32 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



for himself gives the project which he is carrying on, and the school 

 work in which he has participated, a reality not otherwise attain- 

 able. It heightens measurably his interest in the work and in the 

 related study of the school, and must fix better than by any other 

 device the training which he is receiving. 



Parents Pledge Home Co-operation. 



One indispensable condition prior to the establishment of the 

 agricultural departments which are now at work was that the 

 parents of the boys who desired to take the course should agree 

 to furnish the home facilities necessary for the practical carrying 

 out at the homes of the boys of the teachings of the agricultural 

 instructors. 



Advisory Committee. 



Another condition precedent to the establishment of vocational 

 agricultural school work in any given locality is the appointment 

 of an "Advisory Committee" consisting of five progressive farmers 

 to co-operate with the agricultural instructor, or instructors, in 

 adapting the agricultural training to the particular needs of that 

 locality. It is considered desirable, moreover, that at least one 

 member of this committee shall be chosen from among the parents 

 of boys in the agricultural classes. 



Promising Solution or Problem. 



The Massachusetts plan has attracted wide attention among 

 educators, and its results are being watched with the greatest 

 interest. It is believed that home farm work, supervised by the 

 school, where conditions are at all like those in Massachusetts, 

 might well l)e substituted very generally for the present methods 

 of much work, little work, or no work at all of a managerial nature, 

 now found in connection with vocational agricultural school 



