TEXT BOOKS OF AGRICULTURE 



BENJ. M. DAVIS 



Miami University, Oxford, O. 



One evidence of the growing interest in agricultural education 

 in the public schools is the number of text-books on elementary 

 agriculture that have appeared in recent years. 



Most of these books are informational in character. All 

 important phases of the subject are generally presented in simple 

 language easily within the grasp of the pupil. It is assumed that 

 the pupil has had concrete experiences in agricultural matters, 

 and that the text will help him to interpret these experiences. 

 There is a minimum of effort required of the pupil to find out 

 things for himself. Questions, when given at the end of each 

 chapter, are usually a summary of the text and test the memory 

 rather than ability to interpret. Sometimes experiments are 

 introduced, either in the text or at the end of a chapter. Conclu- 

 sions to be drawn from these experiments are either so implied 

 in the text or so obvious that the experiments become merely 

 concrete examples or illustrations of discussions in the text. 



Books of this kind are easily adapted to the prevailing recita- 

 tion method and consequently are in extensive use. The Super- 

 intendent of Public Instruction of one State, where teaching 

 elementary agriculture is required, advises teachers to use the 

 adopted book on agriculture as a reader. It is quite likely that 

 the practice of using the text as a reader obtains in other places. 



Several books have appeared in which the experiment pre- 

 dominates. Here problems and some suggestions as to procedure 

 are given. The pupil is expected to find answers by means of his 

 own investigations. He is supposed to learn how to find out 

 things for himself. This method doesn't fit in very well with 

 prevailing methods of teaching, for not many of the teachers, 

 themselves, have had the benefit of laboratory training, and 

 therefore, know very little of any other than the book method of 

 learning or teaching. After agriculture has been taught as a 

 laboratory science for awhile in our rural high schools and country 

 training schools and when graduates of these schools become 

 teachers in rural elementary schools, books of the experimental 

 type will no doubt have a greater demand. 



Another type is the text-book in which agriculture is cor- 

 related with arithmetic. Problems for the exercise and illus- 



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