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the environment of the pupils, an environment essentially rural 

 The difficulty of introducing agricultural material into the lower 

 primary school is very great; lying partly in lack of a trained 

 teacher, partly in the fact that there is demand for the more 

 conventional subjects. But nothing will more quickly vitalize 

 a rural school than the use of just this environing agricultural 

 material. It may be utilized in all the grades, up to Junior 

 College, not at all for its vocational implications, but wholly as 

 cultural material. Of course, agriculture in this sense is vir- 

 tually applied science natural and social. This cultural value 

 and comprehensive nature of the subject of agriculture is not 

 always recognized, even by those trained in the subject. On 

 the technical side agriculture is rooted in such sciences as 

 geology, physics, chemistry, bacteriology, botany, zoology, and 

 various secondary sciences such as plant pathology and ento- 

 mology that have developed out of special applications of the 

 primary sciences. Economics and sociology are now specialized 

 in terms of agriculture. Literature is replete with material that 

 has sprung out of the soil. The training in observation and in 

 accuracy of statement; the necessity of obedience to natural 

 law; alertness to and appreciation of environment, are among 

 the disciplinary values of agriculture. As social material, we 

 deal with the largest group of the world's population, engaged 

 in the primary business of furnishing the world with food. In 

 morals and religion, we find that the greatest of all material 

 resources vouchsafed to man's care is in the keeping of the 

 farmer the fertility of the soil, the farmer its steward for all 

 mankind; and a process so utterly dependent upon the laws of 

 God that man's relation to the mind and will of his Maker is 

 laid bare. All of these values of agriculture should be utilized 

 to the full, and when so used their richness and variety will 

 add immeasurably to the educational materials of the schools. 



Methods of Teaching. The project method has made its 

 way into agricultural teaching in the United States, and has 

 justified itself. It may be overdone; it may lead to undue 

 attention to a result, without due regard to cause and effect, or 

 to the acquiring of ability to analyze a situation in its funda- 

 mental aspects. The best results come when the specific pro- 

 ject is a phase of some large and significant problem a problem 

 that is actually to be faced. These matters are mentioned chief- 

 ly to call attention to the fact that the older methods of pre- 

 senting agriculture to students have been challenged, and to 



