484 
a national advantage; but unless wealth is 
continuously created we can not make good 
the huge wastage of resources which the war 
has entailed, and we shall be faced with bank- 
ruptey. Much more is, however, required of 
us. In the cleansing fires of war, the gold and 
the dross have been thrown into sharp con- 
trast. If we are to rebuild our national life 
on purer and healthier lines, so that it may be 
worthy of the heroes who have fought and died 
to saye Britain from the greatest peril she 
has ever encountered, the gold must be cher- 
ished and the dross must be discarded. The 
whole future of the empire will be determined 
by leadership in all classes alike—leadership 
inspired by self-less motives and based upon 
patriotism and knowledge. 
In the “Wisdom of Solomon” there are 
words which democracy must take to heart if 
it is not to prove a disastrous failure. 
“Neither will I go with consuming envy; for 
such a man shall have no fellowship with wis- 
dom. But the multitude of the wise is the 
welfare of the world.” 
SYDENHAM 
AGRICULTURAL TEXT-BOOKS FOR 
OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS 
One of the results of the activities of the 
agricultural colleges and the experiment sta- 
tions is the production of an immense quan- 
tity of both general and special literature on 
agriculture. In this literature we find an in- 
creasing number of text-books intended for 
the use in our public schools. This, in itself, 
may have been influential in stimulating the 
modern public demand for agricultural in- 
struction in the public schools of both the 
country and the towns—a demand which is 
very sane. 
It is a matter of common observation of 
those who have had the opportunity to ob- 
serve, that nowhere in the old world do we 
find that interest in the soil and its products 
among the non-farming classes, or as great a 
respect among them for the tilling and the 
tiller of the soil as in America. 
places of Europe, there yet lingers the prej- 
udice of the city dweller against the peasant, 
SCIENCE 
In many 
[N. S. Vou. XLVIII. No. 1246 
who once was tied to the soil and owned by 
the owner of the soil, for whose support it had 
pleased God to allow him to exist. 
In this country, it is a frequent occurrence 
to find business and professional men of the 
city, not only to pride themselves on their 
skill and experience as cultivators of the soil, 
but to carry that skill and experience into 
actual operation in their management of rural 
affairs. Hence, the teaching of agriculture in 
all of our public schools of both city and 
country is an increasing demand. The exact 
scope of this teaching and to what classes, or 
what maturity of pupils it is to be applied, 
seems yet to be an unsettled question, judg- 
ing from the nature of a large part of the 
many text-books published for this purpose. 
Some of these text-books seem by their style 
of language to cater to the tended minds of 
the primary grades, but in their scope and the 
nature of the topics to be intended as guides 
for the professional farmer in his practical 
operations. Agriculture, as a subject in our 
public schools will fail to educate and inter- 
tain the minds of the pupils, if heavily burd- 
ened with dry recipes for increasing the num- 
ber of dollars, or lectures upon mere physical 
operations of running a farm. The highly in- 
teresting biological, chemical and physical 
principles underlying these operations would, 
however, not fail to stimulate and elevate the 
young mind, as adding interest to the opera- 
tions in themselves. The language, too, in 
which these subjects are taught, should be in a 
simple, yet good virile English, and not in the 
blabber of the baby; for no ambitious boy or 
girl is willing to stoop to a lower level of in- 
telligence, but anxious to reach out for a 
higher. 
In several of these text-books on agriculture, 
we find some very strange incongrueties; for 
example, matters requiring a well developed 
intellect and considerable maturity of judg- 
ment for their comprehension are discussed 
in a language suitable to the kindergarden tot. 
One author, in describing the nitrogen-gener- 
ating bacteria on the roots of the legumes, 
regrets that he has to use the big word, 
tubercle; but admonishes his pupils to learn 
