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fragments 



Hortienltnral Extension Schools. Ex- 

 periments in methods of extension teaching 

 as applied to horticulture have been made 

 by Prof. L. H. Bailey in connection with 

 the Cornell University Experiment Station, 

 through itinerant or local experiment, read- 

 able expository bulletins, the itinerant horti- 

 cultural school, elementary instruction in rural 

 schools, and correspondence and reading 

 courses. The greatest good as yet accom- 

 plished seems to have come through the bul- 

 letins. These have taken the form of sur- 

 veys of the status of certain industries, with 

 especial attention given to floriculture and 

 ornamental gardening. Besides the consecu- 

 tive teaching of horticultural schools, Nature 

 study and object lessons were taught in a 

 series of schools, with the object, besides 

 imparting specific horticultural information, 

 of awakening closeness of observation and 

 careful reasoning from it on the part of the 

 attendants. Observation lessons constituted 

 one of the most useful exercises in connec- 

 tion with these schools. Small objects, like 

 leaves or roots or flowers or seeds, were put 

 in the hands of all the attendants, and after 

 they had examined them for a few minutes 

 the instructor began to ask questions con- 

 cerning them. This exercise drilled every 

 participant in observation and in drawing 

 proper inferences from what he saw, and was 

 productive of the greatest interest and good. 

 Such schools serve better as the culmina- 

 tion of a series of extension efforts than as 



a primary or preliminary means of awaken- 

 ing the rural communities. Another series 

 of lessons had the determination of the man- 

 ner in which pupils could be reached by 

 means of object-lesson teaching, and the 

 amount of interest they would be likely to 

 manifest in agricultural matters in case it 

 should ever be found desirable to introduce 

 such teaching as a part of the distinct school 

 work. The conclusion is drawn by Prof. 

 Bailey, from this experimental work, that the 

 farmers, as a whole, are willing and anxious 

 for education. They are difficult to reach, 

 because they have not been well taught, not 

 because they are unwilling to learn. 



Effect of Veils on Eyesight. In experi- 

 menting upon the effect of the wearing of 

 veils upon the eyesight, Dr. Casey A. Wood, 

 of Chicago, selected a dozen typical speci- 

 mens of veils and applied the ordinary tests 

 of ability to read while wearing them. These 

 tests showed that every description of veil 

 affects more or less the ability to see dis- 

 tinctly, both in the distance and near at hand. 

 The most objectionable kind is the dotted 

 veil. Other things being equal, vision is 

 interfered with in direct proportion to the 

 number of meshes per square inch. The 

 texture of the veil plays an important part 

 in the matter. When the sides of the mesh 

 are single, compact threads, the eye is much 

 less embarrassed than when double threads 

 are employed. The least objectionable veil 



