72 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:2— Feb., 1921 



about some noxious insect, which showed him to be in possession of 

 information of value to the farmer. The father's interest was thus 

 aroused and the ban against nature-study was removed. He was 

 frequently seen in company with his son collecting, and later on 

 presented the school with a valuable collection of insects properly 

 mounted. He had come to see that nature-study has a direct rela- 

 tion to the improvement of agriculture. 



A normal school in New England included in its curriculiun, 

 about 19 1 6, nature-study and school gardening, but did not include 

 agriculture. It gave the students thorough and practical instruc- 

 tion in plant production, from selecting the seed to harvesting and 

 marketing the crop, and in banking the proceeds and checking out 

 the money to pay expenses. In this case, nature-study was 

 actually applied agriculture, typical of extension work. 



Extension work is advanced nature-study work, limited to 

 applied agriculture in its broadest sense, including home and com- 

 munity health and sanitation. It is conducted by the agricultural 

 colleges and experiment stations, in cooperation with the Bureaus 

 of Soils, Markets, Animal Industry, Plant Industry and Entomol- 

 ogy, the States Relations Service and Office of Farm Management 

 of the United States Department of Agriculture, and with county 

 courts and local organizations, or some of these agencies, depending 

 upon the project. 



The Illinois Farmers' Institute started extension work in 1901, 

 when its director sent out packages of seed com to as many boys 

 under 18 years of age as would agree to enter the com growing 

 contest. Each boy was instructed how to plant and was required 

 to keep a record of the crop and report to the Institute on seventeen 

 specified points, and exhibit ten ears. The ten ears exhibited were 

 to be judged by a prescribed scoring schedule and by persons known 

 to be skilled in judging corn. This effort was unsuccessful, but the 

 following year 500 boys applied for admission to the contest and the 

 boys, together with 500 farmers, came to the Institute meeting at 

 which the com was exhibited and judged. The following year 

 1,500 bo3^s entered the contest and 300 boys and 1,500 farmers 

 attended the Institute. In 1904, 120,000 farmer boys of Illinois 

 were invited to enroll for the com growing contest and 8,000 applied 

 for admission and seed. Over 1,000 entries of ten ears each were 

 submitted and placed on exhibit in the Palace of Agriculture at the 

 St. Louis Exposition. The com was of excellent quality and quite 



