4 PREFACE 



serves as a safe guide to the teacher; and to the pupils it is 

 an inspiration to experiment, to inquire of practical farmers, 

 and to read and study further. Fortunately an abundance 

 of supplemental reading matter is readily obtainable from 

 the Department of Agriculture, at Washington, D. C., and 

 State Experiment Stations. 



A notable demonstration of the value of the study of 

 agriculture in the rural school course may be cited from the 

 experience of one of the northwestern states. This state 

 passed a law requiring that elementary agriculture be 

 taught in the rural schools. The law had been in force for a 

 period of ten years, so that the boys and girls who had had 

 this instruction were then the men and women managing or 

 working on the farms of the state. The results of this 

 instruction are reflected by the statistics furnished by the 

 United States Government. 



During this decade the state raised more flax to the acre 

 than any other state. It stood first in the yield to the acre 

 of oats, barley, spring wheat, and sugar beets. It stood 

 second in acre yield in potatoes, exceeded only by a state 

 using many tons of commercial fertilizer. It stood fifth 

 in acre yield of corn, being exceeded only by the highest 

 yielding state by 2.5 bushels. Such a record over a ten-year 

 period can be explained in no other way than through the 

 influence of the instruction given in agriculture in the rural 

 schools of the state. 



Other states have adopted similar laws, and through the 

 influence of the Federal Government and the demand for 

 greater efficiency in agriculture, the teaching of the subject 

 in the rural schools will become universal. Acres of Amer- 

 ican farms will soon produce much more than ever before; 



