facts and comprehended their value. He saw clearly 

 that to help the farmer the teaching must be of a popular 

 sort, and he must undertake to translate the results of 

 scientific investigation in agriculture into terms which 

 the plainest of farmers might understand. He did this 

 in farmers institutes and wherever opportunity occurred. 



In 1896 an appropriation was given to Cornell espe- 

 cially for extension work and " Uncle John " went to the 

 university to help in the work. At first his help was 

 entirely voluntary, but he was found to be of so great 

 use that he was asked to give up his farming for a time 

 and to help with this new work. His first work was as 

 supervisor of the farmers reading courses. Through 

 correspondence " Uncle John " tried to give the farmers 

 in simple terms the information of scientific facts in 

 agriculture. The reading courses reached thousands of 

 practical men. 



Another phase of the work interested " Uncle John " 

 still more. When Cornell was given an appropriation to 

 carry nature study into the rural schools of the State, 

 Mr Spencer among many others was asked to visit the 

 schools and note their needs and whether this teaching 

 was being done. Then "Uncle John" found himself in 

 his true element. He instructed not only the teachers 

 but the children during these visits, and came back en- 

 thusiastic over the possibilities. He it was who first saw 

 clearly that the first step in this great work was to help 

 the teachers through simple written leafiets. 



Not long after this work was undertaken with teachers, 

 "Uncle John" conceived the idea of helping the teachers 

 by getting the pupils interested. He said, "We can not 

 do the work from the top down, we must commence 

 from the bottom and work upward." In confronting 

 this problem his genius first showed its true greatness. 

 He organized all the children under one teacher into a 

 club, known as the Junior Naturalist Club. The pupils 

 were all to pay dues, which consisted in writing letters 

 to " Uncle John " describing their out-of-door observa- 

 tions and activities. After they had done their work 

 well for a time a charter and a button were given. This 

 charter was framed and prized by the children. Since 

 the pupils under one teacher were the unit for the club, 

 there might be as many Junior Naturalist Clubs in one 

 school as there were rooms and teachers. Thus the 



