to be on guard that it 

 does not become lifeless. Probably the greatest mistake that any 

 teacher makes is in supposing that what is interesting to him is 

 therefore interesting to his pupils. 



All agricultural subjects must be taught by the nature-study 

 method, which is: to see accurately; to reason correctly from 

 what is seen; to establish a bond of sympathy with the object or 

 phenomenon that is studied. One cannot see accurately unless 

 one has the object itself. If the pupil studies corn, he should 

 have corn in his hands and he should make his own observations 

 and draw his own conclusions ; if he studies cows, he should make 

 his observations on cows and not on what some one has said about 

 cows. So far as possible, all nature-study work should be con- 

 ducted in the open, where the objects are. If specimens are 

 needed, let the pupils collect them. See that observations are 

 made on the crops in the field as well as on the specimens. 

 Nature-study is an out-door process : the schoolroom should be 

 merely an adjunct to the out-of-doors, rather than the out-of-- 

 doors an adjunct to the schoolroom, as it is at present. 



A laboratory of living things is a necessary part of the best 

 nature-study work. It is customary to call this laboratory a 

 school-garden. We need to distinguish three types of school- 



