PREFACE 



The present volume attempts what has* not yet been ac- 

 complished in elementary texts on agriculture to give not 

 only class-room lessons and instruction but definite sugges- 

 tions and outlines in both methods and agencies of extension 

 education by combining practical information with concrete 

 home and school projects to be carried out by the pupils. 

 Agriculture, of all subjects, can not be taught wholly from 

 within a text-book. Nor, on the other hand, can it be well 

 taught by the teacher who is not a specialist without a good 

 text-book by means of which to unify the instruction and 

 lead to an intelligent interest in the farm and its problems. 

 Unless the pupils busy themselves with actual agricultural 

 activities, the study becomes mere theory and of doubtful 

 value. This text is a guide to concrete work and interests of 

 farm, garden and the home. 



Yet the text is more than a laboratory guide. It gives a 

 large amount of practical, scientific information wholly 

 without technical terms. Further, this information is al- 

 ways so immediately related to definite farm projects as to 

 have meaning and application. Scientific facts and their use 

 go hand in hand. Theory and practise are never divorced. 

 The old maxim, "Learn to do by doing," is constantly fol- 

 lowed, and the doing made natural and worth while to the 

 child by being connected with his home interests. 



Hardly a day's assignment occurs in the book, therefore, 

 that does not present some real project for the pupils to 

 carry out in connection with the farm or home life. Nor 

 are the problems assigned the child without the information 

 or guidance necessary to their intelligent solution. The re- 

 quired facts, principles and descriptions are always at hand, 

 and the problem or project made the means of teaching some 

 valuable lesson in concrete form. No other subject now 

 taught in our schools needs more definite direction and as- 

 signments than does agriculture. 



The authors believe that the elementary features of agri- 



