46 
" in nearly every county in the State i good beginning lias been made, and in 
several counties the interest and progress has been little less than reniarkahle. 
In many rural schools the subject is being studied, following the outline found 
(in pages 106-180 of the Illinois Course of study for the Common Schools. Some 
ot the graded schools are doing systematii and Intelligent work along this line 
and are conducting in connection with tin schools successful school gardens. 
Thai the interest is growing is shown by the many thousand requests tor corn 
and seeds, which are received by the secretary of the farmers' institute." 
Accordiug to statistics collected by the superintendent of fanners' institutes 
•in Illinois, fourteen counties report that in nearly all the schools agriculture la 
being taught as suggested in the State Course of study, and in fifteen other 
counties a majority of the schools are attempting this work. 
In addition to agricultural work in the schools of Illinois, considerable is done 
by the state College of Agriculture, the superintendent and the secretary of 
farmers' institutes, and county superintendents of schools to arouse an interest 
in farm life by means of eluhs of farmers' hoys, which are organized in the dif- 
ferent counties for the purpose of conducting experiments at their homes in 
testing improved varieties of corn and sugar beets: These eluhs hold regular 
meetings similar to farmers' institutes, and once a year are given places on the 
programmes of the county farmers' irstitutes. Several of these eluhs have had 
lecture courses, with lectures from men prominent in the agricultural colleges 
and experiment stations, and some of them have gone on excursions to different 
agricultural colleges. Eight thousand of these boys exhibited corn of their own 
raising at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, and 1,250 of them drew prizes 
ranging from .10 cents to .$500. The girls have similar organizations, which are 
devoted to the consideration of subjects relating to the farm home. 
Similar organizations of boys and girls are also found in Iowa. Ohio, and 
Texas, all of them organized under the auspices of the State agricultural col- 
leges or of agricultural journals. The membership of the boys' and girls' clubs 
in Ohio is nearly 2.000 and in Texas over 1.200, though the latter organizations 
are little more than a year old. Everywhere that work of this kind has been 
done it has seemed to meet with enthusiastic approval. The boys and girls 
take pride in their organizations and in doing in a small way what their parents 
do more extensively. 
In Missouri the course in agriculture for the public schools was prepared 
several years ago by the State superintendent of schools. This course has been 
superseded by a bulletin prepared by the State superintendent of schools and 
published by the Missouri State Board of Agriculture in September of the pres- 
ent year, entitled " Elements of Agriculture for the Public Schools." This 
bulletin advocates presenting the subject of agriculture "(1) by experiments 
at home and in the field, (2) by studying facts as given in texts and bulletins, 
and (3) by school gardens connected with school grounds." 
" Teachers are advised to utilize school grounds or gardens near the school as 
experiment stations, to have pupils experiment at home and make field observa- 
tions, and to secure bulletins from the Department of Agriculture, at Washing- 
ton, D. C, from the Missouri State Board of Agriculture and from the agricul- 
tural college, both at Columbia. The sehool library should have copies of sev- 
eral good texts. Appeal to the pupils' interests along all lines and enlist the 
cooperation of the parents." 
The course in agriculture, as outlined in the bulletin, includes (1) studies on 
soil — origin and composition, kinds, plant food, improvement, rotation of crops. 
and experiments: i2» roads — value of good roads, road drainage, artificial 
roads, good dirt roads, influence of roads, road laws, and experiments; I •"■ I 
stttdies on seeds and related subjects — germination, vitality, and parts of seeds. 
with experiments in corn planting, corn growing, corn judging, selecting seed 
corn, and observations and experiments with corn (similar treatment of 
wheat): (4) studies of plants — their classification, relation to soils, buds. 
twigs, etc.: (5) orcharding and gardening — apples, grapes, berries, home 
gardening, commercial gardening, enemies to gardens: (6) study of insects ; 
(7) stock raising and feeding— horses, mules, cattle. Sheep, hogs, and domestic 
fowls. Numerous experiments and observations are suggested throughout 
the bulletin. Two bulletins have also been issued by the College of Agriculture 
of the University of Missouri which are intended for use in the public- schools. 
One of these is on Plant Propagation and the other on The Principles of Plant 
Production — the Seed. 
The superintendent of public schools, the College of Agriculture, and the 
State normal schools in Missouri are cooperating in agitating the introduction 
