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XL 



AGRICULTURE AS A PHASE OF LIBERAL EDUCATION IN 

 THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 1 



PART I. 



The Present Status. 



While there is as yet no systematic or general recognition 

 of agriculture in the program of the elementary public schools 

 of the State, enough has been done in teaching this subject to 

 show that, within the limits of the capacity of the children, such 

 instruction is entirely practicable, and that the results justify 

 an extension of this kind of work. Even in one-room rural 

 schools, as at Hinsdale and Peru, teachers guided and directed 

 by capable and skillful supervision have overcome apparent 

 limitations, and have given boys ranging from twelve to four- 

 teen years of age a knowledge of the best methods and actual 

 practice in the raising of certain staple vegetables. An example 

 of one of the projects that has been found most feasible and 

 satisfactory is given as Part II. of this chapter. 



Some Definite Results. 



The instruction in agriculture in the elementary schools 

 has led to a general use of the leaflets and bulletins issued by 

 the United. States Department of Agriculture, by the State 

 Board of Agriculture and by the Massachusetts Agricultural 

 College. Not only do the boys in connection with their school 

 projects read with interest and appreciation these bulletins, 

 but the school becomes a medium through which such informa- 

 tion on the best methods of culture is brought into the com- 

 munity itself. Farmers have thus become acquainted with 

 approved methods of cultivating certain crops, and use such 

 information in their own practice. One community, for ex- 

 ample, has learned the value of the formalin treatment for 

 scab in potatoes, the best and cheapest combinations for ferti- 



1 Prepared by Deputy Commissioner Orr. 



