AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IX THE SCHOOLS. 113 



with laws. What are the underlying principles that govern soil 

 activity and plant and animal growth, and how may these laws be 

 utilized by man in the production of economic goods? True, 

 agriculture includes the art of farming, although training in agri- 

 culture does not attempt to perfect one in the art. On the technical 

 side agriculture would develop reasons for processes. 



But it has also a business side. It involves the question of 

 selling, — consequently that of marketing and that of farm manage- 

 ment. 



It has a social side. Agriculture is related to other industries 

 and indeed it is fundamental to them. The rural voters are of 

 great political significance and our forty millions of rural people 

 constitute a great factor in the development of our national life 

 and thought. 



Agricultural education, like all other forms of industrial education 

 has, then, its vocational purpose, but it also has its pedagogical 

 purpose. That is to say, it has educational value. It is interesting 

 to know that in the argument made for industrial education today 

 men continually hark back to the old days of the farm home regime 

 for children and describe the educational value of the experience 

 in the t^i^ical farm home. They say frankly that the chief reason 

 for putting industrial education into the schools, at least so far as 

 mere schooling is concerned, is that if possible something may be 

 developed which shall take the place of this old farm home training. 

 Furthermore, we have come to recognize the value of manual skill 

 in training the mind itself. Even with our definition of agriculture 

 there is room there for manual training. It follows therefore that 

 agriculture may be used for strictly educational purposes, without 

 reference to vocational ends. "While in the main agriculture will 

 be taught as a vocational subject, it is worth while to keep in mind 

 that it has also a definite and specific educational value, even for 

 those who are not to follow agriculture as a vocation. Agriculture 

 presents facts that are worth knowing by every intelligent man. 

 It develops principles that illustrate natural laws in many fields. 

 It organizes processes. It gives manual work. All of these things 

 are of definite value to the growing mind. They are educational. 



There are three grades of school work in agriculture. First, 

 the college and graduate grade, which may be grouped together 



