VII 



Nature-Study Agriculture 



THE nature-study idea is bound to have a 

 fundamental influence in carrying a vital 

 educational impulse to farmers. The accus- 

 tomed methods of education are less applicable 

 to farmers than to any other people, and yet 

 countrymen are nearly half our population. 

 The greatest of the unsolved problems of edu- 

 cation is how to reach the farmer. He must be 

 reached on his own ground. The methods and 

 the results must suit his needs. The ultimate 

 test of good extension work will be its ability 

 to reach into the remotest districts. 



We have failed to reach the farmer effectively 

 because we still persist in employing old-time 

 and academic methods. Historically, the com- 

 mon public school is a product of the uni- 

 versity and college. "The greatest achievement 

 of modern education," writes W. H. Payne, 

 "is the gradation and correlation of schools, 

 whereby the ladder of learning is let down 

 II 



