Agriculture and Rural Life Day. Superintendent of Documents, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. 10 cents. 



Possibilities of the Country Home. Davenport University of Illinois 

 Urbana, 111. 



An Agricultural Survey. Bulletin 295. Cornell Agricultural College. 

 Ithaca, New York. Free. 



A Course in the Practical Problems of Rural Life 



EIGHTH GRADE 



The purpose of this course is to relate the work of the school to the 

 life of the rural community. Every lesson we teach in school should have 

 some direct purpose, some reason for teaching it which we have in mind. 

 The questions presented here are suggestive only. The teacher's ingenuity 

 will suggest others. Their use will stimulate teachers to make the 

 work of the schoolroom practical and will lead pupils to see the value 

 of the lessons they are learning in school. 



Reading 



Pupil's questions: Am I able to read a story book, a newspaper, a 

 popular magazine, a farm bulletin? Make a list of books you have 

 read. 



1. The following places were mentioned in one Chicago daily. 

 Where are they? Petrograd, Vienna, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Po- 

 land, Belgium, Brooklyn. 



2. Explain the following sentences which occurred in the same paper. 

 (a). The Supreme court handed down a decision, (b) A strike has 



been declared by the United Mine Workers. The Department of Agricul- 

 ture has issued a bulletin. 



3. Answer the following question: 



(a). What farm papers do you know? (b) How many magazines 

 can you name? (c). What are the principal papers published in your 

 county and the politics of each? What are the leading Chicago papers, 

 How do you get a bulletin from the University? From the Department of 

 Agriculture? Name a woman's paper; a boy's paper. 



4. What poem of country life do you know? Who is your favorite 

 poet? Author? 



Agriculture 



Pupil's question. Do I know enough to be a farmer? Try these ques- 

 tions: 



1. What birds are common in the neighborhood? What do they eat? 

 Classify them as farmers' friends and farmers' enemies. Don't guess. 



2. What weeds are common in the neighborhood? Can you recog- 

 nize them? How do they affect (a) the crop, (b) the value of land? What 

 is being done to eradicate them? 



3. What insects are common in the neighborhood? What destroys 

 them? Find out from your fathers and by reading. 



4. May a plant have a disease? Name some plant diseases in the 

 neighborhood. How cured, if curable? . 



5. Name crops' which exhaust the soil, are hard on the soil as far- 

 mers say? What crops build up the soil? What crop rotations do you 

 know of in the neighborhood? 



48 



