BY JAMES E. RICE 95 



The nature and extent of the material with which to teach; that is to 

 say, the buildings, the land, the stock and equipment, all have much to 

 do with the effectiveness of teaching and especially with the comfort, peace 

 of mind and satisfaction of the teacher and students. While that famous 

 educator, Elihu Yale, undoubtedly was right in principle when he said that 

 "a good teacher on one end of a log and a good student on the other consti- 

 tutes a University," he also very likely, fully recognized the importance of 

 adequate buildings and equipments, but desired to emphasize the fact that 

 they are not the chief consideration. 



We, who are now engaged in teaching Poultry Husbandry, are not 

 likely to make the mistake of assuming that good land, buildings and 

 equipment are more important than good teachers if we should have the 

 chance to enjoy the refreshing experience of handling a Poultry Department 

 having ample facilities with which to teach and investigate. We are 

 willing to take our chances. We all know from experience, how serious a 

 handicap to our teaching and investigating is the lack of suitable facilities. 

 One item alone, that of land, deserves our thoughtful consideration and 

 vigorous action at this time. Scarcely a Poultry Department, as now 

 organized and equipped, has sufficient land with which to carry on the 

 work successfully. Those in authority must be made to realize that there 

 is a wide distinction between a poultry plant and a poultry farm and that 

 the latter and not the former will provide the kind of object lesson that 

 will make it necessary for us to say to our students, "do as we teach you to 

 do, not as we do ourselves." We must have more positive teaching and less 

 negative teaching; more showing how to do and less telling what to do; more 

 practice and less precept; more affirmation and less apology. Instead of 

 one to five acres of land, a modern poultry department should have from 

 twenty to fifty acres and a good proportion of that amount near the College 

 buildings, where students can come in actual contact with the things about 

 which they are being taught. The poultry farm should be looked upon as 

 an outdoor laboratory of equal or greater importance than our lecture rooms 

 and offices, indispensible though they are to a well organized poultry 

 department. The things that the students do for themselves are the 

 things that they remember. To thoroughly understand a principle the 

 student should apply it. Success lies in the proper application of what we 

 know. The best place for students to apply the principles taught is in 

 connection with the lecture or demonstration. 



It should not be inferred, however, that the Poultry Department can 

 provide sufficient technical or practical training to provide expertness. 

 Skill can be acquired only after years of practical application. The Col- 



