VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 29 



a concrete walk leading to the front door; planting and nurturing 

 of shade trees; the making and maintaining of an attractive lawn. 

 The thing done may be of an experimental nature, — as the planting 

 of an untried variety of fruit, the feeding of an untried ration, 

 the testing of an untried spraying mixture, or the testing of one or 

 another of much advertised roofing materials. Finally, the thing 

 done may be of a productive nature, as the growing of a crop of 

 clover or alfalfa; the growing of a field of potatoes; the growing 

 of a crop of silage corn, or the production of eggs for the market. 

 A farming project is, further, something to be done on a farm which 

 involves a limited and definite amount of equipment, materials 

 and time, and which is directed toward the accomplishment of a 

 specified and valuable result. 



Finally, a farming project, as the term is here used, is a thing to 

 he done on a farm which, in the preparation for doing it and in the 

 carrying of it out to a successful result, involves a thorough-going 

 educational process. The improvement project of constructing 

 a concrete walk to the front door might involve a study of the nature 

 of cement; its action on sand, gravel and broken stone ; its resistant 

 qualities to the weather; the seasons in which it might be used; 

 its cost as compared with other materials, such as boards, plank, 

 tar, brick, flagging and asphalt; the mathematical determination 

 of proportions of sand, cement and stone to be used; the geometri- 

 cal determination of the sections into which it should be divided, 

 and whether it should be crowned or flat; the geographical sources 

 of the raw material and the commercial conditions for purchasing 

 the cement. The experimental project of planting an untried 

 variety of fruit might involve a study of the probable adaptability 

 of the variety selected to the soil on the farm, the climate of the 

 locality and the market demands within reach of the farm. The 

 productive project of growing a crop of clover might involve a 

 study of the various varieties of clover; the comparative adapta- 

 bility of those varieties to the given field on which the crop must be 

 grown, and to the climate of the locality; the most reliable places 

 for the purchase of seed; the best time for seeding; the best time for 

 cutting; the best methods of curing and storing; the mathematical 

 calculation as to the saving in cost of feeding stuffs which the crop 

 would afford; the chemical elements it would furnish in the ration; 



