a . BULLETIN 2138, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
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the school farm as it exists in the Northern and Eastern States. Most 
of the farms have a small acreage. Sixty-one of the 84 schools in 
Minnesota depend entirely upon day help, all the team work is hired, 
and the land is expensive. In Minnesota the average value per acre 
is $150. It generally takes two or three years to put this land in 
shape to be used for agricultural purposes. Many farms are without 
farm buildings. If they have buildings, the investment is high in 
proportion to the acreage cultivated and to the crops obtamed. The 
majority of them have little or no machinery, so when they want to 
cultivate or gather their crops they must borrow. The majority have 
no live stock, so that they have to purchase their manure. It is only 
in exceptional instances that the agricultural instructor lives on or 
near the school farm. 
MANAGEMENT OF THE SCHOOL FARM. 
Considering these factors from a farm-management point of view, 
it can be readily seen that the agricultural instructor has a peculiar 
problem on his hands. The majority of them have not been able to 
solve it satisfactorily. The agricultural instructor who can not make 
his farm pay has very little standing among the farmers, since as 
long as the farm does not pay he has to admit that he can not pro-’ 
duce crops with a profit. What farmer would have any confidence in 
such aman? Those schools which succeed must practice an intensive 
system of agriculture. The school farms which seem to have met 
with the best success are those which are growing pure-bred corn, 
pure-bred small grains, potatoes, alfalfa, cabbage, and the lke. 
This gives them a high-priced crop and enables the school to get good 
seed to be distributed in the neighborhood. Thirty-three of the 
eighty-four schools reporting on this point were using a part of their 
land for raising pure-bred seed for distribution. Some had extended 
this idea to the growing of fruit trees and berry vines to be dis- 
tributed in a similar manner. 
The school adds to its effectiveness if it becomes the distributing 
center of high-class seed and trees. Indeed, where they have live 
stock they should develop the same idea by extending the service of 
the sires in the neighborhood and distributing their young among 
the farmers. Several instances were found in the South where the 
boys in the pig-club work were being furnished with pigs from the 
school farm in the same way that boys in the corn clubs in the North 
were being furnished with corn from school farms. 
KINDS OF WORK PUPILS ENGAGE IN. 
The kinds of crops grown and the types of farming carried on have 
already been ascertained. The next point of interest is the kinds of 
work that the student is engaged in on the school farm. The three 
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